Hey everyone, there seems to be a bit of confusion. This isn’t the first SP consolizing kit. The gbaHD supports both the original and SP CPU. This kit is the first SP kit that I personally looked at and featured on this channel.
I tell ya, the flat flex cables (and the ability to make them/have them made cheaply) that have been coming with modern hardware mods have completely changed the level of accessibility for modding consoles. It's really awesome to just "solder this flat flex to the only places on the board that line up" rather than "strip and solder these 30 wires to hack in this modchip"... so awesome!
I'm finding it hard to keep track of myself. The no-solder one looked pretty bad visually-speaking but is of course the easiest install. The one that puts an HDMI port on the GBA itself also looked pretty bad, and the dock mod was just an extension to that, but it's the only one that keeps the console portable if you want to use one system for both like the Switch. gbaHD is the hardest install but also the only one that offers a 1080p output. It being open-source means it has the potential to get more features later as well, plus potentially cheaper and more varied boards for sale. Woozle and Gamebox seemed pretty much comparable. Tito didn't talk about gamma correction on either of those videos, but the options are there in the menus so I assume they can match the "GBA" color option the gbaHD has. Maybe they're purely brightness though and not quite comparable? Don't have one myself. I would say gbaHD > Woozle/Gamebox >>> HDMI portable > no-solder That's without factoring in cost/installation difficulty though.
I just have to say immediately that I really like how they made the top of the unit look like the bottom of an SP, with the fake battery door and shoulder buttons. Very nice!
@@mancloud19 sorry for the confusion. This is the first SP kit that I looked at personally. I mention in the video that the gbahd supports both original and sp
My god man I just got my hands on a GBA from a old retor store took the best unit they had which unfortunately was beaten pretty bad this will give it new life and I can finally beat Final Fantasy Legend 🤣. Ty for all the work you do I have to say that intro hits all the Nostalgia nerves perfectly.
This is right up my alley with the exception of the case, and if I had access to a 3d printer I would, as Macho Nacho put it, make it more cuboid and likely give it a good smoothing and a nice coat of paint to the point of looking like an official product. That said, the issue of the shell that comes with the kit likely could just have some tweaks made to the cad file to make it fit better. Oh and thanks for the reporting on these fine products.
Good to see the SP getting the consolizer treatment, even if it isn't the first time. I wonder if Game Box will address the shell issue in a future update?
Oof, you had me until the price. I love seeing this kinda stuff but when the kit costs over $150 I start considering whether my money would be better spent on a mister (or in this case, lcd mods or an analogue pocket). In the last couple years I’ve sorta come to the conclusion that I really prefer playing portable games on portable systems. Blowing up the picture onto a 55” just doesn’t do it for me anymore.
I wonder (having found this channel and all this stupidly amazing handheld mod scene in the past few days, so I might be missing some context) if they could design a shell where the cartridge could be inserted from the top verticall, with the sticker side facing forward, just like in an old school console. I imagine it would require some daughter board and a hell lot more soldering and desoldering, to remove and relocate the cartridge slot, if its even possible. It would look pretty cool though! Having the cartridge sit flat against the console is a space and comfort compromise when you need to hold the console in your hands and it needs to be as compact as possible to be able to put it on a pocket or backpack without weird things at 90 degrees. But as a table console, that restriction is gone.
This a cool option, but I personally plan on installing PicoBoot to my GameCube. With Pico I’ll be able to use my GBA player without having to buy a new disc.
Man.... The 3D prints for these shells clearly need refinement. They absolutely need to do that before shipping these out. There's no room for fitment errors like this or the need to modify ports to make them fit. They really ought to team up with Laserbear or Game Tech to get some more refined 3D Prints going perhaps? Having someone who has worked on upscaling via FPGA would help as well to get those variable input lag numbers down to zero.
Dude I wish I could build a GBA SP that can switch between handheld mode and plugged into TV mode. You know, like the Nintendo Switch. And then get all my favorite GBA games on it.
Out of all the GBA consolizer mods. This is by far my favorite. Recycling old SPs with broken screens and lids, form factor, and display output settings and filters.
For fuck's sake guys. That's $160 for the kit (OR $320 FOR IT PREASSEMBLED!!!) plus $60-$100 for the donor SP that you need to source yourself! I wonder WHY NOBODY BUYS THESE THINGS!? These people are OUT of their damn minds with these prices!
Some of these have been out for a while and I’m just getting to them. The gbahd was a project that started a while ago but no commercial kits were for it until recently. I think a lot of people really like the gba so that’s why it get a lot of support
The gba sp had a classic nes edition released along with several nes games ported over, so kinda hope they'll release a shell that leans into that maybe with a door over the cartridge slot too.
This looks so much simpler to put together than the GBA HD kit in your recent video. It would be really cool if we got to the point where you could mod a GBA to easily plug and remove from the FPGA in question so you could still use it like a GBA, kinda like the Analogue Pocket with its dock.
Love your videos. I watched you trim some plastic with a knife and it made me nervous lol. I would recommend getting a deburring tool. You'd be able to trim edges the same way you did in this video, but you don't risk cutting yourself. I would hate to see you slice your finger open. I know that's random, but I had to let you know lol
What is up with GameboxSystems??? I ordered this product from them back in April and even sent them multiple emails to which they have not responded to for over 2 months!!! At this point they pretty much stole $180 from me unless there is a good reason as to why they have not responded I would not suggest buying anything from their website TO ALL THAT SEE THIS COMMENT. I ended up getting the gbaHD from consoles4you which is outside of the US over in Switzerland and I received that in exactly 10 days after payment, yet Gamebox who is in the U.S hasn’t sent me anything in nearly 3 months.
Im in the same boat as you. I ordered in late February and they also stopped replying to my email in April. I actually ordered one through Zedlabz and got it at tue beginning of june. Im trying to figure out how to cancel my order i made directly to them.
@@benpregentlet me know if you figure out how to cancel your order with them, I requested a refund but they never responded, my bank also told me there is nothing they could do and that I need to keep reaching out to them, which is just a waste of time because they refuse to respond.
I know you have a printer so you may already have the tool I’m about to mention, but for anyone else out there who is dipping their toes into kits with 3D printed enclosures: A cheap swiveling deburring tool is your best friend if there’s any chance you might need to post process a 3D printed enclosure. Craft knives are totally fine _but_ a deburrer is typically very inexpensive and it makes cleanup and absolute breeze (and reduces cut risks).
I love this one, I think I have a couple SP's with busted screens, one of which I've been sitting on a new IPS screen for well over a year now because I lack an area I feel comfortable working in at the moment. That price point sucks, but I think the solder points for this one are well within my experience range and would love to do this one with the other SP, wherever I put it. And of course, I love having all these options, I love that, with enough money, I could potentially turn all the old busted GBA's I have into working consoles again. And with the ability to use the Game Link Cable, Chef's kiss!
Really cool and slick-looking, but I do hate how many project kits insist on avoiding exposed screw heads and needlessly complicate the final assembly.
I do like the idea that you can take a GBA SP and turn it into a home console while say having a Spare SP or original GBA on hand if your on the go and need to play some GBA games.
There's no denying that this is the perfect solution for perfectly accurate GBA capture, other than some minor fit issues. The SP was also vastly more popular than the original and thus has a huge supply of extra parts. If this was released 6 years ago, I could see it being an easy first choice for everyone with any interest in GBA games. But that's the rub... In the last 6 years, emulation accuracy improvements, combined with leaps in hardware performance across the board, has made it redundant. Unless you're a streamer trying to navigate the Nintendo legal ninjas, a preservationist trying to capture hardware accurate behavior for something like a test cart or distribution event kiosk, or setting up some kind of ultimate TloZ 4 Swords setup, you don't need it.
Another consolise GBA kit 😱😱😱!!! Jokes apart, I think we've got enough solution to play GBA game on tv, it's time for the other one, like Nintendo DS, PSP or 3DS (Vita have the PS TV so I don't ask for). I know than Game Box have plan to do Consolize version of both the handheld I say so I very curious to know What's going to happen when DS-HD, PSP-HD and 3DS-HD are been release in 2023 and 2024 😁😁😁.
I’d prefer a kit that lets you consolize the SP without having to destroy it. Essentially an out port to a tv so you could just take the SP on the go after playing on a tv/pc monitor.
Hey Macho Nacho if you haven't heard of it yet but Heldergametech just developed a flex cable for easy install of Pluto ii hdmi mod for Gamecube. Would love to see you do a video on the installation and hear about your pro/cons on what you think about the mod. Cheers champ!
I'm confident in my soldering skills, but honestly, it might be cheaper to just get a finished unit if you don't already own a GBA SP. You might be able to get a "parts only" one for between $40 - $70 (before shipping and taxes) and hope the interior isn't badly corroded. So from scratch, this would cost between $200 - $250+.
hopefully someday we can have a full FPGA version so original hardware doesn't have to be disturbed. In the meantime this is a great kit for those with piles of SP parts
make sure if the donor consoles still have working displays to offer those online as spare parts so no components of the old consoles will be wasted. also try to use ASP-001 models for these, not the ASP-101 models due to their better display lights.
This is perfect for someone like me who saved my childhood SP motherboard in hopes of salvaging it one day. However what I dont like about all of these mods is how expensive they are. One of the intention is supposedly to save old GBA/SP consoles that otherwise would be left for dead... but for a very similar price a person could just buy a replacement SP online, let alone an original GBA. I get that its turning it into a console effectively, but the price is still shocking to me every time I look at one. I know that's more of a me problem, but still kinda takes the wind out of my sails when wanting to utilize my old SP mobo for a consolizer mod.
nice but one thing every consolized gb/gba is missing would be to get a controller that have the gameslot working , for the rumble and motion games ... just an idea of course ^^
Another thing they seem to be missing is a simple way to use the GB/GBA in a portable manner as well, ala the Switch (uninstalling the board and replacing it in the original case isn't 'simple' for these purposes.)
