Game Boy Pocket mod lets the games continue after dark

by David Hinkle { Jan 5th 2009 at 5:00PM }

Michael "Bibin" Moffitt had a dream. He imagined a world where a man could enjoy Tetris on his Game Boy Pocket in a dark room, without the need for odd peripheral add-on devices or, uh, a lamp. As you can see above, Michael decided to mod his Game Boy Pocket with a backlit screen.

It's not the most impressive mod in the world, but we have to give the man credit where it's due. He set his mind to something, and he did it. Almost makes us want to get back to that stamp collection we've neglected for years.

Gallery: The best (and worst) handheld mods

[Via Engadget]

Tags: backlight, backlit, backlit-screen, game-boy, game-boy-pocket, michael-bibin-moffitt

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Barry @ Jan 5th 2009 5:29PM

It's called a GBA SP. It has Tetris and has a backlight. And a rechargeable battery.

Espiox @ Jan 5th 2009 6:31PM

There's also the Game Boy Light, which was pretty much a Pocket with a "backlit" screen (I think it was actually sorta glow-in-the-dark, but whatever). It's Japan-only, but they're not too hard to come by online.

thesimplicity @ Jan 5th 2009 7:02PM

I think everyone is missing the point of this mod.

The GBA SP doesn't have a built in audio out. The GB Light has an audio out, but it's very low quality (and the console itself is very hard to find).

The GB Pocket is cheap, has a solid audio output, and can be played in the dark with this mod... making it ideal for chiptune musicians.

EXTREME Seph @ Jan 5th 2009 7:17PM

Game Boy Player.

Or, you know, the Super Game Boy.

Josh @ Jan 5th 2009 10:56PM

Actually, only the "GBA SP+" has a backlight. The regular GBA SP is frontlit.

RupeeClock @ Jan 5th 2009 6:46PM

Well...so what?

Ever see the afterburner mod for the GBA?

http://super-nintendo.com/ezflash/gba-pic-03.jpg

Pinkechidna @ Jan 5th 2009 8:07PM

Lol, I love everyone being a douche about it.

Maybe he just likes his Game Boy Pocket. And he wanted to mod it.

Penny Arcade's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory proven yet again!

Plokosh @ Jan 5th 2009 8:58PM

Yeah, I give the guys props too. :) since I spent many an hour playing super mario land, pokemon, and the like.

If I had a screwdriver to open mine, a white led, a soldering iron, and most importantly, decent soldering skills, I'd do it too...

Gumbyx84 @ Jan 5th 2009 9:37PM

I like what he did. Gameboy Lights vary from cheap, but heavily "used" to nice, but extremely expensive. This is a cheap alternative if you can do the work.

I wish he would tell us HOW he did it. Just grabbed a Gameboy Pocket this past weekend and plan on giving it a new paint job over the coming weekend. Doing this light mod would make it perfect. If I could do this mod to a GBC, I would really be happy (also have a GBC I plan on repainting).

sparkster @ Jan 8th 2009 7:15AM

From what I can tell by looking at the picture here is that he removed the Power LED so he already had working contacts for the backlight. If you ever saw a dissambled Gameboy you might remember the screen actually having some kind of mirror thing behind it, so you can forget actually lighting it from the back. That's why he actually seems to light it from the left and right (as seen on the prototype pics. follow the links on engadget). Did a similar thing to an old original Brickboy, but I killed it by accident, breaking the cables that connect one (classic Gameboy actually has 2 somehow) board to the screen... and it didn't look as nice as what that guy did :D