GBA SP lighting question

[kenshin-dono]

Hmm wasnt sure if i should post this here or the Nintendo section, figured here would be best: Anyone know what i can do to improve the screen of the old original GBA SP's? The ones that weren't backlit like later? My cousin gave me his old one to use which is cool (i like gaming on the original system instead of a DS lite) but the screen looks like crap with the cruddy lighting. I cant just play outside or something to make up for it because my eyes got screwed up from some medication i was on and have cataracts in them making it very hard to see in direct sunlight

Im assuming theres some way to mod it or tweak it to get the light better but am not sure how hard that would be. Any ideas? I was gonna do a fire emblem playthrough starting with the first ones on the GBA. Id like to play them on a combination of this thing and my GBA player for the gamecube

[flojocabron]

Damn, it must suck having crappy vision. Vision is very important to a gamer. Get well soon dude.

This is my personal opinion, but you should get the later revision SP. You probably could mod yours, but you can mess up yours and not have anything left.

What then if you do mod it and it still looks less than great?

Me personally, I never got used to the sp out in daylight.

Have fun with fire emblem. Its an awesome game

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I've been using an original SP for ten years and I think it looks great. If you don't like it, you should try and get the newer model. Someone was selling one for $5 a few days ago. Wonder if it's still around?

[Anapan]

I have a worn-out (exterior) but perfect screen and buttons GBASP-101 (new brighter model) that I'd be willing to trade straight across for an older backlit model (to OP only). The older model's frontlit screen can be used in mods for other handheld consoles. My friend and I plan to do some upgrades to our unlit handheld consoles shortly and one of us will need another frontlit plastic from an older SP.
Pics here: http://www3.telus.net/anapan8/rbstuff/gbasps/
The grey one on the left with worn-out exterior paint is the one I'm referring to.
PM me with your address if interested. It'll cost you shipping to BC, Canada, and I'll pay shipping to your address.

[kenshin-dono]

Ya, the eye thing sucks, nothing i can do about it now though. Dmg is permanant. Its not bad indoors or at dusk/night, so it doesn't really hurt gaming too much, but in direct sunlight its like looking through a dirty glass. Friggin sucks

So it sounds like most of the suggestions are just... get a newer model. LOL. Thing is i dont like buying used handhelds. Kinda grosses me out =P Only reason i took this is it was from my cousin. I was hoping there was some way to light up the screen more or something, but it sounds like thats not really an option. Thanks for the offer Anapan, but its sounding like i'll probably just have to live with this one as is, or look into buying a new one.

Would it be better to buy a newer SP model, or one of the GBA micro's? The micro may be pretty cool and looking around they seem a bit more plentiful than a later model SP. Im not even really sure where to look. Ebay seems kinda high priced, and Amazon seems to only have European models (and high priced too) I'm pretty sure a UK model wouldn't work with the US for charging it. Im not even sure if the GBA is region free for carts, i know the DS was.

[AppleQueso]

only downside to the Micro is that you don't get GB/GBC support

[hailrazer]

Well if you can mod :



I've done it and it's not really that hard.

[Anapan]

You could also just put a new case&buttons on the 101 model I'm offering. The one I pictured on the right has a new shell from Deal Extreme (it was really cheap iirc).