Building a BRAND NEW Game Boy Advance that's better than the original
Vložit
- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
- Use this link to SAVE $5 on your first order at PCBWay: pcbway.com/g/A311e7
FunnyPlaying recently released a brand new replacement motherboard for the Game Boy Advance. It features all new components only requiring you to transfer over the CPU and RAM chip from a donor console. This is a great product for not just enhancing the GBA console (has some cool tricks) but also as a means of preservation for the console! If your original GBA motherboard is damaged beyond repair (but the CPU and RAM are still good) you can prolong the life of the system by utilizing this motherboard!
SAVE 10% with Discount Code: TITO (Affiliate Links below)
► FunnyPlaying Motherboard: retrogamerepairshop.com/produ...
► FunnyPlaying Shell: retrogamerepairshop.com/produ...
► FunnyPlaying Laminated IPS Screen: retrogamerepairshop.com/produ...
► FunnyPlaying Buttons: retrogamerepairshop.com/produ...
► FunnyPlaying Membranes: retrogamerepairshop.com/colle...
► Hakko Pickup Tool (affiliate): amzn.to/49ygLJh
// Support Macho Nacho:
► PATREON: / machonachoproductions
► eBay STORE: www.ebay.com/usr/machonachovi...
► MERCH: machonachomerch.creator-sprin...
► WEBSITE: macho-nacho.com/
► JOIN our DISCORD Community: / discord
► AMAZON Store For Tools/Supplies I Use (Affiliate): www.amazon.com/shop/machonacho...
// Follow Macho Nacho On Social Media
► Twitter: / machonachomedia
► Instagram: / machonachoproductions
► Facebook: / machonachoproductions
---
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:23 Modern Brand New GBA Build Parts
4:47 Brand New GBA Build Tutorial
11:13 Features
15:36 Pros and Cons
-----
// SAVE MONEY at these Retro Gaming Stores! (Affiliate Links Below):
► SAVE 10% by using COUPON CODE: TITO on any purchase from RETRO GAME: TITO on any purchase from RETRO GAME REPAIR SHOP here: retrogamerepairshop.com/?ref=...
► SAVE 5% by using COUPON CODE: MACHONACHO on any purchase from RETRO MODDING here: bit.ly/39hHnz7
► SAVE 10% by using COUPON CODE: TITO on any purchase from CASTLEMANIA Games here: castlemaniagames.com/?ref=tito
// TOOLS AND GEAR I Use For Video Game Console Modding (Soldering Equipment, Flux,
►All other stuff I use: www.amazon.com/shop/machonacho...
-----
// These stores provide fantastic GEAR and MODS for RETRO CONSOLES! If you use the following links below, I received a small percentage from sales at no cost to you. This is a great, free way to support the channel (Affiliate)!
○ Stone Age Gamer (Flash Carts and other great Retro Tech)
► stoneagegamer.com?afmc=MACHONACHO
○ eBay (Second Hand Retro Gaming Gear and More. It’s where I buy a lot of the consoles I mod!)
► ebay.us/NCwNkl
○ Sendico (Proxy Service to bid on Japanese Auctions. I use Sendico to get great deals on Retro Consoles directly from Japan!)
► www.sendico.com/register/2d5a...
-----
// Intro Music for Retro Renew Series by Matthew McCheskey:
► matthewmccheskey.bandcamp.com/
-----
Disclaimer: This video is only for entertainment purposes. Any injury, damage, or loss that may result from improper use of tools, equipment, or from the information in this video is the sole responsibility of the viewer and is to be used at the discretion of the end user/viewer and not Macho Nacho Productions or Tito Perez. If you are uncertain about any step of the process or feel unsure about your skill level, seek a more authoritative source.
Affiliate Disclosure: I get a small percentage of each sale that uses an affiliate link or coupon code. It’s a great way to help SUPPORT my channel at no cost to you so I can continue to make these videos for all of you, everyone wins! And as always, thank you for your continued support of my channel!
#FunnyPlaying #GameBoyAdvance #MachoNachoProductions - Hry
Now we just need someone to make those chips.
I don't think so... it has never been the case. FPGA is the only solution everyone uses to "mimic" the old chip architecture.
@@Mobik_ Wrong, you're forgetting about ASICs. There have been many 'lost' chips remade, although I don't think anyone has remade a chip from game consoles. There have been arcade/pinball chips remade. So it's very possible with Skywater and Tiny Tapeout, in the future someone will recreate video game chip(s).
@@ParabolicLabsthere’s many collectors that wish and will rally and protest and lobby against such things being recreated so they can keep their investments
@@kanesmith8271 Modders are not moronic collectors, someone gets their hands on the BP's, theyre getting remade at some point.
None of you claiming they can be remade are thinking about that they literally can't, because that's copyright infringement. Nintendo would pit up a stink as that's intellectual property of them. That's why the only way to emulate these chips is being done by FPGAs. (read end comment)
ohw man, I wish this was a fgpa like the gbc kit.
Exactly, even folks like me with vast electronics experience rather have a pre-assembled kit with a small FPGA or CPLD... My GBA is an older one with no backlight.
All that's left is a (hypothetical) replacement FP-GBA botherboard
Big time agree; when FP makes a kit for Advance like the GBC I will be all in. I don't have the parts to donate; if I had corroded Advances maybe this would make sense, but I would more readily buy net new
I think that, the way technology is evolving, an FPGA for the GBA (or an FPGBA, hah!) is a matter of when, not if. We just need to wait until a good soul releases it lol
It's not portable, but the MiSTer FPGA has a pretty solid GBA core.
Next step: manufacture our own Nintendo CPU and RAM chips... Somehow...?
After 21, years 3 generation of handheld console, 8 different machines, and 1 ips screen upgrade and 1 rebuild. I finally finish Metroid fusion.
Same Here 😂
Well, I have seen broken GBAs with the cpu and ram intact, the "broken" bits are other important stuff like the board or a massive amount of other components that would classify the GBA as "junk" , this kit is definitely a game changer, this would revive those ones I saw across the years.
I am definitely tempted to pick up a few GBAs to try.
Excellent video, and keep up the good work!!!
Always up for more GB videos.
Hey man, recently had my eyes opened to GB modding and upgrading, your vids have been so fun and informative to watch. I've recently found my old GBC in storage, and seeing these videos has me thinking if it'd be possible to re-shell any kind of GBA into a GBC shell, with modifications of course. Thanks for the awesome content, and keep up the amazing work.
Your video on the funny playing GBC kit inspired me to build my own custom one, if I had a GBA and the soldering skills I would definitely be trying this out also. I love how clear and easy to follow your videos are!
I really love your videos. They’re so detailed. Hoping to build a Gameboy like this one one day. Thanks for sharing
your videos are so well produced. It's pretty clear that there really is no compromise... ok , maybe one thing. When someone decides to binge watch your videos, hearing the same background tune kind of stands out.... but yeah, it is a very good one and checks all the boxes.
I've been watching the GBA modding scene grow over many years but it's astonishing that someone has even made brand new motherboards with extra features!
Great video as always Tito! Love your color selection, very Samus color scheme!!
Just ripped the big capacitor pad on a very good condition og gba recently, so kinda bummed I have to fix it or get it fixed now. This video reminded me that funnyplaying makes gba boards now, so while I might not have a near perfect oem gba anymore, I still have this really cool alternative to save the gba in future. Great video as always, tito.
Sorry to hear about your gba. thankfully we now we have the parts to repair them!
That big capacitor is a problem because I think they glue it down. You have to use a heat gun
@@ChewyChicken589 ye, i had 3 seperate dead GBAs, and all of them just needed the big one replaced. it was very frustrating to fix as my first soldering project
how about you give it to someone who actually knows their stuff to repair rather than killing it completely and takes it heart out?
@@user-yk1cw8im4h Thanks for your contribution, it was SO helpful.
Nice one, Tito. The metal buttons are pretty cool😎 It crazy how far they went with the adjustments you can do to the leds😮👍🏻✨️✨️✨️
Best way to start in the weekend! Thanks for the excellent videos you keep providing Tito !
The gba looks stunning - maybe I'll give it a try. Would be my first chip transfer and I am very curious how I handle it 😁
That makes me happy! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I wish FunnyPlaying would do a version of the board with no LEDs. If I bought one, I'd turn them off and then put it in a non-clear case. I'd rather not pay for them, and rather not have them potentially turn back on and drain the battery.
Couldn’t you just find the power point for them and unsolder? Should be a fairly simple and fast job if somebody finds the correct spot on the PCB
You can just turn them off and the board remembers your settings. I leave mine off most of the time and it's not really an issue. Also removing the LEDs woukd only save them like $1-$2 in production cost, doesn't really make sense to produce a separate board without LEDs.
lol how much do you think those LEDs add to the price exactly?
I wish they would make it take three buttons to activate the LEDs because those of us who like to play platformers like Donkey Kong Country have issues with this because we hold the B button to run and then tap A to jump which sets off the LED settings.
The board is already very inexpensive. It was on sale for $50 a few weeks ago
Dude I love your content so much its inspired me to make my own handhelds. Thank-you so much
Thank you 🙏That makes me so happy to hear!
Only one model is still left aside. Still wishing someone would start making good aluminum shells and parts for the Micro
I’d definitely be up for that. The micro is definitely underserved with regard to mods and parts. I still haven’t tried those replacement metal shells yet
It’s hard to even find decent quality non-OEM faceplates too :(
Just need to put a micro screen in a gba sp, then you can have the smaller screen, plus all the nice shells and such available for the sp :)
When we finally get an FPGBA console that isn't Analogue's I hope they also make a micro one
@@MachoNachoProductionsthe tolerances on all the ones I have tried is pretty bad. I would love a new brass or aluminum shell maybe with a full glass face plate
i love it, my only concern is that, since they made a new motherboard, why not include a second speaker? there are a tons of smaller ones that sounds good, and there's enough space on the left side anyway.. i would love a gba with stereo sound
As somebody that loathes the side-panned mono speakers of most old portables (and even several smartphones nowadays), I absolutely agree - I'm astonished at the fact that a stereo GBA mod is something no major modder has considered selling
Because then they’d have to start making a second series of shells in every single color variant that they already make that had a grill for the second speaker. Which is double the cost for a board that they don’t know if loads of people will buy or not. Everyone can likely swap a shell, not everyone can desolder and resolder 1” chips.
I agree, but I wonder what they would do with the Start and Select buttons. They'd need to stay put.
Watching you put in the shoulder buttons so easily makes mad lol. Because when I did a shell swap on my original GBA it took me 4 hrs, because the shoulder buttons kept popping out
It looks amazing!! Pretty cool hybrid.
so much advancement in these new PCBs, it's crazy!
Looks fantastic, seeing all the legs of a chip soldered fresh is always so satisfying, great job. HOw is the D-pad, that was always my problem with the OG GBA, it just felt mushy.
I remember the OG-gba being more comfortable, but the SP was hands down more responsive!
Great video! I hope Funny Playing will release a no solder FPGA GBA like they did with the GBC.
Oh man, Tito you totally beat me to it! I'm about halfway through a very similar project and looks like I now have some SERIOUS competition for the best Gameboy out there. Keep up the good work man!
You gonna make a wooden gba aren’t you 😂
atleast tito doesn't clickbait his titles lol
Watch him overclock it with a custom water cooled aluminum back.
Looks great!
Don’t forget to put the copper cooling on the battery 😊
👍The intro 360 degree look is sick 🔥
I bought this last year when it came out. This mod taught me how to solder. I hated soldering, and was hopelessly bad at it. I wanted one of these so bad that I decided to conquer my soldering woes once and for all. While waiting for the parts I practiced desoldering and soldering on a broken PC motherboard. When the time came to build the GBA, it worked first try! Now that I know how to solder I've gone down the rabbit hole of countless other projects that I was previously unable to do.
Btw, this mod was so fun I built 4 of them, sold 3, and kept one for myself.
I built the first one by removing the chipset from my dead GBA (after trying literally everything to save it), and the other 3 I just ordered the donar chipsets from HHL.
your work is art! im super impressed! well done!
Thanks for the link to that pickup tool!
You’re welcome!
I've built three GBAs with the replacement motherboard so far. It's such a nice upgrade. Great video covering the process!
This is great! I have a board that I ripped a few pads off of by accident. Now I can salvage the chips and rebuild that GBA
Nice! Another game boy saved 🙏
Awesome video tito. They really make good quality stuff
I would love to see a behind-the-scenes about how you do the product shot flyarounds during the intro (not the turntable identity part but like, the bit at 0:40)
Awesome mod, looks really clean with that mobo and clear shell.
I love getting notified of a new video from you Tito. They are always interesting and entertaining. Keep up the good work!
So happy you’re enjoying the channel 🙏 thank you for the kind words!!
Hey Tito I just love watching your videos, they inspired me to fix my old consoles and was able from watching your videos to learn how to solder really good! Thank you
if i made a handheld or even a console and saw people doing this 20 odd years later i would be so proud of the people behind it, its clear alot of work and care goes into keeping tech alive and its just awsome :D
Always happy to see products like this, great for preservation and while its not the easiest thing to do yourself, with some soldering practice irs definitely doable.
Now if only we could get an OLED screen for the GBA and GBA SP. I am loving mine on my GBC.
I did this mod recently, and it's become my favorite modded GameBoy. I think the biggest sell is that the audio is suuuper clean. My earbuds (ER4XR) are super sensitive to hissing and I couldn't use them *at all* with the original GBA motherboard. This upgraded motherboard has zero hissing whatsoever.
Love when I get a notification for one of your new videos 💪.... Awesome
Price, Tito. You need to make it a point to more actively consider price as a pro or a con in your pros and cons list more regularly. Price-to-quality is usually the biggest factor in whether people will get a thing or not.
I think there was only one thing missing: Bluetooth.
I'm from Brazil! Big Fan!!
It'd have been cool if they could figure out a way to make the LEDs match what's going on the screen (like those ambient backlights for TV's).
For me, the shape of the first Game Boy Advance is the best. It's a shame that this mod mainly looks like a Christmas tree. However, a much bigger screen and stereo speakers would have been beneficial for fans like me.
I love the shape of the first Gameboy Advance especially it's default indigo color. Nothing says 2001 to me like a rectangular indigo GBA, and an Indigo GameCube.
Kids these days want RGB in everything.
Why complain about LEDs when you can just turn them off?
@@hornymonk23 The led on this Game Boy Advance is like putting a red nose on the Mona Lisa.
@@mindustrial The Game Boy Advance is too serious to be used by kids... I'm joking, of course.
All this needs to be just right is two upgraded speakers in stereo, I would mind the speakers with extra thickness with their own larger encloser's to give the GBA better audio, 2 3watt speakers and 2 0.5 watt tweeters would do the job nicely.
Another great video, Tito!
Modder question for you, as while I'm not exactly a newbie, I still always struggle with this:
Do you have general soldering iron / hot air workstation temps in mind for specific tasks?
So, one temp for removing a chip, another for soldering to a ribbon cable, another for, say the big anchor points for the USB ports on a PS4 motherboard?
(Had to up the temp on my hot air station for that!)
I never know what temp to set my equipment to. I want to get the job done, WITHOUT burning up the board!
Even some ballpark starting temps would be helpful! I'm sure I'm not the only modder who could use this!
hey man, love your retro renew videos. can you say what is that lo-fi song that you use? lovin it too :) ❤
Been waiting for this!!
I still have my original clear purple GBA (which is now more of a frosted white with a very faint hint of purple), and it's still working fine. The only things I might change/mod at some point are a backlit screen and a battery pack (because chewing through normal batteries is bad and running on Ni-MH cells is annoying with the constantly flickering power LED...). Replacements boards are nice to keep old devices running, but as others said, I find the RGBlingbling totally unnecessary...
(Oh, and thanks Tito, I just pulled my GBA out of a cupboard and checked if my old FFTA save is still alive. It is(!) and reminded me that 130+ hours of my youth went into that game xD
More please. Have you thought about modding a DS XL? Might be fun to show how thats done.
Awesome my dude you have come such a long way ;)
It's so pretty and shiny and I wanna snuggle it
I'd love one of these :) I unfortunately missed out on the game boy advance era and I do have a retro pie one but sadly it doesn't work and it was put together quite poorly so it's just a desk item but this might be something I could try :)
Tito, as always, great video, I need to catch up with your videos.
is this new GBA mother board a 1 for 1 replica that would be compatible with most existing mods such as consolizers?
great video as always.fingers cross funnyplaying make a fpga chip version to go with the fpgbc im having so much fun with!
Amazing content, as always!
Thank you 🙏
That's gorgeous. We're so close to an fpgba. I will buy it the moment they're available.
These console mods are mind blowing it never gets old
Wow! Funny Playing is really into rebuild the old handhelds these days! Amazing review as always! ✌
By the way: Have you heard of the "CPU-MGB Heavy"? It is like the Game Boy DMGC, but with the brain of the Game Boy Pocket and the body of the DMG!
Absolutely love the original Game Boy Advance form factor, another great video!
For me personally though since I have a steam deck there's really no point in ever doing something like this anymore.
- Game Boy Advance used $70
- Motherboard Replacement $63
- Advance Laminated 3.0 IPS Kit $60
- USB-C Rechargeable Battery mod $42
- Advance Laminated Ready Shells $15
- Metal Buttons $31
- Silicone membranes $4
- Shipping fees $10
- Customs fees ...
(We will imagine that we have the technical tools to desolder the circuits)
-> Total around $300
I'm going to mortgage my house and I'm coming back 😅
Thanks
Buy everything from funnyplaying for lower cost. Also I buy GBAs often for like $25-$35, just need to buy junk consoles especially since all you are doing is stealing the CPU and RAM.
For my last build the breakdown was more like this:
GBA: $25
New motherboard: $49
IPS screen: $45
Shell: $9.90
Buttons: $3.90
Membranes: $1.90
Battery: $29.90
Total cost: $164.60.
You can even lower this cost more by buying different parts on Aliexpress from hispeedido or cloud game store. True the metal buttons woukd add more cost, but really you can get chrome electroplated ones on Ali for like $4.
Buy everything from funnyplaying for lower cost. Also I buy GBAs often for like $25-$35, just need to buy junk consoles especially since all you are doing is stealing the CPU and RAM.
For my last build the breakdown was more like this:
GBA: $25
New motherboard: $49
IPS screen: $45
Shell: $9.90
Buttons: $3.90
Membranes: $1.90
Battery: $29.90
Total cost: $164.60.
You can even lower this cost more by buying different parts on Aliexpress from hispeedido or cloud game store. True the metal buttons woukd add more cost, but really you can get chrome electroplated ones on Ali for like $4.
Yikes. Changing the motherboard makes absolutely no sense and is just sinful. 1) too expensive 2) stock motherboard never dies
Sounds like the speaker is distorting at that volume.
i think this is caused more by the air vents than the actual driver.
The gba audio was bad to begin with, its just more obvious when its louder
I wish you showed in a bit more detail how you got solder onto the pins. Did you add a bit of solder to the soldering iron tip and then spread? or a bit of solder to the first pin? when soldering each of the chips to the new board. Thank you for the rest of the details in this video and all of your videos.
Awesome video as always! Two questions for anyone that knows:
1) Does this new motherboard and audio amp eliminate headphone jack hum/hiss? There's mods to reduce it on the OG GBAs but they don't really do much.
2) Does the included aftermarket speaker sound any different/better than the original speaker on the new board?
Anyways, not much here that makes me want to improve my IPS modded GBA, but if it were to ever have problems, it's nice knowing this kit is out there.
end look to the device was outstanding.
I love these videos! It makes my day
I’m so glad! Cheers!
Awesome GBA. Waiting for thosd chips!
Question about the soldering, maybe too basic... what is the liquid that you put on the chips and the connections throughout the process?
Clear cases are so gorgeous 😮
Man, your GBA looks killer! 🤩
The only thing stopping me is the soldering. I know how to solder and do it regularly, but my hands shake like an earthquake doing about 8 on the scale of Richter... I cannot see myself soldering these tiny pins to the board. 😭
Thinking about it... I love my FPGBC! I would absolutely love to see a Funnyplaying FPGBA kit! 😎
I’m hoping they make one next. Will be a game changer!
this is the exact build im after (with different colours.)
I should get around to it this year.
Build looks nice - Am I imagining things or this screen have very nice bright colours ? More than basic GBA. Metroid looks fire on this.
Dude always makes soldering look easy. When I do it it does not go this way even with lots of flux.
Perfect timing, I just ordered this board last week lmao
Thank you for your video 🤩
The single greatest thing about all these projects is the ability to save otherwise dead systems as you said at the beginning. Brilliant stuff from our always amazing community.
The LED customization instructions are something that I would end up keeping in the battery compartment,,,
That’s a really good idea. They’re definitely not easy to remember 😅
I've always loved projects like these. I personally would rather have minimal/subtle RGB LEDs, but if i went all out, i'd love to have this model mimic the Baby Metroid seen later in Super Metroid with the outer LEDs set to static green, and the central LEDs breathing. Maybe possible to make LED presets for specific games, just an idea.
If they could figure out how to make space on the PCB to put a controls cheat sheet in silk screen or etched copper, that'd be a good addition. Wouldn't help anyone with an opaque case, but would be a nice extra bonus for the transparent shells. Might also help them make even more transparent shell sales.
I feel like the next step for the LEDs is to get them to react to whats on the screen. I do agree a solid light is less eye catching, but i feel like an adaptive LED would enhance things, sort of like how ive got lights in my room that change on my pc to what the game I'm playing is doing.
How to accomplish this on the GBA is beyond me but I'd love to see someone attempt it while keeping it a one portable setup.
The only mod I can think of that I'd like to see added on to help modernize it is a bluetooth chip that's somehow soldered on to switch from the speaker to wireless headphones. For when you're traveling and not looking to bother others, but don't have corded headphones on hand.
Nice. A lot of this kits play the "preservation" card, but there's almost always a "but". "Oh, you can preserve your old console, but we left out this original functionality, too bad if you wanna use it". This one doesn't sacrifice anything.
And I'm glad that there's an option to turn off the LEDs. All this blinking lights make it look like a cheap toy, in my opinion. I wish every RGB component had the option to turn off the LEDs. I don't need my GPU, my fans or my controller to glow.
This is amazing. I wish I had the skills to do it. I was able to successfully change the rom chips on two practice games. Tried to do Pokemon Crystal and it didn’t go well. Really need to fix it.
Great video! I'm still hoping for a FPGBA soderless mod lol.
Me too! I’m sure we’ll see one
Very cool!
I think it would be a lot better to make the led's very dim and not directly seen. Also get the color temp close to 6500k.
This would make it much more enjoyable to play in dark or dimly lit room.
Basically make them a back light for the screen.
Awesome mod overall. Was wondering what the name of the instrumental is? It is very dope
Such an incredible move forward for GBA preservation! And $60 is a great deal for replacing an irreparable GBA motherboard. Great highlight, Tito.
Love that this stuff exists because I’m getting sick of my Analogue Pocket’s horrible dpad.
All I want is an easy solder pad for a composite out mod via the headphone jack.
TRRS where the second ring is video, or HDMI out over USB c.
truth be told I was never that big of a fan of the feel of orginal gba mushy buttons dont feel good to me but this, this is nice
The content I didn’t know I needed
To be honest I was first worried this was a full emu build, but glad I was proven wrong. Thanks for the chill video. *cheers*
what about the heatsink of the battery pcb? I love the look of the new motherboard with the transparent shell!
Lovely stuff
Broooo, that intro was fkin dope
I'm hoping the new oled display for the gbc will end up in the gba soon, would love to have that in the advance.
Those b-rolls are so cool as always! I wonder if it would be possible to one day to only have to transfer the CPU and use a generic RAM chip.
I think that would be possible
Would be cool if someone made this mobo with EZ-Flash Omega chips built in and MicroSD slot. Saving cartridge slot to keep using original cartridges and devices, like GB Camera, wireless modules, etc.
They should make the side pieces of the case in aluminum as well, just to match the rest of the buttons. It would really round out the build nicely