I Built A Better Game Boy—And You Can Too

It's Time to Give Your Game Boy a Makeover

By Madeline Blondeau | August 22, 2025 | 9:30am

Video Games Features handheld gaming

I Built A Better Game Boy—And You Can Too

The days are getting shorter. Sooner than you know, that familiar orange glow will overtake your neighborhood. Leaves will fall, and your hands will chill to the very fingertips. The smell of smoke will begin to fill most evening skies, as you hurry to your favorite bar or restaurant or coffee shop. And in the dim light of your favorite booth, you will make a horrifying discovery. That Game Boy Color you played in the summer sun is illegible in the mid-autumn chill.

Soon, it will be winter—entire days, perhaps, of cloudy, gray darkness. What about your Tetris DX or Ms. Pac-Man Deluxe runs between drinks? You can kiss reading anything in any Zelda game good-bye.

Thankfully, it’s not 1995. 30 years on, savvy modders around the globe have built a better Game Boy. And—if you’re willing to spend a little time—you can, too.

Why?

“But Madeline,” you say, “there are other options. The Analogue Pocket and Mod Retro Chromatic exist. I can even buy that last one at GameStop!”

This is true! If you’re looking for a modern, multi-function device that you can play out of the box, console modding won’t be an option for you. The past decade has seen not only an advent of quality, affordable handheld emulation devices, but of these ‘reverse engineered’ FPGA-based devices. For those who want a sleek, sexy device with a contemporary aesthetic to play their physical handheld library, these sorts of products are great suggestions.

But What’s Wrong With The Game Boy?

Last year, I took aside a green Game Boy Color I’d picked up for $40 in 2021. I’d gotten it to replace my grape model, which was the one I’d had since 2001 and lost in a cross-country move. But all the ugly, unfortunate aspects of playing the OEM device reared their head after a few short months.

The Game Boy family—barring the crisp, lovely Micro—has a dated set of displays. Each iteration—including the SP—has glaring problems when played in daylight or in the dark. The Game Boy Color’s touted color features, frankly, aren’t done justice by the screen Nintendo shipped the device except in very specific lighting. While this was more understandable when these devices were new, it makes playing them in the post-smartphone era feel nigh impossible. This will be the first thing you notice.

Then it hits you—the Game Boy Color gobbles up AAs. While not quite as gluttonous as its four-battery grandma, two non-rechargeable batteries will (on average) net players between 15-30 hours of gameplay; rechargeable sets will land between 10-15. This doesn’t sound that bad at first, but when planning to take this thing everywhere in 2025, it became a costly burden. Daily players will notice that those quick sessions before bed or on lunch add up quickly.

Depending on the condition of your console, you may also note that the buttons aren’t as responsive as you’d like. Keep in mind the oldest Game Boy model dates to 1989, and even the SP is over 20 years old now. Most of these devices have either been used several times over the span of multiple decades, or just sat long enough in poor conditions that the hardware is faulty.

Still, whether it’s erosion, corrosion, or just plain stickiness to the buttons, an average Game Boy will not feel as good to play now as it did fresh out of the box at launch. This is especially true of the Color, with ‘Start’ and ‘Select’ buttons more prone to gummy unresponsiveness than previous models—at least, in my experience. One route, of course, is to simply buy an aftermarket custom Game Boy. Outfits such as Game Boy Custom will do this to customer specification. This can cost around the same—if not more—than an Analogue Pocket or Chromatic, but what you’re paying for here is professionalism, expertise, and customization.

But if you’d like to save a mint—and maybe learn a thing or two—it’s never been easier to customize a Game Boy yourself.

Where To Get Started

Two years ago, my partner introduced me to Macho Nacho Productions, a YouTube channel notable for its laid-back atmosphere and professional-grade production values. Host Tito takes audiences on a tour of the latest and most interesting gadgets in retro gaming, with topics that range anywhere from running Windows on a Game Boy to (most recently) a tour of TV antennas for handheld gaming devices. His Retro Renew series, in particular, highlights various ways to upgrade your favorite retro consoles of choice.

This is where the possibility of modifying the Game Boy Color popped into my head. Last February, Tito highlighted FunnyPlaying’s impressive FPGA GBC kit, which he touted as “Analogue’s worst nightmare.” The FPGBC ($79; on sale at time of writing for $69) comes with everything one needs to assemble and solder their very own Game Boy Color clone device. However, in our scenario—the enhancement of a pre-existing Game Boy—you won’t need to buy all of this.

To enhance my Game Boy, I opted to address the two aforementioned issues as well as one extra: some tarnish on the outer casing I hadn’t noticed at purchase. This meant that I didn’t need a new motherboard—just everything else. Fortunately, every component FunnyPlaying offers in their kit can be purchased a la carte. Let’s break down the costs here, from lowest to highest:

GBC Replacement Buttons: $2

GBC Replacement Silicon Pads: $2

GBC Retro Pixel Laminated Custom Shell: $9.90

GBC Battery Charging Mod: $19.90

GBC Retro Pixel IPS LCD Kit: $52

Altogether, this put my order at around $85.80 before shipping. It’s worth noting that FunnyPlaying offers pre-built USB-C clone consoles now for $99, too, which makes the Chromatic—itself an FPGA device—an even bleaker proposition outside of its posh construction, stylish branding, and video-out functionality.

This, however, was not an option last year. So, with my partner’s help, I faced down one of my biggest fears: soldering.

“It’s Alive!”

Light soldering is required to install both the IPS screen and battery mod. If you’re uncomfortable, or unprepared, to do this yourself, asking a friend who’s more familiar is a good shortcut. But if this isn’t an option, it may be a blessing in disguise. Not only can the soldering work be done in under 5 minutes, but it’s also a great introduction to the craft itself.

Hand Held Legend’s speedy, illustrative tutorial videos—one for the IPS, another for the battery—made the install look simple enough to try with my partner’s help. She already had a soldering iron handy; if you don’t, a PINECIL can be had for $26 direct from the vendor. If you need help learning to solder—which can be dangerous—YouTube is your best friend. (“Soldering beginner’s guide” yields a lot of informative videos.) It’s also helpful to watch Hand Hand Legend’s etiquette during install—as well as Tito’s, during videos where he does soldering work. Both are pros at this work, and the fastest way to learn is often watching experts ad nauseum before taking a crack at it yourself. RetroRGB—both the channel and blog—is also a great resource for console-specific modding info.

Outside of these two parts, however, installation of everything else is painless. Upon disassembly, the buttons and pads of the Color can be replaced without any messy deconstruction; it’s as simple as popping out the old ones, then slotting in the new ones. The virtue of modding older handhelds is that—while impressive—most are relatively simple machinery by today’s standards. Typically, they consist of the screen, speakers, and some plastic buttons around one central board. These are held in place by a plastic casing with simple screws; a few wires for batteries and sound are also contained within.

Translation? These are easy to comprehend and rudimentary by the standards of today. While different handhelds come with different quirks, a user’s experience on one will translate to the other. My first attempt at console modding was a broken Game Gear, a console notorious for faulty capacitors. Sure enough, the innards of mine were leaked and corroded like a ring of Alighieri’s computing hell. The job proved too tough for me and my partner—even with totally replaced caps, it still wouldn’t function. Yes, this bummed me out—but it also made the inside of a Game Boy Color downright accessible by comparison. Because both, in essence, are the same thing: a board and some attachments in plastic casing.

But enough tech talk. You’ve watched the tutorials, scalded your finger, and—finally—have the rechargeable, light-up handheld of your dream. How do you get the most of it?

Bang For Your Buck

One of the reasons I love the Game Boy and Color is how easy they are to collect for. This isn’t to say there aren’t some infamously high-price items—like the Capcom release of Shantae, for instance. And if you want new-in-box games, be prepared to pay a pretty penny for even the low ends of the library. But for the most part, loose cartridge games are more affordable than ever. Of course, this is relative—to me, $90-100 for a copy of Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel or Resident Evil Gaiden is affordable when thinking about some of the trophy cartridges of the SNES and N64. I even think $60-$80 is pretty reasonable for a Pokemon cartridge in 2025. (Crystal, of course, is much pricier—loose carts often start at $150.)

I cannot stress this enough, however: most games will not cost this much. The first-party NTSC Game Boy library is arguably Nintendo’s most affordable platform to collect for. There is not, for instance, a single name-brand Mario game over $30 if you’re a savvy shopper or have a local store that doesn’t gouge prices. The Kirby titles and spin-offs sit between $20 to $40 each, while the tremendous Donkey Kong Land trilogy can be grabbed in its entirety for between $50 to $70. (I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Donkey Kong GB—a stone-cold classic—can be a paltry $20 to $30.) Even the American Final Fantasy games—Adventure (Secret of Mana) and the Legend (SaGa) titles—can be snagged for between $30 to $40 on average.

This, too, is ignoring an even cheaper option: imports. Outside of text-based games and role-playing titles, a lot of the Game Boy library doesn’t require much in the way of reading. Import copies of these games—specifically Japanese versions—are often half or under the cost of their NTSC counterparts. Without any region locking to worry about, there’s nothing to stop consumers from saving a pretty penny on these cheaper options. This is true of even some pricier titles, too. An NTSC cartridge Castlevania Legends, for instance, commands over $150 loose; the Japanese equivalent, meanwhile, sits at around $80. That’s doubly true if you’re savvy with proxy shipping services and Japanese auction sites, where these are often far less. Yes—these versions are “worth less,” but if you just want to play the games and not collect them as a status symbol, this shouldn’t matter to you.

But there is… another option. It will set you back $134—plus the price of an SD card—and require access to ROMs which I will not link you to. Yet for the completionist, there’s likely no better option than the stalwart Everdrive-GB X7 by Krikzz. My personal favorite way to enjoy vintage consoles is like this—physical hardware with a virtual software library. While I am a physical game collector as well, the simple truth is that I don’t have a desire to collect every Game Boy game—or even most of them. Plus, it’s not always within budget to drop a lot of money just to try something out.

This is the virtue of devices like the Everdrive. They allow for players to experience these games as intended on original hardware. It’s much more precise—and prettier—than simply emulating them on a PC, let alone fiddling with emulation on mobile phones. While it’s a significant investment, those seriously interested in long-term play should consider picking one up. This is especially true if you’ve already gone to the trouble of modifying your console, as it’s that last little touch of modernity that makes it a truly compelling replacement for getting mad at your timeline.

A Game Boy For All Seasons

I modified my Game Boy Color last summer.

For the past year, it’s accompanied me to my favorite bars, movie theaters, and a few drives out to the coast. Late at night in bed, on long sunlit drives in the passenger’s seat, the Color has become the companion it was to me over 20 years ago. Only now, it’s a much better device—one that I don’t have to crane my neck or turn on a lamp to see.

As August winds down, and the sun has begun to set earlier, I’ve found myself particularly drawn to the Game Boy Color over these past few weeks. It has, in spite of its age, usurped time spent with my OLED Steam Deck. I think a large part of that is that these games are, well, mine. There’s no discourse to be had about them, outside of with other retro enthusiasts. “Timeline” actually still meant something when these games were being developed—it wasn’t some nebulous concept you fingered in bed each morning.

This is what modifying a Game Boy Color has taught me: the virtue of unplugging without sacrificing my millennial urge to fiddle with a little device. Microdosing interactive art, good and bad, on the go or in my room, has put me more at ease than perhaps anything else in 2025. It may be escapism, but in an age of rampant disinformation, deliberate and constructive escape is perhaps the only way to stay truly sane.

So: why keep refreshing your feed? You can play Game Boy in the dark for a fraction of the new iPhone, no Worm Light required. Just make sure mom doesn’t catch you on a school night.

Madeline Blondeau has been writing about games since 2010. She’s written for Paste, Anime Herald, Anime News Network, CGM, and Lock-On, among others. In addition, she has written, hosted, and recorded film criticism podcast Cinema Cauldron. Her published fiction debut is due out between 2026 and 2027. You can support her work on Patreon, and find her on BlueSky @mads.haus.