I have long considered doing some custom modding of older GameBoys, and recently I attended a small retro console fair here in Denmark. There, I purchased an old GameBoy Advance with a Pokémon Sapphire game.
The GameBoy advance running the included game.
The plan
My general plan was to upgrade to a backlit screen and add USB-C charging and a battery to the console. Due to the condition of the console, I also decided to change the shell of the GameBoy. I opted for parts from funnyplaying as it was possible to get a shell and laminated IPS screen that didn’t require modifying the shell for the screen to fit.
Due to the selected parts, the amount of work to put the modded GameBoy together was minimal. It only took a short Friday afternoon after work. The most complicated part was the soldering needed for the new display overlay controls, which consisted of three wires that allowed the overlay to be controlled with the GBA buttons instead of the touch sensor built into the screen.
The wires soldered to the new display PCB.
The wires soldered to the GBA PCB.
After that, it was mostly a matter of putting the parts in the right spots and screwing everything together.
The assembled internals
The results<\h3> Once the back shell was screwed down, I was left with a fully modded GameBoy Advance.
The finished product show the pokemon sapphire start screen.
And it glows!
The finished product show the pokemon sapphire start screen.
