BittBoy - Begging For A Pi Zero W?

fras3r_mc

@celly
Should i post some teardown photos of the new bittboy?

celly

fras3r_mc

@celly
Here they are ask for any more if you want i didnt want to try and take the screen out because it looked tedious

fras3r_mc

@celly
Hope the teardown photos are good enough and i had never linked something before so im not sure whether the link works

mediamogul

@fras3r_mc said in BittBoy - Begging For A Pi Zero W?:

im not sure whether the link works

It does indeed. Thanks for posting. I was curious exactly how the Dpad works, as it's a little stiff on the diagonals. Your pics clear it up.

A Former User

Wouldn't a Gameboy Zero kit, be a better option ? I realise this would be more than double the price of a bitboy, but I suspect it will also be double the quality. The screen has a great resolution for retro gaming, 320x240. So most systems would look great on such a screen.

mediamogul

@John_RM_70

There's quite a few better options for a portable project. Personally, I think the new Bittboy's main strength is in leaving it as is for quick and dirty retro-gaming that doesn't require any maintenance. However, once they styled it so close to the original Game Boy, it was always going to be a prime target for modding. Even with all of the device's technical shortcomings, the aesthetics and build quality really are surprisingly nice.

A Former User

@mediamogul But why mod something that is limited from the start ? The Gameboy zero is only limited by the Pi Zero, and when finished it looks like a professional product. It's also designed for a Pi, while the Bitboy isn't.

mediamogul

@John_RM_70 said in BittBoy - Begging For A Pi Zero W?:

But why mod something that is limited from the start ?

I imagine it would mostly be for the challenge. Hardware modding isn't really my thing personally, but I can definitely see the appeal. Here for example, solving the particular problems involved would likely be very satisfying when complete and you'd be left with a nice little portable that could easily be mistaken for a first party Nintendo device.

fras3r_mc

@mediamogul
Yeah thats the reason i chose it but i havent got of the ground yet i did some measurements and a pi zero w would fit both ways

fras3r_mc

@mediamogul
Do you think you would have to scrap the old pcb in order to do this?

celly

Well heres a little something @fras3r_mc might be interested in. I recently purchased one of the New Bittboys. The stock rom is pretty cool, I only had a few gripes. The other day, after many failed attempts, (@obsidianspider knows whats I’m talking about)I installed the new CFW. Let me tell you, the custom firmware for it, its amazing. I would never have guessed this little thing was capable of running some of these emulators. Albeit, some games it struggles on (Mario Kart SNES for example) but holy moly! This is my new daily driver. It plays GBA buttery smooth (all the games that I’ve tried at least). Incredible!

celly

@mediamogul I ran out of photo space on the previous post. This ones for you.

mediamogul

@celly

Very nice! I have a v1 myself, so I'll have to do a bit of soldering for this, but it definitely looks worth the effort. Then again, I may just buy a v2. I'm still training off and on in NES 'Tetris'. I went back to the drawing board with some new building strats and while I still haven't cracked 400K yet, I can reliably break 100K on most attempts and 200-300K+ somewhat frequently. The new play style and the speed in higher levels tops me out fairly fast at the moment, but I figure once it becomes routine, 400K+ won't be far behind. Again, those pics are great. Be sure to post back if you can as things progress. It's really nice to see this little guy getting some love.