Hacking a gameboy board

Much of these carts can be re-purposed or hacked. Where do we begin? We can take two approaches, the first being hardware based. This would involve reversing the PCB to generate a schematic or at the minimum a block diagram to see which lines are controlled by what. The second and somewhat simpler method is to reverse the software BootROM to identify which registers the programmable logic responds to and exactly what they do.

All GB carts must have the first bank accessible to the GB regardless of which mapper if any is used. The Gameboy begins executing this code after its own internal copyright check and this is where we begin the disassembly of the code. Reading the header from the cart suggest a ROM size of kbytes so this is what we dump with Joey. Likely an artifact of the mapper. Video after the break. The wireless controllers even pop off the sides so you can kick back on the couch and enjoy your big-screen gaming from a distance.

There was already a video-out mod kit on the market for the GBA SP that would let them play games on the TV, but the team still had to figure out how to make a dock for the 18 year old handheld, plus get it working with the official Switch Joy-Cons.

Last month they took the wraps off of an expanded 3D printed rear panel for the system that housed a number of upgrades, such as an expanded battery pack and support for Bluetooth audio. At the end of the video [Tito] goes over a few of the rough edges of the current build, including the rather lengthy pairing process to get the Joy-Cons talking to the Raspberry Pi.

But ultimately, he says that not only does the system feel good in his hands, but playing those classic games on the big screen has been a nice change of pace. The trick to making this considerable upgrade a bit more forgiving is the use of a bespoke flat flex cable that easily allows the user to solder up all the necessary test points and connections, as well as a custom PCB that pulls together all the hardware required. Some may be put off by the fact that the replacement rear panel is even thicker this time around, but hopefully the unprecedented runtime made possible by the monstrous 4, mAh LiPo battery pack hiding inside the retrofit unit will help ease any discomfort physical or otherwise you may have from carrying around the chunkier case.

Even with power-hungry accouterments like an aftermarket IPS display and a flash cart, the new battery can keep your SP running for nearly 20 hours. According to [Tito], the logistical challenges and considerable upfront costs involved in getting the new rear panels injection molded in ABS is the major roadblock holding the release of the kit back right now.

Starting with a working Game Boy Advance and a donor one with a busted motherboard, the frankenstein-ification could start. A Dremel split one case in half and removed the sides on another, while trusty old car body filler helps fill and smooth the gaps. A particularly clever trick is to use the Dremel to create channels for the filler to adhere easier.

Several areas had to be built up with filler and glued in bits of plastic as a base. As you can see in the video below, the countless hours of sanding, priming, sanding, and more priming led to a beautifully smooth finish. The choice of purple paint really sells the impression of a factory-fresh Game Boy Advance. The working circuit board was desoldered and the donor board was cut into pieces to fit in the extended sides. Using some magnet wire, connections were bridged over to the original motherboard via the test points on the PCB.

The goal is to get the user to wonder, even if just for a second, what if Nintendo just happened to make this wide one-off handheld console. The choice of purple paint really sells the impression of a factory-fresh Game Boy Advance. The working circuit board was desoldered and the donor board was cut into pieces to fit in the extended sides.

Using some magnet wire, connections were bridged over to the original motherboard via the test points on the PCB. The goal is to get the user to wonder, even if just for a second, what if Nintendo just happened to make this wide one-off handheld console. Is it a hack? Is it art? Probably a little bit of both. Light has always been a key part of the classic Game Boy experience. Some of us have fond memories of riding along in the back seat of a car at night, pausing and unpausing the game as the street lights overhead briefly give enough light to see the unlit display.

As part of their examination into energy production, the [Houston Museum of Natural Science] set out to see if they could improve things by adding a solar panel to the back of a Game Boy Pocket that had already been modified with an IPS display.

The Pocket version of the Game Boy was selected as it has a nice flat back that made it easy to attach a solar panel, and in fact the panel sourced for this mod is so well dimensioned, it almost looks like the device came that way. The solar panel is then affixed over the back with super glue. A diode is soldered onto the solar cell, and then wired into a charge controller that came with USB-C input.

The placement of the charge controller ended up being trickier than expected, but with a little hot glue, it works just fine. Overall this is a simple mod but a brilliant idea. The game is, of course, the popular blue edition of Pokemon. While this emulator could play other GameBoy games, the way it was implemented was to support only the opcodes and features that Pokemon Blue used. There is also an obfuscated version that comes in at just 68 lines and in the shape of three Pokeballs.

All the code for pokegb can be found on GitHub. We love the idea of implementing each opcode one by one and gradually seeing the emulator make it farther and farther through the ROM.