How Not To -- Game Boy Advance Front Light
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- RetroGameRepairShop has provided me with a frontlight kit to try out in a Game Boy Advance. Normally, I'm not a fan of these kits. Compared to an IPS kit, frontlight kits require much more skill to install with good results and even a good install will generally be lower quality. This video marks my third frontlight mod and of the two previously done, both resulted in disaster and were replaced very quickly with backlight mods. Yes, they are still cheaper than IPS kits but cheaper doesn't always mean better.
Despite all that, if you still insist on trying one yourself, you can grab one here: retrogamerepai...
and do note that there ARE instructions in the listing. Check the images. And double check that you don't have the panel on backwards before gluing it down. Yes, I am getting another one to have another attempt.
No LOCA is required for this particular panel but it is still recommended for the best results. I used this stuff (smallest one is fine for one install): handheldlegend...
also note here that if you install your panel backwards without LOCA, you can just flip it over. If you use LOCA and install it backwards or otherwise mess something up, you will need at the very least a new panel.
Confused/intimidated by the sheer number of backlight kits now? I don’t blame you. I had to create an image based guide just to keep everything straight myself. There’s a new section of the wiki that has a more subjective look at all the different kits: gameboy.github...
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So there will be follow up video with the panel installed the right way?
yes, I'm just giving this panel a little while to make sure that my LOCA is set properly.
no, apparently
@@RetroGeeksGaming I'm not saying I won't, I'm just saying it's been 2 years and I probably won't get to it any time soon.
I like hearing your voice
IPS kits for the win
Yes, definitely the voice!
I did several of these back in 2002 when Triton Labs was selling the Afterburner frontlight kit through their Portable Monopoly website. It was basically crowd-funded through a preorder campaign even though crowdfunding sites didn't exist yet back then. ;) I only had a couple flawless installs that looked great but I recall my personal install looked terrible despite flawless execution (no dust, perfect cut, etc). The only reason I could figure is that my Arctic GBA was an early Japanese launch unit before the North American and worldwide launches. I noted that it had a factory rework of some kind (resistor soldered to the cartridge slot) which I don't recall seeing on my friend's Glacier unit from the US launch and don't recall seeing in any GBA since. I remain convinced that this is why my GBA looked so much worse with the Afterburner than others I did.
I still have one defective/broken Afterburner kit around with all the instructions and packaging and stuff. No AG film though, since that was wasted during an attempted install long ago.
I think this is my favorite video you've ever made.
Publishing the failures is just as important as the publishing the successes, if not more so. Good video man.
This is what we had in the olden days! I literally installed hundreds of these.
Dude I just got into retro handhelds and modding and batteries and I already love ur content. Keep up the great work!
Yeah I just gave up trying to get the best gameboy screen experience last year and just invested in the gameboy player for my GameCube with a way to boot up gameboy interface, using a carby. I’ve spent a lot of money in this endeavor. First I did the front light. Then the 101 screen. Before finally landing on the player.
I guess you weren't living la vida L.O.C.A... 😔
I think by the time you've tried several times to get lucky with a good front lit result, you could've saved time, money and effort on an IPS V2 in one shot. Can't afford it? Patiently wait and save as it'll be worth it.
Thank you for showing us the alternatives and saving us the hassle of the lesser options. Keep up the good work Makho - you rock! 🤘😎
> I think by the time you've tried several times to get lucky with a good front lit result, you could've saved time, money and effort on an IPS V2 in one shot.
That is precisely my point. (I did not mess this up intentionally)
@@makho That's what I like about your content; what you see is what you get. Honest opinions with honest videos. 👍
I've had three of the CGB kits. They were a pain in the ass, and looked terrible. This looks considerably better, but still falls short. I think if you are short on cash and want to play in the dark, the way to go is an old fashioned wormlight.
Nice video and hoh by the way can it be done with an ags 001 screen? i bet ribbon cable should be involved aswell to convert pins but it should be the best way to front light don't you think?
I mean, I guess? The point of this video was to check out the new aftermarket kits.
0:22 perfect intro with perfect music
@mahko in their defense you can play your frontlit gameboy outside during the day without a hitch like the og gba was intended. With a backlight you kinda take away that nostalgia factor that for many people, is worth to them. I love the look of a strange looking overlay light on my screen that I can play in night or day and it just looks off compared to everything else. I know very hipster.
So, I read somewhere that you could get great results without using loca and instead of applying the polarizer to the screen, removing it, and placing it on the front side of the front light. I've never actually seen it done but, I mean, if anyone could try it, it would probably be you.
I'm was wonderng if i need to install the polarizer film or not in order of get better results? So, i should'nt add the polarizer or yes?
@@israelguevara09 the polarizer is required.
@@LelandHasGames but where?
@@israelguevara09 top layer of the display? A quick Google search would probably be more helpful.
Just open you gba, cut all the plastics necessary and remove everithing you wont need. Clean the better you can. Open your dead screen sp 001 and extract the frontlight. DO NOT TOUCH IT FOR THE SAKE OF GOD. Remove al the plastics and stickers so it will come as alone as the one retrogamerepair sells (there are videos out there, just they dont explain it very well). Use a 100 ohm resistor (brown, black, brown, gold tolerance) and solder it as you see in this video, the resistor goes into the power on switch and the positive wire in the Q6 transistor ( I have a 40 pin screen). If you do not screwed up as I didi, you will have a very decent frontlighted classsic gba and a sp for modding with a IPS. If not, welcome to the mod community ;)
You can make a video as long as you like we don’t mind💕💕
I used my dremel with just a sanding wheel on an SP, when I installed a v2.
It was quick, and looked decent. Wasn't that difficult.
my thing is that i haven’t been able to find a backlit screen replacement that does any sort of color correction that the original GBA screen did. so if i want those original colors, and ALSO want a lit screen, a front light is really my only option :/
The original screen didn't do "color correction", it was just wildly inaccurate.
Regardless, soon(tm).
Next video: shoving a gameboy color screen into a gameboy advance
p.s. I loved the video! I always have a thing for tinkering! And yes, it's damn worth the $40
well, I just buyed for about 20 bucks a dead screen ags 001 and stipped down the frontlight to mod my agb 001. It went awry. I toched the plastic for both sides, wiped multiple times wit an anti static screen cleaner, and so on. My veredict is to ve VERY precise to what you where to do, it will cost you less if you just do ir right away and not "fixing" or "adapting" things on the fly
Once you touch those panels, you ruin them. They are, as far as I can tell, impossible to clean without damaging the surface layers.
@@makho Can confirm, a slab or roll of cured loca removes any finger prints without the need to rub in new scratches.
well, i'm going to do this "mod" just because i want to use the original sharp lcd and not a new IPS. But i have some doubts, i shoould put the polarizer film in the screen or not? also, why and what kind of resistor you used?
You should follow the instructions for the kit/panel you are using as each one will be different.
i tried a frontlight on gbc once and f##k what a peice of crap it was, it actually made the screen worse so i tried to remove it (loca was used) and next thing i heard was craaack from the lcd.
LOCA should be alot harder than that stuff, maybe due to the thickness of the blobs??
has anyone tried removing the metal back plate of the LCD screen and instead of installing the light panel in the front, u install it in the back sandwiching it between the flex cable and the lcd thus backlighting it.
In the wiki I always link to, check the page on the game boy color. It has been done but the results are... not the best.
I just did the exact same installation, but with the panel installed correctly, yet I still get the same result as in this video.😢
Maybe LOCA is a bad idea.
Looking back, none of my palm pilots or AGS-001 consoles had LOCA either.
I dig the vibe of a frontlight, especially in a transparent shell
But image quality -- not so much
Makko fooked it up
yarp, probably because I didn't read the instructions until too late.
@@makho its all good my dude
Can anyone help me i broke something on the motherboard and idk what it used for please
Me: A cheap mother F. Also me: it's way less work to buy IPS v.2 and precut shell.
Ummm that’s a fancy pants power supply!
If u absolutely have to go front light. Why not just use a gba sp lcd with a adapter? Front light lcds from gba sp are dirt cheap on eBay and AliExpress.
@@majortom5838 i see. Wellp there u have it folks. Just save up for a back light mod. Front light are not worth it in the long run.
They call them afterburner kits because that''s what they do to batteries right?
I haven't actually tested the power consumption but, with the correct value resistor, there's no reason the panel has to consume more than 10mA (much less than an IPS kit and about on par with an AGS-101 mod).
@@makho Oh. Well dang. Tried to be clever and witty and got beaten by science. You are technically correct, the beat kind of correct!
Hey Makho, could you try to install a gameboy color frontlight on an original DMG?
no, DMG screens can and should be backlit. A frontlight is even more of a waste on that console.
@@makho but it's a huge risk installing a backlight and ips are too expensive, I'll try it myself
I make that on a gbc and it is crap.
Even a wormlight is better
someone's been watching a lot of dankpods
front kits? oldschool
Could the "adhesive" at 36:50 be a replacement reflective strip?
This instructional video from 5 years ago is probably more useful: ruclips.net/video/uPvqIwZc3kE/видео.html
I mean, I did title this video "How Not To" lol but yeah, probably
yo, wtf is that sticker from 46:18 ? ._.
I custom made it based on the licensed aftermarket stickers from a japanese magazine.
Loca?
Liquid Optically-Clear Adhesive. LOCA.
45:08
46:58
If your doing a front light kit, you probably don't have a dremel!
Eh I have several ips modded gameboys and because of that I also have several front lit gba sp screens laying around some have a busted lcd but the front light panel is perfect so I may take those panels out and front light a couple of gba to add some value to them and if I don’t like the results I’ll ips swap the gba and because it was all spare parts anyway I lose $0 and it’s fun to just try new things and develop new skills I used to replace phone screens and some were glued like this with UV glue it was a pain I did 2 I miraculously got the first one perfect and the second one I screwed up then had to foot the bill for a 3rd one and never did it again I made customers buy the whole assembly or take it somewhere else