Retro topic: Modding consoles

[SubCog]

Wiis.

Well, I've finally gotten around to it. I've accumulated 6 or 7 of these bad-boys over the years, intending to eventually mod them and give them away as gifts. Modding Wiis is complicated and obtuse, and it's taken me ~1 month, on and off, to finally get it figured out. I've been documenting my process in a google doc, so I should be able to come back and do more later.

I've got 2 complete, with another couple in process. I had to order new SD cards, so I'm waiting on those before I can finish them. I sent one completed unit to my nephews, and one to my sister. I'll probably do a couple more for my other siblings and keep a couple for myself.

Not sure whether we're allowed to talk these days about what a modded wii can do... I know there's been some sensitivity about similar topics in the past. It's probably fair to say that I have a fairly large collection of legitimate Wii and Gamecube disks that I've now put in a storage box. One of my Wiis has a broken optical drive anyway.

btw, Wiis are pretty great for playing Gamecube games, as component cables are cheap and easy (like KAC's mom), so you can get full 480p output. I plan to hook one up to an old CRT and one up to an HDTV.

 

[SubCog]

Screen replacements for handheld consoles.

We live in amazing times. There's been good screen options for Gameboys for many years now, but recently we've gotten good screens available for nearly every other handheld.

New IPS screen kits were just released for both the NeoGeo Pocket Color and the Wonderswan (pictured below). Not too difficult to install, and include a variety of brightness, scanlines, and color pallet options. Ordered from Aliexpress for ~$50 each, and geez these look good now (not that you can tell from my picture.)

Also included in the photo is a Gameboy Advance that's been modded with an AGS101 screen, but I've had that for years. Actually there's good IPS screens available for that too, but I doubt I'd bother to mess with it.

I've done several other handheld screen mods, but am too lazy to post photos now. I've done several front-light mods for various gameboy colors, gameboy advances, and the NGPC in the photo, but I've now removed that to put in the new IPS screen.

I've also replaced the old fluorescent backlights with LEDs in a couple of Game Gears. That, plus replacing the capacitors, basically brings them back to factory-state... with the benefit of tripling the battery life. Those old fluorescent lights drew a ton of power, which is why the Game Gear ate batteries so fast. I intend to upgrade one of my Game Gears with a new IPS screen kit someday, as I've heard those are awesome. Also makes me want to get a Nomad and do the same thing.

 

[12Bass]

Modded Wiis are great... as is a modded Wii U, which can play most of the previous generation consoles with homebrew. The Wii is an excellent retro emulation console as it supports 240p for CRT. I run mine in 240p over component with my 27" Trinitron. Nintendont is great for GC games. The Wii homebrew community even fixed a glitch in the Wii's 480p output that makes it as sharp as the Gamecube using component.

I've modded a few Wiis and given them to friends over the years.

 

[fO Che -USA-]

SubCog that AGS101 is super bright! Looks amazing, they all look great. I love that form factor.

Any tricks on that GBA mine didn't look that good? did you add a voltage regulator board?


Nomad would be amazing with IPS. I love SEGA now I can't explain it.

My favorite piece of kit is an Agetec arcade stick for the Dreamcast aka Green Goblin. Modded with Seimitsu parts and it just feels so right.

 

[Bitey]

Does the mod run MAME games eg arcade donkey kong, heavy barrel..etc?

Thinking about getting a modded to play some old arcade stuff... currently using mame on PC.