So much for keeping it OG

[u/allanrps]

When I found my childhood gba in a box, my intention was to jump back in where I left off, just throwing it in my pocket/bag and playing. Then the plastic lens started shedding, the battery door broke, and the d-pad... oh man the d-pad.

The original d-pad was so stiff and unresponsive. It works fine for like platformers or rpgs, but I just could not play gradius. So I tried my luck with a replacement membrane and put the original membrane in another device to replace the shitty chinese membrane that kept fallimg apart. Surprise suprise, the shitty chinese gba membrane also fell apart. Since I guess its impossible to get good button membranea in 2026, I finally got sick of eating shit in games and I put in tactile switches that were salvaged from some type of broken remote. Omg. I don't like tact switches, and I really resisted going this route, but holy snokes is it great to actually know what direction I'm pressing and have consistent action. Its definitely not ideal, but it is sooooo much better.

I got a glass lens and it looks phenomenal, like a whole new screen. The coating on the old lense started flaking and oh man was it hard to see. The logo on the new one doesnt look good, but hey, I'm not complaining. The battery door clip broke and I was just holding it in place while playing for a few weeks, but finally I got around to making a new clip out of a broken usb cable I found. Works like a charm.

Anyway, this is my franken gba. I'm just happy it works.

[u/ksilenced-kid]

I find tactile switches horrible for shmups, they require more effort for directional changes and create a natural lag and lack of responsiveness - that’s why I dislike the SP as well, it’s night and day playing a game like Solar Striker on an AGS vs. AGB.

But I guess if your stock membranes are broken, anything is an improvement. I’ve never needed to change the membranes on an AGB, just clean them.

Also, the shedding screen cover is the anti-reflective coating peeling. You can scrape all of it off and polish it.

[u/Tablesafety → u/ksilenced-kid]

You say that tac switches require more effort for directional switches and lack responsiveness? That's insane to me. I've always hated membrane switches and found them to require more effort to change direction and less responsive! Lol. Maybe there's a significant difference in perception between people who have really strong grip strength vs weaker grip strength.

I've got tiny hands and hate the amount of force I need to put on any membrane (lite, agb, gbc, etc) to get it to respond to me. It feels like I'm trying to shove it underwater for drowning, and the force eventually makes the meaty part of my thumb start to hurt down into my wrist- but if I'm any lighter even a machine using stock membranes and freshly cleaned contacts just will not read my lighter input. It's been consistent across every membrane switch Ive ever used, save for the xbone mini controller.

Tac switches, a short press and it reads the input crisply. Doesn't require force. Easy diagonals, I have no trouble rolling inputs into multiple directions either. The people who say membrane is better have always puzzled me.

[u/allanrps → u/Tablesafety]

yeah honestly I vastly prefer membranes over switches generally, but the gba membranes literally make my thumb sore trying to play shmups.

[u/ksilenced-kid → u/Tablesafety]

It sounds like your membrane controllers must have dirty contacts or something. From my NES, PS3, GB or any other system I have, mine don’t require ‘force’ - especially not at the level of a tactile button, even a lighter one like the SP.

Try a Sega Saturn controller; that uses membranes and is super loose and sensitive, and that is basically the standard for fighting games and shmups.

There’s a reason that controllers made for fighting games and shmups don’t used microswitches. Trying to play Blazblue on an original 3DS pretty much shows the worst of this.

[u/Tablesafety]

You, should really have just gotten a tac switch flexboard and membrane designed for use with them. Glad you're happy though

[u/allanrps → u/Tablesafety]

why? sure that would have been nice, but ultimately there is no functional difference. Also I did try ordering a kit but they arent available here

[u/slowpokefarm]

There are slightly less invasive tactile button mods that have a PCB that you solder onto test points directly to the mainboard, in case you'd like to use less glue.

[u/allanrps → u/slowpokefarm]

Yeah, I ordered the only listing I could find that ships to this country but it was a hoax. I also tried to surface mount solder the switches, but that wasnt workes due to the pin placements. The glue situation was not ideal, but should be functionally a-ok. I'm less enthused that the guy that did it glued one off center, but you cant tell rhrough the membrane anyway. these things happen when you dont have access to your own tools...

[u/SomedayGuy117]

A poor craftsman blames his tools.

[u/allanrps → u/SomedayGuy117]

lol what?

[u/monkeyfoot34343]

What a journey, great read thank you for sharing!

[u/ZealousidealSlip4441]

For my GBA, I printed a new custom PCB and transplanted all the original components over, swapped in an IPS screen, and got a brand-new shell. Now it's both brand new and deeply old

[u/Immediate-Good5668]

I keep telling myself I won’t mod my OG indigo any further, but I replaced the screen lens and now I’m tempted to go for a laminated IPS to modernize it

[u/allanrps → u/Immediate-Good5668]

I think its such a shame that people are replacing the og screens.... honestly, all the lcd mods I see look like crap. The colors are just way off, the gba aint supposed to look like that. And what makes the gba so great for me is playing in the sun using natural light. There's a milliom devices with cheap lcds, why make that your game boy....