Gameboy Advance 'Halo Lights'

I recently got a set of 3 original 'widescreen' GBA's to link up to my Gamecube for the express enjoyment of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure. They were in decent condition and I didn't pay a lot for them... however, I must have forgotten from my childhood was how awful the screens were, without direct light on the screen from a lamp or book-light they are practically invisible. I know the SP's addressed this issue, with the AGS-001 having a 'front light' and the later AGS-101 had a better screen/back light. I was wondering however if it is worth the money or the time to mod the original GBA's with either a 'Afterburner' (which to my understanding is hard to come by these days and a bit of work to install); or a 'Innovation Halo Light' which seems to be easy to use/install and easy to find on E-bay for around 20 dollars. I guess my direct question is, is the quality of a halo light close enough to the SP (either the 001 or 101) to justify? On that note, how dramatic is the difference between the 101 and the 001? I'm more or less financially meet the price of a SP AGS-101 with $25 out for the old-style GBA unit and $20 out for the screen / light. Another benefit with the Halo light is that it basically replaces the old screen, which seem to run around $10 in of themselves. Anyways, just wondering if anyone around here has any experience or opinions on this.

What sucks is the original gba has a larger screen than the sp, it's not as bad of a system as I thought.

Everything but the screen and audio are great in the original GBA. If the screen was backlit and the audio (both speaker and headphone) was improved, then it would be a must-have piece of hardware.

People have been making "backlight" kits for older Game Boy systems... But, do any exist for GBA? If there does, I'm so buying a red GBA system and installing a backlight.

Is it possible to use a GBA micro with the GC link cable?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI_26fHDwS4
The video quality is lacking, but this kid does a good job of showing off the "GBA Halo Light" mod... technically you are replacing the existing top-layer screen with one that is slightly thicker but has integrated LED's around the edges. There are contact points on the top middle of the screen that make contact to an adapter that directs power from the expansion port. It looks pretty nice as far as I can tell, I was just checking if anyone has any experience to compare them to the quality of the SP, as I said in the above post the price ends up being the same for a 'modded' original vs the SP.

Backlight GBA: http://rosecoloredgaming.wordpress.com/system-mods/

The GBA is modified with a replacement screen from an AGS-101 and an
adapter cable produced by hand by a person in china.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14045909056

Quote:

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Originally Posted by war2thegrave

Backlight GBA: http://rosecoloredgaming.wordpress.com/system-mods/

The GBA is modified with a replacement screen from an AGS-101 and an
adapter cable produced by hand by a person in china.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14045909056

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Very nice.

There used to be the "Afterburner" back-light mod of the original GBA but I don't think anyone is making it anymore.

I had one of those Halo lights but wasn't very impressed and ended up getting a GBA SP. The AGS-101 just blows it out of the water in terms of picture quality. It's still not an awful solution for the price and ease of use though.

It's a shame because the original GBA is so much more ergonomic and the ability to switch out new AA batteries is handy for long trips. Except for the painfully dark screen I really loved it.

I've seen some back-lit clones out there using the original GBA design. I'm not sure how well they function though or what their build quality is like.

You could always go the hardcore route with 5 TV's, 5 GameCubes, and 4 GameBoy Players.

tbb033, that's pretty insane. Does anyone have a confirmation that it would actually work? So, we bought the Halo Light today and installed it. As a piece of hardware, it looks pretty cool, but unfortunately it doesn't really work as a substitute for a better model Gameboy. In terms of visibility it's the opposite of not having enough light, whereas darkness makes most of your screen black and hard to see, this light source at it's highest setting makes it too 'white', washing out any contrast the colors have. In all honesty, it is inferior to the dollar-store booklights we have been using. At the lowest knob setting it makes a difference enough to see in the dark, but again the contrast of the picture is compromised. The problem only gets worse as you crank up it up. I'd give it a 2 1/2 out of 5, if only for the fact that it does make the screen visible enough to make the handheld playable in the dark, if just enough. I'd simply consider it a $30 new screen with an 'emergency lighting' bonus, but not a real solution to the problem. Eventually, I'm going to find a afterburner-modded GBA, audition an 'official' worm-light (official in the sense that it was made for a GBA, not books) and rate them against the SP AGS 001 and 101 to form a 'comprehensive' review on all iterations of GBA lighting options.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=E7AS_g3VXXE



Attachment 6943

http://rosecoloredgaming.wordpress.c...-and-services/

These look awesome, they also look like they cost $150. Not a bad price for the work involved and the quality, just too rich for my blood.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by war2thegrave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=E7AS_g3VXXE



Attachment 6943

http://rosecoloredgaming.wordpress.c...-and-services/

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Mr rose colored. He's a very nice guy we've exchanged nice comments in his project threads on other forums.

You could always get the kit and do it yourself.

I always wanted to try that 4 player Zelda game. What do I need to buy I only have a Game Cube.