PNES 1: The gameboy.

[d_stilgar]

I am going to build three portable NES systems. I'm calling these PNESes. Yes, you pronounce it "pee-ness." It's funny. The first will be this one built inside a gameboy.

Here is the victim. Unless you are into indie 8-bit music, you probably don't have a use for the original gameboy. Because of this I wanted to make it useful again. The plan is to gut the gameboy, replace the screen with a color TFT, use the original power switch, battery compartment and controls. Whatever happens otherwise doesn't matter. Maybe I will use the charge port, maybe headphones will work, maybe the contrast knob will affect screen brightness. Maybe.

Here is an old friend to people making portable Nintendo systems. The "Super Power Player Mega Joy III." It comes with an amazing "76000" games. It's "The original: New Addition," which is nice because I need to brush up on my adding skills. If you want one for your project you will have the most luck searching for XA-76-1E. Because of legal issues they are hard to find otherwise.

The first thing I did was open the bameboy and remove a bunch of crap. It was pretty fun, but I was careful not to break anything at this point. I knew I would need part of the board for the controls.

Easy stuff done with it was time to move on to some other easy stuff. Here's the 2.5" color LCD I got from ebay for $26. Nice!

I took it apart and by surprise found that there is one wire for power, one for image signal (component RCA), then a shared ground. Nice. So simple. I printed a black square as a shroud (so you cant see the silver case when looking through the gameboy window) and hot glued the screen in place. As a side note hot glue is a staple for portable NES builds.

I was going to start on getting the original controls to work. I needed to cut the board in half, trace the leads and figure out the matrix of the buttons, then sand off the plastic coating over the leads to be able to solder to the board. I cut the board in half. All went well. I did a test fit and found that I needed to cut a little more to avoid the LCD board. When I went to cut some more off I split the board. Grr. Here's the result.

I'm looking for some more gameboy systems so I can get another board with the controller stuff on it. In the mean time I'll try to get started on the famicom to gameboy to NES adapter. Wish me luck. There will be ~240 solder points and ~120 little bits of wire to mess up.

[Dysturbed]

ouch wish i knew where my original gb was. I had a old GB advanced flip style i just gave away when i got my ds at xmas.

[nevermind1534]

I got another clear one laying around that's not in good shape (pop or something spilled into it, screen protector missing) that I got at a garage sale. Want that?

[d_stilgar]

Thanks guys. I hopped on ebay and got three gameboys for $25 after shipping. Just paid for them and should get them soon. Today I'll see if I can't desolder a whole bunch of junk. This converter is going to stink.

[billygoat333]

I have that same husky blade. I swear the folding box cutter is one of the greatest inventions ever made. Use mine more than just about anything I carry. lol

[d_stilgar]

Originally Posted by billygoat333

I have that same husky blade. I swear the folding box cutter is one of the greatest inventions ever made. Use mine more than just about anything I carry. lol

Yeah, I love mine. I worked construction this past summer and that was the one thing I was told to always have on me. I used it every day.

[billygoat333]

I worked in a warehouse and did furniture delivery. once I did that, I never go without it. Except for now, I have misplaced it, and it drives me nuts cause I will feel for it in my pocket, and it isnt there always depressing and a little annoying when you dont have your blade on you.

[Loki]

Grrr HAte to see that board is broken... Lond let it let you down!!

Great mod till now, I love the theme!!

Would´t be easier if you buy a couple of switches, and print your own board?

[d_stilgar]

Originally Posted by Loki

Would´t be easier if you buy a couple of switches, and print your own board?

I haven't found a source that sells the soft dome switches with solderable leads. I don't want to change the feel of the buttons when they're pressed, otherwise I would definitely go that route.

[billygoat333]

everytime I see this thread title in muh new posts search I lol.

pnes. heh.

good luck with this project. looks like fun.