Kickstarter DIY Kit Transforms GBA Into Console-Like HDMI System

Cool idea. I picked up the Analogue Pocket + Dock, but there clearly needs to be a more accessible and reasonably priced alternative for legacy hardware

For those who didn’t watch the video:

The kit includes the consolizer kit (uses your motherboard), a GBA controller kit (uses the rest of the GBA parts minus the screen to turn the GBA shell into a controller) and the case for the consolized motherboard.

It requires you taking apart a GBA down to just the motherboard. In a perfect world, you would need to desolder the speaker, but you can just cut it out (but understand that if you ever wanted to revert the mod, you’d need to reinstall a speaker if you did cut it out). After that, you simply slide an included ribbon cable into your system and onto the included board in the kit, which you then place into the shell and close it up. Definitely looks to be a relatively simplistic mod; probably a 3/10 on difficulty. You simply need to know how to disassemble the device without breaking anything. The image quality in the video looks decent, but it is a bit fuzzy, especially compared to high-end consolizer kits like Woozle’s. More crisp than the Gameboy Player, but still fuzzy. And a pretty big downside, in my opinion: the aspect ratio doesn’t match the GBA’s. It’s either 4:3 or 16:9, never the native 3:2. This will cause games to look squashed or stretched. But it IS cheaper than Woozle’s kit, coming in at $135 for a single kit, or $200 pre-assembled (with a discount for buying multiple kits at time of backing). It can pair with Switch Pro, Xbox One, and PS4 controllers via Bluetooth, or it uses a SNES controller port for the repurposed GBA shell or an actual SNES Controller.

So ultimately, the trade-off is picture quality and aspect ratio in exchange for a way to play GBA games on a TV with original hardware for a lower price than most other options.

As for my opinion: it’s a sleek idea for a mod, and making one that’s more accessible in price and assembly is very nice, but the aspect ratio and fuzzy picture kill it for me. It almost feels like the devs of this mod didn’t want to go the extra mile here and settled on “good enough”. I hope this works out for everyone involved (devs and backers), but this is a pass from me.

It looked so good until he mentioned the aspect ratio and blurry image. Until they fix these issues I can't see the point of spending so much on something that has quite significant issues. I would rather use an emulator and get a perfect picture (and save $135!), even if there are some small things that are inaccurate. I really hope that the issues can be fixed, because the idea is excellent!

for playing GBA on a TV, we already have the gamecube which is capable of this.

I wish there were more options for 3DS HDMI instead - the only people working on 3DS HDMI seem to no longer do it any more, and so getting a HDMI-modded 3DS is impossible now.

With this and the rise in people adding IPS backlit screens to their original GBAs, the motherboard will become more sought after. I wish there was a way to convert Gameboy Players to be a standalone GBA player without the Gamecube and boot disc.

@EarthboundBenjy Yeah I kinda want this to happen just so I can play my 3DS games on the TV. I mean, it has an emulator...but it's not perfect, and a lot of the games I want to play are just choppy and not worth it. Plus all the bugs and crashes and stuff...bleh.

If only a 3DS HDMI adapter existed...with customization options on screens layout.

sighs

I can play ANY GB family game on my TV thanks to my Hyperkin Retron 5. I would rather have that than do any of this garbage.

Also yeah, I can just use my SNES Classic for Gameboy/GBA games. lol

@Bearzilla823 That is emulation, so it's not perfect. This uses actual hardware.

I only recently bought an IPS-modded GameBoyAdvance to play my old GBA games on. It's really cool to see the older games on a perfectly backlit screen.

@Shepdawg1 thanks for putting this up, I hate sitting through a video sometimes when a simple description will suffice. Good work, shame the writer of the article couldn’t put in as much effort as yourself.

❗️I have one of those Purple 'HomeBoy 88' Consoles (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8bGu2ndN5sg) so have no need for one of these.

Any self-respecting GameCube collector has at least one GB Player already. That, plus emulation on my 3DS or Wii U is enough for me.

Many early reviews state that the aspect ratio and colors are wrong, compatibility with wired controller is bad and the image is blurry. So why bother with this solution?

I have two great options already: my GameCube + Game Boy Player + Retrotink upscaler, or my RetroN 5, which has a better picture and save states but is technically emulation and comes with its own set of drawbacks.

It is cool this sort of thing exists, that being said MiSTer FPGA is the way to go of you are paying that much.

Where are the ones that are already put together? when I try to put back together electronics I have taken apart I usually end up failing and trashing it.

Not that it matters to me. In This day and age I only have around 3 Game Boy games and maybe 2 Game Boy Advance. It would be cool to play those games on todays TV but depending on the price of the device it might not be worth it

The idea is fantastic and it seems kind of easy to install even with low skills doing things like this.
Wrong Aspect Ratio alone is a dealbreaker. Blurryness on top? Meh!

Hard pass. Even at a cheaper price it's not worth it. There's plenty of easier ways to play GBA games on the big screen between Mister, Wii U, GB player, etc., and they don't screw up the picture. The actual GBA hardware is better served with the IPS mod.

When will someone make this for the 3DS?!

If they ever make a 3ds version I would give them all of the money. ALL OF IT!!!