Game Boy / Color / Advance Collecting |OT| Now you're playing with power; PORTABLE POWER!

angelgrievous · Apr 5, 2018

Cloggerdude said:
I assume you don't know what the battery life is yet? I'd be interested in seeing what kind of life you get out of the rechargeable battery.

I'll be sure to let you know. I'm not really sure how to tell if/when it's fully charged to be honest. I just now plugged it in and a little red light came on. Not sure if that means it's charging or if its charged as I haven't used it much since getting it. But I'll leave it plugged up for a little while and then play until it dies. I'll report back when I know more.

Edit* I just looked a little closer at the board attached to the battery pack on the back and there are 2 different lights. One listed as CHG and the other as DONE. So, I'll start playing once it's done and then I'll know how long it last.

Edit2* Here are some picks of the back/battery mod:

Deleted member 27921 · Apr 6, 2018

Here's a couple of really dumb questions:
1.) is that Gamestop sale over? I've added 4 games at the same price point and have had no extra discount in my cart. Is there a code or something I should be using?

2.) As a current owner of a really banged up DS Lite (Broken hinges, scratched screens, no GBA slot cover, etc) and no GBA at all, what do y'all think is a better course of action: Modding my DS Lite into a "GBA Macro," buying a GBA to mod myself, or buying a pre-modded backlit GBA? I've never soldered anything but I am not against learning!

Forkball · Apr 6, 2018

I just found out Japan never got the kiwi green GBC color. One of the few instances where an NA only edition completely stomped on anything Japan had.

Deleted member 21003 · Apr 6, 2018

I had a green GBC, so it wasn't NA only. It is the best colour though.

angelgrievous · Apr 6, 2018

Willenium said:
Here's a couple of really dumb questions:
1.) is that Gamestop sale over? I've added 4 games at the same price point and have had no extra discount in my cart. Is there a code or something I should be using?

2.) As a current owner of a really banged up DS Lite (Broken hinges, scratched screens, no GBA slot cover, etc) and no GBA at all, what do y'all think is a better course of action: Modding my DS Lite into a "GBA Macro," buying a GBA to mod myself, or buying a pre-modded backlit GBA? I've never soldered anything but I am not against learning!

By the time you bought an ags-101 GBA SP and a GBA you'd be around the same price as buying a pre-modded one, unless you want to do it yourself you wouldn't be saving a whole lot. If you already had them I'd say try it yourself but alas, you do not.

The gamestop deal has been dead for awhile now.

I like the look of the GBA "Macro" but the 101 screen is the best for handheld GBA games and I love the form factor of the OG GBA as well. It's really just a matter of preference. I suspect ebay will be doing some more site wide sales so I would be on the lookout for one of those and jump in if you want to get in on a modded unit.

JeremyParish · Apr 6, 2018

Hey Game Boy folks! If you're going to be at Midwest Gaming Classic next weekend, bring a Game Boy and a link cable. I'm really hoping to get a 16-person Faceball 2000 match going. I've got the carts and the 4-player adapters, but I don't have enough GBs or cables to go around. (And I'm not really keen on trying to carry 16 Game Boys onto the plane in any case.)

Deleted member 27921 · Apr 7, 2018

angelgrievous said:
By the time you bought an ags-101 GBA SP and a GBA you'd be around the same price as buying a pre-modded one, unless you want to do it yourself you wouldn't be saving a whole lot. If you already had them I'd say try it yourself but alas, you do not.

The gamestop deal has been dead for awhile now.

I like the look of the GBA "Macro" but the 101 screen is the best for handheld GBA games and I love the form factor of the OG GBA as well. It's really just a matter of preference. I suspect ebay will be doing some more site wide sales so I would be on the lookout for one of those and jump in if you want to get in on a modded unit.

Awesome, thank you for this! Yeah, I was real bummed that I missed those eBay coupons. Hopefully they do more soon.

Deleted member 6215 · Apr 8, 2018

JeremyParish said:
Hey Game Boy folks! If you're going to be at Midwest Gaming Classic next weekend, bring a Game Boy and a link cable. I'm really hoping to get a 16-person Faceball 2000 match going. I've got the carts and the 4-player adapters, but I don't have enough GBs or cables to go around. (And I'm not really keen on trying to carry 16 Game Boys onto the plane in any case.)

Sounds awesome. Trying to figure out which day I'll be there, but will remember to bring a Game Boy. (And hopefully can find a link cable somewhere in the house.)

HammerFace · Apr 9, 2018

angelgrievous said:
After 4 weeks this baby finally showed up:

Oh wow that looks awesome. What site did you get it from?

angelgrievous · Apr 9, 2018

HammerFace said:
Oh wow that looks awesome. What site did you get it from?

Guy from California off of Ebay. Here is his link: https://www.ebay.com/usr/johnnys_merchandise?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754

The guy did a pretty fantastic job overall. I used a 20% coupon and got a good deal.

HammerFace · Apr 9, 2018

angelgrievous said:
Guy from California off of Ebay. Here is his link: https://www.ebay.com/usr/johnnys_merchandise?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754

The guy did a pretty fantastic job overall. I used a 20% coupon and got a good deal.

I might have to go for this. The item description says you can pick and choose the shell and button colors you want, did you actually get to do that or did you have to just accept whatever he sent you? Also how does the screen hold up in daylight? Is it still easy to see or does glare get in the way?

Stardestroyer · Apr 10, 2018

Are there any modding guides out there for GBA. the only one I found is out of date.

angelgrievous · Apr 10, 2018

HammerFace said:
I might have to go for this. The item description says you can pick and choose the shell and button colors you want, did you actually get to do that or did you have to just accept whatever he sent you? Also how does the screen hold up in daylight? Is it still easy to see or does glare get in the way?

I chose the SNES color scheme, Since it was a custom paint job it took about a month to show up. I suspect it wouldn't be as long a wait if you picked a pre-existing shell color and then picked out what color buttons you wanted. As far as the screen, I don't really know. I've had pneumonia for the last 2 weeks and haven't seen much of the outside world. I'll let you know though as soon as I can, although I'm sure it's like any other device and is a bit harder to see when in direct light.

angelgrievous · Apr 10, 2018

Stardestroyer said:
Are there any modding guides out there for GBA. the only one I found is out of date.

Just do a Google video search. I've seen a ton of youtube videos on the subject. I was originally going to do one myself but by the time I bought everything it wouldn't have saved me any money.

HammerFace · Apr 10, 2018

angelgrievous said:
I chose the SNES color scheme, Since it was a custom paint job it took about a month to show up. I suspect it wouldn't be as long a wait if you picked a pre-existing shell color and then picked out what color buttons you wanted. As far as the screen, I don't really know. I've had pneumonia for the last 2 weeks and haven't seen much of the outside world. I'll let you know though as soon as I can, although I'm sure it's like any other device and is a bit harder to see when in direct light.

Thanks so much! Yeah if I get one I'm probably going to go with this listing. Far less expensive than the retromodding.com ones as far as I can tell.

angelgrievous · Apr 10, 2018

HammerFace said:
Thanks so much! Yeah if I get one I'm probably going to go with this listing. Far less expensive than the retromodding.com ones as far as I can tell.

Yep, the only think that retromodding offers that this guy doesn't is the speaker upgrade. It would have been nice to have but not a deal breaker to me. Keep an eye out for ebay coupons and gamestops retro buy 2 get 1 free deals. You can stock up on a pretty decent collection of GBA carts for quite cheap, and I have a feeling it won't be this way for long.

HammerFace · Apr 10, 2018

angelgrievous said:
Yep, the only think that retromodding offers that this guy doesn't is the speaker upgrade. It would have been nice to have but not a deal breaker to me. Keep an eye out for ebay coupons and gamestops retro buy 2 get 1 free deals. You can stock up on a pretty decent collection of GBA carts for quite cheap, and I have a feeling it won't be this way for long.

I actually still have a good size collection of GB, GBC, and GBA carts. My mom told me that she had given away all of my gameboy games, but a year ago she pulled this bag out and told me she was lying -_-

derFeef · Apr 11, 2018

Got my modding parts from Handheldlegend. Now to find time to actually do the mods.

meadowdrone · Apr 13, 2018

It's done! Made for my partner in her favourite colours.

raketenrolf · Apr 13, 2018

Looks kinda like a watermelon themed GBA. To me, it would probably look even better if the buttons and shoulderbuttons would be red too. Maybe. I don't know, but I think this looks great too.

Cloggerdude · Apr 13, 2018

Yeah, I think pink buttons would really make it pop, but it's definitely unique! Congrats on the new GBA.

meadowdrone · Apr 13, 2018

I agree and that was my original intention, but the screen is pink and handheldlegend doesn't sell pink buttons - just red, which I think would look a bit off. If you know a site to get matching pink buttons then do let me know :)

angelgrievous · Apr 13, 2018

looks good. Glad you got it done.

angelgrievous · Apr 13, 2018

meadowdrone said:
I agree and that was my original intention, but the screen is pink and handheldlegend doesn't sell pink buttons - just red, which I think would look a bit off. If you know a site to get matching pink buttons then do let me know :)

http://store.kitsch-bent.com/product/custom-buttons

J.Devesh · Apr 13, 2018

I bought just today a modded GBA from an eBay reseller.

I bought a clear light blue model ( LINK ) from the UK, I hope that it will arrive in Italy without problems X°D

HammerFace · Apr 13, 2018

Im getting really tempted to just buy the ags-101 screen and mod the GBA I have. It doesn't look incredibly difficult to be honest, the soldering seems like the hardest part. Plus it'd save me like $100.

milkham · Apr 13, 2018

HammerFace said:
Im getting really tempted to just buy the ags-101 screen and mod the GBA I have. It doesn't look incredibly difficult to be honest, the soldering seems like the hardest part. Plus it'd save me like $100.

if you've ever done any soldering before it's pretty easy. The point to solder the extra wire is pretty small though. The hardest most time consuming part is trimming the plastic inside the housing imho.

Deleted member 135 · Apr 13, 2018

milkham said:
if you've ever done any soldering before it's pretty easy. The point to solder the extra wire is pretty small though. The hardest most time consuming part is trimming the plastic inside the housing imho.

Fine grain sandpaper is your friend.

HammerFace · Apr 13, 2018

milkham said:
if you've ever done any soldering before it's pretty easy. The point to solder the extra wire is pretty small though. The hardest most time consuming part is trimming the plastic inside the housing imho.

SG-17 said:
Fine grain sandpaper is your friend.

Thanks y'all! Yeah, I think doing this will be my summer project. Now I just need a soldering iron

angelgrievous · Apr 13, 2018

HammerFace said:
Thanks y'all! Yeah, I think doing this will be my summer project. Now I just need a soldering iron

You don't need anything fancy. Here is a decent kit from Amazon. Here is one a little cheaper.

HammerFace · Apr 13, 2018

angelgrievous said:
You don't need anything fancy. Here is a decent kit from Amazon. Here is one a little cheaper.

That first one was the most overwhelming image I've ever seen haha. But wow yeah. Those are really good prices. You all are so helpful. This just made my day.

Fab · Apr 14, 2018

I picked up a new in box Game Boy Color on ebay, I'm mostly happy with the condition of the console, but was curious if others out there that collect new consoles or remember 20 years back [..gosh I feel old] what sort of defects were common.

Specially the B button here has a mark, my first assumption would be damage from the previous owner, but as the screen is spotless, box was in great shape and even the original batteries were included, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume a manufacturing defect.

Oh, and just for the fun of it, here's a little photo of the family all together. : D

Metalix · Apr 15, 2018

Intrigued by this one as one of the 6 people with an N64 transfer pack but not Pokemon Stadium, apparently there's connectivity with it's bigger N64 brother?:

Fuzzy · Apr 15, 2018

Metalix said:
apparently there's connectivity with it's bigger N64 brother?

IIRC the GBC characters are transferred to the N64 game and become playable. It also transfers a few N64 characters to the GBC game.

Gozert · Apr 16, 2018

And both are excellent games! :)

Same goes for the Mario Golf games.

Weston · Apr 17, 2018

I'm doing a bivert mod on my gb pocket. Thought I did every thing right but the screen was still blank. I spent like 30 minutes looking around and re-soldering stuff. Finally I realized I had the contrast knob was turned all the way down. I wasn't even mad just relieved.

angelgrievous · Apr 17, 2018

Fab said:
I picked up a new in box Game Boy Color on ebay, I'm mostly happy with the condition of the console, but was curious if others out there that collect new consoles or remember 20 years back [..gosh I feel old] what sort of defects were common.

Specially the B button here has a mark, my first assumption would be damage from the previous owner, but as the screen is spotless, box was in great shape and even the original batteries were included, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume a manufacturing defect.

Oh, and just for the fun of it, here's a little photo of the family all together. : D

That is a nice looking GBC. Although, I'm quite partial to the Dandelion one myself. I bought one off ebay years ago complete in box for around $60 bucks but sold it about a month later. I'll get one again, just waiting until I clear my massive backlog.

I wish there was a mod to get a GBA player in a GBC/GB Pocket body, as that would be my ultimate form factor/library.

Fab · Apr 17, 2018

angelgrievous said:
That is a nice looking GBC. Although, I'm quite partial to the Dandelion one myself. I bought one off ebay years ago complete in box for around $60 bucks but sold it about a month later. I'll get one again, just waiting until I clear my massive backlog.

I wish there was a mod to get a GBA player in a GBC/GB Pocket body, as that would be my ultimate form factor/library.

Thank you, I had the Dandelion in mind, it's what I had when I owned one of these as a child, but when you find a good deal you have to jump on it heh, most of my gba collection is pink simply due to those being in less demand/cheaper.

The teal console has some issues with the dpad being a little bit stiff, so I'm considering just returning that, maybe I'll come across a Dandelion model next time, so fingers crossed!

I'd freaking love a gba in a game boy body if there was a good solution to the missing trigger buttons, I wonder how those raspberry pi consoles play like with the dmg shells and shoulder buttons on the back.

Deleted member 2652 · Apr 18, 2018

Is there a good source for Micro faceplates? I bought one a couple years ago in pretty good condition but the face plate is heavily scratched.

Fab · Apr 19, 2018

Quote said:
Is there a good source for Micro faceplates? I bought one a couple years ago in pretty good condition but the face plate is heavily scratched.

I haven't got to test this out myself, but https://www.bluishsquirrel.co.uk/page/gameboy-advance-micro-faceplates looks like a great option, you can even have your own custom design printed out.

milkham · Apr 19, 2018

Quote said:
Is there a good source for Micro faceplates? I bought one a couple years ago in pretty good condition but the face plate is heavily scratched.

they sell them on aliexpress if you're willing to wait for long shipping times

HammerFace · Apr 20, 2018

So I'm still doing some research on modding the screen for my GBA. Some of the ribbon adapters for the AGS101 screen come with brightness switches. What exactly do they do? Do they allow for more brightness than if I didn't have them or do they let me turn off the brightness?

Shadow Hog · Apr 21, 2018

They let you dim the brightness, IIRC. If you want more brightness, you'd need an amplifier or something.

angelgrievous · Apr 21, 2018

HammerFace said:
So I'm still doing some research on modding the screen for my GBA. Some of the ribbon adapters for the AGS101 screen come with brightness switches. What exactly do they do? Do they allow for more brightness than if I didn't have them or do they let me turn off the brightness?

Like Shadow said, they let you choose the brightness. I don't think you can actually install the switch though, I think you select the brightest setting and install it like that. As far as I know, you can't have a physical switch to adjust the brightness.

Shadow Hog said:
They let you dim the brightness, IIRC. If you want more brightness, you'd need an amplifier or something.

Yes, you need to install an amplifier to adjust for the extra power needed to run the screen at the brightest setting. Something the 101 could do but not the advance. I think retromodding sells the amplifier alone if one wanted to make the mod.

Deleted member 21003 · Apr 26, 2018

Is there a good alternative to the Everdrive GB?

Inugami · Apr 26, 2018

I just bought a DMG today from a local game shop. The original plan was to find an original GBA and mod it for the most variety of playable games... but they didn't have any, and the DMG just called to me. I got home and immediately ordered a ton of stuff from HHL. Got my tri-wing screw driver, a backlight kit (teal), translucent blue shell, and a bivert kit/board. This will be only my second soldering project so I'll a little nervous, but it looks like there is a lot of space in the DMG. The backlight installation doesn't worry me at all, but unseating the pins and resoldering them to the hex board has me a little worried...

Maybe I'll do it step by step and take a ton of pictures. I thought about doing the blue backlight to match the case, but the pictures looked like the blue light was pretty dark. I'm hoping the teal doesn't look too unnatural. If all goes well I might install a pentameter at a later date to control brightness.

bonkasaurus said:
Is there a good alternative to the Everdrive GB?

Not ones with SD card slots. There are those 64MB ones that connect via USB, but it costs about the same as an X3. I'd personally prefer to have easily replacable SD cards and just remember to hit the reset button to save. It also means not worrying about replacing a button battery every few years.

X5 seems to be the odd unit out, I don't think it makes sense to be $30 more just because it has a battery soldered onto the board. At least the features of the X7 justify it's double the price cost over the X3.

Deleted member 2652 · Apr 27, 2018

My Life in Gaming just retweeted this.

Inugami · Apr 28, 2018

Quote said:
My Life in Gaming just retweeted this.

Pretty cool, but sounds like it'll be too rich for my blood until long after it's sold out and impossible to find.

Weston · Apr 29, 2018

Gamestop Buy 2 Get 1 retro games right now.

Grabbed Advance Wars 1+2 and Circle of the Moon.

TheFuzz · Apr 29, 2018

Weston said:
Gamestop Buy 2 Get 1 retro games right now.

Grabbed Advance Wars 1+2 and Circle of the Moon.

Didn't I see in this thread that the games are actually in good shape and aren't knockoffs or anything?

Game Boy / Color / Advance Collecting |OT| Now you're playing with power; PORTABLE POWER!

Middle fingers up

User-requested account closure

Middle fingers up

Retronaut

User-requested account closure

User requested account closure

Middle fingers up

Middle fingers up

Middle fingers up

Middle fingers up

Just tell me what you need.

Middle fingers up

Middle fingers up

User requested account closure

Middle fingers up

Completely non-threatening

Middle fingers up

user requested account closure

Middle fingers up

user requested account closure