custom consoles

my first attempt

10/28/2023

my first attempt at customizing a console was in may 2022. i was obsessed with videos of people repairing and/or customizing old game boys, and i had two GBA SPs with pretty beaten up original shells.

i did a lot of preparation first, reading guides on the internet, watching videos of different people's workflow, planning color palettes, designs and parts...

i'm not really sure if this is common knowledge, but just in case: if you want to do this, research proper safety procedures for painting and/or sanding. you don't want to get paint or plastic in your eyes, on your skin, in your lungs, etc.

i decided to use montana gold spraypaint and posca pens. you can probably use a stencil and spraypaint if you want a clean, professional-looking design, but i'm more familiar with pens than spraypaint, so this worked for me.

so yeah, this is what it looks like:

it went pretty well for a first attempt! it's a little amateur-ish, but i'm proud that i made it myself, even if i'm very aware of what i messed up on. just means i can do better next time, right?

i customized my other SP too, but the design didn't pan out, so i just gave it a spare clear shell and some clear pink buttons. i might redo it someday, but i really only use the thing to trade with myself so meh.

i kind of regret buying two AGS-101 models, even though they're the 'fancy' console. i heard someone call the two brightness options 'stun' and 'kill', but i didn't understand just how aggressively backlit they are until i tried to play without giving myself a migraine. they're probably great for most people, but it kinda sucks for me in particular...? currently, i play with sunglasses on.

i have a really cute pikachu link cable that i can't use since it only fits on a GBC, and those don't have a backlight, so i think my next course of action is to customize two of those, right?

i don't really play much GBA, so maybe i can give my SPs to my friends or something once i have a replacement? they're not really professional enough for me to feel good selling them, but it'd be a fun gift if i could find any reasonably priced games to go with it... which isn't happening unless i convince my friends to learn japanese...

oops, i'm rambling.