Current focus
Upgrading the following:
  • GBA SP 101 with New Shell
  • Full GBA upgrade
  • Reshell Dreamcast
  • Reshell N64
  • Buying RetroTink
  • Buying Capture Card to Stream retogames

Later Plans:
  • Genesis Flashcart
  • SNES Flashcart
  • Cube Gaming

    Hey peeps, it has been awhile. I've done a number of projects since my last uncompleted post but we're back(mostly thanks to the encouragement of a close friend). I want to do another post listing those, but in the meantime I'll be writing about my most recent job: Installing a picoboot into my Gamecube!

    My younger brother and I shared an indigo Gamecube covered in felt fuzzy squirrel stickers. I played a good amount of classics on the console. In a solo setting I spent some hours on Metroid Prime, Super Mario Sunshine, Twilight princess and Luigi's Mansion. Jovial times were had with family and friends when Smash Bros. or Mario Kart Double Dash were inserted into the disc loader. Warm memories still hold strong when that geometrical machine comes to mind and yet there are still experiences to had! I've yet to play the various pokemon games among other classics like Viewtiful Joe, Wave Race, and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance!

    I don't know where our original console went, so I decided to pick up this silver painted one off the second hand market! Thankfully it came in good condition with all functions working. I also bought a copy of Metroid Prime 2 along side it as I still want to play the rest of the prime series(Awaiting Prime 4, Retro Studios...).


    At any rate, I decided to pick up a picoboot board due to how cheap it is for the features I wanted. The board itself is about $8 itself which is pretty nuts. Outside of common project tools and wires, all you need is the SD2SP2 SD card adapter and an SD Card. The resources I used would be the following:



    Seen below are some pictures captured of the process. My solder work still needs to be cleaner, which will come with more time and practice. I mounted the picoboard right next to the fan.





    In the end, the installation went smoothly despite a slight hiccup. On initial power on, I did not seat the controller panel's ribbon cable correctly. This caused the console to turn on without an orange LED light lit and nothing on the screen -- no boot. After reseating this cable, the beautiful sight of the swiss dashboard filled the screen.

    My immediate plan is to stream some gameplay to friends on discord. Possibly Twitch/Yotube as well. Next post coming soon hopefully regarding some of the summary of projects/works that I've done!

    Scoot 2/2/2025 | Top of Page
    Start of the retro game journey

    Surprisingly, my replacement GBC, and GBA SP speakers, butttons were just delivered. Currently, The speaker to the GBA does not work, and despite the headphone jack providing audio. Along with the replacement parts, I also ordered a tool kit to open these devices and the DS Lite. Time to open up the GBA and see what we've got.
    I currently bought this GBC of a goodwill auctions along with a DS Lite. The GBC is in much better condition, only having the issues of a broken speaker and missing battery cover. My brief soldering kits experience helped me feel at ease doing this breakfix.

    Scoot 6/9/2024 | Top of Page
    Solder deez

    Recently, I've been getting into retro games. More specifically retro handhelds: GBC, GBA, GBA SP, PSP. Nostalga hit me hard as a video regarding modding the SP with upgraded screens and metal shells popped up in my youtube recommendations. I had to have one. With the goal of modding/repairing retro handhelds, I picked up soldering tools and started to practice after watching some youtube videos on beginner kits.



    Browsed Amazon for an easy enough beginner kit(non-affliate link) and found this fm radio which had both THT and SMD soldering practice.

    The toughest part was definitely the Surface Mount soldering for the memory chip. I definitely had some rough techiques as apparent from the image below. Burnt solder/joints, no pre-tinning nor flux on the SMD pads, etc. I expect future jobs to be a bit cleaner.




    My novice work was at fault for the radio not working at first. I did not make good contacts on the SMD pads to the chip. I went back over them with solder and a magnifying glass to ensure all 16 contacts were taken care of. Looking back on it, I used way too much solder for this contact points, but luckily no shorts or issues arose the next time I turned the device on.


    The finished result

    It was a fun experience, and I ordered another small kit to continue practicing. This one board will be a clock. I should have the IPS PSP screen here in a few days so once that comes in, I'll start getting that installed with the quickness. I plan on documenting better as well so I can write better blog posts and updates..

    Scoot 6/9/2024 | Top of Page
    Hello World!

    Test post! Thinking about posting retro gaming or tech stuff here starting with the documentation of modding various gaming handhelds I received recently.

    Scoot 5/28/2024 | Top of Page