After 14 years of craning our necks and clipping on mild attachments, we received our first light-up Sport Boy in 2003 when Nintendo launched the Sport Boy Advance SP. This clamshell gadget packed a front-lit display screen at first, and in later revisions labeled AGS-101, the Sport Boy’s first backlit LCD. It was a revelation.
So, in fact, Nintendo modders received busy determining a solution to get that backlit show into older fashions. This was the primary transformational mod within the console’s historical past, because it modernized the older Sport Boys in a approach that made them extra playable and, in essence, introduced the aged tech again to life.
Whereas the show contained in the AGS-101 had shallow viewing angles and less-than-vivid colours, it was the most suitable choice for the modders to make use of; given the odd form of the outlet for the display screen within the Sport Boy’s plastic physique, there have been solely a restricted variety of aftermarket screens that may very well be slotted into the system. And utilizing adhesive movies or optical glue so as to add a light-weight to non-illuminated screens had confirmed to be hit-or-miss; one early firm that offered such a package referred to as Afterburner netted both spectacular results or ugly outcomes, relying on the ability of the installer.
“I imply, it was good for some time when the AGS-101 screens had been good and low-cost, like 30 bucks or so,” says modder Makho, who goes by Admiral_Butter_Crust on Reddit. As an fanatic, he is examined and catalogued most commercially accessible Sport Boy display screen kits on his YouTube channel, maintaining a notated and often up to date document on Reddit. “I suppose there was like a warehouse stuffed with AGS-101 screens. Sport Boy nerds purchased all of them, and inventory ran out.”
So, it was the tip of the street for the AGS-101 LCD. However the place there is a provide chain, there is a approach, and the Sport Boy modding neighborhood received cracking on potential options. Realizing the screens that they had been utilizing had been substandard and costly, the modders had been desperate to experiment. “Let’s attempt placing some newer, higher screens in there and see what occurs,” mentioned Makho.
Enter Ben Grimmett, who runs a boutique {hardware} store referred to as BennVenn that serves the Sport Boy hacking neighborhood. Grimmett’s store relied on the AGS-101 show for considered one of its merchandise, a ribbon cable that tailored the show to be used within the older Sport Boy Shade. The Sport Boy Shade set up “was sophisticated and required a good diploma of dexterity to change the shells to just accept an LCD virtually as broad because the console itself,” Grimmett says. Modders wanted to hack away on the plastic contained in the Sport Boy to suit the newer display screen inside, and even then, it was a good match that required shaving each doable millimeter from the hand held’s circuit board.
“A couple of months into releasing the Sport Boy Shade mod, we seen the costs of replica AGS-101 LCDs beginning to climb and unique AGS-101 consoles being destroyed for the LCD.” By means of his suppliers in China, Grimmett discovered a colour LCD display screen that was the proper form for the older Sport Boys with sq. screens. With a view to make it work, he needed to whip up an adapter cable to let the brand new show speak to the previous ‘Boys, and he had so as to add a custom-programmed chip that received the brand new display screen completely in sync with the console’s circuit board.
After fine-tuning the design, Ben despatched an early package of the mod, dubbed Freckle Shack, to YouTuber KyleAwsm to debut on his channel.
“This LCD is out of a Palm Centro 690 or one thing like that. So, like, a 2009 smartphone,” mentioned Makho. These small TFT screens promote in bulk for a fraction of the price of those sourced from the AGS-101 consoles.
For the Sport Boy, Sport Boy Pocket, and Sport Boy Shade, makers like BennVenn, Midwest Embedded, McWill, and a bunch of no-brand on-line sellers all got here up with related adapters and cables. The brand new wave of conversion kits all appear to function the very same surplus Palm Centro show. A number of the kits even might be fitted right into a Sport Boy with none chopping or gluing, making the process extra accessible to avid gamers much less inclined to take a Dremel software to their beloved handheld.
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