Scale Gameboy arcade

[jahilton2002]

The mob has spoken at this point. I think you're almost morally obligated to appease this idea or get out of town as fast as you can.

We are in discussion about this project now..... it's kinda moving away from what we intended it to be...(and that's fine)...we caught it early......so its not too late to make some giant headphones to go with it lol.

We enjoy building and documenting the build process of the cabs, and love the feedback we get from the community......that's what it's all about. so watch this space!.......

Am i right in thinking you guys would like to see a 8 x scale Gameboy running official Gameboy internals......with removable carts?

the monitor has two video inputs....so in theory we could switch between Gameboy hardware and emulation (for snes, nes etc)

[CoryBee]

Some skilled Router work is all you need for the Nintendo logo. I wish I was in California so I could start building my own, but living vicariously through this thread is all I got right now man!!! I needs ma fix!!! 

http://gameman.loungespot.com/play/

Can't find it, but does this guy use a computer in it? In which case he doesn't have real working game cartridges.

[Louis Tully]

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[CoryBee]

Thanks tully.

Then here is your time to shine man! Make the thing a legit giant gameboy!!!!!

[Louis Tully]

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[ChanceKJ]

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[jahilton2002]

This one looks alright....

[ChanceKJ]

.

[yotsuya]

But with such an amazing job you've done blowing up in scale like this, i'd almost say the work you've done thus far would be slapped in the face if you didn't sacrifice a gameboy to run it.

Hyperbole much? 

[matt4949]

But with such an amazing job you've done blowing up in scale like this, i'd almost say the work you've done thus far would be slapped in the face if you didn't sacrifice a gameboy to run it.

Hyperbole much? 

As a matter of fact I just got done bowling a ton of hyper bowl.

[Yvan256]

The problem is taking the Game Boy video output and converting it to VGA or DVI. It can be done, but it's much more complicated than simply using a SNES with a Super Game Boy.

The good news is, someone else already did all the hard work:

• Intercepting the Gameboy LCD
• NintendOscope

As for the carts, you absolutely need to have a scaled PCB with "pins" on the giant carts, with wires inside the cart to go to a real cart housed inside. At that scale, I'm guessing a hand-made edge connector for the giant Game Boy will work fine and be relatively easy to do. 

edit: I just read the "Intercepting the Gameboy LCD" page and it's quite easy to do if you have something fast enough to capture the data. Converting that data into a VGA or DVI signal is another story but I think there's boards out there to do exactly that.

The last problem will probably be about scaling the image properly so that it doesn't look like washed-out crap. You do want clean, sharp, big square pixels on that giant display, right? 

The Game Boy is/was 160x144 pixels, so you have a choice between the following resolutions if you want perfect scaling:

• 160x144
• 320x288
• 480x432
• 640x576
• 800x720
• 960x864
• 1120x1008
• 1280x1152

It's a perfect match on the horizontal scale for normal VGA/SVGA/etc resolutions but it's another story for the vertical scale. For perfect scaling you will need to use a resolution that's one-scale behind the native resolution of the display (ex: 1120x1008 on a 1280x1024 display). That means a border around the Game Boy image but the pixels on the real console didn't go completely to the edge either, so it's still "perfect" when you think about it. What display are you going to use? Since you have already cut the LCD area I'm guessing you already have one ready to use and the scale of your giant Game Boy is probably based on that display, so what size is it, what is the resolution and which inputs does it have?

edit 2: added templates of the native LCD resolutions vs the maximum perfect scaling of 160x144 that can fit inside each.
edit 3: removed the black/grey images since I posted new ones with Zelda screenshot a few posts below.

[CoryBee]

As for the carts, you absolutely need to have a scaled PCB with "pins" on the giant carts, with wires inside the cart to go to a real cart housed inside. At that scale, I'm guessing a hand-made edge connector for the giant Game Boy will work fine and be relatively easy to do. 

This is exactly what I was trying to describe!

Giant gameboy carts, that actually work!!!

The thing with the super gameboy is a good idea but doesn't it have some lame border around the game you are playing? I faintly remember that annoying the hell out of me......

[Yvan256]

The thing with the super gameboy is a good idea but doesn't it have some lame border around the game you are playing? I faintly remember that annoying the hell out of me......

I totally forgot about those, but wasn't there a way to play zoomed-in to remove the border?

Anyway, since all the hard work of decoding the LCD lines has already been done, I don't see the SNES + Super Game Boy idea as a valid option anymore, especially if the result of reading the LCD data from a real Game Boy can give giant sharp square pixels with no anti-aliasing whatsoever. 

[Yvan256]

Black screens with grey borders doesn't do it justice, here's real results without anti-aliasing for the Game Boy zoomed display. A 1280x1024 LCD is clearly needed to have the biggest, perfectly-scaled image.

Then again, the Game Boy-style LCD overlay/bezel could simply mask the giant black border around the Game Boy image. 

You need to click on the 4th image to display it at its native size.

[CoryBee]

 

[jdbailey1206]

Cory its only been 3 days. 

[matt4949]

CORY BEE LIKE

[CoryBee]

NAH BRA!

It been like 3 weeks!

[jdbailey1206]

NAH BRA!

It been like 3 weeks!

 

[Yvan256]

Three months since the last update, what's happening? 

[mcseforsale]

What ever happened to this build?  It's been 3 years since it was updated.  Rize zombie thread, RIZE.

AJ

[thomas_surles]

Giant carts is a little overkill unless one cart runs every game.

[rCadeGaming]

The project got scrapped.  He's making a giant Wonderswan Color instead.

[a1pharm]

Nope, doing a 5:1 scale replica of the following, but how do you output the video?

[CoryBee]

Giant carts is a little overkill unless one cart runs every game.

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH

[CoryBee]

I am sorry for outburst earlier....I have gotten myself intoxicated and saw the error of my ways.

 

[thomas_surles]

Giant carts is a little overkill unless one cart runs every game.

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH

What was that from?

[CoryBee]

Giant carts is a little overkill unless one cart runs every game.

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH

What was that from?

Fudge nuts. I can't remember. Anchorman maybe...?

[PL1]

Giant carts is a little overkill unless one cart runs every game.

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH

What was that from?

A Billy Mays Meme pic/variant or Popular (1999-2001)?


Scott

[ChanceKJ]

Giant carts is a little overkill unless one cart runs every game.

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH

What was that from?

A Billy Mays Meme pic/variant or Popular (1999-2001)?


Scott

Yep. I use that one all the time     It's I'm quite popular around here.     #Sarcasm

[jahilton2002]

LOL ok ok........

Ok i've been looking at the gameboy to VGA converter....... this goes way...beyond anything i have done with electrics before...... does anybody know of a kit....or a site that will give me more info that a utter VGA noob can understand.......


More updates;

Making space for some glass.........with a cheap router (sorry festool)



Low shot



Glass template made for the glass cutters

[CoryBee]

Hell I would do the VGA mod for you if I were still at home (USA). There aren't any kits that I know of, perhaps we can help you understand the information better?

 

Looks pretty crisp on a VGA too. This would look badass in your giant gameboy!

[CoryBee]

The mod seems to be pretty involved, you may have much difficulty accomplishing this hack. Integrating it into an FPGA might be a bit tricky if you have never messed with one before.

Does anyone know it playing a non-color gameboy game on a gameboy advance looks legit? I ask this because there is a GBA to tv adapter already

http://www.gameboy-advance.net/accessories/gba_to_tv_adapter.htm

Hmmmm.......

[CoryBee]

Actually this might even work better if the original GB games look good on it.

http://www.k1gba.com/gba-console-team-hardware-system-multiplayer-out-p-37.html

It is a fake gameboy advance sp, but it has dedicated video out to a television!



Hope all of this helps somehow.

[matt4949]

Hell I would do the VGA mod for you if I were still at home (USA). There aren't any kits that I know of, perhaps we can help you understand the information better?

 

Looks pretty crisp on a VGA too. This would look badass in your giant gameboy!

When I read this the first time I thought Cory Typed " This would look badass in our giant gameboy!

[CoryBee]

haha 

[CoryBee]

6 month thread bump!

 

[Yvan256]

I'm just wondering what kind of giant LED will be used for the power indicator.

[ChanceKJ]

I'm just wondering what kind of giant LED will be used for the power indicator.

Smart money's on a 6 D-Cell Maglight with a red filter. maybe laid on its side with a mirror directing the light to the hole. Cause i mean, it's bright enough for scale, but with 6 D-Cells, its just a bit too long to put directly up to the hole...

[ChanceKJ]

...swear to god, if you guys wire in a maglight i'm gonna laugh.