Gameboy Colour IPS Screen upgrade?
Discussion
Can highly recommend retrosix, good company and very helpful:
https://retrosix.co.uk/Game-Boy-Color-IPS-OSD-Q5-X...
I would caution you though on whether throwing that amount of money on a Gameboy colour is cost effective. For a similar amount, you could pick up either a Gameboy advance (the horizontal one, not the flip up SP) which you can upgrade the screen on easily and benefit from both GBA and original Gameboy cartridges, or a DSi / 3DS XL modded to run homebrew.
https://retrosix.co.uk/Game-Boy-Color-IPS-OSD-Q5-X...
I would caution you though on whether throwing that amount of money on a Gameboy colour is cost effective. For a similar amount, you could pick up either a Gameboy advance (the horizontal one, not the flip up SP) which you can upgrade the screen on easily and benefit from both GBA and original Gameboy cartridges, or a DSi / 3DS XL modded to run homebrew.
Unless you are really set on using the old device the analogue pocket would be worth considering if you really want to keep using your old cartridges - screen on that is really nice.
Or pick up an anbernic device for the cost of the screen upgrade and have the entire Gameboy (and more) library at hand with achievements, rewind and saves. Absolutely love mine, build quality is great and the screen is miles better than even the PSP (but not quite as good as the analogue pocket). Even has filters so you can reproduce the original Gameboy blurring "effect" if you really want the challenge of not being able to see things properly!
Or pick up an anbernic device for the cost of the screen upgrade and have the entire Gameboy (and more) library at hand with achievements, rewind and saves. Absolutely love mine, build quality is great and the screen is miles better than even the PSP (but not quite as good as the analogue pocket). Even has filters so you can reproduce the original Gameboy blurring "effect" if you really want the challenge of not being able to see things properly!
I would buy an emulator, I've a collection of old ones which I'm keeping original.
The MAJOR benefit of buying an emulator is that you can save at any time (and cheat if required)
Lastly also consider whether you can simply use your/his phone with an android wrap around controller.
I'm doing that now with Retroarch and happily emulate up to PSP etc on a Samsung A50 and it's wonderful for GB GBC GBA etc.
The MAJOR benefit of buying an emulator is that you can save at any time (and cheat if required)
Lastly also consider whether you can simply use your/his phone with an android wrap around controller.
I'm doing that now with Retroarch and happily emulate up to PSP etc on a Samsung A50 and it's wonderful for GB GBC GBA etc.
Anbernic RG 35 models is what you want. The cheapest one is about £50, comes loaded with a bunch of games and a decent stock operating system and will run Gameboy, Mega Drive and Super Nintendo games no problem.
They run Linux so you can do more things with it if you like tinkering, add your own games and change the operating system (doing this sort of thing as a kid was how I got into computers and starting work in IT and software).
If you go for 353 models (about £110) you can play anything up to original Playstation and N64 games, with the bonus of saving anywhere.
They come in Vertical or Landscape models, but original Gameboy style is best. They are built a bit like the original Gameboys (solid) but have all the modern niceties like backlit colour screen, rechargable batteries, WiFi and SD storage.
The analogue pocket is really nice but it's not really a kids toy, the focus on that was on being able to use original cartridges on a fairly high end feeling and looking device with 100% accuracy in how the games behave (whereas the anbernic devices use software emulation that forgoes some accuracy - though it's still accurate enough that it wouldn't matter to anyone outside of the videogame equivalent of an audiophile)
They run Linux so you can do more things with it if you like tinkering, add your own games and change the operating system (doing this sort of thing as a kid was how I got into computers and starting work in IT and software).
If you go for 353 models (about £110) you can play anything up to original Playstation and N64 games, with the bonus of saving anywhere.
They come in Vertical or Landscape models, but original Gameboy style is best. They are built a bit like the original Gameboys (solid) but have all the modern niceties like backlit colour screen, rechargable batteries, WiFi and SD storage.
The analogue pocket is really nice but it's not really a kids toy, the focus on that was on being able to use original cartridges on a fairly high end feeling and looking device with 100% accuracy in how the games behave (whereas the anbernic devices use software emulation that forgoes some accuracy - though it's still accurate enough that it wouldn't matter to anyone outside of the videogame equivalent of an audiophile)
Edited by Byronwww on Tuesday 14th March 17:15
The Retro Pocket (if you can get one) has an amazing screen, supports original cartridges, has a nice TV dock and because it uses FPGA 'emulation' it's about as close to the originals as you can get.
Also, they recently opened it up for general development and there are all manner of third party devs coming up with (free) cores that allow you to run a ton of old 8 and 16 bit consoles/computers/arcade games on it.
If was getting a portable for retro, that's the one I'd get (I currently run a MiSTer for retro gaming, FPGA is awesome).
Also, they recently opened it up for general development and there are all manner of third party devs coming up with (free) cores that allow you to run a ton of old 8 and 16 bit consoles/computers/arcade games on it.
If was getting a portable for retro, that's the one I'd get (I currently run a MiSTer for retro gaming, FPGA is awesome).
Ah for a child. Defo the Anbernic
https://droix.co.uk/product/anbernic-rg351p/
Ditch the Chinesium OS in favour of 351 elec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uHuuJ3WZBY
https://droix.co.uk/product/anbernic-rg351p/
Ditch the Chinesium OS in favour of 351 elec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uHuuJ3WZBY
Appreciate the feedback, taken the decision to save the money and look at just changing devices instead. It makes alot more sense then upgrading the gameboy.
This was going to be something temporary before he gets a Switch for his birthday but potentially he could just have this instead of a Switch. Going to look into this abit more.
This was going to be something temporary before he gets a Switch for his birthday but potentially he could just have this instead of a Switch. Going to look into this abit more.
Switches are nice and Nintendo games are always high quality but the games are £50 each, controllers are £60 for another one etc.
The steam deck is another great handheld option that can be used a bit like a switch (hdmi out to TV, Bluetooth controllers) and the PC/Linux ecosystem it's based on is a bit more open and the games are significantly cheaper with multiple big sales throughout the year from Steam (the games can be a tenth of the price Nintendo sells them for). It's also quite a bit more powerful than switch and will play most of the current generation ps5/Xbox games that are available on PC.
Also I've had steam for nearly 20 years now and I still have access to the first games I bought, as an ecosystem it's pretty long lived whereas Nintendo throw everything away with every new console they release and you have to buy the games again.
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