Have you ever thought about taking a Game Boy Pocket and shoving it in a Game Boy Advance SP shell to make a Mini Game Boy Pocket SP?
Seems kind of backwards, right?
Well it’s these kinds of impractical mods in the Game Boy community that absolutely get us retro game fans super excited.
As someone who is a part of the Game Boy modding and enthusiast community, I can tell you that we have stuff like this popping up on a regular basis.
Between new 3D printable shell designs, custom molded buttons, and some advanced level wizards who are doing hardware level modifications….
We’ve got a ton of interesting advances happening in our little modding community.
And it’s these kinds of seemingly pointless mods like putting a Game Boy Pocket in a Game Boy Advance SP that really catch you off guard.
We’ve seen Game Boy Colors squeezed into Game Boy Pocket shells… We’ve seen Nintendo DS’s shoved into DMG shells…
But who would’ve thought to take an older model and give it the vibes of a newer one.
Well may we present the ‘Mini Game Boy Pocket SP’!
More about the ‘Mini Game Boy Pocket SP’ project
This Game Boy Pocket / Game Boy Advance SP mashup was created by Allison Parrish.
Allison’s interests are quite wide reaching, between poetry, programming, and more recently… Game Boy modding.
I wouldn’t exactly call her skills entry level…
The work she did on the Mini Game Boy Pocket SP project is at the highest level in our modding community.
In order to make the Game Boy Pocket fit in her custom modelled shell, she had to literally cut the circuit board in half.
Which ain’t exactly easy to do!
Allison Parrish had to create her own 3D printable designs to make a Game Boy Advance SP aesthetic to house the modified Game Boy Pocket.
She also had to create custom printed circuit boards to make all of the connections work .
Remember, she literally chopped the board in half!
She made a working Game Boy Pocket SP that looks incredible. And this has a lot of us wondering how it feels to play it!
She had posted the project to her Instagram page, which seemed to be her final design.
And then she took it a step further and got a professionally printed ultra-clear shell that shows off all of the incredible magic happening inside of the custom device.
Surely you’d agree, it looks pretty wild.
Allison Parrish has a whole write-up on her custom Game Boy Project, where she goes into detail about the entire process.
On top of that, she is also offering all of her design files to anybody who wants to try it themselves on her Github page.
Again, this isn’t an easy task, but we think it’s incredible that Allison took the time to share the process with us, as well as give us the means to have our own Game Boy Pocket SP.
About The Game Boy Community
The Game Boy modding/enthusiast/DIY scene is absolutely amazing.
In 2020, during the pandemic that had a lot of people re-evaluating their life… I decided to shift my passion into retro gaming.
And one of the first things I did was to start diving into Game Boys and the Instagram community for Game Boy enthusiasts.
From day one that community was nothing but welcoming and happy to share information about how to do things.
Which seems quite unusual, as many communities are reluctant to share info or boost others in fear of competition (*cough* game boy development community *cough*).
So once I started to be a mainstay in that community, I always tried to keep that same energy and welcome new members with open arms.
If you’re reading this article, you may have an interest in Game Boys, Game Boy modification, etc…
I can tell you from first hand experience that it’s a great community to plug yourself in to.
People like Allison Parrish who are pushing the creative boundaries of DIY modding, inspiring others, and offering their knowledge for free.
Thank you Allison for being an awesome member of the Game Boy community!
Anthony has been a video game lover ever since he can remember. He became a fulltime nomad in 2018, living throughout most of Asia. He focused his passion in retro gaming and began creating a game for the Game Boy Color while living in Nara, Japan during the 2020 pandemic. He is now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he spends most of his time gaming, going on long walks and meeting as many stray dogs as possible.
