Eccho's GBZs

Show off your completed Game Boy Zero, or post your build logs here!
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Eccho
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Eccho's GBZs

Post by Eccho » Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:32 pm

Introduction and AcknowledgmentsShow
Hi everybody,

I have to be honest, Reddit brought me here. A GBZ build got upvoted to the frontpage and I jumped right into it. I was already looking a while ago for an opportunity to get into electronics. And here I am! My nostalgia for Game Boy Advance games pushed me further than I ever thought. Building GBZs now occupies a major part of my free time.

I would like to show off my builds in a minimal way as they do not bring anything new to the community.

I would like to thank:
  • Wermy and Helder for building and managing the Sudomod community, for the shared files, for the boards and for their advice.
  • YaYa for his help with all the troubleshooting, his enthusiasm and the awesome Game Box file.
  • Abrugsch for his tutorial on soldering and the troubleshooting on PRS's microSD cartridge.
  • 144TECH voor zijn advies in pm en voor het voorstellen om een safe shutdown toe te voegen in mijn eerste build.
  • Kite for his SAIO and support on the forums.
  • Camble for his work on the safe shutdown which has been the major addition to my first build.
  • prerunnerseth for his work on the microSD cartridge board
  • Dominator for his screen surround and stickers printout. Hope to see you active soon again!
  • HoolyHoo for his work on all the 3D-printed parts (screen, button wells and screen cutout template).
  • Dextech for providing the perfect GBZ battery
  • VeteranGamer, Lphilimore and jellybelly for their builds that served as examples for my work.
  • My roommate Andi for sharing his knowledge and his tools to get me started. Thank god I invested in a better soldering iron.
First, The MinimalShow
Helder's AIO board
Raspberry Pi Zero
TheMinimalist.png
TheMinimalist.png (1.76 MiB) Viewed 9028 times
Second, Who Let The Dutch OutShow
Kite's SAIO
Raspberry Pi 3
WhoLetTheDutchOut.png
WhoLetTheDutchOut.png (2.29 MiB) Viewed 9042 times
Third, The RaphaelShow
Kite's SAIO
Raspberry Pi Zero
TheRaphael.png
TheRaphael.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 9042 times
Fourth, The Hello KittyShow
Kite's SAIO
Raspberry Pi 3
TheHelloKitty.png
TheHelloKitty.png (1.55 MiB) Viewed 9042 times
ExtrasShow
The last GBZ is a wedding gift. I was really looking for some professional look. YaYa delivered! Awesome results!
Game Box and stickers by YaYa
Case recommended by YaYa
WeddingGift.png
WeddingGift.png (1.61 MiB) Viewed 9042 times
Final wordsShow
Give me your opinion, criticism is very welcome because it will help me improve.
Thanks everybody.
Last edited by Eccho on Tue May 29, 2018 9:12 am, edited 14 times in total.

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Eccho
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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by Eccho » Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:33 pm

Graveyard of bad ideasShow
First bad idea. I tried shortening the wires as much as humanly possible to connect the data wires with the cartridge reader. To do so, I solder JST directly to the cartridge pins so that I could assemble everything (inspired by VeteranGamer's no hot glue GBZ build). It was a bad idea because of the space it took (bumping againt the RPZ and because the JSTs were hard to get rid off. This put all the "unstable" internals at risk of getting ripped because the space was very narrow due to the wires because super short... You can see in the second picture below how short I went. On the left side you have the approximate size of the JST connecting the RPZ and on the right side the ribbon of cable I also used. Both didn't work.
IMG_0560.JPG
IMG_0560.JPG (2.08 MiB) Viewed 9049 times
IMG_0558.JPG
IMG_0558.JPG (2.54 MiB) Viewed 9049 times
Second bad idea. I tried giving some "volume" to the cross button because it felt too loose. I did so with a drop of glue on each side of the cross. It turned out to not work out at all!
IMG_0590.JPG
IMG_0590.JPG (1.54 MiB) Viewed 9049 times
Chest of good ideasShow
First good idea that I got was from VeteranGamer's build without hot glue. I soldered directly the JSTs on Camble's safe shutdown board. It helped a lot with testing Camble's script and so on because I was able to easily attach and detach everything. To give some more context, the safe shutdown came after I already finished the build. This means a lot of internals were already glued and a JST-based wiring helped a lot.
SSD cropped.jpeg
SSD cropped.jpeg (154.64 KiB) Viewed 9049 times
Second good idea. I fixed the battery compartment with regular velcro instead of suggested magnets!
IMG_0608.JPG
IMG_0608.JPG (2.1 MiB) Viewed 9049 times
Last edited by Eccho on Tue May 29, 2018 3:17 am, edited 3 times in total.

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muniosi
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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by muniosi » Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:45 pm

Great work! I like the Stormtrooper color scheme of the first one. Where'd you get the custom screen surround? Did you make it yourself or commission it somewhere?
I've just finished my milk.

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Eccho
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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by Eccho » Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:51 pm

muniosi wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:45 pm
Great work! I like the Stormtrooper color scheme of the first one. Where'd you get the custom screen surround? Did you make it yourself or commission it somewhere?
Thanks!
I bought it last year in December from Dominator. You could decide on the colours and titles of your screen surrounds. I really hope he comes back soon. Great items!

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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by Elmafioso90 » Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:48 pm

One question. I see both of your builds and they look pretty nice, both of them. Congrats!

About the cartridge reader from PRS-Tech, did you used it with Kite's SAIO? I see the microSD card in a weird spot but I cannot see if it you actually used it since you used an original black cartridge. I'm interested but no ones seems to have tried it yet with Kite's SAIO.

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Eccho
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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by Eccho » Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:56 pm

Elmafioso90 wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:48 pm
One question. I see both of your builds and they look pretty nice, both of them. Congrats!
Thanks!
Elmafioso90 wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:48 pm
About the cartridge reader from PRS-Tech, did you used it with Kite's SAIO?
No, I used it only for the first build with Helder's AIO.
Elmafioso90 wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:48 pm
I see the microSD card in a weird spot but I cannot see if it you actually used it since you used an original black cartridge.
Great observation here. I turned the RPZ 180degrees so that the microSD pokes out at the bottom, thus being accessible by opening the battery compartment. I was unsuccessful with PRS's cartridge reader, that's why.
Elmafioso90 wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:48 pm
I'm interested but no ones seems to have tried it yet with Kite's SAIO.
Nobody has done it yet because a Pi3 build with Kite's SAIO takes all the cartridge space. I could only see it feasible with a RPZero build, but here again, would it make sense since you have already an option of accessing the microSD card from the side? You would however score quite some retro points if you make it happen though :D

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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by Elmafioso90 » Sun Jul 23, 2017 3:44 pm

Eccho wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:56 pm
You would however score quite some retro points if you make it happen though :D
Nostalgia taking it all, y'know. Thanks for your insights and explanations ;)

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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by Lphillimore » Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:27 pm

Hey, great builds - they look awesome!!

Glad mine helped you along the way! As it happens I have a GBZ build on-going exactly the same as your orange one, even down to the glass screens surround (Deadpanrobot?!)

Love the good / bad ideas sections. :D

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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by Eccho » Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:31 pm

Lphillimore wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:27 pm
Hey, great builds - they look awesome!!

Glad mine helped you along the way! As it happens I have a GBZ build on-going exactly the same as your orange one, even down to the glass screens surround (Deadpanrobot?!)

Love the good / bad ideas sections. :D
Thanks!
And yes, the screen surround is from Deadpanrobot. If you are using Kite's SAIO for your build, I would however recommend another one. The borders are too thick and hide the bottom of the screen :D Retropie menus and in-game text are hard to see sometimes.

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Re: Eccho's GBZs

Post by Lphillimore » Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:33 pm

Eccho wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:31 pm
Lphillimore wrote:
Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:27 pm
Hey, great builds - they look awesome!!

Glad mine helped you along the way! As it happens I have a GBZ build on-going exactly the same as your orange one, even down to the glass screens surround (Deadpanrobot?!)

Love the good / bad ideas sections. :D
Thanks!
And yes, the screen surround is from Deadpanrobot. If you are using Kite's SAIO for your build, I would however recommend another one. The borders are too thick and hide the bottom of the screen :D Retropie menus and in-game text are hard to see sometimes.
Fear not I saved my Gorilla glass screen from Day for my SAIO build 😎

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