I think I might opt for just having the wires be long enough that I can separate the shell from the board like opening a book.

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The more I thought about it, the more I wanted a slim Game Boy.

I realized after waaay too long that Nintendo already did that.

Game Boy Pocket. Doh I tried to forget about the idea, but my brain kept telling me that the existence of the Pocket didnt invalidate my idea, it made it MORE POSSIBLE.

So ok fine, Ill trim down a DMG shell and put a Game Boy Pocket in it.

If Im doing this, I might as well backlight it in the process.

I also biverted it, not because Pockets benefit very much from biverting, but because I didnt want to leave anything out that the Game Boy modding community could point to.

This takes up more room but I think its a good idea.

Use magnets to hold the two halves together.

Ive done this on other projects and it works fine.

Instead of using the Pocket link port, wire up a DMG link port.

It should work like a DMG, shouldnt it Ill have to find pinouts to make this work.

The board sits in a good spot with a cartridge holding it in place.

Phooey The battery will be removable because Id rather use a spring than solder directly to it.

The dials. I decided to glue them to the all-the-way-down position and solder other dials to the same contacts.

I was hoping this would be a really quick project, but it turns out theres a lot of stuff to mess up, so I have to go slowly and carefully.

UUGHHHH. I have an average of about 5 minutes a day to work on this, so itll be done in a few years.

Luckily, the screen backlighting is successfully finished, so if I completely toast the board, Pockets with bad screens are a dime a dozen.

Heres a quick FAQ: Q: But if the Game Boy Pocket is already that thin, whats the point of making a DMG as thin as a Pocket A: Go away The battery fits after removing the headphone port and grinding down the AC port.

Whenever I think this project is stupid, I just pick up a full-size DMG and marvel at how gigantic it is.

You can see in the speaker grill where I carved too deep to fit the battery.

Theres almost no room for buttons beyond the rings built into the DMG shell.

So Im carving away at the buttons to try and fit a squishy tact in that small space.

A and B buttons sit satisfyingly well with perfboard to epoxy to.

D-pad will be harder, and Ill have to come up with something crazy for StartSelect.

Maybe I could move the tacts more toward the center, that would let me move them up into the plastic a little better, but it might feel weird to actually use the Dpad if the tacts arent as close to the edges.

Gameboy Dmg Power Switch Diagram