So I have these old, original Game Boy (like, the grey one with the maroon buttons) games I wanna play again (original Pokemon Blue). What can I get to do so?

I bought a GB on eBay but the screen was barely visible. I’m comfortable partially building/programming something myself, and would also be fine with an adapter or some such that allows me to play the cartridge or copy its contents so I can play on my laptop or Raspberry Pi or whatever.

Suggestions sought!

  • any1there@lemmy.caEnglish
    16·
    8 months ago

    Many options exist, depending on your budget:

    • IPS screen mod for your GB, these are usually not too costly iirc ($60 USD?)
    • GBA SP (AGS 001 is frontlit and AGS 101 is backlit), around the same budget for the former, the latter is more coveted and expensive. (EDIT - initial mistake, the GBA is not front/backlit)
    • Open source cartreader to dump your carts and saves (and play ROMs wherever you want) - no idea about the budget tbh
    • Analogue Pocket, it’s great but very likely overkill if all you want to do is play some GB games ($220 USD)
    • Depending on how comfortable you are with downloading ROMs (and how ethical you feel that is, given you already have the games), you could just do that without spending a penny since GB games have been preserved and are easily accessible.

    There’s also a handful of other options (GameCube GB Player, SNES Super GameBoy, etc), but that’s likely more consoles and accessories for you to purchase so I didn’t mention those in detail.

    • RedkeyEnglish
      8·
      8 months ago
      • GBA or GBA SP, you’ll get a backlit screen as well (around the same budget?)

      Careful! The original (landscape) GBA had a similar, unlit, reflective screen to the Gameboy Colour, and even the GBA SP was frontlit for most of its run. Only the later GBA SPs had the bright, backlit screens.

      I modded an original GBA with an aftermarket frontlighting kit back in the day. I didn’t like the GBA SP as it made my hands start to cramp up after only a few minutes.