I Turned A Broken Nintendo DS Lite Into A Gameboy Advance 

This brings back memories of my DS snapping in half

"Let's see how this speaker sounds" **dead silence** "I think that's pretty good"

“I made a GB out of a DS” _just breaks DS in half_

I just found my old DS lite 8 years later and its in pristine condition. I always told myself as a kid, "This will be worth a lot in the future."

I just realized that the Switch is the first Nintendo console since the N64 to not have any form of physical backwards compatibility. Even the Gamecube had an attachment to where it could play GameBoy Advance games.

Someone was clearly playing Pokémon Ranger by the looks of that touch screen

This brings me back 10+ years ago. When I had a DS light. My top screen Hinges broke and the screen was white. So I used it as a GBA system instead. But you can also still play Mario Kart DS. How you ask? What I did was that You don't need the top screen. You can still drive by playing the bottom screen mini map and shoss all the action icon items that are on the track and players. I was still able to play Mario Kart DS with my friends with a Broken top screen.

Hears the word soldering* Me: Aight Imma quit

21:12 i hear nothing "i think that's pretty good" xD

My family lost two DS lites to torn off screens (dagum grabby siblings). It's nice to see one that is getting some new life out of it.

I'm super glad that you went with the "bare minimum" approach on this one. Sometimes It can be intimidating or even demoralizing to see a super well-made shell on something so simple. Keep it up and thank you!

"let's see what the speaker sounds like with This placement" *Absolute fucking silence* "I think that's pretty good"

This is the first time im actually gonna buy a sponsored product in a video ive seen... useful product for a good price and has actual features that the switch is lacking on its own; good sponsor dude

You can do this without soldering a resistor also, just by separating the led lights from the lcd top screen and leaving it connected and just either stuffing it back in the housing or putting the led’s in a straw across the top for a cool light effect.

when i was a kid, both of my ds' screen survived :D unfortunately, i played mario kart ds so much (and with so much force) that my A button didn't pop out as much it should've. made it impossible to rapidly tap

Great vid. I converted my broken ds lite into one of these, i removed the ds card slot and put the speaker in place of it, drilled 4 holes on the case for the speaker holes. I removed both x and y buttons. Used car body filler, to fill in the holes of the two buttons, also other parts of the ds, like where the hinges used to be, the ds card slot and where the stylus once was.. Then painted it matt black. Looks real smart. I am now Currently on with doing the same with an original ds phat.

I have a rare thing: a non broken never repaired ds lite

"I'm gonna sleep early today" Me at 3am:

Me looking at my DS wanting to do this: Okay, I need tools. My DS: get sweat person meme

I have a broken DS Lite myself. It broke when I was moving it to another spot to charge and my sister got mad about it and shoved me, causing me to drop it and break it. Seeing this video now kinda makes me want to do this myself. It wouldn’t just sit in my closet collecting dust

FYI it may be a better idea to do this than to buy a GameBoy Mico, the prices on Ebay are ridiculous. You could also buy a RevoK as well, which is arguably a better GameBoy micro that supports cartridges.

Oh yeah I've had a dead DS lite in a drawer with a DESTROYED top screen and a perfectly okay bottom screen I'm doing this now.

This is so cool! I love the idea of re-purposeing old or broken gaming devices, I would have never thought u could do something like that.

glad someone finally did this. i snapped my old lite in half back in the day when i got a new one and it still works!

Yes!! This is my project this week!!! Love Tech Waves since the very first episode Jon, yesterday during the Spawncast you guys were talking about the first few episodes and I was a little surprised to realize that means I've been subbed for 4 years (old account at the beginning) and have seen almost if not every video on the channel!! THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT WORK JON!! Spawn Wave is best Media!!!

You could always reconnect the top part of the shell to act as a screen cover. Maybe even make a custom logo to put in the gap where the screen previously was.

Something you need to be cautious of if you get a replacement shell for the DS lite is to make sure when you are putting the back casing, where the battery is held, on to the motherboard, that there aren't any places that are hitting up against components on the board. When I was installing a new shell on to my main DS lite, there was one area that was initially not sitting properly when I was trying to assemble the DS, though it went most of the way into place after several tries. I thought everything was fine with the DS until I tried to charge it, and discovered that the casing had broken a component that was absolutely necessary for allowing the DS to charge when it finally was flat enough to close it. I ended up taking the back casing off and sanded down the area that partially broke, and was still hitting against, the component that allows the DS to charge and was able to get it to lay flat without breaking more of the component, but I still need to solder a new part on to replace the broken one so I don't have to continue to use a second, half-broken DS lite to charge other batteries that I can switch out when my main DS lite is almost dead. TL:DR; Check to make sure that the back of a replacement shell doesn't put pressure on any component on the motherboard before trying to close the bottom part of the DS.

When my DS finally snaps, I now know what I can do to it! :D

"You won't need a soldering iron but.... here's what you need to solder"

I bought the Command Case and I love it

Dude I'm so glad you made a video on this! I made one last summer and finding proper information on how to wasn't the easiest thing ever

Bro.... this brought back a dark memory of mine. I had an original DS, the top screen was broken off almost but it was still functional being held by one cable. I decided I would only use it as a gameboy going forward and I just ripped the top screen off, and then the bottom one stopped working too. I remember crying for awhile

My DS Lite had the exact same problem as the one you worked on in this video (except the hinge completely broke, and the wire was the only thing holding the two screens together lol), and I always wondered if it could just be converted into a sole Game Boy machine with the bottom screen. Unfortunately, as a twelve year old with limited access to tools and not equipped with much technical knowledge, I never looked into it and just threw it away. This is really neat!

Spawn is my Go to Guy for this kind of Content! ❤️

Plug a small speaker into the earphone jack and maybe use a custom 3D printed covering to go round the GBA slot and make the game carts more flush with the case's new extension and you could set up a neat stereo speaker setup down below the screen perhaps. Saves on the soldering too.

This brings back memories of this kid in my elementary school class that had a black DS lite with its top screen hanging on by only the cords. Somehow that thing worked perfectly and he would bring it every day and invite people to play Mario 64 DS with him.

Seems everyone is doing this. I like it.

Do a review on the command case please.

Your a good asset man. For everything you have given I sincerely am grateful and keep up the unparalleled professionalism 👑

Great project! God bless you and yours! Praying for you!

The command shell looks pretty sweet

I remember the DS Lite I had broke mysteriously one time. Not sure how it broke, but the hinge broke and piece of it broke off which seems to be one of the common ways the DS Lite would break. I remember dropping my DS Lite a good few times so I don't think that helped either. I feel like the original DS design was more durable than the DS Lite. I'm assuming they sacrificed durability for backlighting and a more reformed design.

Woah! This is really unique and crafty. Good job!

I did this mod several years ago. I ended up using a larger resistor though. But it worked like a charm, well after putting in the wifi adapter again xD

I've been wanting to do a simple project like this. I've got a spare ds lite that's kinda beat up, so I think I'll give this a try!

If anyone is wondering what spawnwave looks like, there is a face reveal at 13:03

My brothers broke the top off the DS lite. And it still powered on after. I didn’t have to do anything and it works just like the end product of the video. I thought it was awesome ! I’m glad others are doing the same

I did that a few years ago, but I just cut the ribbon cable for the top screen but left the speakers and left it plugged in and it worked fine and I was able to have dual rear speakers after drilling holes for the sound.

Even today i used my old blue nintendo ds. I even remembered how I waited for hours for it

I'm planning on doing it with a broken DS lite. However for the sound I might go ahead and mix the left and right channel to output properly on one speaker so I have the proper stereo output over a mono speaker.

This is an awesome idea! I immediately shared this with my Dad, who has repaired a bunch of game consoles over the years

I used work at a small shop that did game system mods and repairs back in the j-tag days and and Wii mod chips, honestly my most favorite job I've ever had and I still miss it

I really think Nintendo should utilize some of the features that are present in the Manji command shell. It would fix a lot of problems I have with the switch like grip, kick stand, etc.

Just saw retro future do this a week or two ago. This is a cool semi-fix

I’m so glad I found this omg!! When I was little my DS Lite fell on the floor and the top screen went dead, so I could only use the bottom for GBA games from then on. This is a cool project that I am SO trying out!!

I just found 2 of my ds lite and THEY STILL WORK it brought back so many memories

Instructions unclear: my ds lite turn into a dreamcast, does anyone know why?

have an old ds light with broken hinges just sat in a draw, gonna do this and play the pokemon games i missed.

Great video love the video it was really good and interesting

this is super interesting, shelved for further analysis!

So. This video keeps peeping in and out of your recommended, and you put off watching it for a while but eventually came back. sAmE

Did this like 10 years ago & Still use it HAHA!! LOVE IT!!

Hi. Your really good at yapping simultaneously like a cooking show host. Talented man!

I actually busted the hinge on the left side of my ds lite long ago, and the top screen was pretty much held in by the ribbon cable. Needless to say, the top screen died shortly after that. It would still power on, but nothing would display on the top screen. One day I was playing a GBA game on it, and the top screen finally came off. So, it was pretty much this until it was powered off.

"Let me know what you guys think about the Gameboy Macro and if you're thinking about making one" - 25 minutes ago I didn't even know this was a thing, now I'm thinking about finding a broken DS Lite just to make one.

nobody: me:i want that also me: breaks ds

I watched this video this afternoon. 4 hours later, I have my own Gameboy Micro. Thank you so much for showing what I could do with my broken DS!

Thank u for educating us .

I always had my DS auto-boot games and set the GBA screen to the bottom so that in the case of my top screen breaking, it would still boot GBA games without a problem

At 17:53 I'm like "is that at Doom's gate? It sounds different"

pro tip for those doing a top screen replacement: about the wifi cable, tie some fishing line to it and loop it around the slot, tape it to the slot and use it to pull the cable back through on reassembly

Hi Spawn Wave, Could you please explain why simply adding a resistor between LEDA2 and LEDC2 tricks the system into thinking that the top screen is turned on? That's really amazing to me!

This hurts because I had one of these and would love to have done this.

Fun fact, it “can” play Gameboy and Gameboy Color games. It’ll also can play Nintendo System Entertainment, and that’s all possible to the EZ Flash Omega and EverDrive. EZ Flash Omega is a solid flash cart for a reasonable price with a RTC on it. Mainly used in games like Pokémon and other games.

Thank you. You rock! If I can’t fix my DS Lite, then I will attempt this mod.

I learned completely nothing but what you made is amazing

That command case looks amazing, I'm definitely buying one

If I would do this, I could do challenges like "Is it possible to beat (x ds game) with only the touch screen?" (And I would keep wifi/microphone just in case, this would we good for Warioware DIY just to show off the microgames with just the microgames!)

It may be worth mentioning that you can also by Macro shell kits now too. That way you have a complete looking housing that you just drop it all into.

Awesome guide. Love the Zero theme. Zero 3 is my favorite gba game.

Kinda wish I still had my first DS Lite now... I remember dropping it or something which broke the hinge and prevented it from turning on. I've since bought a working one from a local game store (ironically enough, it's the same exact model in this video), but it'd have been nice to be able to get some use out of that old one, even if it is pretty redundant considering I have a working one.

i’m gonna make a second account just to like this again! i did this mod with an og DS, which i believe the community calls a GBA Macro XL, with the biggest benefit being the full concealment of the GBA cart! i got a blue DS with a bad hinge for ~$16 and a sheet of 100 3ohm resistors for ~$10. highly recommend the mod, even for the beginner-intermediately skilled!

I've had 2 of these sitting in a drawer for over half a decade. Time for them to see the light again. And I even have a snes and a wii to pull resistors from

I liked to see U take it a part!!

I would probably recommend using a DS lite with a nonfunctional DS cartridge port, that way you aren't really losing the DS functionality by doing this mod.

I'm gonna grab my DS Lite and just rip off the top screen for no reason.

Videos like these made me get a dsi with the bumpers broken, so I could repair. Ik it's a simple repair but it'll be my first time so

I did this but used the aluminum front panel by BoxyPixel and a Switch speaker. Highly recommend!

I used to throw my ds lite across the room back when I used to use It as an alarm clock. I also used to throw it as hard as I could on the ground when it wasn't working. It would work afterwards. Every. Single. Time. Damn thing worked for a solid 4 years. It was the Nokia Phone of DS Lites.

The DS light is the only system I ever broke that wasn't my fault I literally tossed it onto a bed and if you've ever seen how soft beds are then you will be confused at how the hinge cracked

Thanks brother for this video

This is so freaking cool thank you !! I can’t wait to try this

Correction: I turned my *broken DS Lite* into a *GameBoy Macro.*

I tried doing this a few months ago and didn't know about the resister thing for the screen and thought I just killed it. lol Ended up modding my DSi instead to play all my GBA games.

i didnt quite understand everything but honestly the way this works is impressive and interesting.

ive had my ds lite for 6-7 years and it still works

This video is what I needed on a boring Sunday...thanks dude

*Improvise, Adapt, Overcome*

Honestly if you take a Switch speaker, fill in the corner with putty and something to let the light through, tap a few holes in the back for the speaker so you can keep the stylus slot, and get one of those 3rd party dust blocker DS cartridges and it would look even better! I like the functions of the stylus and keeping the housing there, and models done with switch speakers and pin holes get a great sound!

Very cool. I have zero technical skill in this area, but enjoyed watching.