Game-Boy on Pimp my retro handheld

Modded Game Boy Pocket : IPS + backlit buttons + Lipo

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 22:19:40 +0000

The Game Boy Pocket is my favourite model. I already modded one with backlight and bivert. This considerably enhance the display and the gaming experience. However it is still a passive dot matrix screen which makes fast action game difficult to play (eg. Donkey kong land, Super Mario land). Fortunately there is a nice solution : IPS display ! So I deciced to use such a screen on another game Boy Pocket and as the model I took was an ugly green one, I also decided to enhance it futher more : new shell, translucent backlit buttons and lipo battery.

Game Boy Color : IPS display and new shell

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 18:37:08 +0000

The Game Boy Color is a pretty good portable console with some funny games (e.g. Wario land 3, Motoross maniac 2). Unlike others handhelds, the screen has not a big ghosting effect like the Sega Game Gear or the Atari Lynx. But even if the Game Boy Color’s display is brighter than the one found on the Game Boy Advance, it is not always easy to see as it is not backlit. In addition, over the time the console may have been scratched and often lacks its battery cover. Chance is that we can easily find custom replacement shell and backlit IPS display.

2 X Game Boy advance IPS + new shell

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 20:39:57 +0000

Two Game Boy Advance projects combining IPS screen upgrades with replacement shells, including the fitting work needed for each console.

Backlit Game Boy Pocket : what about battery life ?

Sun, 19 Sep 2021 13:07:21 +0000

I’m pretty happy with my Backlit+Bivert Game Boy pocket. After several hours playing with it, I was surprised by the battery life. The Game Boy pocket is known to runs out of juice faster than the others Game Boy models, because it uses AAA batteries (typically 750 / 800 mAh) instead of AA batteries (typically 2200 / 2500 mAh).

Wikipedia says that the Original Game Boy Pocket last about 10 hours. Let’s check the real battery life of a backlit modded Game Boy Pocket !

Gameboy pocket : backlight + bivert

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 21:51:23 +0000

Even if you can now put an IPS screen on a Gameboy pocket, adding backlight (and bivert) is a cheaper solution and it’s still a good way to enhance the screen.
Adding backlight without bivert is quite acceptable on the Gameboy pocket, but you loose a lot of contrast. However, together with bivert mod, the screen become better than the original non-backlit screen… And this also accentuate a little bit the ghosting effect of vertical lines.