sudomod

Here are my completed builds of two Gameboy projects both featuring a Raspberry Pi Compute Model 3:

Kite's Circuit Sword Gameboy Zero:
Upgrades:

• I got the blue DMG shell and glass lense from www.retromodding.com

• I got the silicone buttons from http://store.kitsch-bent.com

• I got the board and screen from Kite in the Sudomod marketplace.

FreeplayTech Freeplay CM3:

• I got the sapphire Gameboy Advance shell, buttons, glass lense, 2 batteries, screen and board all from www.retromodding.com

gnarlynick wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:11 am

Side-by-side
2018-02-26 10.38.45.jpg

Beautiful pair!
Nice job!

I like gameboy's color scheme, it looks unusual
Could you please show how do silicone buttons look like? I've ordered a couple of them from kitsch-bend, but was sure they must have same color for A/B because they are connected to each other.

silentjames wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:52 am

I like gameboy's color scheme, it looks unusual
Could you please show how do silicone buttons look like? I've ordered a couple of them from kitsch-bend, but was sure they must have same color for A/B because they are connected to each other.

The A/B buttons from Kitsch-bent come connected in a pair. I ordered various colors and cut each of the buttons individually to get the multi-colored A/B/X/Y buttons on my build. I was trying to go for the Super Famicom color scheme but they do not have yellow silicone buttons, hence the one black button.

How did you do the status LEDs at the top of the gameboy? What size LEDs are they?

djascher wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 28, 2018 2:28 pm

How did you do the status LEDs at the top of the gameboy? What size LEDs are they?

The LEDs are surface mounted onto the Circuit Sword AIO board. Per Kite's case mod instructions, those are 2mm holes backfilled with hot glue to serve as light pipes for the LEDs on the board. The Circuit Sword board comes with a template to drill the holes so that they are straight. I can't really take much credit here.

The instructions can be found in Kite's Wiki, this specific part is under the "(Optional) LED status holes" section.

There is also an in-depth overview of the board and the components which come populated onto it, also in the Wiki towards the bottom of the page.

Hope this helps!

I was considering making one but I love my gameboy cm3.

Comparing Kites sword CM3 to freeplay’s CM3 I see some disadvantages:
- smaller screen (3.2” vs 3.5”). Correct me
If I’m wrong but with the 3.2” Is not fully utilized, not sure what that makes the actual display size.
- X&Y buttons are switches
- battery capacity limited to 2000 mah
- no built in WiFi
- no fan capability, the pi3 can get hot

What are your thoughts?

Fish17 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 09, 2018 11:14 am

I was considering making one but I love my gameboy cm3.

Comparing Kites sword CM3 to freeplay’s CM3 I see some disadvantages:
- smaller screen (3.2” vs 3.5”). Correct me
If I’m wrong but with the 3.2” Is not fully utilized, not sure what that makes the actual display size.
- X&Y buttons are switches
- battery capacity limited to 2000 mah
- no built in WiFi
- no fan capability, the pi3 can get hot

What are your thoughts?

You are correct with each point. Also, the Freeplay does not have any way to currently adjust screen brightness so it is always at its brightest setting. The only advantage I see that it has is the GBA form factor, which I prefer over the DMG both for portability and nostalgia; I never had a DMG (I had a Gameboy Pocket) but I remember in my early teenage years saving up enough money for a GBA and really enjoying it. I am 1 of 6 kids so having a game system all to myself was a rarity which is why I was always found mobile platforms more compelling.

Regarding heat, I have not had an overheat with either CM3 system (so far). A few weeks ago, I got curious about the system in regards to overheating and loaded Mario Kart 64 onto the system and let it loop the start screen demo for an hour. I loaded a terminal every so often and remotely accessed the CM3 to check the temperature. The hottest it got was 152-156 degrees F. The back shell was somewhat warm but never hot and the video/audio never stuttered and the system never powered off.
That said, I have been regularly playing numerous titles from GBA, SNES, Turbo Grafx 16 and PSX on the Freeplay CM3 and have experienced no issues regarding heat. It appears the heatsink is quite sufficient without an active cooling addition.