Gameboy Build

[AndersHP]

After enjoying my arcade build for a couple of years, whilst also using my Nintendo Switch more and more, I decided I needed a handheld addition to the retrogaming family.

Here's my photolog of my second retrogaming build: an (almost) original Gameboy!

I stumbled upon the Sudomod forum, and in here is truly some great handheld builds, some of which is getting pretty close to minor assembly/plug n’ play.

The Kiteretro Circuit Sword is one of them, and I must say, this board is like a piece of jewelry.

Having built-in arduino for controls, sound amplifier, wifi and a Raspberry Pi Compute 3 Module, this kit fits (almost) directly into an original Gameboy case. Teaming up with a childhood friend with a 3d printer at his disposal, getting this kit was a no-brainer.

First, testing the board. The screen is a 320x240 LCD, and battery is a 5200 mAh LiPo - should give around 10 hours of gaming between charges.

I needed to salvage 2 original defective Gameboys for this build, so that I had the original buttons on front, they just have a special deep burgundy color that the reproduced ones doesn’t quite match.

Assembling this kit into the original casing requires a bit of Dremeling and a little bit of soldering, but not much.

Since I always found the original Gameboy to be sexy as hell, I wanted the build to look as close to an original as possible. Only changes to the formfactor is 2 additional buttons on the front, 2 on the rear to mimic shoulder buttons, and the bigger screen. The screen protector glass looks as original as possible, same text “DOT MATRIX WITH STEREO SOUND” , and same grey color.

I attached a big heatsink onto the CM3 module, as this baby will be pretty closed in the end, with a cartridge fastened to the back. 3d-printed parts is partly hotglued/partly screwed into the original case. Hotglued the few wires here and there, to keep things just a bit tidy.

All set and all functional; my Gameboy build even has an analog volume controller on the side, so everything is as close to the original Gameboy as can be. The Link port is replaced with a USB port for connecting keyboards or such, microSD is where the contrast wheel used to be, and on the side is a USB-C port for charging the battery.

Please feel free to comment! Big thanks to Kiteretro for providing this kit, and remember to also check out the many other cool builds at Sudomod.com
Also a shout out to @fluffypillow for his Pegasus Frontend, which now supports small screens via the Micro theme :)

[mitu]

Look really nice, it looks like a work of love ! Enjoy your new GameBoy !

[AndersHP]

@mitu thanks - it definitely is!

[chubsta]

That is a beaut, definitely the most authentic looking build i have seen!

[MetalManTN]

@AndersHP that is beautiful! I've got a PiGrrl that my brother-in-law made for me while back. I recently upgraded it from the original Pi A to the RPi 3 A+ and the thing runs like a dream now. (For anyone interested, the Adafruit project link says the RPi 3 A+ is not compatible, but I assure you that it is. I have the pictures to prove it.)

[AndersHP]

@chubsta @MetalManTN
Aww, thanks guys! :)

[Clyde]

Breathtaking build. I admire your manual skills.

[AndersHP]

@Clyde
Thank you for the kind words :)