Slashdot Mirror

It's already been done by David A. Parkman productions (or something along those lines) and you can buy it for the affordable GBA cartridge price of $35. It's very true to the original game. The only problem is, of course, the dark screen which people will quickly remind you is not a problem with the GBA AfterBurner upgrade [Triton Labs]. I've really been getting into Doom again with this release (as much as sunlight allows anyways). As for other games, expect the most popular SNES games to appear on the GBA. Breath of Fire I and II (by Capcom, top-notch RPG games) have already been ported. I must admit that, lately, visiting all my old favorites on a portable system has been taking up more of my time than next-gen console games. You can't beat good gameplay, no matter the format.

I haven't heard of Nintendo exactly "closing in" on other projects for the GBA, such as an NES emulator or the Afterburner front-light mod....

By the way, the NES emulator alone is worth getting a GBA for - not some dumb old webserver that nobody (especially not the Big N) is going to care about :)

AC

The GBA screen? You mean, a piece of black construction paper? Not unless you want to be modding your PDA screen...

Here's a good example. If you have an iPaq, or access to one, turn off the backlight and go into the same amount of light you tried to play your GBA in. Not very easy to see is it? Not unless you have a nice bright background. The default Gigabar skin for instance, sucks without a backlight since it's dark blue.

And if you really want a backlight for it, then head over to PortableMonopoly's
His project is coming along nicely.

BTW: Yes I have a GBA with many of the first games including Castelvania and I have no complaints about it. Yes I have an iPaq also.

There is no backlit GBA yet either, and I hope there never is one. Since the GBA screens are reflective they require an external (front) light source. The internal lights that portablemonopoly.com and portablemonopoly.net (different folks!) are talking about are front light sources, although for a while .NET and .COM were using different technologies (the .NET guy has since ended his plans of competing with the .COM guy...dumb story).

Basically, a GBA __with its current reflective screen__ and an internal switchable front light is the ideal portable gaming solution for many reasons, far better than a backlit system. Reflective screens fare better in sunlight than backlit screens, reflective LCD screens use less power than backlit LCDs and are inexpensive, and in the presence of ample lighting, you can turn the internal light off to conserve power (you can't turn the backlight in a backlit LCD off and really expect to be able to see anything). Nintendo perhaps should have done this from the beginning, but they made the trade-off in order to cut manufacturing, design, and support costs.

< tofuhead >

More technical details about this mod can be found at www.portablemonopoly.NET. This includes some of the photos of the frontlit GBA screen that was previously up at www.portablemonopoly.COM.
To me, the screen looks eerily washed out (though this is always conviniently blamed on photographic technicalities, I'll believe it when i see it). Also, a slight portion of the right side of the screen is cut off to make room for the lightning strip. About 10 pixels or so are missing, which to me would be quite annoying, particularly with side scrollers.
It's also amazing to me that Adam (the portablemonopoly.com guy) is even TRYING to patent this... he is simply using a pre-existing lighting system developed for PDAs. A light guide sheet of plastic over the reflective screen guides a side light to light down at the screen.

Also, FYI, the www.portablemonopoly.net site is actually a rip off of a IGN Pocket Boards attempt at creating their own frontlight without having to wait for Adam to get his out.
IGN Pocket Boards is also where Adam's project got started. It was pretty much a group effort documented by Adam on his site till he decided to patent and cash in and took basically all the technical info off the site.

FAQ #14: How does this modification affect battery life of the GBA?

Battery life in our tests was 10 hours with the light on at all times using two fully charged Rayovac Renewal batteries. So you can expect about a 30-40% decrease in battery life, no different than what results from using external lighting devices.

:)

Yeah, sure GBA is great, when you can actually see whats on the screen.

That's because early games' palettes didn't correct for the GBA display's gamma of 4. Newer games compensate for this with a lookup table.

I want a fuckin' backlight.

"Fuckin" and "back" I can't help you with, but "light" is coming very soon. Watch this site for updates.

I wonder if these people will change their focuse when this is released. :)

Heh, I didn't think you were lying. Actually, today I had a better experience with the game, so maybe it just takes getting used to. But it's been a while since I had to deal with a display this dark, and there isn't even a contrast knob. But I tell you, Castlevania is a much funner way to pass the time on the train than the boring old newspaper. Plus 7 different people can have games stored! Amazing! Anyhow, hopefully with time I will grow more comfortable with the display, though I'm still looking at the backlit display at portablemonopoly.com.

Thanks for your feedback. Glad everybody isn't as glum as I (was).

Well, I was in #gbadev on efnet a week or two ago when someone came in commenting on how bright his new GBA's screen was compared to the old one. He had received a new one from Lik Sang that was made in Japan, over the one he bought at a retail store that was made in China. He took a screenshot showing the difference between the two, and I must say it was absolutely amazing (I don't want to paste the address because I think it'd be kinda mean to slashdot his images). I can only hope newer GBA's will have the same brighter screen.. and I definitely know where I'm buying mine if/when I get a gba (lik sang!). For all the other GBA's out there though, there's always Portable Monopoly.

-DrkShadow

"I then asked him about another technology we have been considering for this project - something called Monoreflective diode fabrics. MRD's are very thin, flat, optically clear sheets that have the miraculous capability of emitting light in one direction and allowing light to pass back through in the other."

If you want to play it when you're not sitting right next to a lamp, there is a solution. Portable Monopoly has details of a backlight hack for the GBA, and so far it's working extremely well. It uses white LEDs, can be switched on and off as you like, and consumes very little power.

check this out

the guy ahead of the above site is trying to piece together a frontlight kit for people to install in their own gba.

give it a look & your support.

Hopefully, this guy should solve all our GBA annoyances soon :-)

I can't imagine a harder to see screen then my cursed GBA.

www.portablemonopoly.com

Don't bug him though -- he's almost ready to ship :)

Regarding the visability of the GBA, there is a project to modify it with a
clear screen that serves the purpose of a backlight. You can visit the page
and view screenshots here.
Basically, people are just waiting for the guy to finish negotiations with the
suppliers. He expects the cost to be about the price of a game, all said and
done.

SealBeater

There was a slashdot story about someone putting in a frontlight that only consumed 25% of the power. Try this. They should be putting out a kit any day now.

Dude...the gameboy camera sucks. I mean, digichromawhatevertography is cool and all...but the gameboy cam still sucks...
Why can't he concentrate on making a supercool GBA light like this guy?

Backlighting the GBA will not work. Because the Sharp LCD is employs is reflective only, any light that passes through the LCD will not illuminate any pixels but simply wash them out. It is unfortunately as simple as that. A transmissive or transflective LCD will facilitate backlighting.

Adam's improvement doesn't use backlighting.

Not only did he go off and build something instead of just whining, but I also was amused by the part from the mini-FAQ in which he responds to people who whine and complain and tell him he has it all wrong: "Enough already! I don't care whether or not you think what I am going is a waste of time. If you think this site is pointless or retarded, dear God save me the bandwidth and take your ass elsewhere."

Really, why would you need this to be portable? You already have Gameboy, laptops, PDAs- what is PS1 going to give you that you need so badly?

Squaresoft games, especially fighting games such as Tobal and Ehrgeiz. After the Mana 3 and Mario RPG debacles, nintendo and Square refuse to talk to each other. This portable PlayStation console is an attempt to break nintendo's portable monopoly.

And where are you going to take it? In the car- power adapter.

As if. The average family car doesn't have enough juice to power both a TV and a PS1 console. (No, I'm not talking the WB edition SUVs and vans with an integrated TV either.)

I have a Game Boy advanced and if you've followed the issues with their TFT reflective screen, or you own one yourself you know how much it sux.
Is this one supposed to be better??

edge

June 18, 2001 - posted by Adam Curtis

On an interesting side note, it appears the site has caught the attention of none other than the big 'N'. I'm not surprised, but I thought I would roll out the giant welcome mat for them.

They are visiting often enough that I probably won't even need to ever send them the petition at all.

Seriously, Nintendo - since you are watching the site, I want to say three things (I only post this because so many people wonder about my motivation in this project):

First of all, I want to apologize for the statement I made about the system being "engineered by monkeys". In fact the only problem I have with the system is the fact that you chose a HR-TFT for long battery life as opposed to what I would have considered a more comprehensive visual setup. Though I share this opinion with many, many others - I can respect the decision your engineers/marketing department made.

Secondly, if you get anything from our petition, please recognize that there is a substantial percentage of us that would rather have a internally lit system- even at the expense of battery life. I am sure you already know this. If you are willing, please send me an email describing exactly why you chose not to offer two different systems or whether or not there are plans for an internally lit system in the future.

Finally, the real reason I believe you pissed off so many people (including me) with the GBA is your dubious advertisement of the system, 100% of which includes vibrant, bright, gameplay from any angle and with any light - nothing even close to reality. Your TV advertisements and promotional screenshots are gross misrepresentations of the actual system, even at its best. I understand that it would be difficult to sell if you showed the ACTUAL PRODUCT being used, but shouldn't that tell you that something is wrong? Go ahead and throw in a response to this one as well.

This is a real life representation of the diagram posted yesterday. I would post the URL from which this image came, but I would rather not subject the company that created this device to millions of emails subjected :"Frontlight my system please please PLEASE!!!!". Judging from some of the juvenile posts I've had to delete from the message board over and over again, that wouldn't be the worst of it.

After I verify that the unit will work I will let everyone know where it can be purchased. It is very well possible that we might have to set up some sort of group purchase if they only sell in large quantities. Some have suggested that I offer a complete modification kit - if this works out as planned, I might very well do that. Anyone have $100,000 to loan me? ;)

Thanks again for all of the great emails I have received from you, sorry for the delay in replying - I am going to respond to all of them right now. I am very happy with the results this site has been producing, 350+ petition signatures and a thriving forum are a nice surprise. Thanks so much to those who have been getting the word out about portablemonopoly.com and the sites posting our news.

Of course if anything happens you will all be the first to know right here.

June 18, 2001 - posted by Adam Curtis

There are a few miscellaneous questions I have been receiving a lot that need to be answered:

"Why are you backlighting the device? Game Gear tried that and it sucked down battery life. duh!"

The Game Gear was released more than 10 years ago and employs a highly inefficient halogen bulb backlighting system. duh!

"I want to backlight my device, I took my GBA apart and did this.. how do I..."

Backlighting the GBA will not work. Because the Sharp LCD is employs is reflective only, any light that passes through the LCD will not illuminate any pixels but simply wash them out. It is unfortunately as simple as that. A transmissive or transflective LCD will facilitate backlighting.

Now you know why we are attempting a front lighting solution in this project.

If you wanted to try and replace the LCD in the unit with a transflective or transmissive screen, you might have a chance. But I have as of yet been unable to find a replacement of equal size and resolution, and personally have no idea how to modify the GBA's LCD data ribbon to work for a different LCD.

"What about EL (electroluminescence)?"

Again, since the LCD is non-transmissive, an EL layer behind the screen will not work.

"How much battery life will your final system have?"

I am estimating 3-4 hours of battery life, but that remains to be seen depending on the light source we use. If a cold cathode fluorescent tube is used, we are looking at less battery life but a more vibrant display. LED's would have an opposite effect and would probably result in at least 8 hours of battery life. I would personally be more than satisfied with any battery life > 2 hours - especially since we will have a on/off on the switch to only use the light when needed. 2-4 hours of battery life might be a problem with any game that doesn't have battery backup to allow for the replacement of batteries or a rechargeable unit, but for those games the light can simply be turned off.

Note that these numbers are straight out of my (@#$) and could end up being lower or higher. I am optimistic that battery life will be salvaged to a very acceptable degree.

"Why does your forum block profanity?"

I originally didn't intend to implement something that lame but there were so many idiotic posts it was a necessary evil. Sorry!

"This is the most retarded site I have ever seen... I don't want to sign the petition, here's why... You guys are wasting your time.. blah blah blah"

Enough already! I don't care whether or not you think what I am going is a waste of time. If you think this site is pointless or retarded, dear God save me the bandwidth and take your ass elsewhere.

June 18, 2001 - posted by Adam Curtis

The diagram of how the GBA could theoretically be lit from the side by a CCFT
(which is used in the IPaq I believe) or an LED. No mirror would be needed in
this schematic due to the way the optical guide is positioned.




This image shows the difference in power consumption between classic Transmissive LCD's
(Game Gear, Nomad, Turbo Express) and this design using a single CCFT or one or two LEDs.

June 18, 2001 - posted by Adam Curtis

On an interesting side note, it appears the site has caught the attention of none other than the big 'N'. I'm not surprised, but I thought I would roll out the giant welcome mat for them.

They are visiting often enough that I probably won't even need to ever send them the petition at all.

Seriously, Nintendo - since you are watching the site, I want to say three things (I only post this because so many people wonder about my motivation in this project):

First of all, I want to apologize for the statement I made about the system being "engineered by monkeys". In fact the only problem I have with the system is the fact that you chose a HR-TFT for long battery life as opposed to what I would have considered a more comprehensive visual setup. Though I share this opinion with many, many others - I can respect the decision your engineers/marketing department made.

Secondly, if you get anything from our petition, please recognize that there is a substantial percentage of us that would rather have a internally lit system- even at the expense of battery life. I am sure you already know this. If you are willing, please send me an email describing exactly why you chose not to offer two different systems or whether or not there are plans for an internally lit system in the future.

Finally, the real reason I believe you pissed off so many people (including me) with the GBA is your dubious advertisement of the system, 100% of which includes vibrant, bright, gameplay from any angle and with any light - nothing even close to reality. Your TV advertisements and promotional screenshots are gross misrepresentations of the actual system, even at its best. I understand that it would be difficult to sell if you showed the ACTUAL PRODUCT being used, but shouldn't that tell you that something is wrong? Go ahead and throw in a response to this one as well.

This is a real life representation of the diagram posted yesterday. I would post the URL from which this image came, but I would rather not subject the company that created this device to millions of emails subjected :"Frontlight my system please please PLEASE!!!!". Judging from some of the juvenile posts I've had to delete from the message board over and over again, that wouldn't be the worst of it.

After I verify that the unit will work I will let everyone know where it can be purchased. It is very well possible that we might have to set up some sort of group purchase if they only sell in large quantities. Some have suggested that I offer a complete modification kit - if this works out as planned, I might very well do that. Anyone have $100,000 to loan me? ;)

Thanks again for all of the great emails I have received from you, sorry for the delay in replying - I am going to respond to all of them right now. I am very happy with the results this site has been producing, 350+ petition signatures and a thriving forum are a nice surprise. Thanks so much to those who have been getting the word out about portablemonopoly.com and the sites posting our news.

Of course if anything happens you will all be the first to know right here.

June 18, 2001 - posted by Adam Curtis

There are a few miscellaneous questions I have been receiving a lot that need to be answered:

"Why are you backlighting the device? Game Gear tried that and it sucked down battery life. duh!"

The Game Gear was released more than 10 years ago and employs a highly inefficient halogen bulb backlighting system. duh!

"I want to backlight my device, I took my GBA apart and did this.. how do I..."

Backlighting the GBA will not work. Because the Sharp LCD is employs is reflective only, any light that passes through the LCD will not illuminate any pixels but simply wash them out. It is unfortunately as simple as that. A transmissive or transflective LCD will facilitate backlighting.

Now you know why we are attempting a front lighting solution in this project.

If you wanted to try and replace the LCD in the unit with a transflective or transmissive screen, you might have a chance. But I have as of yet been unable to find a replacement of equal size and resolution, and personally have no idea how to modify the GBA's LCD data ribbon to work for a different LCD.

"What about EL (electroluminescence)?"

Again, since the LCD is non-transmissive, an EL layer behind the screen will not work.

"How much battery life will your final system have?"

I am estimating 3-4 hours of battery life, but that remains to be seen depending on the light source we use. If a cold cathode fluorescent tube is used, we are looking at less battery life but a more vibrant display. LED's would have an opposite effect and would probably result in at least 8 hours of battery life. I would personally be more than satisfied with any battery life > 2 hours - especially since we will have a on/off on the switch to only use the light when needed. 2-4 hours of battery life might be a problem with any game that doesn't have battery backup to allow for the replacement of batteries or a rechargeable unit, but for those games the light can simply be turned off.

Note that these numbers are straight out of my (@#$) and could end up being lower or higher. I am optimistic that battery life will be salvaged to a very acceptable degree.

"Why does your forum block profanity?"

I originally didn't intend to implement something that lame but there were so many idiotic posts it was a necessary evil. Sorry!

"This is the most retarded site I have ever seen... I don't want to sign the petition, here's why... You guys are wasting your time.. blah blah blah"

Enough already! I don't care whether or not you think what I am going is a waste of time. If you think this site is pointless or retarded, dear God save me the bandwidth and take your ass elsewhere.

June 18, 2001 - posted by Adam Curtis

The diagram of how the GBA could theoretically be lit from the side by a CCFT
(which is used in the IPaq I believe) or an LED. No mirror would be needed in
this schematic due to the way the optical guide is positioned.




This image shows the difference in power consumption between classic Transmissive LCD's
(Game Gear, Nomad, Turbo Express) and this design using a single CCFT or one or two LEDs.