Shell your GameBoy and make it live again.

By Stephen Munn | July 20, 2007

For a while now, I’ve wanted to try my hand at painting one of my consoles to give it a more unusual look. There’s a bit of courage involved in such an undertaking, to be sure, because depending on the console, you might have many tiny parts involved and there’s a lot that can go wrong. Painting something like this without taking it apart is a very bad idea, though, because you simply won’t do as thorough a job.

I’ve just finished taking mine apart and painting it, and I made some real mistakes. This guide will help you avoid those mistakes. Let’s have a look at the considerations to start.

The first thing you want to ask yourself when taking something apart is, “can I live without this device?” Do you really want to paint your Nintendo Wii when it might be months before you could find a replacement on the shelf? My advice is to only do this if your system is out of warranty, because you void the warranty in so many ways, and only if the system is redundant or perhaps even broken. In my case, I have more than one of the system and this one’s in bad shape, so I decided to take it apart and paint it.

The next thing is to keep in mind that you probably need special tools to take the device apart. In the case of the GBA, as in most Nintendo’s hand-held consoles and controllers, you need a special tri-wing screwdriver. Picture the tip on this as halfway between a phillips-head and flat-head screwdriver and you might get the idea. These are cheap tools, but you need to find one, because you don’t have one, trust me.

If you can find some kind of a guide online to take apart the system, that’s great. I couldn’t find one for the GBA SP, so I just kind of started pulling screws and hoped for the best. Speaking of screws, keep them grouped by part so you can quickly get the device back together. If you find yourself out of time, you’re not going to want to just leave the system laying there in pieces, especially if you have a toddler running around. You need to be able to hit the brakes and throw the thing back together in a hurry without a problem. What worked for me is repetition. By taking it apart once and then putting it back together, I got an understanding of where everything goes which I should be able to retain while the paint dries.

As each plastic parts comes out of the unit, you want to make sure that you have one solid piece of plastic. The GBA had a little piece of clear plastic that snaps in over the LEDs from the inside, and there’s the metal plate that screws into the base of the system, for example. Once you’ve got all the screws out and you have that one piece, give it a good washing and dry it thoroughly. When it comes to labels and things, there are two ways you can go about it. You could try peeling off the labels, most likely destroying them in the process and having to figure out how to get them to stick again, or you can mask them by covering them with a piece of masking tape and carefully cutting around the label with a hobby knife. Neither solution is perfect. I masked mine and a tiny bit of the cobalt blue plastic is barely visible around the edge of the label on the underside of the GBA. Fortunately, the Nintendo nameplate on the top of the system masked perfectly and looks good.

Nintendo’s hinged systems are a bother because you have to deal with that elbow in the middle of everything. Complicating matters is the presence of a ribbon cable that runs from the board in the base of the system, up through the hinge, and into the back of the screen. This, for me, was the hardest part of the whole thing, because the ribbon cable spirals through the hinge, concealing a screw that you need to remove to take it out. I found myself staring at the inside of the Game Boy for a minute or so, trying to figure out what was keeping me from progressing into the hinge.

So here we go, here’s how to take apart the GBA SP, and how to put it back together.

Gathering the tools.

You will need two screwdrivers: one very small phillips head screwdriver, and one tri-wing screwdriver. Those are the only tools you will need. If you will be painting the system, you will also need whatever paint you will be using. I recommend some transparent tape as well, so you can tape the screws to the part they came out of to make them harder to lose.

Removing the battery and opening the case.

Now that you have your tools, use the phillips head screwdriver to loosen the screw in the center of the bottom of the system. This is the screw that holds the battery compartment closed. Note that when you loosen it, it will not drop out, because it’s held onto the door on the other side by a clip. The door itself will come off the system, so set it aside. The clip is removable, but it’s very challenging if you don’t have the right tool, and there’s really no point in doing so. Besides, it keeps you from losing the screw.

Lift the battery out by hooking the right side of it with your fingernail and lifting it up. Set the battery aside.

Now that the battery is removed, there are six tri-wing screws to remove. One in the battery compartment at the top, one in the bottom center in the cartridge slot, and one in each of the four wells at the corners of the unit. The corner screws are longer than the other two, so they’re easy to tell apart once they’re out of the system.

Carefully lift the bottom straight off the system at the seam. Be cautious of the L and R triggers and the power switch on the side of the machine, as all will be somewhat loose.

Removing the doodads.

Flip the bottom over so you can see inside and you will notice two phillips screws holding the metal plate to the inside of the cartridge slot. You can remove those screws and tape them to the metal plate, setting it aside. Then, carefully pull up the L and R triggers. There’s a metal axle through each trigger with a spring wrapped around it that controls the recoil on the buttons. Be prepared to scoop everything out in one piece to keep it simple. You may wish to tape these parts to keep them together. Note where the springs are hooked into the plastic below them, because the holes are tiny and you need to remember they are there. You can lift out the power switch as well. Don’t worry about this one so much, because it’s keyed to only go back in one way.

Taking out the board.

Look at all that technology. You’ll find three phillips screws forming a triangle in the board of your GBA: one in the middle, two at the bottom corners. Remove all three screws and tape them to the board, then lift the board slowly out of the case. Tilt it upward until you have it flipped over and you can see the ribbon cable at the top. Note that the ribbon cable has a white card set into it at the end, where it meets the board, which stiffens it up there. Grab hold of it and pull it straight out, parallel to the board. It should come out pretty easily. Don’t worry, it will be harder to push it back in when you’re trying to get this thing back together. Set the board aside.

Removing more doodads.

The LEDs that indicate the power and charging status shine through a clear plastic piece that’s clipped into the case. Push it into the case from the outside using a fingernail and just take it out. That part’s easy. Lift out the volume control and set it aside as well.

Each button on the system has a rubber gasket behind it that controls the recoil. Some of these may have stuck to the board when you lifted it out, but there’s no adhesive involved. Gather those gaskets, and all the buttons under them, into a pile and put them aside. Don’t worry about keeping them organized, because they’ll only fit back into the right places when you’re putting this back together. There’s a speaker in the middle of the case too, you can pop that out by flipping the system over and tapping it out. You’ll find a circular piece of black felt underneath it. Set those aside. None of these parts are stuck in with any kind of adhesive, so it’s all very easy to deal with.

If you push the ribbon cable aside, or lift it up, you’ll see a single phillips screw. Remove it carefully, and a piece will drop off the front of the system. It’s a smallish piece of the hinge. The opening that creates will show you where the ribbon cable snakes through the hinge of the system. We’re done with the bottom of the GBA for now.

Taking apart the screen.

Dealing with the screen is the part I hate the most. Nintendo covered all the screws for the upper half of the system with little rubber plugs. I find it challenging to remove most of them without destroying them. There are three across the top, and two in the bottom corners of the screens. The best way to take these out is with a long, sharp, pointed object, perhaps a sewing needle. Get it straight into a corner and pop the piece of rubber out. The ones in the upper left and right corners are bumpers that keep the system from snapping shut too hard, but the rest are just covers for the screws. All have a tiny bit of glue behind them, but not enough to resist your efforts, just enough to be a nuisance once you’ve got the plugs out.

All five of these screws are tri-wing. Remove them, and separate the front of the upper half of the GBA from the back. The screen on the inside is one secure piece that is held in only by the fact that the space it’s in is the same size that it is, so you can easily lift that out and the ribbon cable will come out with it.

This will yield you two more parts. The outer top part of the shell, with the Nintendo logo on it, and the inner part including the hinge and the bottom half where the buttons and speaker would be. The hinge is held together with pressure clips and I’m not sure how to release them without risking breaking them. However, I don’t think it matters. As long as you don’t put too many layers of paint on the hinge, you shouldn’t impede it in any way.

Painting tips.

Generally, I would have to recommend Krylon Fusion paints. They bond to the plastic very well and do a great job of getting the color in place without making too thick a coating, which is critical on a handheld system or game controller in particular. Be careful when you’re painting that you don’t put too much paint on the system. It’s easy to get lazy and spray from too close for too long, in hopes that you can paint it faster. The only way this will work out properly is if you read the directions and follow them, which means you’re going to need multiple coats and it’s going to take a while. The paint says it dries in 15 minutes, but you will want to give it several hours before you attempt to reassemble, or you’ll leave fingerprints in the paint. 15 minutes is OK between coats though.

Don’t spray any paint on the system when it’s closed. The paint will bond and tear as you open it back up, ruining the whole thing. Get everything as spread out and open as possible, paint it carefully, and let it dry. Then come back for more coats later. If you need to paint a different angle, flip it over, but as I said, do not close it or otherwise allow any of the painted surfaces to come in contact with one another.

And for god’s sake, do it outside, use proper ventilation. And if any bugs get on the paint, get them off fast while the paint’s still very wet. I managed to get two bugs on one part at the same time while painting and it was a major pain.

1 Comment »

1. Comment by brent Kailbourn — July 20, 2007 @ 11:55 pm

   I had my original Game Boy dipped in bronze after my tenth year anniversary owning it.

   The controls were rather sluggish afterwards but I have no regrets.

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