There have been plenty of screen mods for more famous consoles for a decade at this point. Big mod developers have industrialised Game Boy mods, and the Game Gear has a few options around. But the more niche consoles like SNK’s lone handheld, or the Bandai Wonderswan, haven’t gotten the same traction.
However, over the last year or two some some no-name screen mods started floating around on Chinese websites like Aliexpress. Much like Game Boy screen mods, the developers adapt various cheap Chinese phone screens and make adapter board/cables to support the old hardware.
It’s always a risk to spend a decent amount on something somewhat unverifiable and try these things out on limited vintage hardware, but some comments on the listing seemed promising, And some videos from the likes of Macho Nacho showed they do actually work well.
Finally one appeared specifically for my preferred Slim console and this one also needed no shell mods, which is important to me as I can use my favourite graphite console without butchering it.
And, well, the results are insane.
It’s not quite centred, the spacers the kit it comes with push it too far left, so I’ll fix that at some point. But it’s just fantastic.
Here it is with my FunnyPlaying Laminated IPS Game Boy Color with a custom shell. In many ways this NGPC one is better as it’s the original screen size, so doesn’t need a custom shell/lens and looks completely correct to the original, just playable indoors now.
There are various pixel modes. I prefer pixel grids if done well, but the pixel grid mode here takes away too much brightness. I’ve found the scanlines one to look best overall as no filter looks too modern, like an emulated look.
Horizontal scanlines
Vertical scanlines (like a Game Gear)
Pixel Grid (looks a bit washed out here due to phone auto adjusting exposure, in reality it’s darker than the above two)
And no filter.
I’d have to say I’ve been playing a lot more Neo Geo Pocket Color because of this!
If anyone is interested here’s the exact listing I used, hopefully it stays active
On another note, there are also new shells now selling with or without the kit. I grabbed one in case I needed it, and it looks fantastic, exactly like the original clear model and very high quality, so these too are recommended.
Nintendo Sega Japan! 