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philosiraptor / gameboyswitch

I added joycons to a gameboy advanced sp
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add ability to do this over a port rather than soldering directly #1

Open tomoakley opened 1 year ago

tomoakley commented 1 year ago

Hi, I came across this project and I think it's great! I haven't built it yet as I don't have a GBA SP, but I may get one soon to try and do it.

However I do have a modded Gameboy Advance. I have an idea for something that may or may not be possible; I'm not an electronics expert (I can do some soldering and stuff but PCB design etc are a bit too far currently, also I'm a software engineer so I somewhat understand the code), so I need some help/pointers.

What I envisage is a normal GBA (or SP) with the HDMI-out mod. Your custom PCB and Raspberry Pi could then be connected over some sort of port (USB-C? GBA Link connector?). Then you could play a game on the GBA (e.g while on commute) without any of the extra bulk from the PCB/rPi, get home, plug the HDMI in, and plug this new connector in which would allow the JoyCons to be connected. This could then be turned into a dock or something a la the Switch.

Is this possible? I'm unsure how the signals from the GBA buttons would reach the PCB/rPi over a cable though. That's where I need some help. Presumably the PCB would need a port connection on; I'd really like to learn about PCB design a bit more so perhaps this might be a good opportunity. But maybe it's not possible at all! I'm not sure. Thanks.

philosiraptor commented 1 year ago

this is absolutely possible, anything is if you define the specification for it! this would be a buttload of cad work but other than that mighty boulder to lift, your pretty much there.