Is the Original Gameboy Worth Modding in 2026?
In this video
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PS Vita — Portable console from early 2000s, mentioned as a "king".
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1989 Nintendo Game Boy DMG-01 model — The console being modded, described as "borderline unplayable" before mod.
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Game Talk GB Max — Ultimate game cartridge for legally acquired games, allows micro SD card.
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atomic purple shell — New shell for Game Boy mod, includes USB port pass-through.
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3,000 mA hour LiPo battery pack — Rechargeable battery for Game Boy mod, slots into battery bay.
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IPS screen replacement — Pixel perfect display for Game Boy mod, includes its own PCB.
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Summary
This video details the process of modding an original 1989 Nintendo Game Boy to bring it into the modern era. It covers replacing the screen, shell, and battery, as well as using a multi-game cartridge, transforming the outdated console into a functional and customizable device.
Key points- The original Game Boy (DMG-01) is described as iconic and rugged but borderline unplayable by modern standards due to its lack of backlight and poor screen.
- The modding process involves replacing the shell, installing a new IPS display, and adding a rechargeable battery pack.
- A Game Talk GB Max cartridge is used to load multiple games from an SD card, creating an ultimate Game Boy library.
- The mod is rated as easy (1/5 difficulty) and quick (15-30 minutes), with the main drawback being the cost of approximately $100 for parts.
- The disassembly and reassembly process includes removing screws, separating the shell, desoldering the speaker (or cutting wires), and carefully reconnecting components.
- The new IPS screen allows for customization of display settings, including brightness, alignment, and color palettes, though it does not enable true color gameplay.
Chapters
Notable quotes (4)
“It's iconic, it's rugged and by today's standards, it's borderline unplayable.”
“We're talking no backlight, terrible viewing angles and a speaker that sounds like it's always >> under the water.”
“This Game Boy deserves an upgrade and I'm going all out.”
“And why didn't she turn on?”
0:00If you guys didn't already know, I grew up in the early 2000s where portable consoles like the PSP and PS Vita were the kings and they're still what I envision when I think of retro handhelds. That wasn't until my boss handed me this, a 1989 Nintendo Game Boy. Yeah, the DMG-01 model specifically. It's iconic, it's rugged and by today's standards, it's borderline unplayable.
0:24We're talking no backlight, terrible viewing angles and a speaker that sounds like it's always >> under the water. >> I'm under the water. >> And the whole thing is thick. Oh, yeah. I guarantee a burglar would think twice if he saw one of these flying at him. Despite its age, the Game Boy still has tons of classic bangers to play and seeing that I'm now the proud owner of a Game Boy, it only makes sense that I give some of those games a go.
0:52Problem is, I don't own any game cartridges and the screen is actually toast. But I am not going to let that stop me. This Game Boy deserves an upgrade and I'm going all out. I'm talking about a brand new shell, a pixel perfect IPS display and a rechargeable battery pack so I don't have to stockpile double A batteries ever again. And that's not all. We're going to be loading all of the best games onto a single cartridge to build the ultimate Game Boy library that'll go with us anywhere. So, stick around and see how bringing this original Game Boy into the modern era is actually easy.
1:42Oh, man. Look at this old thing, the Nintendo Game Boy. Now, I won't lie to you guys. This thing's in pretty good condition for being as old as it is. But boy, is she thick. At least there's not much grime stuck in the crevices or anything. Those of you who saw my last video know that used handhelds can be pretty nasty.
2:02So, this is a pretty nice change. These buttons though, they've definitely been used. And the D-pad is so sloppy? I mean, the buttons feel like they work all right, but there's no way the whole D-pad is supposed to move around like this. I mean, if I'm wrong, let me know, but that seems crazy. But, other than that, everything on this thing looks pretty all right. Oh, I found the grime.
2:25I don't What is that? You know what? It's probably best not to ask. I suppose the only thing left to do now is fire this baby up and see if she works. And why didn't she turn on? Oh, that's why. Uh, if you would excuse me for just a moment.
3:02Uh, yes. A matching set. Perfect. Now, let's fire this baby up. Okay, we got sound. And the screen is not working. Can I get a usable image if I adjust the contrast at all? Oh, hold on, just passed it. Yes. Okay, I think this is usable. Now, unfortunately, I don't have any games. So uh not really sure how to test it beyond that is what I would say if I didn't have this.
3:39Come to papa. And now, for the reveal. Uh, that was That was supposed to be more climactic. >> All right, cut. >> Dude, what was that? We We We have you messing up like that anymore. >> How was I supposed to know that the box is going to be full of bubble wrap? >> What else were you expecting?
3:56>> All right, look. You get one more chance. You slip up like that again and I'm going to replace you with AI. >> Okay, okay, okay, okay. I'll do better. Wait. Is this thing still recording? >> Introducing the ultimate game cartridge, the Game Talk GB Max. This cartridge allows us to insert a micro SD card loaded with all of our legally acquired games and play them from a single cartridge wherever and whenever.
4:22All right, now we can finally give this thing a proper test. Let's fire it up and see how this game cartridge works. Okay, we have a Nintendo logo. Yeah, yeah, get to the good part already. All right, looks like it's loading. Oh, we have a game menu. I'm assuming GBC is Game Boy Color, so let's just go down to GB and see what we've got.
4:44Holy space balls, Batman. This thing's fully loaded. Uh let's let's try some Castlevania, shall we? Yeah, load and start. Okay, we get the Nintendo logo again. So, apart from the right direction on the D-pad being a bit short, it seems to working like a charm. And now that I've started playing a game, I won't be able to put it down.
5:12So, let's see how far I can get before we start modding this thing. I'm time lapsing this part so you guys don't lose your minds watching me suck at the game, but I'm going to blame the unresponsive D-pad for my poor performance. I ended up enjoying the game quite a lot though, so if you guys have any other recommendations for old school Game Boy games I should try, drop it in the comments down below.
5:33Now, it's time for everyone's favorite part, the project overview. If you're just here to be entertained then feel free to skip ahead, but for everyone else, I like to break my project rating down into three categories: difficulty, time, and cost. On the difficulty scale, this mod is easily a one out of five. It comes in a kit and is very hard to mess up. As for time, this mod should only take about 15 to 30 minutes to complete.
5:58The only downside to this mod is the cost. I spent about $100 on the new parts, which may be a bit expensive for some considering that this is a nearly 40-year-old console. For that money, you could get a retro handheld emulator that could play a much larger library of games or use something like RetroArch to emulate the games on your phone for free. That being said, if you are a die-hard Game Boy fan or just like owning the physical console, then this mod is definitely worth it. I'll have affiliate links down below if you're interested in picking up any of the tools, parts, or even a Game Boy like
6:28the one I feature in the video. Using those affiliate links gives me a small kickback that helps offset the cost of projects like this one, even if you choose to buy a different product entirely than the one I featured. Your support really means a lot and allows me to continue doing what I love. Now, let's get to modding.
6:45For this mod, we're going to be using our precision screwdriver kit with the Phillips head driver as well as a tri-wing driver for the pesky screws on the outer shell. However, if you got this mod as a kit, it will include a set of screwdrivers. So, whether you use your own screwdriver or the ones that are included is entirely up to you.
7:01We're going to start by removing the battery cover and the four AA batteries inside. Then, grab your screwdriver and remove these six screws from the back of the Game Boy.
7:16Once the screws have been removed, the two halves of the shell will begin to separate leaving just this thick ribbon cable in the center holding these two halves together. Unlike the dainty ribbon cables on the PSP, though, this guy is friction fit. So, there aren't any clips or anything like that to worry about. Just grab it and yank it out.
7:34Like so. Next, we're going to remove the motherboard from the bottom half of the shell by removing these four screws. Now, we should be able to just lift this board up and out just like that. With the motherboard out, it's time to take a closer look. To be totally honest, I'm not real sure what this black grime on this copper is, but I'll try my best to clean it up before we put this back in the new shell.
8:00And boy, does the front of this board look sick. It's so pristine, too. Just take it all in. Now, it's time for the top half. If you're only doing a shell swap and want to reuse the original screen, there are 10 screws holding this PCB for the displaying controls in place that you would need to remove. Technically, I don't need to remove this part since the replacement screen I bought comes with its own control board. However, my kit did not include a new speaker, so I will be reusing this one.
8:31After you remove all 10 screws, the PCB will lift up and out just like the main board. This will give you access to all the buttons on the face plate if you wanted to reuse them for some reason, but more importantly, we now have access to the through holes for the speaker wires. I am going to desolder the speaker wires from the front, hence why I removed the board, but you don't have to go through the trouble of desoldering the wires. You could just grab some snips and cut these wires off instead.
8:53To desolder this bad boy, set your soldering iron to 350 wombo and press the iron to the solder, pulling the other end of the wire with a set of tweezers. If your solder doesn't want to flow, you can try adding some rosin or flux to help it along, and if that doesn't work, maybe just try crying about it and hope the Game Boy feels bad and detaches the speaker for you. But if you got my soldering skills, you only got to cry a little bit to get it off.
9:19And that's the whole disassembly complete. See, it's actually easy. Now, it's time to unpack the goodies. Everything for this mod came in a kit that I got from AliExpress, minus the game cartridge. The kit came with this sick atomic purple shell that already has a USB port pass-through on the battery cover for a rechargeable battery pack. And speaking of a rechargeable battery, it included a 3,000 mA hour LiPo battery pack that just slots right into the battery bay. And finally, the IPS screen replacement, which includes its own PCB.
9:51This mod kit is pretty well-rounded, but by no means is it the best one out there. Some of the other screen kits I saw included new speakers as well, but mine did not. So, unfortunately, I'm stuck with the one I've got. However, at the time of making this video, the kit I ordered is no longer available on AliExpress. Yeah, I don't know. It seems to happen every time I buy something on AliExpress, so it is what it is. For your convenience, I'll leave links to all the individual mods in description so you can go through and pick and choose what you want. Capiche?
10:21Anyway, that's enough wasting time. Let's get this Game Boy looking brand spanking new. Starting with the motherboard, make sure it's clean and pretty before putting it into the new shell if you got a transparent one like I did. We don't want to see any of that filth from the outside. After you finish wasting an alcohol wipe and have the same black schmutz as before, grab the back half of the shell and insert the power switch.
10:43The switch has this tab that needs to stick out the back of the shell just over the cartridge slot. So, we'll stick it in tab side first. Once inserted, it should slide back and forth pretty freely, like so. Now, grab your freshly cleaned motherboard and set it in place. We'll secure the board with two screws in these holes here.
11:06Oh, and don't forget about the two screws for the bottom as well.
11:14Next, grab your new screen and flip it over to the back side. At the bottom, there's an attached ribbon cable with a connector at the end. If you look closely to the bottom left, you'll see this small number one. We need to align this one with the small white dot at the end of the connector on the display board. Before we get this connected up, I'm going to pre-apply the included double-sided tape to the flat side of the displayboard.
11:41Once it's applied, we can just line it up with the back of our screen, fold the ribbon cable over, and press the connector into place until we hear a little click. Now we're ready to attach the screen to the front of the shell. If your screen is like mine, it won't have double-sided tape pre-applied to the outer edge.
11:57Remove the protective film, then push the screen through the front of the shell bottom end first. Make sure you don't forget to pass the ribbon cable through the hole first though, so it doesn't get caught between the screen and the shell. I had a bit of trouble with the protective film on the screen getting caught in the corner, but you could take this film off if it's being problematic.
12:15And take your time lining it up, making sure it's sitting snug in the recess in the shell. Uh if you get this messed up, it's kind of a pain to take off and redo. Once it's lined up in the recess, gently press the edges down to stick it in place. Next, we're going to hook up the control board, but first, we need to reattach our speaker. For that, we're going to pull out our trusty soldering iron and solder this old crackly speaker to the control board.
12:40If you're not into the whole soldering thing, you can buy kits that come with a speaker soldered to the board already. To hold the speaker in place, pass the ends of the wires through the holes in the board and give them a slight bend. Now, before I solder anything, I'm going to be applying some rosin to the exposed wires to help the solder flow. If you don't have any flux, you can use some good old-fashioned bedside lube, or I mean, petroleum jelly. It can help if you're in a pinch.
13:08Once applied, grab your solder and tin the tip of your iron, then just go to town. Oh, and for those of you wondering, I'm just using one of those helping hand alligator clips that I removed from my soldering iron base and twisted into an S-shape to hold the PCB. If you don't have helping hands, you can use a solder mat or lay the board down on something that's not going to catch fire when heated, but I do recommend a good set of helping hands.
13:31After cleaning off the flux, this is how it looks. Now, I know what you're thinking. A solder job like that, this guy must be pretty handsome. Well, at least that's what my mom would say. Before we put the control board in, we need to place the buttons. The membrane buttons will have pretty obvious alignment holes that go over to little plastic alignment pin on the shell.
13:52The plastic buttons just have tabs and they slide into place, so nothing tricky here. After you get them all in, we can lay the control board down on top, then wrap the ribbon cable for the display around the top of the board and insert it into its clip. It can be a bit tricky due to the location at the top of the shell, so I used a pair of tweezers.
14:13After that, it's as simple as tightening two screws, inserting the chunky ribbon cable, then preparing to make your Game Boy sandwich. Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of sandwich you can have your bra-less wife bring you without you even needing to ask her while you catch a dub in a bot lane. Instead, it's the kind that you got to be aggressive with using your nubby little fingers.
14:36Yeah, I don't really have a trick for this per se, but it's pretty strong, so you're allowed to be a bit forceful with it. Once it's in, close her up, and replace the six outer screws. Finally, we can put our rechargeable battery pack in. Make sure that the USB-C port is at the bottom so that it lines up with the cutout in our battery cover.
14:57Oh, one quick side note. If you're not using a battery pack and want to stick to your trusty old AA batteries, you'll need to insert these battery contacts into the shell, making sure that the springs are facing the negative terminals of the batteries. Your shell should have a diagram showing which direction the batteries face, so it's pretty straightforward.
15:15The final two battery contacts in the top corners are attached to the motherboard, so if it looks like mine are missing, it's because I recorded this part before assembling the Game Boy, but trust me, they're there. Now, it's time to admire your handiwork.
15:53Let's take this thing for a spin, shall we? Ah, look at how crisp it is. We can customize how it looks, too. If you hold down the contrast wheel, it'll bring up this new on-screen menu, and from here, you can use the wheel to navigate up and down, press it in to select, or hold it down to go back. In the options, we can change the brightness and screen alignment, enable features like a pixelated effect or an on-screen battery display, and change the colors. I've seen other modders say that the battery indicator doesn't really work, but if you pick the right colors, you can see the battery level. I
16:29haven't done enough testing to know how accurate it is, though, so if you've messed with this before, leave a comment down below. Now, this still isn't a Game Boy Color, so despite having a color screen, the games are going to be limited to just the four colors you choose. It does come with some preset colors you can pick from, and you can make some pretty cool color palettes yourself.
16:49You already know what colors I'm choosing for mine. Hello vaporwave. How sick is this? Welcome to Miami Beach Link. I know Zelda looks pretty freaking sick in this palette, but you can play all your games like this. And adding more games to this thing is dead simple. You literally just drag your ROMs onto the SD card, and that's it. The cartridge handles the rest.
17:14Let me know down in the comments what you think, but before you go, I want to address the elephant in the room. My upload schedule. I got a lot of comments on my last video asking when my next video was coming out, and unfortunately, it's been tough sticking to a schedule due to my day job. My first video released on February 1st, and I'll be honest, it did way better than I ever could have imagined. But the week after that video went live, I got absolutely swamped at work. Without going into much detail, uh we won a huge project at work that we weren't really
17:49expecting. And as one of the supervisors for our CAD team, that meant that I had to hire and train enough people to essentially triple the size of our workforce while maintaining production on all of our current existing projects. It has been a nightmare, to say the least. We were supposed to be awarded the project around Thanksgiving of last year, and not only did they award the project late, but they also didn't adjust the deadlines. So, it has been nonstop overtime work every single week since.
18:18And I'll likely continue to work overtime for the next month or two until all of our new hires get settled in and become fully self-sufficient. I really appreciate the patience from you guys, and I want to apologize for not being able to upload more frequently. Um I do have one other project in the works already that's been a bit of a time sink, but after that one goes live, I'll try to plan my next few projects a little better so that I can get a at least semi-regular upload schedule for the time being.
18:45As much as I love doing the whole YouTube thing, it doesn't pay my bills. So, I have to prioritize my day job for as long as that part remains true. So, uh thanks for sticking around to the end of the video. Uh it really means a lot. And uh that's all I have for now. So, see you.
19:12>> Woo!
19:27Woo!
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