Worklog Single Handed Gameboy Colour aka The Gamee Lanister

[Ross Fiamingo]

Hi Everybody


I had been perusing the forum for a while and noticed a build comp. Having just finished off a fairly big electronics project i thought what the hey, I should give it ago.


My idea isn't the biggest or most grandiose but i believe it will be fun, challenging and completable, which is to say, im setting the bar just at the right height i think.


The idea,

The one handed game boy colour code name The Gamee Lanister


Using a GB boy colour, a hardware clone of the game boy colour im going to make a custom controller board and case using a Nintendo switch joystick with a ADC , two mechanical switches as the AB buttons on the back and some simple power circuitry using a adafruit power boost or similar and a 18650 cell.


I plan on using the GB boy colour first because it is cheap so if i destroy something its not a big deal plus the screen has a nice backlight on it which the original gameboy lacks. The switch joystick is just my fave joystick to use, i have used PS vita and 3ds sliders before but the switch joystick feels the most sturdy.

Mechanical Keyboard keys on the back because every button should be a cherry MX brown
EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Ive been designing boards in eagle for a fair while and while not the most competent when it comes to 3d design i can do a bit. So thats the idea. I have my parts on the way from china and have a few libraries i need to make for the chosen parts in eagle. Ill update the forums with the board design when i finish it. Happy making

 

[The hob]

The use of MX switches is a awesome idea!

 

[MRKane]

I love so many things about this idea! As a fan of accessibility mods I'm super keen to see what you come up with!

 

[fibbef]

As a big Game Boy nerd, I’m really looking forward to this! I dig the name too!

 

[Ross Fiamingo]

update update update
did a bit of research on how the switch joystick works and how i might make that into a digital on or off for the gameboy buttons
the handy dandy
COMPARATOR CIRCUIT
don't mind the terrible schematic
lm239 is just a quad op amp hooked up to the cheapest switching npn transistor i could find a library for and a bunch of voltage dividers. I might make up a breadboard circuit on the weekend and test that the idea is sound before i waste any more time down this route, otherwise ill just use a pic or a atmega328p chip, properly the latter because writing code for pic chips is something ive done twice and took like two weeks to debug the code.

 

[Aurelio]

The comparator circuit can work just fine, but you don't really need the transistors

 

[Ross Fiamingo]

The comparator circuit can work just fine, but you don't really need the transistors

Right you are Aurelio i just had another look at the LM239 datasheet and it seems it sinks the output to ground anyway, YAY less components. The real challenge looks like it is going to be making the part for the flex cable connector in eagle. Not my strong point.

 

[GingerOfOz]

If you look up the part number for it on Digikey or a similar website, there's often a link in there to download CAD models on a site called Ultra Librarian. You can often find Eagle footprints premade there.

 

[Ross Fiamingo]

If you look up the part number for it on Digikey or a similar website, there's often a link in there to download CAD models on a site called Ultra Librarian. You can often find Eagle footprints premade there.

Yeah Connectors especially FPC connectors are notoriously always missing from ultralibrarian
fortunately i remembered EasyEDA has all of LCSC parts as library parts and i found a FPC connector that should work well. I should thank you since you are the one who got the pinout for the switch joystick that i used.

 

[Ross Fiamingo]

update #3
all parts ordered and waiting for them before i start my cadding
circuit for switch joystick is done and now Ive started work on a charging solution for a 18650 cell with a 3v regulated supply out. Im using a pretty common charge IC the TP4056 and a 3.3v buck converter which ive used in the past and is good up to 600mA way above the range i should need which is about 200mA

 

[Ross Fiamingo]

Well my pcb is done although i anticipate probably forgetting one or two things, i always do,
off to jlcpcb and hopefully my other parts from china get here soon too.

 

[Ross Fiamingo]

So my GBBoy colour arrived and i gotta say the build quality on the thing is pretty okay. It plays all my old gameboy games fine and screen is nice and bright,
the resolution is a bit ehhhh but for the most part its a pretty good buy of $50
I took it apart and probed around a bit with a multimeter to find where the button traces went and i got lucky as they go through some vias underneath the screen. I soldered up some enameled copper wire to a header and tested it out and they all seem to work fine with no shorts.

bonus picture, my boi cash, he likes to watch me do electronics work on the bed next to me.