My GBA SP
This is my modded GameBoy Advance SP (GBA SP). This lil bud cemented my love for handhelds and this one specifically is very important to me and if you’d allow me, I’d like to tell you why.
The motherboard is from the original that I bought back in the summer of 2003. It was the summer after my Sophomore year of college; the last I spent at home. I bought Golden Sun and spent late nights in my childhood bedroom collecting djinn and exploring a new, tiny world. Finally - a back-lit screen so I could play late in to the night.
Fast forward 7 years and I’m living in a new city and a friend introduces me to chiptune music. He comes over to our house one night and we watch as he does the “Game Boy Pro Sound” mod: adding a significantly better audio jack to the original GameBoy so he can use it to perform chiptunes live. Eventually we form a band called Revengineers. Along the way I decide to start making chiptunes of my own and dig out my old GBA SP and load up LSDj. I buy a second one so I can sync them and perform music live under my solo name, bc likes you. I write multiple EPs, video game soundtracks, and game jam soundtracks all on this GBA SP.
Jump ahead 10 years and it’s 2020 and it’s lockdown. I’m working in the game industry but from home, not playing live music, and looking for a new hobby to keep me busy. Retro handheld and console mods start popping up and I immediately know what I need to do. I swap my original grey case with a translucent green case. I buy an IPS screen and do the 5 levels of brightness mod. I buy a larger battery that lasts much longer than the 15-year-old stock battery. I then start replaying Golden Sun. I find a used copy of the sequel/2nd part Golden Sun: The Lost Age. I play both in sequence and it’s just as wonderful as I remember.
Now this GBA SP sits on a clear stand on my desk. I still write chiptunes with LSDj but now I use an Anbernic RG35XXSP and a Dirtywave M8. I still play GBA games but I play them on my Retroid Pocket 5. My GBA is a reminder of 3 very distinct eras of my life and I’ll never part with it. Hell, I have it tattooed on my arm so I couldn't even if I wanted to.
