The original Game Boy, while a popular console, shipped with a notoriously bad display. When it was released in 1989, LCD technology was still relatively new. To keep costs and power consumption down, Nintendo opted for an LCD that was mediocre by the standards of the time and downright abysmal by our standards today. It was kind of blurry, very prone to ghosting, and had no backlight at all. Modern dissatisfied gamers usually solve the problem with an LCD replacement using current technology, but James went the other way and equipped his Game Boy with a CRT display.
This is a more contemporary mod than a modern, high-quality LCD screen, as the 80s and 90s were of course the heyday of CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs and monitors. But historical accuracy is less important than the real motivation: fun. What could be more interesting than a Game Boy with a giant CRT? Thanks to the nature of the CRT mechanics, this solves the main problems of the Game Boy screen. Well, it would be if everything worked properly.
James started by sourcing a small CRT he found on AliExpress. It was NOS (New Old Stock) and intended for use in video intercoms. It runs on 12V and accepts a standard composite video signal. Unfortunately, the Game Boy couldn’t provide either of these – at least not as far as James could tell.
The power problem was solved relatively easily with a boost converter that James installed just behind the power switch. Surprisingly, it was able to provide enough power to run the Game Boy and the CRT.
The video signal was a bigger challenge, which James eventually solved by buying one of those modern LCD replacements. This particular model offers a “TV out” (audio and composite video) in addition to the LCD output. This could power the CRT, so problem solved, right?
You guessed it, there was another obstacle. The LCD replacement’s controller board required the user to select the TV output from the on-screen menu, which would have been difficult for James to do if the LCD wasn’t there. After unsuccessfully trying to modify the controller, James decided to go for the brute force solution: he used an ESP8266 board to automatically press the key sequence at startup. This ensures that the video is output to the CRT without the need for the LCD.
The final step was to build these components into the Game Boy case. James simply chopped it up and put the CRT in the middle. It’s not the cleanest mod we’ve ever seen, but it definitely packs a punch.
