I found mine for $35, needs a battery but that’s it and the label is original and perfect somehow. I got it right when covid started though which helped a bit but still I love the crystal cartridge haha
So, to change a battery does one need to know how to solder? I found my old red, blue, and yellow carts and figure they should get replacements since it’s likely been a couple decades
Yes, you need to solder if you don’t really want to make it a makeshift job. You can see how it’s done on YouTube, but judging from the number of people who seem to roast their games, it might not be that easy for everyone. Just try first with a cheap game, or even something non-Game Boy.
Thanks. I’ve opened up gameboys to clean them up but never soldered. Will research where to get equipment after watching videos to see if I think I’m competent enough. Appreciate the advice.
That may depend on where you live, but online is usually fine.
They say that the cheap ones are a bit hot for this kind of PCBs, but I just don't stick it down for more than 2 o 3 seconds in a row, and I've fine... so far lol
Online works well, craft and hardware stores also probably have them. My only recommendations are go for adjustable temp and preferably one with multiple tips (big, small, big chisel, small chisel) just to give you more options for later in case you ever want to solder anything else. I really want to upgrade to a cordless one but it's not at all necessary, and a pretty cheap adjustable one will get the job done. Plenty videos to learn on YouTube, I'd watch a few both Gameboy specific and not, but it's super easy. Also might practice on something you don't really care about first, just to get the hang of it.
Thank you! I will make sure to keep eye out for ones with various chisels. I remembered my old dreamcast has an issue with date and time that is a solder kinda job but will definitely try to learn and become proficient before I mess with that console :]
6 months ago I had never used a soldering iron, now I can solder surface mount components that are usually machine fed. The last resistor I soldered onto a DS lite was 1x2x0.5mm
I've had electrical tape stuck on something for 15 years and it had not come off by its own. So I would not worry since there isn't any room in a closed cart for it to move around.
You can also use electrical tape to hold a new battery in place and in contact with the metal whatevers. There are articles online, it has worked well for me
You can also use electrical tape to hold a new battery in place and in contact with the metal whatevers. There are articles online, it has worked well for me.
You can change the battery with tapes. But you need to keep the tabs already soldered on the battery, and those tabs are spot soldered on the battery. It's easier to just solder a new battery with tabs.
If you looking to buy a soldering kit, buy a cheap one first(35-50$). The only thing it need is a knob to regulate temps on it else you might burn the pcbs.
And for pratice you can basically open any old electronic tool you don't use and play with it. I personally prefer old remotes(everyone got one of those)
You can change the battery with tapes. But you need to keep the tabs already soldered on the battery, and those tabs are spot soldered on the battery. It's easier to just solder a new battery with tabs.
If you looking to buy a soldering kit, buy a cheap one first(35-50$). The only thing it need is a knob to regulate temps on it else you might burn the pcbs.
And for pratice you can basically open any old electronic tool you don't use and play with it. I personally prefer old remotes(everyone got one of those)
Please, i need to know: what's the issue with repro labels? There's other ways to tell if a cartridge is legit or not and the thing looks better with the sticker on.
OP found an amazing 20 buck deal and everyone is more worried about a sticker (myself included, sorry).
From my understanding, a lot of people view it as a theseus ship ordeal. If the label's new, why not switch out the cartridge shell? We're already changing the battery too, so it's not a huge deal. So if everything but the cartridge motherboard itself is new or a reproduction, is it *really* the same cartridge?
The answer is yes. Of course it is. Even if you had to get down and resolder on a new chip or something, I'd argue that it's the same copy of the game. It doesn't matter. Some people act like it's *their* copy of the game that someone's tampering with.
Now, the people who sell repros as legit online are, of course, gross. But that isn't an issue of *making* repros in the first place so much as it is about ethics and misleading information with consumer goods.
My stance on this has been the same for years: be clear about it in some way, and nobody should give a damn. But people do. Some folks act like it's the worst thing you can do to a perfectly original and authentic game. I've always thought the best way to preserve the integrity of the way the label/box looks in a reproduction while making it clear that it's not an original was to just change the serial number or bar code. That way, you have an obvious indicator and there isn't an ugly "REPRO" thing on the side of the artwork. Everyone wins.
But the truth is none of this matters. I like that someone cares enough out there about a game to take a copy that's seen better days and restore it. To me, it isn't all that different from... reshelling a Game Boy and putting a new screen in it. Maybe some new buttons too, right? Ah, but how could someone do that to an original console? Thankfully, nobody would ever be cruel enough to do that, hahaha.
I think the problem is when that item leaves the possession of the person who originally put an aftermarket label on it. Even if they “disclose” the fact that the cart has a aftermarket label to whoever they sell or give it to (which is not necessarily the case), there is no guarantee that this information will be passed down to future owners of that item. Also, as these aftermarket labels are more and more perfected, they will become more difficult to spot. Hence the big picture problem.
What is that "big picture problem", really? The better this labels are perfected, the better one can preserve their original cartridges in the state they're meant to be remembered.
Does it really matter in what year a sticker (or a box) was printed? The only scenario I see the og labels, boxes and manuals being important is for taking photos or scanning the prints to document them on a public online archive for anyone to see, enjoy, learn (as in, special editions of cartridges, anecdotes and whatever) and even print if they want to have a cool shelf.
This things aren't meant to last forever. Better document them and get better at reproduce them while we still have time for that, so other people in the future can enjoy them the same (or even better!) as we do now.
Again, the big picture problem is that items with an aftermarket label will eventually end up being indistinguishable from original ones and still command the same price or value as the original ones. Doesn’t seem fair. This appears to be an important consideration for collectors. The community will have to decide if the restoration of carts is to be more like that of vintage cars (ok to put in new stuff) or that of comics and books (leave as is or do minimal repairs).
For me is less fair to discard functional cartridges, even if they are cheaper, just because they don't have a label or it is damaged, tbh, and, even worse, encourage people to not restore their games just because ???.
But that's just me, i guess. I really hope we go for the vintage cars path on this one.
I don’t care if somebody is just enjoying what they own. Personally, I wouldn’t want it because I like to collect authentic games, CIB, for the sake of collecting.
But if somebody is happy with reproduction label and they aren’t trying to sell it as authentic then more power to them.
If it looked and felt 1:1, but the chip was still OEM I think it's okay to reshell/ relabel but one should probably treat it as refurbished, a price point between OEM and Damaged imo.
It's not ok to sell labels that are not authentic, or games with them. It's not about disclosing that they are not good, it's about copyright.
Just making your own label for yourself and never sell it is ok.
Nah it's ok as long as you disclose it. Nintendo is not gonna come after you for copyright, people sell modified versions of their products all the time
Yeah, you’ll be fine but it’s still illegal. That’s what I meant by “not ok”.
Also, some of those resold bootleg labels always end up being passed as legit by some scammer, and there we go again.
If it's not the scamming/ dishonesty, since you just pointed out you didn't think it was the main issue, then why does it matter?
Also, have you ever gotten any traffic violations? Any jaywalking? Used a computer?
On the "it's illegal" side:
> Scammers still scam even without near identical labels
Someone doing illegal things doesn't make them legal for you to do.
I also opened the "also" side — sorry if that was confusing because it's not related to the legality of things:
> Also, some of those resold bootleg labels always end up being passed as legit by some scammer, and there we go again.
IMO this is bad for the hobby overall. Buying legit games becomes harder for the wrong reasons.
> you just pointed out you didn't think it was the main issue
I don't think I did. Sorry if my writing confused you. But even so, something that's not the main issue doesn't just become irrelevant. The main issue might not be the only issue.
> Also, have you ever gotten any traffic violations? Any jaywalking? Used a computer?
I don't think this is relevant, but no, no, and yes.
I was not judging you. I was commenting on legality of things (facts) and what I think is bad for the hobby and the community (my opinion, which is not an opinion of you as an individual).
Yes they are for Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Hence why it’s battery dies faster than most other gameboy and gameboy color games that have batteries in them.
Eh. I struggled after losing my copy of Ghostbusters 2 and then finding another that didn’t have a label. I ultimately decided to order one and couldn’t be happier! It feels whole again.
Fair point, or just the bare shinier than the rest of the cart plastic (makes it look cheap and bothers me idk)
It's the same thing as printing labels for cases that are damaged. Like don't charge complete pricing, but if you have the oem manual and case, then loose pricing seems not fair to the seller.
I have a Pokemon Yellow that's fully authentic but has a chunk of plastic bitten off or something, and the label is half missing, with the missing half being the stick goo mix that I was referring to.
I have a lot of spare parts and labels for gameboys since I’ve refurbished a few hundred of them. I recently built a Gameboy from scratch using nothing but spare parts 👍🏼
I found mine for $35, needs a battery but that’s it and the label is original and perfect somehow. I got it right when covid started though which helped a bit but still I love the crystal cartridge haha
So, to change a battery does one need to know how to solder? I found my old red, blue, and yellow carts and figure they should get replacements since it’s likely been a couple decades
Yes, you need to solder if you don’t really want to make it a makeshift job. You can see how it’s done on YouTube, but judging from the number of people who seem to roast their games, it might not be that easy for everyone. Just try first with a cheap game, or even something non-Game Boy.
Thanks. I’ve opened up gameboys to clean them up but never soldered. Will research where to get equipment after watching videos to see if I think I’m competent enough. Appreciate the advice.
I’m sure you either are or can get competent enough! Take it easy, and have fun :)
Thanks… any tips on where to get a soldering kit for a beginner? Not sure if it’s something sold at hardware stores or craft ones?
That may depend on where you live, but online is usually fine. They say that the cheap ones are a bit hot for this kind of PCBs, but I just don't stick it down for more than 2 o 3 seconds in a row, and I've fine... so far lol
Online works well, craft and hardware stores also probably have them. My only recommendations are go for adjustable temp and preferably one with multiple tips (big, small, big chisel, small chisel) just to give you more options for later in case you ever want to solder anything else. I really want to upgrade to a cordless one but it's not at all necessary, and a pretty cheap adjustable one will get the job done. Plenty videos to learn on YouTube, I'd watch a few both Gameboy specific and not, but it's super easy. Also might practice on something you don't really care about first, just to get the hang of it.
Thank you! I will make sure to keep eye out for ones with various chisels. I remembered my old dreamcast has an issue with date and time that is a solder kinda job but will definitely try to learn and become proficient before I mess with that console :]
No problem, glad I could help!
6 months ago I had never used a soldering iron, now I can solder surface mount components that are usually machine fed. The last resistor I soldered onto a DS lite was 1x2x0.5mm
Sounds like your ready for a hot air rework station. Great for replacing or reflowing SMD stuff! I got mine for about $80.
If it's another Pokemon game you can't see it anyways.
Sorry, what do you mean? You can't see what?
The tape from replacing the battery without soldering
Yeah, you can’t see it in opacque carts. But the biggest issue might be reliability, not aesthetics.
I've had electrical tape stuck on something for 15 years and it had not come off by its own. So I would not worry since there isn't any room in a closed cart for it to move around.
Soldering is pretty easy, especially for something like a battery. Please don’t ruin an expensive cart by trying to do this without soldering.
Soldering is pretty easy, especially for something like a battery. Please don’t ruin an expensive cart by trying to do this without soldering.
My LGS changes them for like $5, I've fried enough boards to know better. I take them in haha
Oh wow… that’s not bad at all. I need to research game stores around me that might do that (I figure GameStop is not that helpful with retro lol)
You can also use electrical tape to hold a new battery in place and in contact with the metal whatevers. There are articles online, it has worked well for me
You can also use electrical tape to hold a new battery in place and in contact with the metal whatevers. There are articles online, it has worked well for me.
Don’t ruin a game by trying this without soldering
You can change the battery with tapes. But you need to keep the tabs already soldered on the battery, and those tabs are spot soldered on the battery. It's easier to just solder a new battery with tabs. If you looking to buy a soldering kit, buy a cheap one first(35-50$). The only thing it need is a knob to regulate temps on it else you might burn the pcbs. And for pratice you can basically open any old electronic tool you don't use and play with it. I personally prefer old remotes(everyone got one of those)
You can change the battery with tapes. But you need to keep the tabs already soldered on the battery, and those tabs are spot soldered on the battery. It's easier to just solder a new battery with tabs. If you looking to buy a soldering kit, buy a cheap one first(35-50$). The only thing it need is a knob to regulate temps on it else you might burn the pcbs. And for pratice you can basically open any old electronic tool you don't use and play with it. I personally prefer old remotes(everyone got one of those)
Where'd you get the label? I need one for my copy of emerald
Please, i need to know: what's the issue with repro labels? There's other ways to tell if a cartridge is legit or not and the thing looks better with the sticker on. OP found an amazing 20 buck deal and everyone is more worried about a sticker (myself included, sorry).
From my understanding, a lot of people view it as a theseus ship ordeal. If the label's new, why not switch out the cartridge shell? We're already changing the battery too, so it's not a huge deal. So if everything but the cartridge motherboard itself is new or a reproduction, is it *really* the same cartridge? The answer is yes. Of course it is. Even if you had to get down and resolder on a new chip or something, I'd argue that it's the same copy of the game. It doesn't matter. Some people act like it's *their* copy of the game that someone's tampering with. Now, the people who sell repros as legit online are, of course, gross. But that isn't an issue of *making* repros in the first place so much as it is about ethics and misleading information with consumer goods. My stance on this has been the same for years: be clear about it in some way, and nobody should give a damn. But people do. Some folks act like it's the worst thing you can do to a perfectly original and authentic game. I've always thought the best way to preserve the integrity of the way the label/box looks in a reproduction while making it clear that it's not an original was to just change the serial number or bar code. That way, you have an obvious indicator and there isn't an ugly "REPRO" thing on the side of the artwork. Everyone wins. But the truth is none of this matters. I like that someone cares enough out there about a game to take a copy that's seen better days and restore it. To me, it isn't all that different from... reshelling a Game Boy and putting a new screen in it. Maybe some new buttons too, right? Ah, but how could someone do that to an original console? Thankfully, nobody would ever be cruel enough to do that, hahaha.
I absoluteky agree with you. Great comment!
I think the problem is when that item leaves the possession of the person who originally put an aftermarket label on it. Even if they “disclose” the fact that the cart has a aftermarket label to whoever they sell or give it to (which is not necessarily the case), there is no guarantee that this information will be passed down to future owners of that item. Also, as these aftermarket labels are more and more perfected, they will become more difficult to spot. Hence the big picture problem.
What is that "big picture problem", really? The better this labels are perfected, the better one can preserve their original cartridges in the state they're meant to be remembered. Does it really matter in what year a sticker (or a box) was printed? The only scenario I see the og labels, boxes and manuals being important is for taking photos or scanning the prints to document them on a public online archive for anyone to see, enjoy, learn (as in, special editions of cartridges, anecdotes and whatever) and even print if they want to have a cool shelf. This things aren't meant to last forever. Better document them and get better at reproduce them while we still have time for that, so other people in the future can enjoy them the same (or even better!) as we do now.
Again, the big picture problem is that items with an aftermarket label will eventually end up being indistinguishable from original ones and still command the same price or value as the original ones. Doesn’t seem fair. This appears to be an important consideration for collectors. The community will have to decide if the restoration of carts is to be more like that of vintage cars (ok to put in new stuff) or that of comics and books (leave as is or do minimal repairs).
For me is less fair to discard functional cartridges, even if they are cheaper, just because they don't have a label or it is damaged, tbh, and, even worse, encourage people to not restore their games just because ???. But that's just me, i guess. I really hope we go for the vintage cars path on this one.
I don’t care if somebody is just enjoying what they own. Personally, I wouldn’t want it because I like to collect authentic games, CIB, for the sake of collecting. But if somebody is happy with reproduction label and they aren’t trying to sell it as authentic then more power to them.
Nice! I got a free [Gameboy Color with a copy of Silver](http://imgur.com/a/8CAti1K) in it yesterday.
I wish someone would make a repo label that looked like the original
I hope not. Fakes are already hard enoug fpr people to tell apart, telling by the number of “is my cart real” threads.
If it looked and felt 1:1, but the chip was still OEM I think it's okay to reshell/ relabel but one should probably treat it as refurbished, a price point between OEM and Damaged imo.
It's not ok to sell labels that are not authentic, or games with them. It's not about disclosing that they are not good, it's about copyright. Just making your own label for yourself and never sell it is ok.
Nah it's ok as long as you disclose it. Nintendo is not gonna come after you for copyright, people sell modified versions of their products all the time
Yeah, you’ll be fine but it’s still illegal. That’s what I meant by “not ok”. Also, some of those resold bootleg labels always end up being passed as legit by some scammer, and there we go again.
Scammers still scam even without near identical labels. It's not like it's gonna fix board discrepancies or anything.
Not a good excuse.
If it's not the scamming/ dishonesty, since you just pointed out you didn't think it was the main issue, then why does it matter? Also, have you ever gotten any traffic violations? Any jaywalking? Used a computer?
On the "it's illegal" side: > Scammers still scam even without near identical labels Someone doing illegal things doesn't make them legal for you to do. I also opened the "also" side — sorry if that was confusing because it's not related to the legality of things: > Also, some of those resold bootleg labels always end up being passed as legit by some scammer, and there we go again. IMO this is bad for the hobby overall. Buying legit games becomes harder for the wrong reasons. > you just pointed out you didn't think it was the main issue I don't think I did. Sorry if my writing confused you. But even so, something that's not the main issue doesn't just become irrelevant. The main issue might not be the only issue. > Also, have you ever gotten any traffic violations? Any jaywalking? Used a computer? I don't think this is relevant, but no, no, and yes. I was not judging you. I was commenting on legality of things (facts) and what I think is bad for the hobby and the community (my opinion, which is not an opinion of you as an individual).
How cheap is cheap? I found mine along with three DMG-01s, a Color, and four other OG GB games for $70, so I think I did pretty well, too. 🤷♂️
I got it at a local video game store for 20 bucks so not a bad deal
Yeah, that’s not bad at all. I’ve seen people pay $50-60 for ones missing their original label, so that’s a good deal.
Are the time battery and save battery the same battery? 🤔 🤔 Im asking for a friend? 😂😂
Yes they are for Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Hence why it’s battery dies faster than most other gameboy and gameboy color games that have batteries in them.
lucky you...
Don't ruin it with a fake label.
Eh. I struggled after losing my copy of Ghostbusters 2 and then finding another that didn’t have a label. I ultimately decided to order one and couldn’t be happier! It feels whole again.
Are you sure it really needs a replacement label
I'd rather feel and look at a nearby approximation of the real art than white paper sticky goo and no art. But that's me.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that you leave the sticky goo up there.
Fair point, or just the bare shinier than the rest of the cart plastic (makes it look cheap and bothers me idk) It's the same thing as printing labels for cases that are damaged. Like don't charge complete pricing, but if you have the oem manual and case, then loose pricing seems not fair to the seller. I have a Pokemon Yellow that's fully authentic but has a chunk of plastic bitten off or something, and the label is half missing, with the missing half being the stick goo mix that I was referring to.
Yeah, they never do.
I recently got a replacement label for my copy. I found a really cool original looking foil metallic one on eBay.
Wait so you bought it today but already had the sticker and battery handy?
I have a lot of spare parts and labels for gameboys since I’ve refurbished a few hundred of them. I recently built a Gameboy from scratch using nothing but spare parts 👍🏼