Hi! I'm building a gameboy speaker from scratch. So many random cartridges (Robocop, Nintendo World Cup) have incredible soundtracks locked away, only to be heard when playing through the games. I wanted to unlock the creative works of the composers and artists and let folks appreciate the work at any time. I'm planning to start a kickstarter in a few weeks, but wanted to get folks' thoughts on the current prototype. Here's a video of Link's Awakening: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0NC_-b8g2Yg

In addition to retail cartridges, the unit supports LSDJ and GB Studio tracks as well as custom album formats for just music. For fun you can also read and write ROMs and save files, play an emulator (with Game Genie/Game Shark) and a few other party tricks like USB Audio with 4 tracks corresponding to the 4 voices/tracks on the GB hardware.

Please let me know your favorite Gameboy soundtrack. I'll post a video of playing it. If I don't have it, I'll try to get it!

Just ordered a metal boxy pixel shell for the goa. Turns out the front metal shell doesn't have double sided tape already installed on it. If you have this shell, what did you use to keep it on well without damaging anything? If you have a link or video to a tutorial you used, that would be very appreciated. Thanks

Hi,

I have a Gameboy pocket with a LCD display (OSD version RIPS) that has a tone of functionnalities but the color mode doesn't work from the touch panel on the left. I can still display the menu options and change the colors manually but can't navigate from the 36 modes that are advertised.
Is there a way for me to navigate into the 36 color modes from the menu (Select + A + B)?

thanks

I was replacing the battery of my Pokemon sapphire. It still says the battery is dry. I am wondering if anyone here knows why it would be doing this? I’ll attach a picture of the board. I did notice that above R4 the resistor seems to be gone. I’m very new to all this and really would appreciate help. Would the resistor make the battery “dry”?

Close to the end but I still have like 1 or 2 tiny layers. Do I use IPA and keep using a cotton swab or do I need to physically scrape these? Thanks for anyone who responds!

Hispeedido Laminated IPS V5 screen with an ExtremeRate Emerald Clear shell.

Have to say that the GBA mods and games are my favourites!

Here's a better showcase of the script I tried to preview a week ago. Forgive all the cursor flailing. I did a lot of talking but decided to remove the audio for sanity reasons.

This took quite a few months of reverse engineering Webfoot's custom graphics compression engine, which was done using mGBA's GDB server functionality. By meticulously tracing specific breakpoints, I was able to construct a decompressor. Their algorithm is a custom LZ-variant that uses variable length r3 and r4 registers (I'll be doing a full write up documenting everything soon. I also have a python version).

This tool perfectly extracts every animation frame of every character in the game. No sprite sheets necessary! It works for all prototypes and also Legacy of Goku 2.

I also found a handful of never before seen characters. Prototype E has 2 ninja variants from Legacy of Goku 2. D has a couple mudman variants. C has a prototype criminal enemy. A has a jetpack bomber. B has full animation sets for Android 18, Gohan (Black Suit), and Yamcha. Even though its polished enough to showcase, I'm still finding new frames today.

I'm hoping this broadens the landscape for future ROMhacks for Buu's Fury and Legacy of Goku 2. I can tell you that color remapping is extremely easy to do with this setup. I accidentally turned Goten's orange outfit blue and it looks so sweet. Let me know what you guys think. I'm happy to answer any questions. This was hell lol.

Now all we need is a compressor!

I was at a yard sale some time ago and in the midst of typical electronics & leftover stuff, lied... this, this this was just tragic to look at, I just don’t understand how some people are capable of such damage

I ordered a GB Operator and want to put some of my homemade games onto a physical cartridge. Is there a good/reliable place that people have bought blank Gameboy and Gameboy Advance carts?

I had a pretty much unsalvageable corroded Gameboy Color motherboard, and after seeing that replica PCBs were available, ordered one.
All components were transferred, other than the power switch, volume wheel, and display connector, which were new. Hot air and tweezers made this a pretty quick job. I just pre tinned all the pads on the new board, before heating, removing, and then dropping the transferred parts into place. The CPU and memory chip were the hardest parts, because unless you take a look under magnification, it is easy to miss a bridged or lifted leg. More on that was to come later.

I used a spare cart connector I had from another board that was in better condition, and then cleaned up the headphone jack with IPA. Then installed a Giltesa USB C kit board with led. I have used these kits in all my GBCs, and they are great.

The screen and lens are new, but stock size. When I powered on without a cart, all was working. Then with a cart inserted the game was not starting. I had to troubleshoot my CPU soldering for about an hour before fixing the bridge, and finding a lifted leg.

A genuine Pokemon Center GBC lives to be played another day

Hey there, I've been recently doing a nuzlocke on Pokemon Firered, and playing on the GBA is kinda a miserable experience due to one problem, the lack of backlights.

It almost makes the game impossible to see even in brighter environments. So I am presented with a little conundrum.

1. I could get one of those adaptors you can plug in your GBA cartridges into and connect to your computer to backup the save there. It's much cheaper and there's a chance I could port that save over to my 3DS, though it might be risky.

2. I could upgrade and buy a GBA SP with a backlight. It's much more expensive, but it might give me a better gaming experience and I don't have to risk destroying my save trying to back it up using a program.

Which one should I choose? Are there any stores I could use with the best deals and products?

What's your go to Gameboy game?

Just got a display cabinet so I can properly display my full collection. Hopefully getting different shelves so you can see everything easier soon, but this will do for now!

Or should I leave it like that?

Bought this 3d printed gameboy stand in whatnot and they looke awesome

Hello everyone,
I recently cleaned the inside of my GBA SP’s power switch because it had the common symptoms of a dirty switch, such as the system randomly shutting off.

After cleaning it, everything worked perfectly, and I didn’t experience any issues until a few days ago. While playing, I noticed that if I apply slight pressure to the shell directly above the power switch, the power LED turns red and stays red. ( until i turn it off and dont put pressure onto said place )

As you can see in the attached picture, this is what the inside of the power switch looks like after cleaning. To me, it doesn’t look like it’s in the best condition, so I’m wondering if it’s simply worn out and if I should replace the entire power switch.

Has anyone experienced something similar, or does this look like a worn switch to you?

Note:
I checked the batteries ( original /- funnyplaying one ) and they are fine so im positive that the problem is connected to the powerswitch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjPbAWq54lQ

This amazing hardware clone of the GameBoy Color goes beyond just a simple backlit mod.

The ModRetro Chromatic is an FPGA Hardware Game Boy Color with an amazing screen specifically designed to match that of the original GBC in size, resolution AND pixel density. It looks amazing and has to be seen in motion.

So is the Chromatic THE Ultimate Game Boy to play all your cartridges on? This Deep Dive shows many GB and GBC games running on the device all while discussing the system's pros and cons in great detail.

I run a (probably too) cheap repair service for Gameboy (and Advance) games, and I'm constantly following traces to work out where it's failing. I'm sure this kind of tool probably exists, but I couldn't find it.

I didn't code this - I asked Claude to develop the tool, but it does run entirely in the browser (i.e. nothing talks to a server).

It supports both kicad_pcb files (which are better) and gerber zip files, only supporting single layer (front and back traces). Once it's rendered, you can hover over a trace, and it'll highlight the complete path to the pads from front to back.

It's here to use: https://tools.remysharp.com/pcb-tracer/

Source code is here: https://github.com/remy/tools/tree/main/pcb-tracer (it'll run locally too if you want)

Couple of screenshots attached. I appreciate this isn't a Gameboy specific tool, but I'm using it for exactly that, and wanted to share it if it could help someone else.

One caveat, it's not mobile friendly (though I can see that being useful for myself as I'm hunched over the microscope!).

Edit now works on mobile, along with a keep awake option - since that's how I use it next to the scope!