Gameboy Advance advice

[envytomdead2]

I recently bought a game boy advance because my DS lite's d-pad is terrible for diagonals and it makes playing GBA games difficult. I did not realize how bad the screen for the GbA was. Are there any decent screen lighting accessories that work decent? 

Edited September 3, 2019 by envytomdead2
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[Flojomojo]

Best bet is to drop in a backlit screen. There are kits for this on eBay. The thing you want is listed as AGS-101. 

[envytomdead2]

3 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

Best bet is to drop in a backlit screen. There are kits for this on eBay. The thing you want is listed as AGS-101. 

Those things look to be pretty expensive. As much  more than buying a game boy advance sp. Any reason I shouldn't just do that? How does the sp play?

[DragonGrafx-16]

11 minutes ago, envytomdead2 said:

Those things look to be pretty expensive. As much  more than buying a game boy advance sp. Any reason I shouldn't just do that? How does the sp play?

AGS-101 was the screen for the last SP revision. It's backlit while the older SP models were front lit. Original GBA plus the backlit screen gives the best experience. The original GBA is much less cramped and feels better to play while the last SP had the best screen. That's why it's so popular to put that screen in the original GBA.

[Flojomojo]

15 minutes ago, envytomdead2 said:

Those things look to be pretty expensive. As much  more than buying a game boy advance sp. Any reason I shouldn't just do that? How does the sp play?

I love the SP, personally. 

 

Another thing to look into is the BittBoy PocketGo. It's an emulator but it works well if you put the custom firmware on it. Probably comes with the latest firmware if you buy it now. About $35. 

[derFunkenstein]

3 hours ago, envytomdead2 said:

Those things look to be pretty expensive. As much  more than buying a game boy advance sp. Any reason I shouldn't just do that? How does the sp play?

Those screens are salvaged from late-model AGS-101 Game Boy Advance systems. I'd recommend just picking up one of those systems and (if it's not in great shape) dropping it into an aftermarket body. I did that a few months back and really like it. 

[Tanooki]

Look there are a good many options for the GBA depending what you want to do, and obviously the DS isn't it.

 

NOw are you only caring about GBA or would the older 8bit fall in there too as that opens your choices up, not that any would be surprisingly cheap exactly either.

 

The legit 101 panels you find you're either going to have to ruin a system, retain it as is if you don't mind the shape/comfort, but either wayd in the last only few months if that, the 101 and SP in a lesser degree has annoyingly shot up in value a bit.  There are aftermarket 101 clones, about 90% of the brightness but otherwise the same and they're starting to get scarce too which may be part of the impact.

 

The only GBA really with a 'bad' screen is the original because it has no light and the multi-colors on display made it even worse to watch than a GBC panel.  The most ghetto workable (mostly) choice is a WORM Light, but  you have to get smart with placement or you get a white LED reflection in your way.  The next option are kits, they'll set ya back $50 about assuming you can pop the thing into your system (GBA original) which is smart as it has the solid comfy controller width style and uses regular batteries.

 

Now if you were looking at 8bit too, my best recommendation after watching a brand new power consumption analysis is the Handheld Legend (or BennVenn Freckleshack) drop in backlight LED which costs $50-60(I forget which) and requires no soldering, toss it into the system, plug the cable in, and all your 8bit Gameboy dreams of decades are realized, clear, clean, sharp, bright and poppy.  I've got one on the way for a GBC I've been working on for a bit and had to put on hold.  When that arrives it will be the ultimate GBC good for anything Gameboy/Color.

 

If you can't do the work, people like me or others can do it.  Or you could luck out and pay under $100 for an already done GBA with a 101 style panel on ebay.  I'd avoid a few of the primary resellers like godofgaming because the clown asks like a 30%+ mark up over other people for the same parts/workmanship.

[envytomdead2]

Right now I am just using a book light which is basically the same thing as the worm light. It's passable. I just can't believe they but out a screen that bad in the year 2000. I'll probably just deal until I feel like throwing some dough at it for a mod. 

[NE146]

On 9/3/2019 at 1:12 PM, envytomdead2 said:

Those things look to be pretty expensive. As much  more than buying a game boy advance sp. Any reason I shouldn't just do that? How does the sp play?

If you can get a good GBA SP 101 that is an awesome way to go.. works great.

 

That said, an original GBA with a 101 screen in it is my current preference. But it does appear that the sellers of those kits have really jacked up their prices since the time I bought one of them. 

 

 

 

[Video]

Just depends what you want or like. The sp is for me to thin, and there is almost no movement to the buttons. It also has no independent power of audio port, leading to quite the cluster f#$% of now hard to find extras if you want those. Also, folding parts often kill the screen, and you can't just replace the battery, yes, it's replaceable, you just can't get new ones.

 

Bitd, the afterburner was awesome, but it disappeared once the s p came out.. I used a halo light, they suck unless you're in more of less total darkness. The work light was passable. Now days getting an adapter and stealing an sp2 screen is really the best option imo, but it's going to cost a bit any way you do it.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Video