Game Boy Modding: A Beginner's Guide to Game Boy Mods, Collecting, History, and More!

Description

Game Boy Modding teaches you how to purchase, refurbish, mod, and customize Nintendo handheld consoles. The consoles are widely available and the customizations are affordable, requiring only limited tools and know-how. Retro consoles are seeing a resurgence of popularity worldwide, and king among these throwback devices is the Nintendo Game Boy, which sold over 100 million units in its lifetime and introduced gamers to Mario and Pokemon. These consoles emanate pixelated 8-bit retro charm, but lack the modern technological enhancements that we take for granted in 2020. You'll learn basic soldering and hardware modification techniques; how to change speakers, buttons, and screen lenses; how to fix dead speakers and sticky buttons; and how to personalize your Game Boy to your heart's content. Cover i Half cover iii Copyright page iv About page v Brief Table of Contents vii Acknowledgements xiii Retro Modding xv Part One: Background 1 1 Intro to Modding and the History of Game Boy 3 Consoles I’ve Owned 7 Using This Book 12 A Brief History of the Game Boy 16 2 Tools, Techniques, and Repair 29 Modding Tools 30 Quick and Easy Soldering 36 Cleaning and Fixing Common Issues 39 General Cleaning 41 Changing the Speaker 46 Corrosion 47 Replacing Battery Contacts 50 Yellowing 51 Scratched Screen 52 Power Supply 53 Fixing Vertical Screen Lines 56 Horizontal Screen Lines 60 “Won’t Turn On” 61 Screen Burn 62 “Screen Cancer” 62 Cracked LCD 63 Game Boy Graveyard 64 Part Two: Mods 67 3 Game Boy DMG : “The Brick” 69 Tools and Materials 70 Opening the Game Boy 72 Removing the Polarizer 74 Installing the Bivert Module 78 Prepping the Backlight 82 Newton Rings 85 Putting It All Back Together 86 Adhering the Lens 88 Troubleshooting 89 Meet a Modder! Jaqueline Ruther (@mizucatofficial) 90 4 Game Boy Color 95 Tools and Materials 96 Color Code Key 98 Light Panels 100 Opening the GBC 102 LOCA 104 Wiring the Screen 110 Finishing Up 111 Spidering 113 Troubleshooting 115 Drop-In Backlight Mods 116 5 Get the Look! Customizing Your Game Boy 119 Customizing Your Game Boy Console 120 Painting Your Shell 127 Colored Power LED 134 Colored Backlights 137 Meet a Modder! Owen Liza Winter (@aspirationmods) 138 6 Game Boy Pocket 143 Tools and Materials 144 Opening the Game Boy 146 Preparing the LCD 148 Prepping the Backlight 150 Biverting the Pocket 151 Soldering the Light Panel 153 Finishing Up 154 Troubleshooting 155 Five-Volt Boost 156 7 Game Boy Advance 157 Tools and Materials 158 What We’ll Use 161 Opening the Game Boy Advance 163 Trimming the Shell 166 Installing the LCD Screen 168 Troubleshooting 172 IPS GBA Screen Mod 173 Meet a Modder! Sean Duran (@esotericmods) 174 8 Collector’s Guide 179 Q: What Is the “Holy Grail” of Your Collection? 180 Retro Gaming Publications 182 Terminology 184 Tips for Collecting 185 Games 186 Label Art 188 Storage 189 Spotting Fake Game Paks 190 Cleaning 192 Accessories 193 Game Boy Variants and Box Art 200 Pokemon Mini: Hunting My Holy Grail 206 9 Pokemon Mini 213 Tools and Materials 214 Opening the Mini 216 Preparing the Screen 219 Preparing the Backlight 220 Soldering the Backlight 222 Troubleshooting 225 10 Conclusion 227 An Ever-Expanding World 228 Resources 230 Photo Credits 232 Index 233 Back Cover 241