sudomod

I'm so happy to have this project finished! This is my 2nd GBZ project. My first one was a mess. I had no idea what I was doing and everything about it was wonky. This time, I equally had no idea what I was doing, but Kite's Circuit Sword allowed even a novice like me to put it together smoothly... without weird functionality quirks lol. It's super comfortable to play on & it's a great conversation-starter in public!
Components: Hope that helps anyone wanting to build one like mine. I have to give a HUGE shoutout to HoolyHoo for this build. He was generous enough to make me a custom part needed for the concave L/R buttons. They feel absolutely amazing. I'd highly recommend using his screen bracket & back button PCB if you're planning to build a GBZ/GBCM3.

I really like the 6-button layout. I have it configured so the green/blue buttons are the A/B buttons only for N64. On every other console, the A/B buttons are standard. It's very comfortable that way. The D-Pad is an NES-style one from RetroModding. It feels wayyy better than those Chinese-clone D-pads. I'd highly recommending trying a button set from RetroModding.. it's worth it.

The joystick was a concern for me. I really wanted to use a 3DS joystick b/c IMO they're a lot more comfortable than a PSP joystick. I thought it'd be pretty difficult to set it up, but I was genuinely surprised. The trick to doing this (may add pics later) is to use a sharp knife to carefully cut off the white plastic on top of the ribbon cable. Take your time & don't push down to hard (you'll risk bending the small PCB). Eventually, you'll be able to snap off the white plastic and the solder points will be right there. (queue Zelda open-chest sound)

You probably noticed the little hole in the front of the case.. that was my mistake. I'll probably re-case this project soon, but for now, I'm fine with it. Also, I ordered some stickers from Ya-Ya Design over a month ago and he never shipped it. I also noticed he's been inactive on here as well as Instagram.. anyone know if he's alright? Hoping he's okay and hoping I can get the stickers sometime soon.

Nice work!
How good is the screen? Ghosting/blurring?
And what about the fan - is it audible when the little machine is running hot?

andershp wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 02, 2019 11:53 pm

Nice work!
How good is the screen? Ghosting/blurring?
And what about the fan - is it audible when the little machine is running hot?

Thank you! The screen is fantastic. It's very sharp and there's no blurring or ghosting. You can read small text pretty well with it too. It's much clearer than those typical backup camera screens.
You can barely hear the fan. It only turns on if the system gets past 56C (which isn't very often), and if you have the game audio playing, it's hardly audible.

i’m curious how you mounted the joystick. i ordered hoolyhoos psp bracket but i am thinking about using the joycon sticks instead but am unsure of how to mount them.

constipatedchicken wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 12, 2019 10:58 am

i’m curious how you mounted the joystick. i ordered hoolyhoos psp bracket but i am thinking about using the joycon sticks instead but am unsure of how to mount them.

You may need to glue it and ditch the psp mounting posts

man im really tempted to do this, i dont know how often id use the 6 buttons or joystick, but it seems like you could play everything. hesitant to go this way from the 4 front buttons and L and R

constipatedchicken wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 12, 2019 10:58 am

i’m curious how you mounted the joystick. i ordered hoolyhoos psp bracket but i am thinking about using the joycon sticks instead but am unsure of how to mount them.

I just ended up using hot glue to mount it, like KonnorJ suggested. If you use enough, it will hold! You can use the glue's "cooldown" time to move it perfectly in place before it dries.

No Hands 55 wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 15, 2019 12:53 pm

man im really tempted to do this, i dont know how often id use the 6 buttons or joystick, but it seems like you could play everything. hesitant to go this way from the 4 front buttons and L and R

I'd totally recommend it! There's no limits w/ this button layout, and since N64 & Genesis games are the only consoles to really utilize the 2 extra buttons, you won't really notice they're there unless your playing those consoles.

isaakrydel wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:21 pm

No Hands 55 wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 15, 2019 12:53 pm

man im really tempted to do this, i dont know how often id use the 6 buttons or joystick, but it seems like you could play everything. hesitant to go this way from the 4 front buttons and L and R

I'd totally recommend it! There's no limits w/ this button layout, and since N64 & Genesis games are the only consoles to really utilize the 2 extra buttons, you won't really notice they're there unless your playing those consoles.

i think i will eventually. im going with 4 front and 2 back right now just to build it. i think i will have to find a way to add the two other front buttons and joystick later on, and i guess id have to buy hoolyhoos 4button back board then too.