Repairing a Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP

Chip surgery to play Links Awakening

Mar. 26, 2017 - Willem L. Middelkoop

This month Nintendo released the Switch with Zelda "Breath of the Wild". The new console received positive reviews. The new Zelda game is amazing and can be played on-the-go, thanks to the portability of the Nintendo Switch. But it its hardly the first Nintendo device that features the mythical kingdom of Hyrule with Link and princess Zelda. I found an old Gameboy Advance, perfect for playing classic Zelda games... but it was in need for repair!

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This old Gameboy was broken: it stops working if you — This old Gameboy was broken: it stops working if you "squeeze" it... an indication of some electrical failure.

Spot the differences: the original faulty logic board above and the replacement on the bottom

Thank you Ebay: an original replacement logic board for about €15

The new Zelda game — The new Zelda game "Breath of the Wild" sets the new benchmark for open world games according to the popular blog The Verge. It looks amazing!

The Gameboy Advance SP from the inside

On the left: an original screenshot from — On the left: an original screenshot from "Link's Awakening" (1993). On to the right: how fans perceive the magic. (Fan art created by "einen" from http://einen.deviantart.com)

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2024-10-20 Marathon
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2024-05-11 Developing a native iOS app
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