Original Gameboy gets CRT screen bolted on in horrific mod video

YouTuber “James Channel” has hacked an original Gameboy to fit a mini CRT screen to it. The mod involves buzzsaws, potential fire risks, and two whole minutes of battery life.

James achieves this by first dismantling a Gameboy to its core components. He then introduces the star of the show, the CRT panel. It’s a portable one from China, with very little documentation outside a basic schematic. 

The CRT itself is particularly odd. Instead of the tube being behind the screen beaming onto the phosphorus, it sits underneath it and fires up. James also points out that it was originally part of a video intercom. 

Attaching the screen to the Gameboy isn’t as simple as plugging it in. James utilizes a string of aftermarket products, like a replacement Gameboy motherboard paired with an LCD screen – this component is the key to bringing the project together.

The custom board enables the Gameboy to output to a TV. However, James finds that yet another component, an ESP32 Wi-Fi development board, is needed to activate the TV output mode. 

It’s a fascinating watch, as the project gets messier and messier. Eventually, an original Gameboy shell and a newer aftermarket one are hacked up to make the “case”. Everything is held down with a good squirt of glue, solder, and hope.

James Channel

At some point, the Gameboy’s processor gives up the ghost. James then sacrifices another piece of Nintendo history to get this to work. The SNES’s attachment, the Super Game Boy, houses a very similar CPU – enough to be a simple swap. 

Once fitted, the build comes together quite quickly. While messy and horrifying, seeing Donkey Kong Land play for a total of two minutes before dying on this weird screen is nothing short of beautiful.

We’ve reported on James’ weird tech hacks before, including transforming an NES cartridge into a functioning NES.