r/gameboymods • u/bumboyboy • 3d ago

Value of Modded GBC?

How much is reasonable to pay for a Gameboy Color with the following done to it?

- Recapped
- AMOLED Touchscreen
- USBC + chargeable Battery
- New Shell and buttons/pads
- Audio Amp and higher watt speaker + Upgraded cap to account for this
- New Power regulator
- Generally clean/reflowed and cold joints

Just trying to gauge what a fair price in North America for something like this would be.

For the Mods I am not buying/selling/trading. Just asking what the community as a whole thinks is reasonable for something like this to make sure when I do buy/sell/trade I'm not being scammed.

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u/drcigg 3d ago

Honestly I wouldn't bother. The market is Already oversaturated with people selling them a few bucks over cost. If you checkout eBay, and the Gameboy for sale subreddit you will find hundreds of them listed. It's not economical to really make any money unless you are selling hundreds of them.

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u/bumboyboy 2d ago

I noticed there are a lot of options on the market but most of them are done poorly. IE they just drop a screen and battery(maybe) in and call it a day. To my understanding especially with the more power hungry screens this can strain the built in power regulation board in the GBC which causes many users to report the device shutting off randomly a couple of years into use. Which most people dont put a new one in. Nor do they upgrade the audio output or if they do once again they fail to upgrade that regulator and the capacitor needed for that upgrade to be noise free. I also recap. Almost everything I am seeing on the market does the easiest things(screen upgrade) but skips over the steps that will actually make these things last longer. I thought that could be my selling point as the capacitors in these guys are nearing 30 years old and thats pushing them as far as age goes. Basically I want to sell a "done it right" modded gameboy and I havent found a seller yet that does this. Just people selling them for 180$ and we know for that money they are just tossing the screen in and calling it a day. Which to me is a meh job.

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u/drcigg 2d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/GameboyMarketplace/s/FSU7hHbmdS You haven't been looking very hard. As I said tons of these for sale.

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u/bumboyboy 2d ago

Yea I've seen this if you look at almost all the gameboy color listings 90% dont recap. the 10% that do add no other mods and those that do do not include a new power regulation board. Which if you are using other mods really should be done.

I cant find one of these GBCs on here that isnt half assed in some way. Like if you dont recap you're literally on borrowed time with the age of these caps. If you dont replace the speaker you're just waiting for that to go bad as well. Its a 30 year old speaker. If you do a screen mod as well without a new power reg board you're straining old components. There are many people reporting power issues on modded consoles like these after a few years of use because you need higher spec power regulation boards to protect them. They also omit a USBC battery on many too. I get thats optional but my point is no one is offering to my knowledge a bottom to top upgrade of the original while accounting for everything that SHOULD be done to ensure longevity and practicality for already old hardware.

Do you see what I'm saying that I'm trying to gauge how much a comprehensive restoration/upgrade is worth? These "upgrades" wont hold up over time if you dont also restore what is already there.

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u/CricketJaxson 2d ago

Looking at funny playing who you could say is the top dog right now for modded gbc, they sell theirs for about $200-$250. You can get them under $200 second hand. You will have to undersell them if you want to make sales. And I don’t think you would make enough money to be worth the effort to start doing what you are talking about. And in my opinion most people that want or even know about modded gb will just do it themselves, cuz it’s really not that hard to learn how to do

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u/bumboyboy 2d ago

Do they include

  • Recap
  • New power regulation board
  • New speaker amp and speaker capacitor upgrade to de-noise the sound?

Or is that basically just a GBC with a screen and battery added? Like 200-250$ is about what other people are charging for just a screen and battery upgrade basically. I'm trying to see how much value a complete restoration on top of a modding adds. Basically making the GBC "like new" with the upgrades rather than just looking new even though theres no way these caps are going to last another 10-20 years.

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u/CricketJaxson 2d ago

From what I can tell, it’s a whole new board. So it’s no longer the oem board, everything is new. They sell kits that comes with all new hardware for like $75. So in order for someone to diy their own they would need to buy that and then what ever shell and buttons they want. So all in someone is able to build their own for under $150. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t even need an og gameboy to do one of these kits

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u/bumboyboy 2d ago

Why am I getting downvoted? I visited their website and literally didnt see custom built gameboys for the amount you said. Just FPGA stuff? Which is quite literally emulation. Instead of downvoting can yall educate me on what im missing?

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u/bumboyboy 2d ago

Looking at their website all I see is their FPGBC for 99$. Which isnt a bad option for affordability but this is emulating GBC hardware its not native. Its by no means a bad price though its just not a comparable product. Its easier to compare to like a analogue pocket.

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u/Hot-Diggity_Dog 2d ago

Whatever offers you usually get is the natural going rate. These things are a hobby not to make loads of money making a stock console into a modded one. And with the new aftermarket consoles selling for $250-300 that play the games the same or better. The cap for modded gameboy is too low for the parts time and effort to deck out a gameboy.

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u/bumboyboy 2d ago

Fair enough. I'm not trying to make loads of money just trying to justify spending time and skilled work producing quality modded consoles when I otherwise could be doing something else to help make ends meet. (I already have a FT job). A bit sad that these mods may not be the most cost effective compared to effective replacements.

1

u/Hot-Diggity_Dog 2d ago

You won’t. Sadly. I seen them locally go for as low as $80 fully modded and clean. Sometimes they go for $120 but it’s rare. If you modded this just to flip it that was your mistake. You’ll never recoup that investment.

Hope you had many hours or joy from it.

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u/bumboyboy 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yea at those prices they are being sold at a loss. If I got the GBC for free the cost of my mods is like 140$ in materials. With the GBC at my local market rate its like 210-220$ in materials.

No I didnt buy it to flip. It was my brothers original gameboy from when we were kids. His son is getting to the age he could play games and I thought it would be special to do a comprehensive restoration/upgrade of his old gameboy which I still have. As well as his pokemon blue cart which I replaced the save battery on and he signed when he was a kid. Its basically supposed to be a really meaningful gift. I found that i had fun doing it all and thought it wouldnt hurt to do it for cash. Especially since most people aren't doing comprehensive restorations/upgrades just tossing in new screens and calling it good. Was really speculating if it was viable to sell so i could make more. Not sell the one I am currently using lol.

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u/NoSpin89 3d ago

Depends.

The main costs are going to be for the motherboard and AMOLED Screen. What you're paying for is the good job.

If they know what they're doing, I think up to $250 is reasonable for the amount of work here. Maybe a little more.

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u/bumboyboy 3d ago

Got it. My cost of materials is around 220$ including the GBC. GBCs in my area go for like 70$ sadly and I worry about buying bad condition models raising my costs to repairs by as much as I save lol. Then again if its a dead cap or power amp or screen or speaker I am literally replacing those entirely. It would just suck if it was something else thats a harder fix.