Multiplayer GBA setup.

[Mr. Hooker]

got a load of GameBoy Color, Advance, Sp, system's and games from Craigslist over the weekend for cheap.


I'm going to buy 4 GC to GBA link cables and 4 GBA to GBA link cables from ebay this week.

The plan.
mod 4 GBA's to play multi player GBA and GC games.

GBA's will have a ether front light or led mod's.
Might replace the screen cover with scratch resistant lexan.
Link cable's and power lines will be intergrated instead of detachable.
Power will come from a central power source instead of rechargeable / replaceable AA batteries.
Central power source will run off of A/C wile connected to the Game Cube
or 18v cordless power tool batteries, wile playing multi player GBA games.

The idea is to be able to take 4 GBA's to random places full of strangers without worrying about one of my GBA's walking away. Main event: Zelda Four Sword's, anywhere!

Also thinking of doing the same to 2 GBC's.

 

[superben51]

Sounds pretty sweet. For a central thing you could just have a project box in the middle. That would provide a lot of room for things like batteries. I think you should just get some Li-Po's or small Ni-Mh batteries to use instead of a 18v drill battery. That would be really heavy to lug around but the other batteries could provide more life and be a lot lighter.

 

[Mr. Hooker]

I already have a cordless Porta Cable tool set, with four 18v batteries, with a broken flash light that the battery connector still works fine. so its ready to be moded onto something. long life, easily slap a fully charged one in at any time, built in protection circuit and has a smart charger.

Thats a good idea using a project box in the middle.
I was thinking of a small plastic tool box. something with a handle, room for the Battery, 4 GBA's, game's, and a small closed in spot for the rest. 12"-18" long, 4"-6" wide, 4"-8" tall. big enough to hold everything, small enough to carry around and sit on a coffee table and have 6'-8' of wire's going to each GBA.

 

[Mr. Hooker]

This is the best of the failed attempts to led mod a GBA,
http://youtu.be/4zDfYvxI3IQ
It does not work well at all. So now I'll wait a bit to see what Bibin comes up with before I gut a few/bunch GBA SP's to front light four GBA's and two GBC's. Unless someone knows where to buy just the front light's?

I found the small tool box I'm going to use, and I'm planing to add a game cube in it. so not only can it play four player GBA games (like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords) it will also play GC games that use the GBA's in multiplayer games (like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures). undecided if I'll add a small screen for the GC, or just have it ready to hook up to one.

 

[superben51]

I'd say at least throw in a 3.5" or 4.3" screen. They are super cheap and will allow you to play from any outlet rather then need a screen beside it as well. Did you try cutting off the top part of the LED? that would help majorly with spreading the light out.

 

[Mr. Hooker]

ya, I might add a small screen for kicks.

I did the led's a few deferent ways, the best results was just sanding 2 sides to flatten it down then re shape the tip to spread the light at a wider angle, problem is the light just glares across the screen with the position of the led's, only thing I can think of is maybe adding some polarized film might help.

on one try I even used clear glue to fuse the led to the side of the screen, light just does not pass far from the edges. it's very limiting.

 

[bud]

Personally, what I'd do is take a strip of SMD white LEDs and put those along an edge or two. That'd give you more even lighting. I'd play around with the voltage to try and dim them a bit.