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Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended

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Re: Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended

#61

Post by bennysonething »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #45
deergomoo wrote: post #3

I absolutely adore the Game Boy modding scene that’s exploded in the last few years. Case overhauls like this or the Boxypixel slab pictured in the article, numerous backlit high-res IPS screen replacements, mods to improve sound, Li-ion battery packs with USB charging. And that’s to say nothing of Analogue or the MiSTer project, creating full FPGA reimplementations of the hardware. It’s a really cool example of what…

Sadly the original hardware is slowly degrading over time. Nintendo DS lite screens for example are all yellowing at this age. Buttons suffer too, my gameboy color is just a paperweight now because the buttons hardly register a press. Maybe these issues can be repaired but I’m not skilled with a soldering iron which is a big requirement it seems.

I bought a no solder IPS screen for gameboy color. Think I bought the kit off eBay, it came with a new case and buttons too. It's pretty great! (And if I can do it anyone can)

Re: Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended

#62

Post by hnlmorg »

derefr wrote: post #50
deergomoo wrote: post #3

I absolutely adore the Game Boy modding scene that’s exploded in the last few years. Case overhauls like this or the Boxypixel slab pictured in the article, numerous backlit high-res IPS screen replacements, mods to improve sound, Li-ion battery packs with USB charging. And that’s to say nothing of Analogue or the MiSTer project, creating full FPGA reimplementations of the hardware. It’s a really cool example of what…

I love it too, though I wish that along with it there was renewed interest in Gameboy game development. There are GB game-jams, but more-often-than-not the results of those just languish in obscurity rather than seeing any community attention; and so there's no incentive to put any polish into these titles. (There's nobody trying to make anything like David Murray's Planet X3 for the GB scene.) I feel like something…

There’s loads of homebrew Gameboy games released each year. One of my friends reviews games and receives lots of new GB and GBA titles.

You can also get GB carts that support SD card. I appreciate you’re describing a more complete, end to end, UX but we can already do everything right up to inserting the SD card into the Gameboy cart. With Gameboy emulation as good as it is, you could do away with original hardware for 99% of players too (though for me, the joy of retro gaming is using the original hardware. But I’d never look down on anyone who preferred emulation).

Re: Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended

#64

Post by gambiting »

kibwen wrote: post #40
vlunkr wrote: post #38

This is awesome. I miss hinges. The Switch is great, but I loved being able to throw my sp or ds into a bag or pocket without worrying about scratching it.

Now that folding-screen smartphones are a thing that actually exist on the market, it's not entirely impossible to imagine that the next Switch could be foldable like the SP. :P

At the pace Nintendo adopts new technologies, maybe in 20 years ;-)

Re: Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended

#66

Post by nicoburns »

nsxwolf wrote: post #53

I never liked the SP form factor. It’s too cramped. The original GBA is absolutely perfect. It’s like a DS without the weight of the top screen. It’s too bad it couldn’t have had the SP 101 model backlit screen. One of these days I’ll do that mod.

Agreed. The DS is a similar size to the GBA, but it’s much bigger and heavier. Even as a kid I could have a GBA in my pocket and not think too much of it. And the horizontal form factor was really nice to hold. The only really flaw was the lack of backlit screen.

Re: Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended

#67

Post by juanci_to »

nsxwolf wrote: post #53

I never liked the SP form factor. It’s too cramped. The original GBA is absolutely perfect. It’s like a DS without the weight of the top screen. It’s too bad it couldn’t have had the SP 101 model backlit screen. One of these days I’ll do that mod.

I think exactly the same. Even though the SP design was more successful and influential for consoles like the DS series, the shape of the original GBA is not only very comfortable but also pretty darn iconic!

Wikipedia says: «As of December 31, 2009, the Game Boy Advance series has sold 81.51 million units worldwide, 43.57 million of which are Game Boy Advance SP units and 2.42 million of which are Game Boy Micro units.»

So, the SP was the most sold version, but I can't name a single GBA emulator that uses its design as the logo.

Re: Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended

#68

Post by cybrox »

nsxwolf wrote: post #53

I never liked the SP form factor. It’s too cramped. The original GBA is absolutely perfect. It’s like a DS without the weight of the top screen. It’s too bad it couldn’t have had the SP 101 model backlit screen. One of these days I’ll do that mod.

I actually loved the SP, perfect form factor for your pocket.

But I agree that the normal Advance would benefit greatly from a backlight. For what it was, I'm surprised how well the external light you could buy held up (connector & flex cable)

Re: Adding a hinge to a Game Boy that God never intended

#70

Post by anthk »

hazn wrote: post #59
nsxwolf wrote: post #53

I never liked the SP form factor. It’s too cramped. The original GBA is absolutely perfect. It’s like a DS without the weight of the top screen. It’s too bad it couldn’t have had the SP 101 model backlit screen. One of these days I’ll do that mod.

Personally, I find the gameboy advance sp one of the slickest designs ever. You could say that the sp is one of the most iterated on designs in later nintendo products

Before the SP there was the Game and Watch.
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