Looking to get into GBA collecting - original backlit GBA?

[flylikeabird]

Hey guys,

Looking to start collecting for GBC/GBA. A lot of the games seem reasonably cheap, has some bit of nostalgia for me, has a lot of SNES remastered ports (which is nice), and I can play it while watching TV when relaxing (big fan of multi-tasking!).

Couple questions:

1. Anyone have any experience with the back lit orgianal GBA (or expereince doing the mod?). From what I understand the mod kits are fairly hard to find these days so looking to buy one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-Game-B ... rkt%3D1%26

I feel like comfort wise the original GBA is superior so that's why I'm thinking getting one of these instead of an SP or micro. I'm open to reviews/thoughts on that if anyone wants to talk me out of it though!



2. Any recommendations for under rated (and affordable!) games? Starting with Pokemon Fire Red and maybe the Final Fantasy remakes but want to get some varied games for the collection.



Any thoughts appreciated!

[CFFJR]

I just completed the back light mod on my gba about a week ago.

It is not complicated, and well worth the effort, so I recommend it. If you own a gba already, I'd suggest doing the mod. I found it fun, and I can link you to a good video for instruction if you're interested. That very same seller from the listing you linked offers screens and ribbon cables (I bought mine from him).

If you don't have one already, well I still say fire away and buy the modded unit. I agree that the original gba is far more comfortable than the sp, and that's the primary reason I did the project myself. And again, it is worth it. The screen looks absolutely gorgeous.

The only argument against is that it would cost less money/effort to just get an sp, and that's definitely true, so it is all about how much you value the form factor of the original gba.

[Tanooki]

I'm quite into all this, Gameboy is my thing and has been for awhile lately (somewhat off and on since the original.)

For starters DO NOT BUY FROM THAT GUY. He's either incompetent or impatient when it comes to some of his work. I tried to get a GBC from him that was lit up, both times it was jacked up, both times because he improperly set/cured the LOCA on the screen causing it to dry/pry away with spider webbing cracking effect along the screen edges and the 2nd one also was faded like ghosting too.

Second I've done the mod, if you can barely but competently use a soldering iron, and think you can handle putting one spot of solder to attach a simple single wire to a point on the board, you're good to go. All you do is pop a 101 screen into place where the old was, attach a special ribbon cable ($10~) that had that wire hanging off it too to solder, between the screen and the jack on the motherboard. You will need to cut, file, sand, or melt away part of the screen frame in the front of the GBA shell to fit the 101 panel as it's slightly wider.

It's the best of both worlds, but if you can't do it, find someone else to do the work. If that's unacceptable and your hands don't cramp badly just get the 101 SP and deal with it. Currently I'm settling for a standard SP as I have an immaculate NES style one I use and it's not bad, just less bright.


I can give you a great list for:
Gameboy - http://tanooki.byethost16.com/gameboy.html
GBC - http://tanooki.byethost16.com/gameboycolor.html
GBA - http://tanooki.byethost16.com/gameboyadvance.html

Yes that's what I own, but I will say that most of it, almost everything there, on a CART ONLY basis won't cost you more than $20/ea, a few will hit the $30 mark, and select others go higher. A large supply there fall into the $3-30 range in general but more in the $5-15 area. I would agree the FF remakes and FireRed are wise choices in that genre, but you want to branch out. Check my lists, you have a good selection of highly rated puzzler, platforming, adventure, arcade/console conversion, shooters, first person shooters(gba), racing games, pinball (mostly EU imports but still cheap), franchise spinoffs from the 8bit era (like Konami stuff), fighting games, and more.

If you are into unique, but fun, I don't have a big supply but the GBC has some crazy stuff you wouldn't expect from classic gameboy. Warlocked for one is basically the original Warcraft and it works well. Dragon's Lair is the laserdisc game for real, only a few moves removed, and then you have the amiga/snes/genesis/pc conversion of the tactical overhead action game Cannon Fodder. Fun stuff there.

[flylikeabird]

Thanks for the detailed responses!

Ended up springing for a boxed backlit unit (obviously not sealed, since backlight mod and all...) as well as a CIB copy of Pokemon Fire Red last night to get me started. Also looking at a boxed copy of Pokemon TCG for GBC (old favorite). Definitely got price gouged but happy to get started anyway.

I'm a boxed kind of guy so it looks like I have some expensive days ahead of me. A lot of the games that I want seem to cost a ridiculous amount CIB (FF VI for example lol) but I'll start checking Craigslist and other places, maybe I'll get lucky. Crazy how expensive FF VI is considering its a remake/port of another game. And Pokemon? It's one of the most printed games in the world and seems to be going for 30$ cart only, way more boxed. Meh.

[Tanooki]

Yeah think hard, seriously, both about desire and your wallet. Gameboy is a double edged sword more or less, all versions.

The games much like Sega Genesis when alone, 95% of the library game only can be bought in the $3-30 range, mostly in the middle/lower middle range of that, but there are outliers that will go up to $40-50, $100+ but it's few and farther between.

But that said, manuals they're a little different, they can be a few dollars like $5 shipped, but a few can get expensive. The problem is the boxes, they're handheld games and in most cases compared to console they're thrown out. You can easily find a $5-10 game that suddenly hits $200-300 because of it being complete in box in great shape.

Personally I won't buy the boxes, but I won't shy away from a useful manual or map if it's helpful. I've got ONE CIB GB old school game, a very immaculate FF Adventure (prequel to Secret of Mana) which I got a few years back, and the past owner put it in one of those custom clear fold over plastic boxes around it and I've left the box in it to keep it safe along with the item/monster-world map poster and manual. I've got a few other boxes too mostly GBA though and one is still sealed until I can make time to play it -- FF 5 Advance, but it will be opened up, don't care if that bugs some collector.


Also if you want real help -- no better place than this -> http://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/

[flylikeabird]

This is fake right? Cart is different than the US version I had as a kid:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262310688147?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Either fake or maybe a different region? I thought if games came with a box/manual they wouldn't be fake but I guess I was wrong about that.

[8bit]

^ looks fake as hell if its suppose to be ntsc-u. Gameboy color carts had a different shell than original Gameboy carts (which that one is using) .

[flylikeabird]

Guy is based in the Middle East so I'm guessing either fake or PAL. Seems idiotic to have the OG gameboy cart for a GBS game so I'm going to go with fake. Needless to say I cancelled my bid

[jmbarnes101]

Which brings up the big issue with collecting for the GB and especially the GBA. Games were and are easy to reproduce so make sure you're getting a legit copy. There are a couple of threads, or one really good one, around here that's worth reading so you can buy smartly.

[Tanooki]

This is fake right? Cart is different than the US version I had as a kid:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262310688147?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Either fake or maybe a different region? I thought if games came with a box/manual they wouldn't be fake but I guess I was wrong about that.

Nope they're all faked, many are obvious, but a few really aren't until in your hand unless you're hoping someone will give like a 2000px+ wide image to look at in real sharp clarity.

That one is bogus. Some reasons why here:
- The box art doesn't conform to any of the known 3 regions.
- While close (kind of) the coloring is wrong, no metallic looking paint around the GBC banner on left.
- Print quality isn't super sharp, it's a bit blurry/fuzzy
- Back of the box is quite wrong, no made in japan, no produced by / konami local logo by name bottom right, konami normal logo/jargon over seal missing,
- The seal and the 'ONLY FOR' very wrongly colored too and just off
- The manual is not tall, it's normal height, same image of Snake but cut off/centered.
- Manual also wouldn't have the seal on it too.
- Cart is a dead give away, it's GBC only, should be see through charcoal gray
- Even if the cart were right colored it's the wrong shell form anyway as it would have the name up top pushed out (not in) saying Gameboy Color
- Sticker is wrong, seal wrong corner and real game is all white background, no Snake

I think that's enough for now.

Here's a general rule of things to look for. Does the image on the game in any spot look like it was stretched, fuzzy, blurry, or weirdly colored -- it's a fake. Does the size of the E (etc) in the ESRB logo look thinner or the teeny text not look very crisp? Fake. If you have it in hand, do you see something like (C) Nintendo with a date and/or code above the pins? If not, fake, but sadly they're copying this in the last year~ now too on GBA stuff at least. If you got a box in hand, does it feel flimsy or the paper looks total stark white on the inside -- fake (it should look light gray and see almost a pulp grain to it if you stare really hard at it.) If you have a triwing screwdriver here's the winners -- glop top, chips that look soldered to the board from the top anywhere, asian print on anything, or the main chip or two saying something other than MX (chip maker Nintendo uses for GBA stuff) then it's a fake.

The worst(best) of them usually you have to look at it at person and still can get thrown. The best of the best got me once via ebay even with a fairly clean image. I got Alien Hominid from the UK, and it was a fake. The only tell externally is that the molding on the plastic front where it says Gameboy Advance wasn't as sharp, and two of the fonts were off by like a pixel literally ('The Behemoth') under their logo and the product code was a pixel thinner. I only figured it was BS out after I opened it up and saw the glop top and the non-MX chips as even the board had the right (C) Nintendo to it. I got a refund on it and being overseas got to keep it, it works, even saves right to the chip (no battery needed) so I didn't pitch it.

My best advice if you're doing it in person get a 3.8mm(think that's the size) security bit with a bit of a neck to it so you can unscrew by hand without a driver to hold it, and a small triwing screwdriver for GBA stuff. Usually the faked stuff is popular 1st and 3rd party franchise titles, but also a few fun non-US released games out in the PAL regions seem to get the treatment since they're easy to bootleg/localize like Alien Hominid.