BucketMouse recently released his Game Boy Pocket Color motherboard (and accompanying power-board) on his Etsy store. The main premise of this project is that in terms of dimensions, the motherboard has the form factor of a Game Boy pocket, but the electronics have been reengineered to accommodate Game Boy COLOR hardware (ie CPU and SRAM module).
I know a lot of you have probably seen this, but I haven't shown it off in a video yet. So, here it is, the MGBC-MBL-01, my take on a Game Boy Pocket Color. This is a Game Boy Pocket that can play original Game Boy *and* Game Boy Color games!
Info and link to the GitHub below 👇 pic.twitter.com/SIRy92eaNq
— Bucket Mouse (@BucketMouseBite) November 22, 2023
What we end up with is a Game Boy COLOR that fits perfectly inside of an “OEM” Pocket shell. This entire project is masterfully documented in BucketMouse’s GitHub, which contains absolutely everything you need to know about the project in extreme detail.
Now, I do have to state that the boards that BucketMouse sells are completely unpopulated, meaning you will need to buy every components (and salvage components from a doner Game Boy COLOR) and solder them to the board yourself. This is an extremely difficult mod to complete due to the size and number of the components. This is definitely reserved for those who have a lot of experience with soldering and should not be performed by beginners just getting into the modding hobby.
However, if you do have the ability to do this mod, I highly recommend it because it’s honestly my favorite Game Boy form factor, and to have the ability to play Game Boy COLOR games on it is really just awesome!
Another great use of this kit is for resurrecting dead Game Boy COLOR consoles. If you have a COLOR with a damaged motherboard (from leaky batteries for example) you can transfer the working components to the Pocket COLOR motherboard and create a working console which is really fantastic!
If you would like to have a Pocket COLOR built for you, JackVMakes takes on commissions. You can commission a build HERE.
