Repairing a Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP

Chip surgery to play retro games

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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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)

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

The buttons can be removed easily to be cleaned

The Gameboy Advance SP from the inside

Clever hardware design: each button fits exactly on one position and orientation only!

Zelda — Zelda "Link's awakening" from 1993 on the repaired Gameboy Advance SP

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