Game Boy Color mod idea

benol · Post by **benol** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:23 pm

I ordered a free sample case and thought of this awesome, yet simple GBC mod. A GBC that is landscape instead of portrait. How possible is this, and how easy would it be for someone like me with no experience in the field?

Some other questions:

1. If I replace the buttons, what should I replace them with? (NES controller buttons are too cliche)

2. Should I keep the IR and EXT ports? If so, where should I put them?

3. Should the game stick out a la GBC games on a GBA, or should they go all the way in?

4. What should I name it? LandscapeBoy Color sounds stupid, and so does GameBoy Color Advance.

Post by **Skyone** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:38 pm

Yes it's very possible. I'd like to see you try, anyways.

RezCrimson · Post by **RezCrimson** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:25 pm

Make 'em go all the way in. Also, NES button's are pure classic. But if you insist on being origional, go with SNES buttons

benol · Post by **benol** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:32 pm

RezCrimson wrote:Make 'em go all the way in. Also, NES button's are pure classic. But if you insist on being origional, go with SNES buttons

I only have 1 SNES controller, and I don't want to take it apart. Maybe buttons from a broken Pelican XBOX controller I have.

dudex77 · Post by **dudex77** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:51 am

I think if you used all Nes buttons including the dpad it would turn out looking
quite nice.
Edit: crap, look at my post count, I don't think I can ever post again

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:18 am

The idea sounds neat. I'm wondering how you'll deal with the GBC mobo, though. If the GBC screen ribbon cable is long enough, you may be able to just turn the motherboard on its side, but I doubt that's the case. Unless you want your landscape portable to be extremely tall, you may just end up having to crop the motherboard in half, which is pretty much not doable, because of the multi-layer traces in the fiber of the board. If you're cool with a tall(er) landscape portable, though, this is easy; simply relocate the ports, slap on some controls, and you're good to go!

CTFan

benol · Post by **benol** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:02 pm

I understand all of you have a fetish for NES buttons, but that's not the case for me. I don't even own a NES or a NES controller. I want to do something original. (And I may use tact switches)

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:32 pm

benol wrote:I understand all of you have a fetish for NES buttons, but that's not the case for me. I don't even own a NES or a NES controller. I want to do something original. (And I may use tact switches)

Tact switches would no doubt be easiest, just solder the diagonal leads up to either side of the pad on the motherboard.

I think using the B and A buttons from the original Xbox controller is a neat idea, they look pretty cool. Perhaps even use the black/white buttons as start and select. However, I think you should use the d-pad from something else entirely. My vote goes to SNES, and even if you only have one controller, you should make note to grab up an el cheapo third party one with a larger d-pad. Trust me, it's worth it.

CTFan

benol · Post by **benol** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 1:08 pm

Actually, it's not the original or official controller I'm going to use. It's made by Pelican, and has a normal D-pad.

XPCportables · Post by **XPCportables** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:56 pm

CronoTriggerfan wrote:you may just end up having to crop the motherboard in half
CTFan

Nonsense, he could easily extend the ribbon cable if he was dedicated enough. Ben has done it on some of his portables so I don't see why benol couldn't do it with enough time and care.

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:20 pm

XPCportables wrote:
CronoTriggerfan wrote:you may just end up having to crop the motherboard in half
CTFan
Nonsense, he could easily extend the ribbon cable if he was dedicated enough. Ben has done it on some of his portables so I don't see why benol couldn't do it with enough time and care.

The LCD ribbon cable? The plastic one? Yeah, sure.

I suppose if he got several of them and became a surface-mount soldering God he could, but it's unlikely. There might be extenders for such a popular screen, though, and perhaps one of the replacement LCDs has a longer cable.

CTFan

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:52 am

awesome idea, I don't see why you're not just sticking to the original buttons though...

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:35 pm

Rather than hacking up controllers for buttons, try what I did for making buttons on my PDA project - you might like it! - costs next to nothing, and button tops can be whatever colour you want!

benol · Post by **benol** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:15 pm

I have scrapped this project. I realized it's not a very good first mod. What should I do instead? I need some good first mod ideas, preferably re-case ideas.

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:28 am

maybe get a TV tuner, and make a gameboy advance console