Pokemon Time Machine Lets You Really Catch ‘Em All

August 25, 2021 by Tom Nardi 14 Comments

Since 1996 the Pokemon series of games has moved through eight distinct generations, which roughly parallel the lineage of Nintendo’s handheld gaming systems. While the roster of “pocket monsters” has been updated steadily, players have had the option of bringing captured Pokemon from the older games into the newer releases. But there’s always been a gap in this capability. Due to hardware differences, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color generations of games were physically unable to communicate with the titles released for the Game Boy Advance.

But soon, that may no longer be the case. [Selim] is hard at work on Lanette’s Poke Transporter, a hardware and software solution for bringing Pokemon from the first and second generation games onto the third generation GBA games. Once they’ve been loaded there, players can move the creatures all the way up into the contemporary Pokemon games via official means.

The first Pokemon to make the generational leap.

The project was started in July of 2020, with [Selim] first focusing on the logistical challenges of bringing such early Pokemon into the newer games. Because so much changed between the different generations, there are many sanity checks that need to be made during the transfer. For example, the moves and techniques that the creatures are able to learn isn’t necessarily consistent between these early entries into the series. But after about a year of effort, the software side worked reliably on emulated games, and it was time to start thinking about the hardware.

Ultimately, [Selim] wants to create a physical device into which players can insert their Pokemon cartridges and trigger an automatic transfer. The code is already able to read and write to the cartridges, and has been ported over to Arduino so it doesn’t need a computer to run. A few prototype PCBs have been created, and beyond the inevitable bodges, it seems like they’re functional. There’s still breadboards and jumpers for as far as the eye can see, but this is the first step towards producing a dedicated Pokemon “time machine” that can transport them from the late 1990s to the present day.

With [stacksmashing] recently showing that the Raspberry Pi Pico is fast enough to emulate the Game Boy’s “Link Cable” accessory, and the protocol for trading Pokemon over the wire fairly well understood, we wonder if one day this technique couldn’t be done in real-time between linked handhelds. If you can make two copies of Tetris connect to each other over the Internet, it seems like you’d have enough time to fiddle with a Charizard’s stats.

Game Boy Advance SP Case Mod Adds Battery Capacity And Modern Interfaces

August 24, 2021 by Robin Kearey 5 Comments

While there’s nothing quite like running retro games on their original hardware, using older consoles in today’s day and age can be a hassle due to incompatibilities with modern chargers and headphones. [tito] and [kyle] worked together to update Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance SP with a whole bunch of new features, tightly packed inside a 3D-printed replacement backshell. (Video, embedded below.)

The original 600 mAh battery has been replaced with a 1600 mAh pack for several hours of additional screen time. A Qi standard wireless power module as well as a USB-C connector allows charging the battery without carrying the original mains adapter. A Bluetooth module enables the use of wireless headphones, and a 3.5 mm jack enables classic earbuds as well, a feature lost when the SP replaced the original GBA.

The new backshell fits exactly on the original console, making it about 10 mm thicker. Although this makes it slightly less portable, it is apparently more comfortable to hold for those with big hands. The new functionality is implemented using off-the-shelf circuit boards, connected together with flying wires that are soldered to the required points on the GBA’s circuit board. The original connectors and switches remain in place and functional, and the entire operation can be undone if you want to return the device to its original state.

Others have added USB charging to the original GBA, or even stretched that handheld to become twice as wide. But adding significant new functionality previously required replacing the handheld’s entire contents.

Continue reading “Game Boy Advance SP Case Mod Adds Battery Capacity And Modern Interfaces” →

two hands holding a wider version of a purple gameboy advance

The Stretch Limo Of Game Boys

August 19, 2021 by Matthew Carlson 6 Comments

Here at Hackaday, we see all sorts of projects, some born out of a deep necessity or itch that couldn’t be scratched. Others are born out of a world of “why not” and it is perhaps these projects that put the biggest smile on our faces. The WideBoy Advance by [Elliot] of Retro Future is one such project.

Starting with a working Game Boy Advance and a donor one with a busted motherboard, the frankenstein-ification could start. A Dremel split one case in half and removed the sides on another, while trusty old car body filler helps fill and smooth the gaps. A particularly clever trick is to use the Dremel to create channels for the filler to adhere easier. Several areas had to be built up with filler and glued in bits of plastic as a base. As you can see in the video below, the countless hours of sanding, priming, sanding, and more priming led to a beautifully smooth finish. The choice of purple paint really sells the impression of a factory-fresh Game Boy Advance.

The working circuit board was desoldered and the donor board was cut into pieces to fit in the extended sides. Using some magnet wire, connections were bridged over to the original motherboard via the test points on the PCB. [Elliot] didn’t opt to swap the screen to an IPS display or add a backlight. These quality of life improvements are nice, but a dead giveaway that Nintendo didn’t make it. The goal is to get the user to wonder, even if just for a second, what if Nintendo just happened to make this wide one-off handheld console.

[Elliot] made it simply because he found it interesting and enjoyed the form of the thing he made. Is it a hack? Is it art? Probably a little bit of both. This isn’t his first modified Nintendo handheld either. He previously made a long Nintendo Gameboy DMG-01. We love seeing all the wild hacks and tweaks made to Game Boy line, such as this Game Boy Color inside the DMG-01.

Continue reading “The Stretch Limo Of Game Boys” →

Game Boy Color Makes Itself At Home In A DMG-01

August 6, 2021 by Tom Nardi 2 Comments

When we last checked in with [Bucket Mouse], he had just finished cramming a Game Boy Advance (GBA) SP motherboard into the body of the iconic Game Boy DMG-01, complete with an aftermarket IPS display. Unfortunately, after a few weeks of using the system, he ran into a few issues that sent him back to the drawing board.

This time, he’s revamped Nintendo’s classic handheld with the internals from its successor, the Game Boy Color (GBC). Obviously that means this new build can’t play any GBA titles, but that was never actually the goal in the first place. It might seem obvious in hindsight, but owing to their general similarity, it ended up being far easier to fit the GBC hardware into the Game Boy’s shell. Though we still wouldn’t call this an “easy” swap by any stretch of the imagination…

Whether you want to follow his footsteps towards portable gaming bliss or just want to live vicariously through his soldering iron, [Bucket Mouse] has done an absolutely phenomenal job of documenting this build. While he cautions the write-up isn’t designed to be a step by step instructional piece, there’s an incredible wealth of information here for others looking to perform similar modifications.

The build involved removing much of the original Game Boy’s connectors and controls, such as the volume wheel, Link Port, and even headphone jack, and grafting them onto a GBC motherboard that’s been physically trimmed down. At a high level it’s not unlike the trimmed Wii portables we’ve seen, but made much easier due to the fact the GBC only used a two-layer PCB. It also helps that [Bucket Mouse] has once again used an aftermarket IPS display, as that meant he could literally cut off the LCD driver section of the GBC motherboard. Of course there have also been several hardware additions, such as a new audio amplifier, power regulation system, LiPo charger, and 2000 mAh battery.

There’s a lot of fantastic details on this one, so if you’re remotely interested in what made the Game Boy and its successors tick, we’d highly recommend taking the time to read through this handheld hacking tour de force. His previous build is also more than worthy of some close study, even if it ended up being a bit ungainly in practice.

A LiPo Cell Makes A 4AA Pack For A GameBoy

July 31, 2021 by Jenny List 14 Comments

Electronic toys of yesteryear were fantastic objects of desire, but came with the fatal flaw of requiring batteries. Batteries that cost more than the average youngster’s pocket money and for which the pestered parent were usually unwilling to fork out every couple of days to support an incessant playing habit. It’s something [Sen] has addressed for the Nintendo Game Boy, and rather than cutting the device up and soldering wires, the result is a unit that neatly slots into the existing 4AA battery enclosure.

The Nintendo rechargable Game Boy pack. — Much more convenient than Nintendo’s own effort!

Electrically it’s a simple case of wiring up an Adafruit module and a pouch cell, but that’s not the essence of the job in this case. Instead a huge quantity of work and iteration has gone into CAD design to the perfect-fitting pack. It’s sure to be a boon for today’s Game Boy player, but much more than that it should be of interest to owners of far more devices that take four AA cells. Most of us probably keep a few packs of AAs for just those moments, perhaps meanwhile something like this could be a handy thing to have instead.

More traditional conversions resort to extreme measures, as with this Game Boy Color.

Pi Pico Game Boy Flash Cart Gets Slim RP2040 Upgrade

July 1, 2021 by Tom Nardi 10 Comments

The story for this one starts a few months ago, when [John Green] released his PICO-GB project. His code allowed the Raspberry Pi Pico to stand in for a Game Boy cartridge, complete with a simple text menu that let the user select between ROMs that had been baked into the microcontroller’s firmware. The project was particularly notable for the fact that it was entirely a software solution; while a custom breakout cartridge made for a handy temporary solution, you could have permanently wired the Pico’s pins directly to the Game Boy’s cartridge connector if you wanted to.

PICO-GB running on the full-size Pi Pico

Then in early June, the RP2040 chip that powers the Pi Pico went up for sale in single unit quantities. That opened up the possibility of building the PICO-GB functionality into a cartridge small enough to actually fit inside the Game Boy. So [Martin “HDR” Refseth] got to work creating the slick cartridge PCB you’re seeing now.

The RP2040 is joined by a trio of Texas Instruments TXB0108 level shifters, and there’s a spot for adding a SPI flash chip. The RP2040 supports a maximum of 16 MB of external flash, but given the size of Game Boy games were generally measured in kilobytes, that shouldn’t pose much of a problem.

Looking ahead, the original PICO-GB documentation mentions enhancements like loading ROMs from SD card, as well as hardware additions like a real-time-clock for the more advanced games that supported it. We assume those concepts will become part of [Martin]’s PCB eventually, but these are still early days.

We’ve seen Game Boy cartridge emulation with a microcontroller in the past, but we’re exited to see how the unique capabilities of the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s custom silicon can improve the state-of-the-art.

[Thanks to Itay for the tip.]

The Game Boy As You Have Never Seen It Before Is Newest From [Sprite_tm]

June 29, 2021 by Jenny List 16 Comments

Explain a Game Boy to a child in 2021 and they’ll have little idea of how much impact that chunky grey brick had back in the day. Search for a YouTube video to demonstrate, and you might find the one we’ve put below the break. It starts with the classic Tetris on the Game Boy, then moves on to Super Mario World before treating us to Sonic the Hedgehog, and finally Doom. All seminal games of the Game Boy’s heyday, with one small problem. The last three were never Game Boy titles, and certainly wouldn’t have run on the device’s limited hardware. Most of you will by now not be surprised to find that the narrator is none other than [Sprite_tm], and his Game Boy has one of the nicest Raspberry Pi conversions we’ve ever seen.

Given his previous work we expected the cartridges to have an ESP32 on board that somehow mapped into Game Boy display memory, but in fact he’s swapped the original Nintendo motherboard with a replacement carrying an ICE40 FPGA on one side to handle the Nintendo hardware and a Pi Zero on the other to do the heavy lifting. Insert a Game Boy cartridge and it emulates the original to the point you’d never suspect it wasn’t the real thing, but insert one of the non Game Boy cartridges and it passes an identifier to the Pi which launches a script to run the appropriate Pi code. So the Mario and Sonic games are running in Pi-based emulators, and Doom is running natively on the Pi. It gives the appearance of a seamless gaming experience, wherein lies its charm.

This project certainly has the quality we’ve come to expect from Sprite, and a quick flick through these pages will show plenty of previous examples. One of the most recent was a miniature working DEC VT100 terminal containing an emulated PDP minicomputer.

Continue reading “The Game Boy As You Have Never Seen It Before Is Newest From [Sprite_tm]” →