Gaming Hacks

Mod Your Game Boy

Hardware hacks for your favorite portable console.

What if you have an older-model Game Boy Advance and want backlighting? Suppose you have a newer Game Boy and miss the chunky bass sound of the older monochrome Game Boys. You’re not stuck buying a newer or older machine; there are reasonably straightforward hardware modifications you can do to fix both problems.

Game Boy Advance AfterBurner

First, let’s be clear: if you decide to modify your Game Boy Advance (GBA) with a frontlight at this stage in the GBA’s life, you’re hardcore. When Nintendo saw the immense popularity of the AfterBurner frontlight add-on in 2002, they introduced the Game Boy Advance SP, which features frontlighting of its own.

You’re also hardcore because there’s a definite failure rate when it comes to the tricky frontlight installation. An acquaintance ruined more than one GBA before getting it right! It’s also becoming difficult to find the AfterBurner kit because its creators at Triton Labs (http://www.tritonlabs.com/) have discontinued it in favor of composing music instead.

If all this doesn’t put you off, it’s still a challenging and interesting project.

Start by reading the Triton Labs FAQ (http://www.tritonlabs.com/?page=faq#11) to understand the requirements. You will need:

• An AfterBurner kit. This comes with the light guide and source, electrical wire, and a dimmer switch you can choose to install or not. The dimmer switch can be a little unreliable if installed badly.

• A soldering iron, ...