I’ve said it before and I’ll say it every week of my life; the Retro Gaming community never ceases to amaze me. Modders are forever thinking of creative ways to keep retro consoles alive for the masses, and the ReBoi kit created by James Sargent is the latest to catch our eye.
James has created an entire kit for people to purchase that completely simplifies the modding process thanks to the might of Raspbery Pi Zero and Raspbery Pi OS. And the best part is that there’s zero soldering involved.
To cut a long story short, if you’ve never modded anything and once tried to pick up a soldering iron like it was a fountain pen before your teacher stopped you, then this kit is going to change your world.
All you’ll need is the kit, a few easy-to-pick-up extras, and voila – you’ll have a modded Game Boy Color with zero fuss and no burned fingers.
Are you ready to tackle the ReBoi? Let’s have a look at the kit in greater detail!
The ReBoi – Rebirthing The Magic Of The Game Boy Color
James set out to make the ReBoi one of the most accessible modding kits known to gaming kind, and from what we’ve seen so far, we think he might have pulled it off.
And so do the Retro Gaming community, surpassing the funding goal of £15,000 on Kickstarter with the total now standing at over £24,000 at the time of writing.
So, the need for a simple modding alternative is definitely out there, but what does the kit offer?
Well, the ReBoi kit comes with a printed circuit board, a screen, batteries, a cartridge to stick into the back, and all of the gubbins to put it all together.
The kit itself costs £75, and the only things you’ll need to get are a Raspberry Pi Zero (£15) and a Game Boy Color shell, putting the total cost to just over £100 depending on which shell you opt for buying.
What’s On The PCB?
This simple modding kit comes with an RP2040 microcontroller on the printed circuit board. You might have read about this in our FlippyDrive article, and in this instance, it’s providing the brains to get the GBC buttons working as well as some other neater features that you definitely wouldn’t have seen on the original console.
We’re talking how much juice is left in your batteries (which is incredibly useful) and customisable lights, to name a few.
And of course, being able to play retro games thanks to RetroPie makes this a go-to handheld for any retro gaming aficionados out there, especially the ones that don’t have any experience in modding!
How To Get A ReBoi
Head to James’ Kickstarter page in order to back the project. At the time of writing, there are only 2 days left, but we expect to be seeing a lot of this fantastic kit in the near future!
