RARE Japanese Pokemon GameBoy Advance FULL Restoration 

Hi, I don’t know or think you will ever see this but I just want to thank you. I am only thirteen and I’ve been watching you since I was twelve. The first video of yours I saw was your gba gold repair. You INSPIRED me to say the least. I am a kinda quick learner and after watching your video I bought a broken $15 gba from eBay I repaired it myself and I have never felt so proud of myself. I can now repair all gameboys and ds units. It’s only been a year but, thank you. You have helped me realize my passion and talent and you make such remarkable content. I have so much more I wanna say but I can’t put it into words. Once again, I know you will never see this but, Thank you. You are my inspiration

Really sorry if I don’t seem myself in this video. Just recovering from being a bit unwell, and was really excited to make a video. Hope you can still enjoy!

Honestly it's quite neat that you can take such rare handhelds and then repair them.

What I recommend doing when trying to repair the motherboard is have a look inside the power switch. I had a GBA with a motherboard in similar condition to yours and the corrosion made it's way into the power switch. I was able to get it working after cleaning it. Yours may have the same problem. Also when cleaning the corrosion, I suggest you use baking soda or vinegar to neutralize it. I also used isopropyl alcohol to clean my GBA, but the corrosion came back several months later and caused more problems. I hope this helps you out if you decide to tackle that motherboard again.

You can clean battery acid corrosion more easily by using distilled vinegar. Then just clean off the vinegar with IPA. This way requires less mechanical force and is therefore less likely to cause further damage.

This looks quick and easy on video but I bet it is a right pain in real life, moving the camera to get all the shots required while you are also trying to fix the product and make a good video. I would have done cut from broken to fixed, so props to you for including all the footage of you fixing it 😀

Dang, that shell is absolutely a thing of beauty.

Wow, SO satisfying and happy to see the pokemon center sticker come back!

I wonder if the capacitors are damaged since there was corrosion around them. Maybe replacing them could help.

Ooooh, yeah. Clean those filthy parts. Someone's a very dirty Gameboy.

This is what we like to see! That came out really nice - I think the paint finish is 'pearlescent'. White vinegar works really well on battery corrosion.

The retro future is definitely a Certified Game boyologist. "You can see that this is a well loved Gameboy"

for anyone complaining about the use of spare parts the parts changed are all available individually from 3rd party suppliers so fixing your own console the same way is just as possible, it's just more convenient and efficient to use what you have available to you.

Corrosion from alkaline batteries is actually basic/alkaline (hence “alkaline batteries”!) and is more easily and fully neutralized with ordinary white vinegar than with IPA. Might be easier to use vinegar to completely remove the corrosion, rinse the entire board with plain water to remove the vinegar, and then waiting for it to completely dry out before testing it.

These videos are so satisfying to see the process of before to after.

And today's reasoning for not doing my homework is... *drumroll please* I binge watched The Retro Future!

Oooohhh I always wanted the Suicune Blue GBA.

I love the music you use in your vids. So chill.

Love the shell color and the amount of time you put into these projects. I do have one tip for dealing with battery corrosion: if you put some white vinegar on the corrected parts it will help neutralize and clean the corrosion. Just remember to clean it back off as it is an acid itself. Keep up the good work!

I really enjoy your videos and look forward to the next. I wouldn’t feel bad if you can’t fix everything, some things are beyond our control. You still provide so much to the repair and modding community with every single video and I for one appreciate it.

I have a celebi gba that I managed to snag off sendico early this year in excellent shape for a great price, but I've only seen this model for a decent price in this kind of condition. So glad to see one of my favourite handheld enthusiasts attempting such an incredible restoration I've dreamed of seeing!

Great restoration, love to see you polish up the plastic screen protector as well, obviously that’s the most exciting part of this GameBoy, there are a product called PolyWatch, it’s a polishing kit for plastic watch crystals, such as Swatch watches, I had used it to polish all kinds of plastic glass with very good results, there are two different type of Polywatch, blue is for plastic, and red is for real glass, make sure you get the blue one.

You are crazy about this

Watched this to settle down for the night and get ready for bed. Very therapeutic and relaxing. THANK YOU!!!

Love the colour. So unusual. Another superb video.

Your videos have been a life saver. So glad I found this channel

the iridescent finish is really lovely. Nice work!

Your videos are so therapeutic, thank you!

I was not expecting that white part of the Pokemon Center sticker to be something covering the sticker, I thought it was part of the sticker got torn off and that was the remains. Really neat find! I really want to restore/repair/do the backlight mod on a GBA. I love the form factor of it. I have a GBA SP but it has some issues with the shoulder buttons. I know there's some fixes online for those but I don't currently have the tools to do so. I used to have some triwing screwdrivers but I seem to have lost all of them somewhere along the way.

Hey fair dukes, you really gave it your all to repair the board for this video and ye gotta respect it, looking forward to the follow up as I've a board with similar issues so would be good to see how you tackle it.

I saw you donate on Sips_ stream and I've been watching both of you for a while. Never thought I'd see y'all interact!

I'm really enjoying these videos. I recently got a beat up hello kitty GBA that I'm going to attempt to restore. Unfortunately the screen is scratched, and the screen is the unique part of it. Do you have any tips for helping the scratched screen look a little less noticable?

I'm amazed at how great it looks! It just looks lightly used.

amazing work!! well done :D

You did awesome working on it!

That's amazing! Eliot you've done it again and brought back a gameboy from the dead

Love your videos man!

Enjoyed the video and love the shell color.

Loving the videos keep up the great work

Im accually serious about this nintendo world new york ds lite, as the design is the offical silver, with a black as the entire console, and parts seem to be all proper offical parts. Trust me, i want it to go to someone who can keep it safe. I dont trust myself with such a rare piece of history (less than 10 made), and know your the proper collector

So much work went into this one

Nice video. A little trick I learned that people don't seem to talk about, with dirty contacts(like what the buttons use), use a white eraser (hi-polymer) to buff away the dirt, debris, corrosion and oxidization. Try it out with a dirty penny, you'll be amazed. Also, with the battery corrosion, use a little bit of baking soda and ipa. The baking soda will neutralize the acid from the corrosion, stopping it in it's tracks. This must be careful though. You don't want the baking soda getting into areas you can't clean.

Yo! It’s been a while since I watched one of your videos you got me into fixing gameboys I don’t know what happened but I got back into fixing and collecting gameboys/games

Here's the thing. I don't have a gameboy, I never owned a gameboy, I not interested on getting a gameboy. I only watch your videos because I like the presentation. Very nice job man!

How do SO MANY Japanese Gameboy owners somehow burn their screens?!

I just got some supplies to hopefully restore my first "junk" gameboy. Thanks for the awesome content.

Great work!

Despite not having it on its lens this is the Suicune edition hense the colour, really nice colour. Keep up the great work Elliot.

nice restoration! :)

nice work. If you've never tried it for lens scratches, try Novus plastic polish, it comes in 3 stages and you really can get some great results. i use it on plastic pinball parts and works miracles.

Love the videos!

Great Vid Bro! 👍

Ur videos makes me want to buy a couple gameboys and try to repair them

Looks great!

can we take a moment to appreciate how smart he is, than most of his subscribers

To take scratches out of these plastic screen covers, I recommend something such as "polywatch". Its an abrasive paste usually used to buff out scratches out of a watches plastic lens. Even better, a plastic polishing kit

Love your vids sooo satisfying

U did good on repair restoring it.

Cool restoration.

Hey man! Superrr cooool old game boys you’ve come across! I just had a thought (don’t know if others have commented this one or not) but if you have a spare glacier plastic battery cover, you should try dusting the backside(inside) of the cover with some white spray paint! Taking a look in between each light coat- you may find that translucent purple tint of the original plastic with the opaque white backing could get closer to the original pokécenter models color with not a lot of effort/time/$$ 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️ just an idea! Have a good one sir!

get yourself some "Cerium Oxide" takes off all the little scratches after buffing out bigger ones, works like a charm on plastic

Nice a new restoration

I was just literally watching your videos, then I got a notif. Get well soon!

I actually just restored one of similar condition! The lens actually had a protector so I guess the kid put it on. The lens is minty!

This is one of my favorite refurbishes you've done. 1) That machine had a hell of a lot of gingivitis. 2) The color is pearl, and it's a pretty easy color to get, at least for airbrushes, as it's often used on cars. You could spray a white or light blue shell with it and it would be a very close color match. 3) I go to the Pokémon Center every time I'm in Japan, so I was thrilled you saved the sticker. I had no idea these units existed, so now I need to look for a 3DS or Switch equivalent next time I'm there.

I want that shell XD but amazing work as always elliot! -

Seriously though I learned how to solder because of this channel....

Don't feel bad for not being able to repair the motherboard, sometimes those things end up being so damaged that they are impossible to repair, still nice job, I really love these rare-colored consoles, and this one looks nice

The pale reflective blue is lovely

Maybe try some white vinegar on the motherboard and terminals.. that really helps with corrosion as batteries are alkaline and vinegar is acidic just soak it for a little bit it will bubble showing there is a reaction, then rinse with iso and let dry.

Hey Elliot. I know you are a very capable tech for these items but I wanted to share some thing's i noticed in the close-up shots of this main board. Hopefully you missed something minor. While you were cleaning around the damaged battery contact, and while soldering on replacement, I noticed one of the surface mount capacitors was moving quite easily when bumped by the toothbrush or soldering tip. Edit: I posted comment before the soapy water montage. Saw the new cap in the place of the shifty one I mentioned. Also I noticed what may have been bubbles in the conformal coating of the board, suggesting corrosion had eaten away traces. However it is also possible this observation was just residual IPA on the board reflecting light in a funny way. If you have not done so already I would suggest using a pair of small tweezers to check the surface mount components for lifting or damaged pads. As well as using a sharp screwdriver of knife to scratch into any bubbles in the conformal coating. Finally, if you have heat adjustment on your soldering iron, I think you may be a little on the hot side. I noticed some burning around the replacement battery terminal, again this could be residue from other factors and just an observation. Best of luck, I will be watching for an update on the 2nd channel. -Nate.

Epic Video bro

Man, watching how you restore these little consoles makes me nostalgic. I‘m gonna buy a GBA and give it a restauration. I never had a GBA as a kid because when it came out my parents asked me to choose between a mobile phone (the now legendary Nokia 3310) and a GBA for my 11th birthday! I chose the phone... Now 20 years Iater I‘m gonna dive into nostalgia. I really enjoy watching your videos!

Hope You are feeling better Elliot. Great Video though, I collect Gameboys and so far I have Pocket, Color, Advance, Advance SP

this is just a thought but you mentioned the display ribbon having some corrosion on it, could the connector have corrosion inside stopping the video output?

1:43 "I think it's in good condition, it just need to be cleaned up and repaired" uhm... okay? xD

Really good vid! Hope to see to fix the original motherboard on your second channel! I see you played Mario Kart on GBA. And we know who just got a copy of Mario Kart also and a GBA SP... Joey! We need a race! 😂👍🏻

I'm so late to comment on this video. I was really curious while watching...what are you looking for when you cut out that polarizer film? Is that only necessary if using film that's not specifically cut for game boys? And then the screen protector you put on after... What kind of plastic sheet is that?

If you ever go for a new soldering iron, the Atten ones are good, I got the GT2010 and it’s great. USB powered and a few tips to choose from.

Hey I have this same GBA! A friend found it with his mom's old stuff and she didn't want it so he gave it to me. I modded it to have the funny playing ips screen and put a USB Type C rechargeable battery in it (and replaced the original battery door with a compatible one). All the stickers were perfect but the lens was scratched so I bought a glass replica for this specific model from Bluish Squirrel. Love the color of this one. Awesome to see it in a video!

Not sure if you've learned this by now but this is the suicune GBA from the Pokemon center if I'm not mistaken. I just passed on one of these in sendico for around 700 USD if I remember correctly.

The open overflow hole(I don't know what you call it) in your sink makes me nervous. I am use to seeing a cover on a overflow hole. Don't want any other parts to go down the drain. Also, very relaxing video.

Eliot: the screen is in good condition Me: you sure?

Make sure you test the capacitors, you can use a multimeter to do so just RU-vid the steps, good luck man you'll crack it

Hey mate can I ask you something? You are cleaning the shells in soapy woorder, wouldn't it detach the pokémon center and Gameboy advance sticker as well or are these labels of some stable material which doesn't go soft and detaches itself?

Nice video , where did you get those polarizer sheets ?

The only thing I've ever found to entirely clean battery terminal corrosion is soaking them in a superstores own brand of Jif lemon juice for 24 hours. You only need a enough to entirely cover them. Much better than cola or scraping them

this is basically a tech geeks variation of the Great British Baking Show

i recently bought a toys r us gba. i replaced the start and select buttons as they were sticking, also replaced the dpad as the down and left and right wouldnt respond unless pressed hard. works good as new now

Elliot, have you tried using ZONA paper to polish the plastic screens? I've gotten mirror finishes on other plastic parts with it before

Hey man, love the page! Where do you recommend buying the tools to take them apart? I can’t seem to find them with the link in your videos. Thank you in Advance! (Pun intended) 😏

Few people have pointed out the cap at 9:25, but the negative side of CP3 at around 9:35 looks completely corroded down to fiberglass. You'll probably need to manually jump that, I have a feeling that's a major part of the problem.

I notice in a lot of your videos you use a toothbrush for cleaning the circuit boards. Have you ever cleaned a circuit board using an ultrasonic cleaner? I put a SP circuit board that was caked in grime in a sandwich bag with isopropyl alcohol and submerged the closed bag in water in the USC. I ran it for 8 minutes and it cleaned it up, but the downside was the serial number was removed by the rubbing alcohol. System works without issue and is my main device.

i saw the title in my recommended and it cut off at "FULL" and i thought the title was "RARE Japanese Pokemon GameBoy Advance FULL of beans"

Your game collection is probably worth billions

sweet session! what was that rechargeable battery pack - is it oem?

Great job! Greetings from Chile.

Dude an ips mod would be great for this, the color is awesome 👌

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. You put the stock screen back inside an opened gameboy advance? I hope you feel better. Well that shell is absurdly beautiful. I would pay 200 for that shell. The shell was all that mattered.

the shell's color is that same color they use for the shiny "holo" pokemon cards!