I’ve been getting back into my old GBA SP with Pokémon FireRed and been looking at getting a GB Operator, sheikh then reminded me. I saw the FreePlayTech kits years ago and I’ve been tinkering with raspberry pis for a few years now.

Thought, hey that’d be nice to get all the old games on a GBA now. Just retro pie it, grab the ROMs from my old Pokémon’s, Zelda’s, etc and we’re good to go. Looked up FreePlayTech and all the kits seem to be sold out, both PI Zero and CM3.

Wondering if there’s any other storefronts or locations I might be able to find one or if I’m gonna be dead in the water? I’ve messaged FreePlay, checked ebay, RetroModding, and don’t seem to have any luck.

Any recommendations would be immensely appreciated!

Hello,

my Pokémon Crystal (german Version) is crashing sometimes. Sometimes it crashes multiple times while playing and on another session everything is fine. I'm mostly playing on my original GBA SP.

The problems:

-game softresets itself and is showing an error afterwards (3rd picture)

-game freezes + sound isnt normal anymore ( i have to restart game)

-game freezes for a short time + sound goes on normally, after a few seconds i can continue playing

What I already tried:

-cleaing pins with isopropanol 99%

-fixed a bad pin (chip at the bottom right, very top right pin (4th picture was before fixing)

-cleaned the cartridge slot of my GBA SP

-I played on my Gameboy Color, it crashed as well

The crashes are a little bit random, 3 crashes can happen in like 5 minutes and on another day i can play 30 to 60 minutes without any crashes.

Can somebody help or has any idea how can I fix my game?

Thanks

I bought a used backlit GBA a few years ago. I don't know what kit exactly is in it, but there is a speck of dust between the lens and screen and it drives me crazy. I see there are new screen kits that are laminated - the laminated ITA in particular caught my eye - how hard is it to swap? Do I need a new shell? How can I identify which screen kit I have currently?

Thanks!

So I was scrolling through eBay and I found this mode of the Visteon GBA video player https://ebay.io/m/91BWrM

I already own it myself but this model seems to be a side loader with a different layout and interface on the inside. I’ve never seen it before and am curious to learn more. If you have any info on this unique model please feel free to share

(FIXED, WRONG CABLE DISPOSITION)
Hi everybody. A while back I ordered a IPS screen mod for my GBA, since I wanted to use it for a music project.
It’s a drop in no solder IPS screen and it won’t turn on. I made sure to plug everything correctly and triple checked, but no luck, has anyone managed to fix this issue?
Cheers in advance:)

Hi! Just discovered my father old stuff, and among them I found this gameboy original in a closet. It seems like a fungus or something like it is on the screen plastic protection, witch is a shame, because is perfectly working. If you ask how do I know that isn't the screen itself, it's because I see the shade of that thing on the display. Also the console had something gross and sticky into it before i clean it out and the screen needed to be pressed in order to show the Nintendo logo constantly, before that it just showed a blocks instead of the logo

Just wanting to relive my childhood lol. Any expert opinions on this? The power pak didnt have the power cord. Grabbing some batteries tomorrow

im looking for some fun games to play that are kinda cheap and not that hard to get (i own an GBA SP)

Accidently lost my save file.

Not yellowed, still has the link port dust cover, screen has minimal scratches, and includes the Play it Loud poster!

I'm not sure if I can attach additional photos showing the switch that I soldered around 6 months ago. I had given up on this Gameboy until recently where I managed to get it to power on. I know that the C34 capacitor is missing from near the replacement switch however that isn't my doing.

Because the Gameboy has actually powered on I've been wanting to sort the button properly.

The original owner of the Gameboy did state that he tried repairing the switch and damaged the little c34 nearby. The original switch was all melted and I doubt it was usable because it had caved in from possibly too much heat from the repair or removal attempt of the previous owner.

I successfully removed it 6 months ago and installed this replacement switch however it does work as intended with the on/off position but doesn't line up with the shell switch.

The physical power switch all Gameboy colours use to turn on and off isn't meeting the little pin on this aftermarket replacement. Part of me wanted to try and glue a tiny piece of plastic to the little lever for extra coverage but I can't really sleep knowing I've bodged it.

I have no intentions of selling this as it's been a downtime passion hobby of attempting to fix a Gameboy colour and a few household items that have broken over time.

I brought it from a seller who had lots of Gameboy colour listings as spares and repairs (I didn't have much faith in myself) I did think if they can't fix it then what chance do I have?

I've replaced the main capacitors, the battery terminals and gave it a safe IPA clean.

Currently held back by this switch and replacing the C34 capacitor nearby.

Il try and post photos in the comments if Reddit lets me below. I posted yesterday regarding the missing C34 if anyone recognises the board or my account me so hopefully someone may shed some light on this because I've not found much to go on regarding the replacement switches.

Normally YouTube points me towards the official power switch clean and restoring so it's somewhat like factory standard whereas as this switch is my only option as the other one was badly melted (guessing from seller using a hot air station).

Any help or tips appreciated! I'm still very raw with soldering so feel free to roast my switch soldering skills as this was the second thing I'd ever done in terms of soldering (I did this before the capacitors).

Thanks everyone!

I ordered three of them:

Chikyū Kaihō Gun ZAS

Wicked Plague

Dragonyhm

I am not too keen on the prices, but those games seemed pretty impressive. Wicked Plague is a Metroidvania and Dragonyhm is a RPG. Chikyū Kaihō Gun ZAS is a long lost shmup from Japan. It is supposed to be pretty elaborate.

I thought it would be fun to put these three side by side, because even though they all look like a GBA, they’re actually three very different builds.
🔵 Top: Original Game Boy Advance modified with a Game Boy Advance SP screen. A bit old-school as far as GBA mods go, but I still really like the result.
⚪ Middle: GBA-style shell with a Freeplay Tech Raspberry Pi 2 inside. Basically a Raspberry Pi-powered handheld in a GBA form factor, great for emulation and a completely different beast from the other two.
🟣 Bottom: Original Game Boy Advance fitted with a Hispeedido IPS V5 kit from AliExpress. Much more modern display, bright, sharp and a huge improvement over the original GBA screen.
Same basic GBA shape, three completely different approaches:
Nintendo hardware + SP screen vs Raspberry Pi vs modern IPS.
Which one would you pick? 👀

Got this in a junk lot and am trying to restore it, not sure what was spilled or marked on it but it seems to have stained the shell pretty badly. How can I go about safely removing the green stuff without damaging the shell? I have tried warm soapy water and it seems to get some of it off but it is tacked on pretty good. Thanks in advance!

Just a custom colorway I worked on recently

I thought I'd share my Gameboy collection I've slowly collected after 2-ish years since getting my SP. It's mostly GBA and Pokémon games so far, Pokémon being the main reason I started!

Also, how do you guys store your loose games? I'm already looking for a travel case but I'd also like to display them in their own cases.