For my independent study I wanted to fully customize an original 1986 Gameboy that I use to produce 8-bit music.

First I purchased a heavily used Gameboy from a student on campus, I then took it apart to prepare the screen for back lighting. Because the original Gameboy did not have a backlight I had to carefully peel off a reflective layer behind the screen which is used to help make the screen visible when sunlight hits it. This was quite a delicate process as the ribbon cables holding the screen in place are extremely delicate. The next step was to add some extra contrast to the screen with a Bi-vert module.

The Gameboy had a green display with black pixels, I wanted to update this and make it more modern. The first step was to peel off the green polarization film from the back of the display and add my own clear film. The next step was to simply solder in the bi-vert module to the motherboard. To put it simply the module inverts the screen and the new polarization filter re-inverts the screen. The end result is actually a white display with blue pixels. From there I gave the outer shell of the Gameboy a new paint job with some spray paint. I wanted a Miami Vice style pink and blue pastel color scheme for some added retro flair. Finally for purely aesthetic purposes I decided to add backlit buttons to the front panel. This was as easy as daisy chaining a few LED modules together and tapping power from the main capacitor. I then positioned the lights near where each button sits and used clear buttons so the light shines through.