#GAME BOY DMG BACKLIGHT INSTALL#
#GAME BOY DMG BACKLIGHT MOD#
#GAME BOY DMG BACKLIGHT FULL#

Rem ove the six case screws, earlier DMGs use Phillips Head screws, newer DMGs use Tri-Wing security screws.

#GAME BOY DMG BACKLIGHT FULL#

With the screen removed from the LCD Board you can more easily leverage the rear polarizing/reflective film, without damaging the horizontal ribbon cable, and will give you full access to the inside of the screen to clean it corner to cornerīacklight, Solder, ChipQuik, Flux, Solder Braid, Isopropyl Alcohol (70-90%), a sharp razor blade, toothbrush, q-tips, paper towels, Tri-wing screwdriver, phillip’s head screwdriver, flush trimmers, heat shrink tubing, gloves.īivert, backlight controller, capacitor kit, diode/transistor kit, auxiliary 5v Buck/Boost Regulator, celebratory whiskey and any other mods that you’d like. Transistor Q1 (replace with 2SA933 PNP Transistor)Ģ. Diodes DA1, DA2, DA3, DA4 (replace with DAN215 Diodes) Resistor R2 (replace with 100 ohm 1/8 watt resistor) Capacitors C4 (replace with 47p ceramic cap), C6, C7, C8, C9, C10 (replace with Nichicon 1uf 50v electrolytic caps)

There are various components that are soldered in behind the LCD, this is best time to test & replace the components, these components are 30 years old, may as well change them while we have access:.

#GAME BOY DMG BACKLIGHT MOD#

This mod breathes some new life into the hardware, and a bit more enjoyment into those old games.Backlighting Your Gameboy DMG – The Right Wayīacklight your DMG like a pro! While taking the extra steps to do it right will take more time, and you may encounter a learning curve at first, ultimately, desoldering the screen is the best way, in my opinion, for a few reasons: It is easy even for beginner solders, whether you want to add the bivert chip or not. In conclusion, this is an excellent mod that I recommend you do. I removed the back panel and placed some ESR (enhanced specular reflector) film on the backlight. I am not sure if it made a difference. I will have to do a side by side comparison someday, which I plan to do as I have a Game Boy Pocket I would like to mod as well. The bivert board is not required but is recommended as it improves the contrast immensely on the original Game Boy.īefore installing the backlight, I attempted to mod it a little bit to see if I could get some additional brightness out of it.

#GAME BOY DMG BACKLIGHT INSTALL#

The install was quick and painless even though the bivert board requires two pins on the LCD connector to be de-soldered and bent up. Once the parts arrived I was able to do the install in a single evening. I purchased a white LED backlight and a bivert board from, an online store based in Canada. I decided to give modding a Game Boy a try so I purchased a backlight and dusted off my Game Boy Original (DMG-01).

People have created a variety of backlight and frontlight options for the Game Boy/Pocket/Color. Or perhaps you have an old Game Boy gathering dust and would like to breathe some light into it. This is certainly an option, but maybe you want to play on the original Game Boy. Yet, due to its exclusive release in Japan, low release numbers, and prohibitive cost now, I don't consider it a viable contender.Īs the Game Boy Advance was backwards compatible with all Game Boy games, you could now play every game on a decent screen without worrying about lighting issues. I do realize there was an earlier Game Boy released with a backlight, the Game Boy Light. (Thankfully, two years later a backlit version of the SP was released that was superior.) After 14 years, no longer would you have to rely on a 3rd party lighting solution which usually resulted in glare on the screen.

Albeit, a less than stellar solution, as it was a front-lit LCD. Shockingly enough, it took all the way to the Game Boy Advance SP, released in 2003, to get a system in the US with a built in lighting solution. While a popular system, one major complaint was the lack of a lit LCD. Particularly with each successive generation being backwards compatible with previous generations. The system was relatively inexpensive, portable, lasted quite a while on AA/AAA batteries, and had a large selection of games to choose from. The Nintendo Game Boy took the world by storm, selling millions of units over its handful of iterations. Game pictured is 'The Amazing Spider-Man'.

Game boy dmg backlight