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 Log #18 || 08/27/2022 || Coffee Table  || OpenBSD ThinkPad
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Fixing up a Gameboy Advance for on the go retro (that last part was not supposed to rhyme)

One of the local record stores has a pretty healthy section of retro and new consoles and games
amongst which was quite a selection of original-style Gameboy Advance handhelds.  For $25 American
dollars I splurged and picked up an original 'blue ice' GBA to tinker with for the fall/winter.

Younger siblings had a GBA but I never owned one myself.  I recall not being thrilled with the screen
and it not being backlit.  Ever-improving phone & tablet screens have really made the GBA screen look
pretty terribly by comparison - thankfully there are aftermarket replacements that are pretty awesome!
I snagged a solder-less drop-in screen from Handheld Legend (There are quite a number of places to find
parts and improvements out there; I just had great luck w/Handheld Legend).  The difference is night & day.
Along with a new screen is a new screen glass that's allegedly pretty unbreakable (challenge accepted).
The new screen glass installs fairly easily and thus far I haven't noticed where I got fingerprints on the
inside.  A fun feature of the new screen is the 'touch' buttons one can place around the frame to adjust brightness
and color scheme.  These are little adhesive conductive 'foil' that stick around the screen or buttons to change 
the brightness from 'slightly better than the originial screen' to 'collapsed sun'.  I haven't found much use for 
the changing color scheme.  I imagine it works akin to a Super Gameboy effect on original Gameboy games...which 
can be played via Flashcart if one were so inclined and had personal, legal backups of said original Gameboy releases.

The Flashcart I ended up with (for personal, legal backups) was the EZ Flash Omega.  It comes with 2 shells -
one for full-size GBA slots like the Gameboy Advance, GBA SP and Nintendo DS as well as a smaller shell for the
Nintendo DS lite so it doesn't stick out of the bottom of the case.  Very well thought out!  The interface is very 
clean and simple.  The personal, legal backups are copied to a microSD card which fits snugly in the EZ Flash card 
which the GBA then boots into.  Along with personal, legal backups of GBA games, the EZ Flash Omega will also play 
the aforementioned original Gameboy titles, Gameboy Color and NES games.  Nostalgia ahoy!  

After piecing all this together, it's been great!  The GBA feels solid and has been pretty rugged, thus far.  I don't 
feel unsure about putting it in a coat pocket with that new, tougher screen.  It's nice to have a device that runs on 
AA batteries.  I can only assume that the sharper, brighter screen eats through them a bit faster than the factory display but I 
will happily make that trade off.  It's been good for car rides, killing time in the airport, the occasional waiting room and waiting 
on hold while working from home.  Other unforeseen uses include: break-in-case-of-emergency distraction while babysitting nieces and 
nephews and proving how some older games are, in fact,  "Nintendo Hard" despite claims to the contrary.

I can see myself continuing to keep this in my coat pocket during the fall & winter months as well.  Mobile phone gaming has never 
really been all that much fun to me - whether it be lack of physical controls or the fact I'm killing my phone battery to have ads 
thrown at me in some games.  It's probably a generational thing, but I do enjoy having a dedicated, rugged gaming handheld that plays 
full verions of games and doesn't need to connect to the Internet to do so or pull down updates.

There are even more modifcation possibilities for anyone the least bit capable of soldering - battery improvements, updated sound, fancy lights 
in the case, etc.  Run across a GBA in good shape at a game shop or thrift store?  To quote Ron Swanson, "This is an excellent rectangle!"