Neo Geo Pocket Color Light Install (Frontlight Mod)

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This past weekend, I took some time to complete modifying one of my Neo Geo Pocket Colors with a new front light for the screen. The install did not go as easily as I had hoped. There were plenty of snags along the way, but I think it worked out okay in the end. There are some tweaks I have in mind (either to redo this one or for my next attempt). Below is a video of the results.

In other news, I still have two of those GBA Linker + Cart bundles left. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s written up in my previous article. http://www.flashmasta.com/2014/02/21/gba-flash-cart-linker-flash-advance-xtreme-linker-128m-carts/ Two of the bundles sold within the first day. I recently sold a third, and that leaves 2.

Okay, here is the NGPC front-light mod video:
 

24 comments on “Neo Geo Pocket Color Light Install (Frontlight Mod)”

  1. mic Reply

    The light mod looks really cool. If you end up with a mod that you’re happy with, I might be interested in buying an NGPC with the mod pre-installed if you’re thinking of making a batch of them.

    • Flavor Reply

      This is exactly what I was thinking about. I even ordered a couple NGPCs off of eBay to set up with lights and then maybe try to sell.

  2. Mark Wolfe Reply

    hey I might want one of these… do you have intentions on offering a front light install service? if so how much? just email me through regular channels on our ongoing back & forth 😉 just wanted to say publicly that this was cool!!

    • Flavor Reply

      Hey Mark. Yeah, I’ll email you, but, as I stated in my reply to mic, I will probably start out with modding a few and selling pre-modded systems.

    • Flavor Reply

      Thanks for the interest, Bill. Stay tuned. You just might get a chance to buy one sometime soon.

  3. RdWarrior Reply

    Nice work flavor!
    If a batch were made , just show me the buy it now button !!

  4. Icedus Reply

    Oh man, my prayers for a proper frontlight have finally been answered! I remember mailing my NGPC to a modder in Canada years and years ago to have one of those Afterburner frontlights for the Game Boy Advance installed. They did great work putting a thing that didn’t belong in a thing into it, but the light jutted out a little from the bottom of the screen cost me most of the last dialog line of fighting game text boxes. I’d pick one of these up in a heartbeat.

    • Flavor Reply

      The response here has been surprisingly positive, and that’s great. Thanks!

      I have 3 NGPCs coming to me (all in good condition). My plan is to mod these three (and maybe one more from my collection) and put ’em up for sale. I’m not sure if I’ll get them all done at the same time or what, and I might try putting one or more up for auction on eBay (to better gauge the market value). I’ll figure out the specifics later.

      Anyway, the point is that you guys have made it clear that this is something you want, and I’ll try to help out.

      Thanks!

  5. Andrew T Reply

    I’ve been wanting to do that to one of my NGPC as well. I planned on doing it when I got my Flash Masta from you, and bought a GBA to Sac… But it ended up going into my collection instead.

    • Flavor Reply

      Well, wait a bit here and see what I come up with. I plan to get some more parts and units to mod, and I’ll be sure to announce it when I have something to say. Then get ahold of me, and we’ll chat about it. Or email me now and we can chat about whatever else there is to discuss. 🙂

  6. Icer Jo Reply

    Once Perfected I would love to buy one 😀 Maybe a Carbon Black and if Possible could you do a Bundle? I have yet to buy a FlashMasta due to my busy schedule and funds being reallocated every which way but I should have a break soon.

    • Flavor Reply

      Well, just keep in touch. Things here are a bit more crazy than usual, but I see some light (pun almost intended) at the end of the tunnel. Some modded units should be ready soon. I could probably do a bundle. I don’t think I have a carbon black. I have 3 that I will be modding for sure. After that, I will evaluate how things went.

  7. LlorensBlood Reply

    Hello Flavor, It has been a surprise for me to watch this mod in your NGPC front-light mod video, I didn’t know that it was possible! How do the things go? Do you have some modded NGPC on sale?
    Looking forward to hear good news!

  8. Flavor Reply

    Hey guys. I just realized that some of my notifications were going into a SPAM folder. There hasn’t been any news that I think is interesting to the public recently. However, there have been many behind-the-scenes things going on recently.

    I am restructuring some of the stuff I was doing here into a new business I’m starting with a partner. Everything goes slower than expected, but maybe we will be building some new frontlight NGPCs in a week or two.

    I will definitely post here when there is some news like that.

    In the meantime, I always recommend that people sign up at
    http://www.flashmasta.com/about/post_notification_header/
    to get notified when I post a new article here.

  9. Jonathan Reply

    Hey there! Just found this thread and was wondering if there were still any plans to sell some of those modded backlit NGPCs? I would LOVE to be able to play some Sonic Pocket Adventure or Cardfighters with a nice pretty bright screen to boot.

    I found a site called Rose Colored gaming that used to sell modded NGPCs. They unfortunately no longer sell them. So aside from doing it myself you’re my only hope!

    • Flavor Reply

      Yeah, this is something that I think many people want. Unfortunately, what I found was that the light panels are very difficult to source and the installation process is rather time consuming. This adds up to it being very difficult to offer as a service. It just isn’t feasible for me to sell them like this. I wish there was a better way to get the light panels, but I haven’t found anything.

      • Pheria Reply

        Hello, I was just wondering if this is still the case a year later or if you’ve had any luck sourcing the parts? I’d love to purchase one myself, but I tend to be sloppy with solder.

        My Gameboy Color mod has a scratch on the panel, only works if you hold it a certain way, and I accidentally melted off the power switch so I think it would be wise for me to avoid doing a mod like this myself if at all possible. 😛

  10. Cocklederry Reply

    So if I wanted to do this myself, could I use an available GBC or GBA frontlight kit?

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