Why does this guy not have more subs. He is really concise and detailed in his explainations and is generally all around helpful. Keep up the great vids!
So let me get this straight, and please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm just trying to understand it: hypothetically, if you could somehow remove that 3rd glass layer without damaging the rest of the screen, you could remove the polarizer and install a backlight like normal, correct? Or did I miss something?
It's impossible to do, at least with the way those specific LCDs are constructed. The glass layers are bonded together, and trying to separate them causes them to break. If they had been designed with the reflector on the back like the original Game Boy, then we'd have some options.
Is it just glued, or is the glass actually fused? Seems to me that it might be possible to separate if you very carefully injected solvent around the edges to loosen the glue laminating the layers together.
Since I haven't heard about any screen degradation i would assume it is some type of resin though I presume with enough razor blades and carefully chosen solvent you might get 1 in 20 apart. Best to either emulate the hardware (raspberry Pi0 in a 3D printed shell) or clone it (Kongfeng GB Boy Colour). If you were committed to the modding you'd still be best to source a led screen and an fpga converter chip, but that would likely be the most expensive of the 3 options funnily enough. Oh and you'd have to probably move to China or one of their territories to be able to make and sell this stuff unmolested.
5:22 BennVenn now has an option for a ribbon cable adapter that lets you use an AGS-101 screen replacement in the CGB. It takes a bit more modification to the shell, but it looks great.
Well then, lets get started on a kickstarter for making backlit GBC/GBA screens. I'm sure there'd be enough people out there who would pledge money to that.
The GBA plays GBC games extremely well, so I doubt anyone would put forward that kind of resources to make a backlight mod kit, the need just isn't really there.
You did a review on that GB Boy system, I am kinda hoping you'd also do a review on the Revo K101 plus. Possibly in the near future? Anyhow. Keep up the good work, I absolutely love watching your videos, man (:
Well I never thought It would come true but there is now a Chinese production line manufacturing backlight screens for the GBC. What a time to be alive guys. www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/5rv7r8/backlit_gbc_screens_developed_and_seemingly_now/
And few days ago The 8-Bit Guy just made a review of a chinese clone of Gameboy Color probably made using that screen, in his video: "Nintendo NES Classic Alternatives and clones".
I figured out how to back-light a Color about 4 months ago. I'm still kind of working on it and it's inverted, but here's how I did it.: imgur.com/a/ZONy5
check this out: out.reddit.com/t3_54e1wm?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2Fa%2FMWeNe&token=AQAAs30SWIUHc1a_ZWJCA8MoL-5x8vYXn-jwdZ4y9R6vtZ8H_hKz&app_name=reddit.com
There's no dead pixels. The tiny marks are actually adhesive spots or dirt on the films behind it. I could remove the backlight & films or add an on/off switch and have the screen back to normal ironically. It's a fun mod!
Random idea. Nintendo, go ahead and take this. 'NinRetro'. An adapter for the upcoming console that can accept GameBoy-style cartridges on the Nintendo Switch, similar to the Super GameBoy for the SNES, and the GameBoy Player for the GCN.
Solution: They do cross promotion with a battery company, and package coupons with the device for ten percent off watch batteries for the old carts. Then top off the whole thing by selling old, unsold units as 'reissues'. And when those run out, just make real reissue cartridges.
...I'll forgive your outburst and recommend picking up some stool softener at your local pharmacy. Generic will do just fine; no need to waste money on big name brands.
Somehow your video showed first in my youtube recommandation on the homepage. I gotta say I'm surprised you got so few views or subscribers, this was pretty interesting and easy to understand!
Well, there are FPGA devboards with the size of an arduino nano (e.g. XuLA2-LX9). They even had room on that small board to include a microsd slot and a usb port. so if that thing has enough I/O pins you could theoretically also wire it up to the cartridge slot and serve ROMs from a SDcard or USB. lol
You could mount a LED strip on the second glass layer. I have tried things like this on reflexive LCDs and it works, it may not be an even backlight though.
This doesn't really have to do with GBCs, but how do dead pixels work? What causes them and what fixes them? (Sorry if you already did a video on this)
Actually, this is very simple. I've fixed this on several tamagotchis (although I also caused it, heh), and it works the same for the Game Boy: it's simply a lost connection between the motherboard and the screen, usually a bad connector on the screen. There are several videos online of it. The way LCDs work, if a connector is lost, you'll lose an entire row of pixels if the connector telling the screen to activate that row is damaged or not connected properly. On a Tamagotchi, you simply need to screw the motherboard on harder so the connection is reestablished, but on a Gameboy you usually have to re-solder the connection. If it's individual pixels, I'm not sure what's wrong, but a quick Google search could help there.
PuffyRainbowCloud My dead pixels are on my DS lite. They used to be in two thick lines that stretched a little ways toward the center from the right side until I tried a method I found online. Now they're clustered on the right side (with some discoloration where they used to be). I mostly made this comment since I'm legitimately interested in what causes and fixes dead pixels since my DS even had different dead pixels that just randomly went away and were replaced by the ones I described here.
pkmnTrainerGold0 Kippy Kip Okay. To be honest, I think something is seriously wrong with the screen. Somewhere something is horribly out of shape. I'm guessing you probably just managed to bend it so that the dent moved to another place, hence why the dead pixels "moved". Right now, I think your only solution is to buy a new screen for it. There should be ones available online for not too much money, if you are that keen on getting it running. Otherwise, to be honest, I find that playing DS games on my New 3DS XL and my Gameboy Advance games on my GBA SP is a much better experience and it's a setup which I recommend more than the DS, unless you wish to use software which utilises the two ports on a DS or DSL.
PuffyRainbowCloud Yeah probably, he never took good care of it so god knows what happened. I only use it for dumping GBA roms as I normally just use my own 3DS or my GBA SP
I think that Nintendo also saw not adding backlight to the gameboy family as a design choice. Since there is no backlight, it gets you outside more to light up your screen, and there you can connect with others, like trading pokemon, or connecting via the link cable for other games. Although it does kinda fall because its not very accessible to play with when playing indoors or in low light.
I'm still working on the front light mod for the GBA and GBC, but the backlight mod for the original Gameboy is something I'm really proud of finishing. Love the videos!!
I didn't particularly care about this when I saw it in my recommendeds. I clicked on it on a whim and honestly, it was a really interesting explanation. Thanks for this!
Nice explanation. Your videos are really good. This one was enough to inspire me to see if I can manage to separate those layers without damaging the LCD. Now just have to find a broken GBC to experiment on:)
Okay, I dropped $12 on a broken GBC and tore it down just like Colin did to see if a brave soul might attempt the difficult task of actually separating the glass layers. I had the idea that if I just cut around the edge where the layers were fused, the glass might be separable. As someone asked earlier, the third layer does look to be held on with some kind of adhesive because there's an injection point on the left side of the LCD and what looks like a whitish ring of adhesive running almost all the way around the screen between those layers. What's not immediately obvious in the video is that the back (3rd) layer of glass actually has electrical traces running through it. I'm not sure what they do exactly since the LCD itself has to be contained within the second layer, but it's more than just a piece of glass, and if those traces are functional, the screen would not survive having them separated. Since none of the traces appear to run behind the LCD itself, it might be possible to cut out just the reflective layer from behind leaving the rest of the glass layer intact. You'd need to make a template to go over the glass with an opening around the reflective layer, then use a diamond cutter to scratch the inside down to that layer. The two factors that would really make or break the effort would be how hard it was to stop at exactly the right depth, and whether the reflective layer is just lying there and not also glued to the glass. Cut too deeply and you will almost certainly damage the LCD, and if the reflective layer is glued in, it will be almost impossible to remove the glass behind it. I would have been willing to embark on this dangerous journey but the GBC I was experimenting on was actually repairable and I couldn't bring myself to destroy a working system. I'll have to find a more broken GBC to try it.
Good work! Nice production value, good explanation, no BS. You might also want to explain the difference between TFT & STN screens (I *think* STN/Passive Matrix screens are the ones that *twist* the light to be able to make it out through the second 90º polarizer). I'm also curious why some screens are white/clearish when off (mostly older tech like calculators and the old Macintosh portables), while most modern LCDs (especially color ones) are black when they're off.
As much as I'd like to have a backlit color (it was my primary childhood handheld console: even though I was old enough to play games when the original GB came out, I never had one), the consolation is that the GBA is fully backwards compatible: you can play your GB/GBC games on a backlit screen using an AGS-101 or a modded original GBA. That's something, anyhow!
I for one wish that this style screen was in all DS/3DS models. With that side light. Playing in direct sunlight was the best. You cannot play in direct sunlight with modern backlit screens. Only in darkened areas
Atleast they have worms light and surprisingly they work really well. Just position them the right way and you can light up the entire screen while also avoiding glare. Works also for the gba.
Probably should have mentioned that between the two polarising filters the light can have its plane changed. I had to look this up because I just couldn't get my head around how any light could pass through two filters rotated 90° to each other.
Interestingly they released a Gameboy in Japan called the Gameboy light which was monochromatic but it had a light feature available! from what heard Nintendo thought that the western markets would be more interested in a colour display than a lit display! I don't know why we couldn't have had both.
I wonder how well a front lighting kit modified to use fibre optics on a _very_ thin sheet of plastic could work? One could then install the front light per-normal, but then somehow sandwich the fibres and the plastic behind the screen, thus lighting it up.
I think we all know that the GBCs now have a mod kit that can make the screens brighter, but we should talk about why the screens weren’t bright to begin with. I think it’s because a bright screen consumed a lot of battery, which you can see if you play a Game Boy Advance SP. i think that in the late 90s and early 2000s Nintendo probably struggled with making a handheld game system that could have a good backlight and not drain battery.
Wonderful quality of the video. So good. I wonder though if it would be possible to take another screen, slap a cheap fpga on it for data conversion.. Hmm.
FPGA + modern screen could result a compatible mod without the need for a custom screen. It would still require a lot of work for the code, and the per unit price still wouldn't be that cheap, but I think it could be economically possible for a mid sized production run.
This is what I thought of as well, but just can't imagine how it would fit in there. Think about all the power supplies needed, routing etc. Still, might be possible with a lot of thought and custom flex PCB. Would be amazing if anybody actually pulled that off.
You can always just shove a raspberry PI inside a GBC's case, get a generic LCD the right size, get a GBC emulator on the PI, and either store your ROMs on USB, or hook up a cartridge reader if you're really committed to using cartridges.
I kind of like the gamma/white balance of the Gameboy Color compared to playing GBC games on an advance. The colors seem more appealing and less over-saturated. Why do you think that is? Just the LCD screen they chose displays like that. You think they program games to be intended to look like that or is playing through a GBA screen what we're really supposed to be seeing? I know it might be a minor nitpick, but it's just something that stands out to me. Then again, the GBC had a really reflective screen that made it easy to see in ambient light, while the original GBA was impossible to see without shoving a lamp at the screen.
This hardware developed by I.S., not Nintendo. The reflective screen choice had to do with how Nintendo wanted children to use the system - outside during the day. Note specifically the design of the pixel lens overlay on the original Advance - it's designed to be able to catch sunlight from multiple angles.
The GB Boy Colour clone system is briefly shows in this video. Look for reviews of this device right here on TH-cam...it's a very highly recommended console! The GB Boy Colour can be found on Amazon & eBay in, well...many different colors! Some solid, some translucent...mine is the Clear Green, and it works great!
Here is an idea to make it cheaper to manufacture the screens...sell them as non-backlit replacements for the GBC, but built like a GBP pocket screen so a backlight can be added my a user.
Amnother thing about the gameboycolor screen is that the colors are NOT that bright & vibrant as on the pakage, it also does have a flickering interlaced appealing if you look close at it under the sun, the gba screen does NOT have these issues.
The trick would be to make a production line for screens like that which would also be used and sold in other applications. Hey, maybe it could be done outside of the Far-East cheap-labour market but with an even higher level of automation.
Gameboy Advanced SP actually doesn't have a back light, instead its a bottom light. If you hold the handheld flat you can only see white light on the screen
Hi Colin. Is it REALLY not possible at all to remove that glass piece that holds the reflective layer? Watching your video, it just looks like that piece of glass is held on with some kind of adhiesive. Did you give it the good old collage try? I know you have quite a few Gameboy Colors, so maybe you could afford to risk breaking 1 screen to see if it can be done....
idk why but i love your vids and youre a pretty cool person dude. I subbed finally after seeing you now and then and wish you the best on youtube and hope for way more subs. Same as most others say, you are pretty good at what you do and its a shame you dont have 1million subs instantly, but i think your time will come soon enough. Please continue making more vids and i will do my best to support by watching lol easy enough right? Thanks again and heres to seeing more vids
Has anyone considered slipping the entire Game Boy Advance hardware into a Game Boy color shell? The screen would just be matted, with the unused pixels hidden around the screen edge areas of the GBC.
But that would be a GBA in a GBC shell, not a GBC. Talking about original U-80s, I wonder how much it would cost to built a real hardware clone, just with a backlit screen. (and one that isn't squiched like the GB Boy Colour)
aparrently a guy in november last year (2016) has almost cracked this problem the only catch is it involves taking the gameboy SP backlit screen and putting it instead which makes the resolution a bit strange
Okay, so this is probably going to sound really dumb, but ... well, the backlit GBA SP has a backlit screen, and is compatible with GBC games, right? So what if you somehow took the GBA SP hardware and put it in a GBC case? Technically it would be a GBA SP in a GBC case and not a backlit GBC, but that's pretty close, right?
I bet that's actually possible, because I once watched a video of someone taking the insides (for lack of a better word) of a GB Advance and putting them in an original GB case, and it worked. It would probably work with the SP too.
+This Does Not Complete Great video as usual Collin. A front lit screen is better than nothing but to be honest I use my GB Boy Colour more than my front lit Gameboy Color because it's easier on my middle aged eyes which is a shame because of the aspect ratio issues. I would love to see replacement displays manufactured and people do about it but I think we can safely say it's not going to happen. Perhaps we should all lobby Nintendo to make their own modernised hardware clones, so to speak? ;)
+Nicholas Wilson I enjoy my GB Boy Colour as well, and I actually like the aspect ratio, especially on Zelda games. I have the materials to do my front light mod on one of my GBCs but am really just doing it for the sake of it since I'm sure I will still use my GB Boy Colour the majority of the time.
The explanation of lcd's slightly helps me visualise what's wrong with my gbc. Right now, turning it on, the screen fills in with black on the left side, diluting (but not completely blocking) colors. After playing Pokemon Yellow for a while, seemingly from the black screen from entering battles, it disappears, so I've been trying to find an explanation for why it's doing this. But I have no idea what to search for, and have come up empty.
There is an alternative to a backlight mod for the gbc and gba. Instead of having an new LCD eletrically compatible with those consoles, just use a generic lcd with the same size as the originals, and use an extra citcuit board to convert the signals from the gba/gbc format for the new screen, it doesnt even have to have the same resolution, as the circuit board can make the upscaling. Of cource, there still the cost of the board, but that tends to be a lot cheaper. There is even a Game Gear mod that does something similar: www.smspower.org/forums/12954-GameGearReplaceWith35InchTFTLCDNomadLCDReplaceInclude#68683
for the GBA, a screen like this would be perfect. Have almost the same size and it doubles the resolution in both directions, so the upscalling is really straithfoard and the image wold not look distorced. pt.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-3-0-inch-TFT-LCD-screen-module-Ultra-HD-320X480-for-Arduino-MEGA-2560/32255192324.html?spm=2114.02010208.3.167.pMhiAB&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_9,searchweb201644_4_505_506_503_504_10020_502_10001_10002_10017_10010_10005_10011_10006_10003_10021_10004_10022_10009_10008_10018_10019,searchweb201560_3,searchweb1451318400_-1,searchweb1451318411_6450&btsid=3bf3b4ed-16fb-4baa-994a-facfedd78c09
Hey does anyone has any idea about the type of Gameboy Color's polarizer film? I tried a lot of mobile phone polarizer films and they all didn't work out. I'm really curious about what kind of film is suitable for gameboy color...
cant you just wrap led ribbon around the perimeter of the glass layers, making the light travel sideways through the glass. Then solder the Leds to 5v rail on GBA?
Couldn't you just make a kit which replaces everything after the second glass? While you can't disamble the individual layers, you should be able to atleast disamble the glass layers. So if the reflective layer is (with other layers) between glass layer 2 & 3 just remove everything below glass layer 2 and replace it with a kit that has backlight+the normal layers.
what happens when you light it up from the side? with really tiny smd-led on the "right" layer, this should be better than not having one. light it up from three sides and it would cover the majority of the screen evenly. just as an idea...
The same applies to the Neo Geo Pocket Color and Wonderswan Color as well I take it since there are no backlight mods for them either. It's too bad, but it is what it is.
Which would you pay more money for, a factory backlit Gameboy Color, or a Gameboy Advance SP AGS-101? Either one would be well sought after, 101's are especially coveted, but at least the Advance can play all Gameboy platforms.
Protip: if you use such a wide angle lens, move away a few inches from the camera. It is like you are entering people's comfort zones. Or use a longer focal length. thx
Someone Should make console shells for retro consoles. They are pretty difficult to find. i.e. NES, SNES, Gamecube, Sega Genisis, Sega Gamegear, NOMAD, Sega CD, Sega Saturn. etc....
Doesn't the backlight affect the battery life too like what happened with the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx? It was a cost cutting measure from Nintendo at the time since the original Brick GB up until the GBA SP had it with better hardware.
Couldn't you get a screen from a different Gameboy and make a ribbon cable adapter from that screen to the colors logic board that way you could put a frontlight in it
![Was the Gameboy Advance Just a Super Nintendo? [Byte Size] | Nostalgia Nerd](/img/n.gif)
Well, now there are backlight lcds for the GBC available 🤣
And it costs 80$.. fuck
@@pizzadoblequeso2164 I believe there are cheap ones on AliExpress and such. Not ideal but better than nothing.
Handheld legend is like 50
I just got one for $60
PizzaDobleQueso not anymore, IPS displays cost 50-60 now
lcd's have layers, like an onion
Kapteeni Hai and ogres
SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK !!!
like irony...
donkeys dont have layers
THEREDCAP cakes have layers :D
3 years later and i have 2 beautifully backlit gbc's
Never say never, same here!
Which kit did you use?
I own 12 Gbc and half of them are the q5 osd mod
Why does this guy not have more subs. He is really concise and detailed in his explainations and is generally all around helpful. Keep up the great vids!
+Tanger1ne Terror I agree. Colin has some of The Most thorough and informative videos on TH-cam.
Now he does
@@txe1nd playing the long game there lol
This channel is so underrated, this is honestly an amazing source for video game modding and collecting, keep up the great work man!
how the fuck are you 7k subs? i have been subbed only a month or so and i found your videos more educational and fun then alot of the rest.
+james hartley Thanks for the kind words!
+james hartley right.....i like his videos.
+james hartley Very professionally done videos as well.
+james hartley 9k 3 weeks later and add me to the list.
james hartley it's been a year he has 40,000 now
FINALLY!!!
The answer that I've been wanting to hear for the longest time!
Thank you Colin, your videos are awesome :)
So let me get this straight, and please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm just trying to understand it: hypothetically, if you could somehow remove that 3rd glass layer without damaging the rest of the screen, you could remove the polarizer and install a backlight like normal, correct? Or did I miss something?
I'm assuming I either missed something or it's impossible to do so, otherwise someone would have done it already.
It's impossible to do, at least with the way those specific LCDs are constructed. The glass layers are bonded together, and trying to separate them causes them to break. If they had been designed with the reflector on the back like the original Game Boy, then we'd have some options.
Oh, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up!
Is it just glued, or is the glass actually fused? Seems to me that it might be possible to separate if you very carefully injected solvent around the edges to loosen the glue laminating the layers together.
Since I haven't heard about any screen degradation i would assume it is some type of resin though I presume with enough razor blades and carefully chosen solvent you might get 1 in 20 apart. Best to either emulate the hardware (raspberry Pi0 in a 3D printed shell) or clone it (Kongfeng GB Boy Colour). If you were committed to the modding you'd still be best to source a led screen and an fpga converter chip, but that would likely be the most expensive of the 3 options funnily enough.
Oh and you'd have to probably move to China or one of their territories to be able to make and sell this stuff unmolested.
5:22 BennVenn now has an option for a ribbon cable adapter that lets you use an AGS-101 screen replacement in the CGB. It takes a bit more modification to the shell, but it looks great.
who would have guessed that 3 years later, such thing as a "native" plug and use screen would exist...
Well then, lets get started on a kickstarter for making backlit GBC/GBA screens. I'm sure there'd be enough people out there who would pledge money to that.
The money required to make the manufacturing process would be too much. And for what? Five people would want one.
Zestypanda The people holding the kickstarter would buy the whole stock and have a good supply to sell for at least a good few years. Seems doable.
If only I could read Chinese.
there's something called the gb boy
I've been slightly into modding gameboys recently and this is a wealth of knowledge. I love knowing how things work, thank you!
The GBA plays GBC games extremely well, so I doubt anyone would put forward that kind of resources to make a backlight mod kit, the need just isn't really there.
yeah and playing an emulator on your computer is like playing a gameboy with a bad setting :/
Wade Schipprack when you put a gbc game in the gba it sticks out horrendously.
And then you fold it up to put it in your pocket which causes the cartridge to wiggle a bit and then your game crashes
or you know, play your games on a PSP or 3DS. you wont have to carry cartridges around.
jan409 Shut up! We do not like logic in here!
So is this why you can easily see the gbc screen whereas the gba screen was quite hard to see
You did a review on that GB Boy system, I am kinda hoping you'd also do a review on the Revo K101 plus. Possibly in the near future? Anyhow. Keep up the good work, I absolutely love watching your videos, man (:
I wonder if taking out the screen of the GB Boy and put it into a real GB Color will work?
+Jamie Joseph In the video, if I'm not mistaken. He said it wasn't possible
+Jamie Joseph It says right where he shows footage of it that it wouldn't work.
Well I never thought It would come true but there is now a Chinese production line manufacturing backlight screens for the GBC. What a time to be alive guys. www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/5rv7r8/backlit_gbc_screens_developed_and_seemingly_now/
i love how people are commenting being like "it will never happen"....and then it happened. xD
And few days ago The 8-Bit Guy just made a review of a chinese clone of Gameboy Color probably made using that screen, in his video: "Nintendo NES Classic Alternatives and clones".
I figured out how to back-light a Color about 4 months ago. I'm still kind of working on it and it's inverted, but here's how I did it.:
imgur.com/a/ZONy5
+Koji Kendo Nice!
are you updating your research, and where at? Nice job bro.
ElRealPetChicken From time to time when I get the chance. Here's where I update my stuff.: www.reddit.com/r/Koji_Kendo
check this out: out.reddit.com/t3_54e1wm?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2Fa%2FMWeNe&token=AQAAs30SWIUHc1a_ZWJCA8MoL-5x8vYXn-jwdZ4y9R6vtZ8H_hKz&app_name=reddit.com
There's no dead pixels. The tiny marks are actually adhesive spots or dirt on the films behind it. I could remove the backlight & films or add an on/off switch and have the screen back to normal ironically. It's a fun mod!
Random idea. Nintendo, go ahead and take this. 'NinRetro'. An adapter for the upcoming console that can accept GameBoy-style cartridges on the Nintendo Switch, similar to the Super GameBoy for the SNES, and the GameBoy Player for the GCN.
they'd rather sell roms on virtual console
Solution: They do cross promotion with a battery company, and package coupons with the device for ten percent off watch batteries for the old carts. Then top off the whole thing by selling old, unsold units as 'reissues'. And when those run out, just make real reissue cartridges.
Zero Fighter shut up.
John Britton
What's your problem?
...I'll forgive your outburst and recommend picking up some stool softener at your local pharmacy. Generic will do just fine; no need to waste money on big name brands.
Somehow your video showed first in my youtube recommandation on the homepage. I gotta say I'm surprised you got so few views or subscribers, this was pretty interesting and easy to understand!
off-topic but you have the most amazing eye colour ive ever seen
My cat can see in the dark so he plays my gbc at night when everyone is asleep
So, what if you take a normal backlit lcd with the same size and use an fpga to translate the signals
That's technically possible, though it does raise the question of if you can get the FPGA module small enough to still fit in the case.
Well, there are FPGA devboards with the size of an arduino nano (e.g. XuLA2-LX9). They even had room on that small board to include a microsd slot and a usb port. so if that thing has enough I/O pins you could theoretically also wire it up to the cartridge slot and serve ROMs from a SDcard or USB. lol
I loved this explanation. This was very easy to understand and very well presented. Thanks a lot for this video! Now I understand why :)
+Spaztian Thank you!
You could mount a LED strip on the second glass layer. I have tried things like this on reflexive LCDs and it works, it may not be an even backlight though.
This doesn't really have to do with GBCs, but how do dead pixels work? What causes them and what fixes them? (Sorry if you already did a video on this)
Actually, this is very simple. I've fixed this on several tamagotchis (although I also caused it, heh), and it works the same for the Game Boy: it's simply a lost connection between the motherboard and the screen, usually a bad connector on the screen. There are several videos online of it. The way LCDs work, if a connector is lost, you'll lose an entire row of pixels if the connector telling the screen to activate that row is damaged or not connected properly. On a Tamagotchi, you simply need to screw the motherboard on harder so the connection is reestablished, but on a Gameboy you usually have to re-solder the connection. If it's individual pixels, I'm not sure what's wrong, but a quick Google search could help there.
PuffyRainbowCloud My dead pixels are on my DS lite. They used to be in two thick lines that stretched a little ways toward the center from the right side until I tried a method I found online. Now they're clustered on the right side (with some discoloration where they used to be). I mostly made this comment since I'm legitimately interested in what causes and fixes dead pixels since my DS even had different dead pixels that just randomly went away and were replaced by the ones I described here.
My brothers old DS is full of dead pixels, I'd like to know too
pkmnTrainerGold0 Kippy Kip Okay. To be honest, I think something is seriously wrong with the screen. Somewhere something is horribly out of shape. I'm guessing you probably just managed to bend it so that the dent moved to another place, hence why the dead pixels "moved". Right now, I think your only solution is to buy a new screen for it. There should be ones available online for not too much money, if you are that keen on getting it running. Otherwise, to be honest, I find that playing DS games on my New 3DS XL and my Gameboy Advance games on my GBA SP is a much better experience and it's a setup which I recommend more than the DS, unless you wish to use software which utilises the two ports on a DS or DSL.
PuffyRainbowCloud Yeah probably, he never took good care of it so god knows what happened. I only use it for dumping GBA roms as I normally just use my own 3DS or my GBA SP
One reason the Gameboy Light is awesome, so glad I got one.
flyboypuoi I also have one, but I was pretty disappointed with its performance. It doesn't light enough and the motion blur is awful
You have my sub and my support from now on, your content is well made!
Yay!!!! New video! It's been a while man!
I'm really getting into these educational videos about old hardware. You've just gained another subscriber!
I think that Nintendo also saw not adding backlight to the gameboy family as a design choice. Since there is no backlight, it gets you outside more to light up your screen, and there you can connect with others, like trading pokemon, or connecting via the link cable for other games. Although it does kinda fall because its not very accessible to play with when playing indoors or in low light.
I'm still working on the front light mod for the GBA and GBC, but the backlight mod for the original Gameboy is something I'm really proud of finishing. Love the videos!!
Welcome IPS 2022! Watching from Philippines
I didn't particularly care about this when I saw it in my recommendeds. I clicked on it on a whim and honestly, it was a really interesting explanation. Thanks for this!
Nice explanation. Your videos are really good. This one was enough to inspire me to see if I can manage to separate those layers without damaging the LCD. Now just have to find a broken GBC to experiment on:)
Okay, I dropped $12 on a broken GBC and tore it down just like Colin did to see if a brave soul might attempt the difficult task of actually separating the glass layers.
I had the idea that if I just cut around the edge where the layers were fused, the glass might be separable.
As someone asked earlier, the third layer does look to be held on with some kind of adhesive because there's an injection point on the left side of the LCD and what looks like a whitish ring of adhesive running almost all the way around the screen between those layers.
What's not immediately obvious in the video is that the back (3rd) layer of glass actually has electrical traces running through it. I'm not sure what they do exactly since the LCD itself has to be contained within the second layer, but it's more than just a piece of glass, and if those traces are functional, the screen would not survive having them separated.
Since none of the traces appear to run behind the LCD itself, it might be possible to cut out just the reflective layer from behind leaving the rest of the glass layer intact. You'd need to make a template to go over the glass with an opening around the reflective layer, then use a diamond cutter to scratch the inside down to that layer.
The two factors that would really make or break the effort would be how hard it was to stop at exactly the right depth, and whether the reflective layer is just lying there and not also glued to the glass. Cut too deeply and you will almost certainly damage the LCD, and if the reflective layer is glued in, it will be almost impossible to remove the glass behind it.
I would have been willing to embark on this dangerous journey but the GBC I was experimenting on was actually repairable and I couldn't bring myself to destroy a working system. I'll have to find a more broken GBC to try it.
Good work! Nice production value, good explanation, no BS.
You might also want to explain the difference between TFT & STN screens (I *think* STN/Passive Matrix screens are the ones that *twist* the light to be able to make it out through the second 90º polarizer).
I'm also curious why some screens are white/clearish when off (mostly older tech like calculators and the old Macintosh portables), while most modern LCDs (especially color ones) are black when they're off.
As much as I'd like to have a backlit color (it was my primary childhood handheld console: even though I was old enough to play games when the original GB came out, I never had one), the consolation is that the GBA is fully backwards compatible: you can play your GB/GBC games on a backlit screen using an AGS-101 or a modded original GBA. That's something, anyhow!
I for one wish that this style screen was in all DS/3DS models. With that side light. Playing in direct sunlight was the best. You cannot play in direct sunlight with modern backlit screens. Only in darkened areas
When im bored i always watch your content. Youre sooo entertaining!
Gamboys don't need backlights, because the games are always.....
LIT!
...Yes!
@@jooniethebest3709 th-cam.com/video/wJhfy3unTM8/w-d-xo.html
Ba-dum krash.
Atleast they have worms light and surprisingly they work really well. Just position them the right way and you can light up the entire screen while also avoiding glare. Works also for the gba.
Probably should have mentioned that between the two polarising filters the light can have its plane changed. I had to look this up because I just couldn't get my head around how any light could pass through two filters rotated 90° to each other.
Interestingly they released a Gameboy in Japan called the Gameboy light which was monochromatic but it had a light feature available! from what heard Nintendo thought that the western markets would be more interested in a colour display than a lit display! I don't know why we couldn't have had both.
Great video Collin, i like the added educational snippets !
I wonder how well a front lighting kit modified to use fibre optics on a _very_ thin sheet of plastic could work? One could then install the front light per-normal, but then somehow sandwich the fibres and the plastic behind the screen, thus lighting it up.
I think we all know that the GBCs now have a mod kit that can make the screens brighter, but we should talk about why the screens weren’t bright to begin with. I think it’s because a bright screen consumed a lot of battery, which you can see if you play a Game Boy Advance SP. i think that in the late 90s and early 2000s Nintendo probably struggled with making a handheld game system that could have a good backlight and not drain battery.
There was a very early railroad car window that had a liquid crystal layer. You turn a crank and the window gains opacity.
I finally know why I couldn't play my Gameboy in the dark. It was a question I never bothered to Google until now.
Wonderful quality of the video. So good.
I wonder though if it would be possible to take another screen, slap a cheap fpga on it for data conversion.. Hmm.
This is actually pretty interesting. I remember seeing those "turn these squares and light will not pass thru" things in Physics class.
More amateures are leaving TH-cam and more professionals are joining it. I like your content. Subbed.
FPGA + modern screen could result a compatible mod without the need for a custom screen. It would still require a lot of work for the code, and the per unit price still wouldn't be that cheap, but I think it could be economically possible for a mid sized production run.
This is what I thought of as well, but just can't imagine how it would fit in there. Think about all the power supplies needed, routing etc.
Still, might be possible with a lot of thought and custom flex PCB. Would be amazing if anybody actually pulled that off.
I was actually pretty curious about this too. Thanks for the in-depth answer.
Um... You can use a diffuse filament LED line to 'side light' it through the glass edges.
You can always just shove a raspberry PI inside a GBC's case, get a generic LCD the right size, get a GBC emulator on the PI, and either store your ROMs on USB, or hook up a cartridge reader if you're really committed to using cartridges.
This video: Why Gameboy Color cant have a backlight
Suggested next video: Gameboy Color backlight Mod ... wow
I kind of like the gamma/white balance of the Gameboy Color compared to playing GBC games on an advance. The colors seem more appealing and less over-saturated.
Why do you think that is? Just the LCD screen they chose displays like that. You think they program games to be intended to look like that or is playing through a GBA screen what we're really supposed to be seeing?
I know it might be a minor nitpick, but it's just something that stands out to me.
Then again, the GBC had a really reflective screen that made it easy to see in ambient light, while the original GBA was impossible to see without shoving a lamp at the screen.
I tend to always look for a solution. But I must admit it's unlikely that the two glass plates can be separated. But who knows? Maybe there is a way.
This hardware developed by I.S., not Nintendo. The reflective screen choice had to do with how Nintendo wanted children to use the system - outside during the day. Note specifically the design of the pixel lens overlay on the original Advance - it's designed to be able to catch sunlight from multiple angles.
I think it was that the triple panel process allowed more contrast than the double one, and that is why it went so long as it did.
The GB Boy Colour clone system is briefly shows in this video. Look for reviews of this device right here on TH-cam...it's a very highly recommended console! The GB Boy Colour can be found on Amazon & eBay in, well...many different colors! Some solid, some translucent...mine is the Clear Green, and it works great!
Hearing stuff like this makes be compelled to figure out a way to do "the impossible" in this situation: Use the original screen, but backlight it.
Great informative video, thank you.
But why exactly can't you separate the 2nd and 3rd glass layers to access the reflector layer in a GBC?
If you try to, you'll break the screen.
Wotterzz
Thanks!
Here is an idea to make it cheaper to manufacture the screens...sell them as non-backlit replacements for the GBC, but built like a GBP pocket screen so a backlight can be added my a user.
Subbed. Really great information. I just watched the Game Gear LED backlit installation video and the info provided by you is great.
Amnother thing about the gameboycolor screen is that the colors are NOT that bright & vibrant as on the pakage, it also does have a flickering interlaced appealing if you look close at it under the sun, the gba screen does NOT have these issues.
Definitely an interesting type of vid I haven't seen anywhere else! You earned my sub.
The trick would be to make a production line for screens like that which would also be used and sold in other applications. Hey, maybe it could be done outside of the Far-East cheap-labour market but with an even higher level of automation.
Couldn't be explained better, thanks pal !
Gameboy Advanced SP actually doesn't have a back light, instead its a bottom light. If you hold the handheld flat you can only see white light on the screen
SUBBED! nice vid man keep it up!
btw, why does he only have 9k subs? what the heck. he deserves many many many more subs
Hi Colin.
Is it REALLY not possible at all to remove that glass piece that holds the reflective layer? Watching your video, it just looks like that piece of glass is held on with some kind of adhiesive. Did you give it the good old collage try? I know you have quite a few Gameboy Colors, so maybe you could afford to risk breaking 1 screen to see if it can be done....
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe some variant of glue remover solution and/or heat, together with some gentle prying or rotation could loosen it?
idk why but i love your vids and youre a pretty cool person dude.
I subbed finally after seeing you now and then and wish you the best on youtube and hope for way more subs. Same as most others say, you are pretty good at what you do and its a shame you dont have 1million subs instantly, but i think your time will come soon enough.
Please continue making more vids and i will do my best to support by watching lol easy enough right? Thanks again and heres to seeing more vids
+DjStiv3 Thanks for the kind words!
I bought the Kong Feng GB Boy Colour based on your video review, and like it a lot. It will suffice in place of a Nintendo brand model.
Has anyone considered slipping the entire Game Boy Advance hardware into a Game Boy color shell?
The screen would just be matted, with the unused pixels hidden around the screen edge areas of the GBC.
Why would someone do that? The original GBA is way more comfortable.
Kaasbaas 01 So you'd have a backlit GBC. Duh.
But wouldn't getting a GB BOY COLOUR be cheaper and less time consuming?
Eddie W. Less authentic. A GBA has an actual z80.
But that would be a GBA in a GBC shell, not a GBC.
Talking about original U-80s, I wonder how much it would cost to built a real hardware clone, just with a backlit screen. (and one that isn't squiched like the GB Boy Colour)
aparrently a guy in november last year (2016) has almost cracked this problem the only catch is it involves taking the gameboy SP backlit screen and putting it instead which makes the resolution a bit strange
Okay, so this is probably going to sound really dumb, but ... well, the backlit GBA SP has a backlit screen, and is compatible with GBC games, right? So what if you somehow took the GBA SP hardware and put it in a GBC case? Technically it would be a GBA SP in a GBC case and not a backlit GBC, but that's pretty close, right?
GBA SP has a front-lit screen, he says that in the video...
No, there is a version of the SP with a backlit screen, the AGS-101.
*LOL* *FUKIN'* *DESTROYED*
I bet that's actually possible, because I once watched a video of someone taking the insides (for lack of a better word) of a GB Advance and putting them in an original GB case, and it worked. It would probably work with the SP too.
It's been done before. Except the guy only posted his finished mod and never released a tutorial or showed the innner workings of his mod.
+This Does Not Complete Great video as usual Collin. A front lit screen is better than nothing but to be honest I use my GB Boy Colour more than my front lit Gameboy Color because it's easier on my middle aged eyes which is a shame because of the aspect ratio issues. I would love to see replacement displays manufactured and people do about it but I think we can safely say it's not going to happen.
Perhaps we should all lobby Nintendo to make their own modernised hardware clones, so to speak? ;)
+Nicholas Wilson I enjoy my GB Boy Colour as well, and I actually like the aspect ratio, especially on Zelda games. I have the materials to do my front light mod on one of my GBCs but am really just doing it for the sake of it since I'm sure I will still use my GB Boy Colour the majority of the time.
The explanation of lcd's slightly helps me visualise what's wrong with my gbc.
Right now, turning it on, the screen fills in with black on the left side, diluting (but not completely blocking) colors. After playing Pokemon Yellow for a while, seemingly from the black screen from entering battles, it disappears, so I've been trying to find an explanation for why it's doing this. But I have no idea what to search for, and have come up empty.
There is an alternative to a backlight mod for the gbc and gba. Instead of having an new LCD eletrically compatible with those consoles, just use a generic lcd with the same size as the originals, and use an extra citcuit board to convert the signals from the gba/gbc format for the new screen, it doesnt even have to have the same resolution, as the circuit board can make the upscaling. Of cource, there still the cost of the board, but that tends to be a lot cheaper. There is even a Game Gear mod that does something similar:
www.smspower.org/forums/12954-GameGearReplaceWith35InchTFTLCDNomadLCDReplaceInclude#68683
for the GBA, a screen like this would be perfect. Have almost the same size and it doubles the resolution in both directions, so the upscalling is really straithfoard and the image wold not look distorced.
pt.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-3-0-inch-TFT-LCD-screen-module-Ultra-HD-320X480-for-Arduino-MEGA-2560/32255192324.html?spm=2114.02010208.3.167.pMhiAB&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_9,searchweb201644_4_505_506_503_504_10020_502_10001_10002_10017_10010_10005_10011_10006_10003_10021_10004_10022_10009_10008_10018_10019,searchweb201560_3,searchweb1451318400_-1,searchweb1451318411_6450&btsid=3bf3b4ed-16fb-4baa-994a-facfedd78c09
Hey does anyone has any idea about the type of Gameboy Color's polarizer film? I tried a lot of mobile phone polarizer films and they all didn't work out. I'm really curious about what kind of film is suitable for gameboy color...
cant you just wrap led ribbon around the perimeter of the glass layers, making the light travel sideways through the glass. Then solder the Leds to 5v rail on GBA?
Could anyone else smell the sharpie?
One of the coolest mods is to mix and match the housings :3
Couldn't you just make a kit which replaces everything after the second glass? While you can't disamble the individual layers, you should be able to atleast disamble the glass layers. So if the reflective layer is (with other layers) between glass layer 2 & 3 just remove everything below glass layer 2 and replace it with a kit that has backlight+the normal layers.
Just replace the screen with an led backlit screen. You'd have to solder onto the board to do it through a diagram but it would work
At least there's front-lighting, like you said.
Hey! I really liked the music in this video. What are the titles of the songs? You listed the artist's names, and links. Thanks!
Nice video, I feel smarter
Could you fit an already produced screen of larger dimensions into the case and only utilize the section needed?
what happens when you light it up from the side? with really tiny smd-led on the "right" layer, this should be better than not having one. light it up from three sides and it would cover the majority of the screen evenly. just as an idea...
The same applies to the Neo Geo Pocket Color and Wonderswan Color as well I take it since there are no backlight mods for them either. It's too bad, but it is what it is.
BennVenn - * Hold My Beer
Which would you pay more money for, a factory backlit Gameboy Color, or a Gameboy Advance SP AGS-101? Either one would be well sought after, 101's are especially coveted, but at least the Advance can play all Gameboy platforms.
Protip: if you use such a wide angle lens, move away a few inches from the camera. It is like you are entering people's comfort zones. Or use a longer focal length. thx
What is the reflective and color layer of the GBC made of? is it colored glass on top of a piece of metal? Or dyed metal?
Someone Should make console shells for retro consoles. They are pretty difficult to find. i.e. NES, SNES, Gamecube, Sega Genisis, Sega Gamegear, NOMAD, Sega CD, Sega Saturn. etc....
Doesn't the backlight affect the battery life too like what happened with the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx? It was a cost cutting measure from Nintendo at the time since the original Brick GB up until the GBA SP had it with better hardware.
With old NiCad/Alkaline batteries? yes. today's batteries make light work of LEDs so not really
HadoukenDude yes. but with modern battery texh and depending on what lighting twch you use, it should be negligiable.
Now there is a special ribbon adapter that works a ags101 screen in a gbc. It's expensive (50$ for adapter) but it seems interesting.
Couldn't you get a screen from a different Gameboy and make a ribbon cable adapter from that screen to the colors logic board that way you could put a frontlight in it
It's sort of like the modern LCD replacement for the Game Gear. Currently they run $100.