Giving the Game Boy Color the Wide Format It Deserves
LeggoMyFroggo is a console modding genius and managed to address all of the Game Boy Color's shortcomings when building the Frog Boy Color.
The Nintendo Game Boy Color hit the North American market way back on November 18th, 1998. But at more than 25 years old, it is still very popular thanks to its fantastic library of games. There isn’t much in this world more satisfying than playing Pokémon Yellow on a yellow Game Boy Color. But as well as the Game Boy Color has aged, it still has a lot of issues that seem pretty glaring in the modern day. So LeggoMyFroggo completely redesigned the Game Boy Color to make it better in every imaginable way.
The most obvious difference between a Game Boy Color and this device, dubbed the “Frog Boy Color,” is the form factor. Like a Game Boy Advance, is has a wide format with the controls to the left and right of the screen. That is far more comfortable to hold for long periods of time than the “portrait” format of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. You can play Game Boy Color games on a standard Game Boy Advance, but the cartridges stick out and LeggoMyFroggo had many improvements to make, too.
LeggoMyFroggo is a console modding genius and performed far too many improvements for us to cover in this short space, so we’ll just stick to the highlights. It is also important to note that the Frog Boy Color is not an emulator. It runs real cartridges on real hardware (CPU, RAM, crystal, and more) pulled from an actual Game Boy Color. That said, LeggoMyFroggo did replace some of the circuits, such as those for audio and power.
That was necessary because the Frog Boy Color’s components are much better. When it comes to audio, for example, the Frog Boy Color has dual mono amps to push sound through either the built-in speakers or headphones. Power is a real treat, because the Frog Boy Color has lithium batteries and USB-C charging — no need to carry around a sack of AA batteries anymore. It also accepts backlit IPS LCD screen mods, so users won’t have to rely on book lights anymore.
This does, of course, require a custom PCB and enclosure. LeggoMyFroggo expertly designed the PCB in KiCAD and had it manufactured by PCBWay. They also CNC-machined the gorgeous aluminum front half of the enclosure, and resin-printed the back half. We cannot overstate the beauty of that enclosure. It makes the Frog Boy Color look like a real consumer product and not a modded console.
We’ve barely scratched the surface on this project, so be sure to watch the video for all of the details. And if you want to build your own Frog Boy Color, you can find all of the files on the GitHub page.