AlmostSunTzu's First Build - Play It Loud Green Game Boy Zero

Show off your completed Game Boy Zero, or post your build logs here!
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AlmostSunTzu
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AlmostSunTzu's First Build - Play It Loud Green Game Boy Zero

Post by AlmostSunTzu » Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:11 pm

I just finished my first build and wanted to show it off and document the build. I'll also be listing the various issues that I still want to work through and hopefully get some help fixing them.

For those of you who are too impatient to read my long-winded Game Boy history and motivation behind the build, check out the final result below! :lol:
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Okay, now for the boring stuff! I got my first Game Boy in the mid-90's. It was a Play It Loud Green Game Boy much like the one below which is currently listed on eBay:
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I loved that Game Boy and was so proud of it, until I loaned it to some kid on the playground and it disappeared. That was the first and last time I loaned something out without keeping constant eyes on it. That Game Boy being stolen from me was a defining moment of my childhood and may explain my chronic distrust of everyone and overall cynicism towards the nature of people and kids in particular. Kids are little assholes. But I digress.

In 2018 I discovered this website and set out on a journey to build a Play It Loud Green Game Boy to recreate my childhood gaming device while being able to play other systems I grew up on such as NES and SNES. I couldn't find a DMG shell in the matching color for some reason so I bought a "broken" one on Mercari for $20. Turns out it works with the exception of horizontal lines being dead towards the bottom of the screen-
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So I ordered Kite's Circuit Sword Lite and got ready to start my build. This was 2018. I had no other parts but figured I'd buy them as I went.

Life happened and I got sent to Europe for 9 months for work. The Circuit Sword Lite and Game Boy sat on the shelf for over two years until I finally got off my ass and decided to finish the build a few months ago when I revisited this site and saw some responses to my thread about using the original Game Boy as a donor. Up until December 2020 I was just too busy at work to learn how to solder, buy all the tools, buy the remaining pieces, do the necessary research, etc.

Anyway, I finished it recently. It still has some issues that I'll list after the specs below. First, some pics of the build.

The screen hot glued into the front of the shell:
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Testing everything out of the shell:
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Compared to the original Game Boy which I decided not to use as a donor:
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After making the X and Y button holes:
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Janky side cut job, not my best work:
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Shoulder buttons:
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Next to an original Game Boy:
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IT'S ALIIIIIIVE!!!
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Final build:
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That's pretty much it. Thanks to the following individuals for making this possible:

Kite
VeteranGamer
Wermy
Helder
Robochris
AntFJ
Winder
HoolyHoo
Biggest props to Retro Ghost for his CS Lite Build Videos (on YouTube)

Specs:
-Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build
-Raspberry Pi Zero W
-64GB Samsung EVO Micro SD card
-Four face buttons, two shoulder buttons
-320x240 resolution screen
-Buttons and membranes from Handheld Legend

Issues:
1. NO SOUND! I don't know what the deal is, but I haven't been able to get sound working. I haven't looked into it very much yet
2. Mode button sticks when pressed; need to bore out the hole a little
3. The janky hole I cut for the micro USB charging port is horrible. I can barely get a plug in there. Need to bore it out more and make it looks less terrible
4. NO BATTERY VOLTAGE! For some reason, the battery reads 0.01V even though the device clearly works on battery. In the operating system it looks like the battery is completely empty. No idea why.
5. Volume wheel scrapes the case
6. Screen has too much pressure on it, causing slight ghosting at one location. Need to relieve pressure from the screen
7. D-pad needs some adjustment. I added some hot glue to the actual D-pad to bring it closer to the membranes. This worked perfectly for the X, Y, A, and B buttons but backfired on the D-pad; it's too easy to press the buttons now. Just needs some adjustment.

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Spyder
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Re: AlmostSunTzu's First Build - Play It Loud Green Game Boy Zero

Post by Spyder » Mon Feb 15, 2021 10:08 am

Looks great!!!!

shesaysidontlisten
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Re: AlmostSunTzu's First Build - Play It Loud Green Game Boy Zero

Post by shesaysidontlisten » Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:39 pm

Let us know how your adjustments/fixes go. :)

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