SuperGameBoy in an NES cartridge!

Show off your completed projects, announce your hacking progress, or discuss upcoming events.

Moderator:Moderators

User avatar
Seaniccus
Posts:85
Joined:Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:33 pm
Location:San Jose, CA
SuperGameBoy in an NES cartridge!

Post by Seaniccus » Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:16 pm

Recently I've been hankering for some old gameboy games, so I went down to my local used game shop and picked up a Super-Game Boy. There was only one problem: I have a Japanese SNES, a Super Famicom, and American cartridges don't fit:

Image

The bottom of the cartridge is the wrong size:
Image


Normally I solve this problem with something called a "super adaptor," all it really does is run the cartridge through a long circuit board designed to fit in the super famicom.

Image

Normally this works great, but for some reason, doing this with a SuperGameBoy seems to produce graphical glitches - scanlines and garbage.

Image


Image

This was pretty annoying. It took me awhile to figure out it was the presence of the super adapter, and i'm still not sure why it happened. I cleaned it thoroughly, I tested the pin connections with a multimeter, everything seemed fine. It SHOULD have worked, but it didn't. Eventually I took the Super Game Boy out of the plastic case and plugged it into the Super Famicom directly, and it worked perfectly!
I could have continued to use it like that, but I like to have my games protected by something when i'm not using them - and best way to do that is to have it in some sort of case - so I decided to make a new one.

Image

Now my Super-Gameboy is in the remains of an old NES GOLF cartridge. I had to shave part of the circuit board down and it just BARELY fits, but it works. Pushing the cartridge into the system takes a little force, but it's not bad. I might have to modify it further, i'm not sure where the resistance is, but it's no big deal, once you learn the quirk it's easy to take the cartridge in and out. The eject button does not work with this cartridge.

Best of all, it still works - with clear graphics!

Image

Image

Here are some shots of it outside of the system:

Image

Image

It's pretty roomy in there. The SGB circuit board is pretty small. Because it's made out of an NES cartridge, i'm afraid I might get it mixed up with my nes games. If you are nuts like me and you decide to do this, make sure you don't cram it into the wrong system.

Image

User avatar
CronoTriggerfan
Moderator
Posts:4131
Joined:Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:07 pm
Location:University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Contact:

Post by CronoTriggerfan » Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:58 pm

Heh, nice, good quick fix. Though if you ever decide to upgrade it, you should throw it in an old Super Famicom cart. Now that would be truly epic! :P
Image

User avatar
Seaniccus
Posts:85
Joined:Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:33 pm
Location:San Jose, CA

Post by Seaniccus » Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:02 pm

CronoTriggerfan wrote:Heh, nice, good quick fix. Though if you ever decide to upgrade it, you should throw it in an old Super Famicom cart. Now that would be truly epic! :P
I really wanted to, but the only Super famicom game i have a double of is secret of mana 2 (JP, just secret of mana here,) and I don't really want to destroy it.

User avatar
Sun-Wukong
Posts:225
Joined:Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:58 pm

Post by Sun-Wukong » Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:50 pm

Pretty sweet. One question though, what NES game did you use for it?
Chapel wrote:Ah shucks, I was really hoping to make an SNES encased in a 19 pound glob of hotglue and duct tape. :lol:

User avatar
Seaniccus
Posts:85
Joined:Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:33 pm
Location:San Jose, CA

Post by Seaniccus » Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:14 pm

An old black-label GOLF cartridge. I felt a little bad because it's one of the classic "black-label" designs, but it was the only game the shop had that was .99 except duck hunt - and I didn't want to destroy a "duck hunt only" cart because the novelty of it. I didn't feel bad about destroying a golf because I already had a famicom copy of it.

User avatar
Seaniccus
Posts:85
Joined:Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:33 pm
Location:San Jose, CA

Post by Seaniccus » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:56 am

Wait, why was this moved? I figured because it was a super-game boy project it would be appropriate for the super-nintendo forum.

User avatar
CronoTriggerfan
Moderator
Posts:4131
Joined:Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:07 pm
Location:University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Contact:

Post by CronoTriggerfan » Mon Sep 01, 2008 2:21 am

Seaniccus wrote:Wait, why was this moved? I figured because it was a super-game boy project it would be appropriate for the super-nintendo forum.
Eh, it could go either place, really, but News is dedicated to completed projects, which this is. You'd get more attention here, too, so all's not bad. :P
Image

User avatar
khaag
Senior Member
Posts:2261
Joined:Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:54 pm
Location:C eh N eh D eh
Contact:

Post by khaag » Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:46 pm

That's ghetto as balls, but I like it. Cheap, easy, and efficient. Good job.
[url=http://thekevbot.com]Portfolio[/url]
[url=http://twitter.com/thekevbot]Twitter[/url]
[url=http://blog.thekevbot.com]Blog[/url]

User avatar
Seaniccus
Posts:85
Joined:Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:33 pm
Location:San Jose, CA

Post by Seaniccus » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:34 pm

CronoTriggerfan wrote:
Seaniccus wrote:Wait, why was this moved? I figured because it was a super-game boy project it would be appropriate for the super-nintendo forum.
Eh, it could go either place, really, but News is dedicated to completed projects, which this is. You'd get more attention here, too, so all's not bad. :P
Makes sense. I was just surprised because I had never had at topic moved before.
khaag wrote:That's ghetto as balls, but I like it. Cheap, easy, and efficient. Good job.
dude, everything I make is ghetto as balls.

User avatar
khaag
Senior Member
Posts:2261
Joined:Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:54 pm
Location:C eh N eh D eh
Contact:

Post by khaag » Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:11 pm

T'was a compliment ;)
[url=http://thekevbot.com]Portfolio[/url]
[url=http://twitter.com/thekevbot]Twitter[/url]
[url=http://blog.thekevbot.com]Blog[/url]

User avatar
Seaniccus
Posts:85
Joined:Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:33 pm
Location:San Jose, CA

Post by Seaniccus » Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:53 pm

khaag wrote:T'was a compliment ;)
Oh, sorry. I knew that, i didn't mean to make it sound like i was upset. Ugly is just my style, man.

User avatar
khaag
Senior Member
Posts:2261
Joined:Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:54 pm
Location:C eh N eh D eh
Contact:

Post by khaag » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:50 pm

Hey, why change a formula that isn't broken right? :wink:
[url=http://thekevbot.com]Portfolio[/url]
[url=http://twitter.com/thekevbot]Twitter[/url]
[url=http://blog.thekevbot.com]Blog[/url]

User avatar
Dr. KillGood
Senior Member
Posts:2209
Joined:Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:03 am
Location:Earth

Post by Dr. KillGood » Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:40 am

Can I has the super game boy shell? :D
Image

User avatar
Sharp Sapphire
Portablizer
Posts:415
Joined:Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:40 pm

Post by Sharp Sapphire » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:08 pm

Dr. KillGood wrote:Can I has the super game boy shell? :D
...you can always count on dr killgood to ask for the freebies.
Things I need to purchase for my NES Laptop:
1X PSone screen
6X 1.2v 3500mAh sub-C's
1X 1/8'' to RCA stereo Adapater
1X Radioshack repair kit

..yeaaaaah...

User avatar
64M320N3
Posts:790
Joined:Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:27 pm
Location:Ft. Collins

Re: SuperGameBoy in an NES cartridge!

Post by 64M320N3 » Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:25 pm

Poor NES Golf nobody likes it :cry: .
Oh well, good work. It least you use the thing unlike my billions of freinds who sold theirs on ebay. How tight of a fit is it really?
If it's bad, then i'd just move it to an SNES case, but if you like it that's cool. Have fun with Metriod!
Making stuff with my new beautiful CNC machine!
Would you like a professional looking custom case for your portable? I may be able to help you. Check out this link:
http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=32724

Post Reply