The Super Game Boy | Fixing Nintendo's Dirty Flawed Secret

[@qwertymodo]

Since the question comes up a lot about PAL units, and I've seen it multiple times in the comments here as well, I'll go ahead and answer it and maybe Voultar can pin this. Yes, PAL SGB units also have an incorrect clock speed. However, by default it's not as bad as the NTSC units. Compatibility-wise, this mod absolutely should work with PAL units, no problem. I say "should" only because I have no way of testing PAL units, since I don't have access to a PAL console or a PAL display. However, having sold many units to PAL customers over the years with that exact same caveat attached, I've never had a single person come back and report any issues, so based on that, and knowledge of the PAL unit's design (it's basically identical to the NTSC PCB, with the exception of a PAL lockout chip), I am fairly confident in saying this mod should work for PAL units. However, that being said, I'm currently unable to ship to a lot of PAL countries, because Tindie still doesn't have any way of processing VAT for the EU and UK, despite promising sellers that they are "working on it" since 2019. I'm looking into alternative selling platforms, but I don't have any ETA on that, sorry :(

[@nafcom]

for Germany since July 1st, 2021, every CN22 and CN23 form is scanned auotmatically and the receiver is invoiced for VAT automatically. Apart from the 6 € pre-payment of Postal Service fee, there is no other hassle for neither the receiver or the sender, so you can send to Germany even without Tindle implementing the pre-charge IOSS electronic VAT way for customs

[@ExplodingWaffle101]

try lectronz

[@Raging1337]

is there anywhere in the eu stocking this mod or any other way to get it?, thanks

[@qwertymodo]

@@Raging1337 I'm currently trying to transition my production from small hand-made batches to proper mid-scale assembly, and that's going to change a few things. For one, I'll be able to keep things in stock more consistently, but for another, I'm going to be trying to figure out EU and UK distribution, whether that means figuring out how to register for VAT processing, or finding an EU distributor that I can partner with. I'm not sure what that's going to look like, but it's definitely on my roadmap.

[@Raging1337]

@qwertymodo thanks for the quick reply, cool that your evolving to the next level in production im glad for you on that,im not sure how these things work but maybe you could reach out to zedlabz? They stock lots of parts and some from other mod creators like yourself(dunno if you know of them already?) im pretty sure they're always looking for cool new mods, i think this mod will gain much more popularity going forward,good luck🙂

[@TBustah]

I knew of the clock issue (which is part of the reason why I bought an SGB2), but I never dreamed that a solution would be this simple. He also makes a kit to add a link port.

[@crosstie417]

Nintendo you had one job making a super game boy. Make a game boy for the snes.......

[@codydfwn]

The only thing this would need is GBA compatibility now and this would truly be a dream come true. Sonic Advance co-op would be pretty novel and rad to play in this way, I would think... As I always thought their portables were the extensions of the last/current consoles they had at the time... But also helping the older generation have another life... As they kept 2d alive forever, honestly. Anyway... Not sure how to end this. I just really wanna play some Sonic Advance co-op with a Super Nintendo controller. As emulating it on the SNES mini feels so smooth this way.

[@Piggieyt75]

@@codydfwn Raphnet makes Super Nintendo to GameCube controller adapters, so with a GameBoy Player, you could use an SNES controller on all games, and maybe use some different mappings.

[@AZJayjohn]

The retro RGB hate is hilarious, like the whole community knows he's the nicest guy ever and random accusations are just comedy gold.

[@HungLe-ys7fk]

It's all inside brokeback mountain lover style jokes

[@WhatAboutZoidberg]

Bob's response would probably be "Dont threaten me with a good time"

[@seth5362]

You say that now but just wait until all the accusations come out and then he'll be spending life in prison for the terrible, awful, vague crimes he's committed

[@GhaleonStrife]

@R-9A Just Voultar and Bob poking fun at each other like they usually do.

[@Siktah]

Just whatever you do, don't make fun of him. He gets MIGHTY spicy.

[@magnus87]

The truth is that it never bothered me that it was faster, even when I was a kid I thought it was faster since it was a SUPER GB and not a Normal Gameboy. XD

[@penatio]

So does it make the Castlevania Adventure a bit better?

[@DehnusNorder]

Remember this is a community that think they know better than the actual programmers and insists it runs old NES, Megadrive, MasterSystem, Atari games on a RGB connector. So they can count every pixel (while programmers used blending to create the illusion of more colors and even animation. Metroid for instance used it quite extensively :) ). But prepare for battle!! If you try to tell some of them that :P. We are a weird community :P.

[@StrokedGT]

@@penatio the version of The Adventure found on the PAL Konami GB Collection is supposed to run faster already. Combined with a NTSC Super Gameboy, it might actually feel perfect.

[@Larry]

Were Nintendo aware of it back then? Could that be one of the reasons why the SGB1 didn't have a link up port?

[@Voultar]

Yes, Nintendo was completely aware of this and is precisely the reason for the link port was omitted. The speed discrepancies between the link port between the SGB and DMG made data transmission incompatible.

[@Larry]

@@Voultar Ah, wow. makes you wonder why they didnt try and slow it down, not even for the US or European releases.

[@robotredkitten817]

Good observation

[@adultmoshifan87]

I guess they didn't include a correction chip as a cost cutting measure

[@JustinC721]

Of course they were. Nintendo are the masters of releasing great products with one single glaring flaw.

[@jasonambros6794]

Perfect for beginners. I had my 9 year old do this as his first soldering project.

[@TheeDeeM]

This is so wholesome.

[@mmik9683]

Very cool

[@MaxOakland]

That’s awesome

[@ryanwinter8813]

I can't believe they got the actual Super Nintendo Chalmers to voice a Super gameboy commercial.

[@CarletonTorpin]

They got Duffman to do the commercial voiceover! Wow!

[@Innerste]

This mod is probably great if you already have a Super GameBoy, and a soldering iron, but idk if this mod is really worth it to someone who doesn't already own a Super GameBoy, unless you want to mod a PAL SGB because you don't have any other options. If you have an NTSC console, the Super GameBoy 2 only costs slightly more than an SGB 1 and Mod Kit, you don't have to wait for stock, and you don't need to solder.

[@wvincent3001]

I was hesitant at first trying to do this one because of the surface mounted components, but this step by step tutorial made it easy to understand! Thanks for the great tutorial!

[@Kj16V]

1:17 Modified Super Gameboy 1:26 Unmodified Super Gameboy 1:41 ☠☠ ǵr§êÐ §µþêr Gåmêßð¥ ☠☠

[@diamondsmasher]

Never noticed the speed difference myself, but honestly not bothered by it. A lot of those old Gameboy games, like Mega Man and Castlevania, just crawl on original hardware anyway.

[@chamoo232]

The speed is not as noticeable unless you played the game to death on actual hardware. I installed the mod a few years ago and the main reason I did it was to get rid of the frame drops. If the games run faster they also end up skipping frames to match the fps output. It's very noticeable in games like Super Mario Land. You run to the right and every second you see the clouds and blocks skip a pixel.

[@CrashFan03]

@@chamoo232 i think the pitch is what makes it noticable for me

[@chamoo232]

@@CrashFan03 Yeah if you played the game on a GB before it can be weird hearing the music faster and at a higher pitch but if you never played the game before it just seems normal. The frame drops can be noticed on any games that have steady scrolling movements. In Tetris, not so much since only the blocks move. Mario Land, Donkey Kong Land and Megaman on the other hand it can be annoying once you notice the little skip every second.

[@ZipplyZane]

I still wonder how the heck I never noticed this, when I instantly noticed the pitch shift in PAL videos back in the day. I may not have perfect pitch, but I normally notice when the pitch sounds wrong. I guess I played my Super Game Boy a lot more until I got a Game Boy Color, and then I just played it more often.

[@AaronBonBarron]

I don't think that far right pad flowed to C5 properly.

[@nezuminora9528]

Is that the Duffman telling me to buy a Super Game Boy?

[@moandaindesigns]

What a great mod. As soon as I saw it I ordered it, and it was a breeze to install. All thanks to the confidence instilled by Voultar. Now to tackle that Virtual boy LCD cable mod...

[@AmyraCarter]

Never had one of these, so I never had that experience. Still, it's cool to see dedicated people making things like this, to actually make gaming better for everyone.

[@-dash]

6:18 as a newbie to soldering, this joint was really impressive (and instructive)

[@bland9876]

I'm still mad that the Super Gameboy features didn't work on a GameCube. :(

[@tigheklory]

LOL, I never noticed the speed difference even though I was aware of it. I mostly just played DK94 on the SGB.

[@robotredkitten817]

Generally, when you do a PCB design, you try to leave nothing under the crystal in case there is interference. It is just a rule I follow all the time. Is it really safe to place it like that?

[@qwertymodo]

It was the best I could do with the parts available and the space constraints of the existing board. The crystal is shrink-wrapped to avoid shorting against anything, at least. I'm going to be redesigning the board soon to switch to a completely on-board SMD oscillator, so that won't be an issue anymore.

[@Dong_Harvey]

@@qwertymodo that's awesome, I've seen earlier posts regarding your product and how you have been constantly updating the design That's awesome

[@Zronium]

Hell yea, good timed video. I ordered my mod chip last week, will probably show up in the mail in a few days. Now I get a nice handy tutorial to follow

[@elkernel]

“Who da f@&$ is Makho? never heard of him or she” 😭😂

[@MrRom92DAW]

Honestly I just think the sfc super gameboy 2 is an overall much cooler product… proper clock speed, no mod necessary, plus it has the cool translucent shell and link cable port. They’re pretty inexpensive too! So that’s the route I went. But good to know that there’s something that can be done with all the “regular” super game boys out there so they’re not immediately considered useless by anyone who still wants to play on one.

[@Xalusc]

Same

[@minifigamer9898]

Hell you can actually use the sgb2 on a north american snes by just clipping two plastic tabs at the bottom of the cartridge slot

[@MrRom92DAW]

@@minifigamer9898 yeah, easiest mod ever! Nothing needed but a pair of pliers and 10 seconds of your time lol. After clipping my SNES I honestly have more fun collecting weird SFC stuff that didn’t get released here than I do collecting regular old North American stuff

[@kiwisoup]

@@minifigamer9898 Or you can just take the board out and put it in the SGB1 and not ruin your SNES.

[@minifigamer9898]

@@kiwisoup bro the only reason those tabs are in it is to prevent you from playing Japanese games on an American SNES, it's like saying soft modding your Wii to remove region locking is "ruining it"

[@ZonicMirage]

I'll need one of these for sure. The speed and music pitch has always bothered me and not having to get an SGB2 would definitely be nice.

[@PotatoFi]

It does the trick! I was able to pick up a Super Game Boy for $15, and a kit from qwertymodo for a nominal cost - the result is a much, much cheaper, fully functional Super Game Boy.

[@DoomRater]

I've never seen something this off and not manage to catch it myself. It's so cool that it's also a fixed problem too!

[@yagisencho]

Just did this mod today. Your tutorial (and the clock chip itself) made it quick and painless - thanks!

[@lorenzoporciani]

I can't find any info anywhere: does this work on a PAL cartridge?

[@trilexfix]

In all honesty I think you are probably the only person on KZbin that can wear sunglasses inside and it is acceptable everyone else that does it, just fails miserably, and in movies the only acceptable one is Morpheus. I wonder who wins indoor sunglasses for tv though?

[@TerryLondon]

I vote for Minty Comedic Arts :)

[@PluckyInc]

That moment when you recognize Hank Azaria doing his Duffman voice for the super gameboy commercial.

[@ihsan_lol]

I think I'm gonna go ahead and make this my first soldering project, my super gameboy never gets any action otherwise, this seems like a great project to start with and simple enough for a beginner like myself!

[@ThinkBeforeYouSleepYT]

I do not remember 90s commercials being that weird.

[@evenmorebetter]

Was that Hank Azaria?

[@apollolux]

@@evenmorebetter I certainly thought so, that guy sounded very Duffman.

[@ayliniemi]

@@googleaccount1860 I'm sure there are plenty of married men who get laid on average more than swingers plus they could play Halo with their kids.

[@MaxOakland]

Everything had to be EXTREME

[@apollolux]

@@MaxOakland Extreme...TO THE MAX!

[@Maxx_XIII]

Isn't the L in "solder" supposed to be silent?

[@Shishizurui]

0:40 I'll add to that statement, on your tv in color BACKLIT so you weren't contorting to find a good light source everyone forgets that fact. holy shit this dude's soldering skills did not expect that

[@ItsTeezoUBZ]

Bro these video are so soothing and relaxing !! I even started soldering more often !!

[@infinity2z3r07]

That 90s SGB commercial gave me feels in all the right places 😂

[@marqueeviveiros8412]

Bro I love you videos everything out them feels so right from the presentation to the soundtracks, absolutely amazing content you put out

[@robinpickett592]

Good to see you back at it.

[@placeholderdupe740]

What temperature do you use for this job, and generally other jobs? I always run a high risk of burning boards and components. I’ve been between 343 to 398 C. I am a novice, but still doing many of these mods… Haven’t broke anything so far!

[@RyoGrattius]

I'd lower it to 300-325 C range. 398 is very hot and you'll very likely burn off pads if you're not careful. Only time you'd want to think about going that hot is if you're dealing with a very large ground plane.

[@rubenmejia4881]

It also depends on your ambient climate when it's really cold I would crank it up a few degrees more but I stick to a happy medium of 350

[@TooBokoo]

300ish Celsius is more than enough. Even 343 is pretty high.

[@rubenmejia4881]

@@TooBokoo well I'm up north and 300 doesn't cut it for me the solder won't even melt on the tip so I use 340 to 350 but for me 350 is the sweet spot especially since the cold wind tends to cool down the iron in my case but everyone situation is different.

[@Alan2E0KVRKing]

I use 325 C for .5mm solder in normal electronics use. 400 C if the pads are large or I'm doing other bigger joints. This is for 60/40 lead/tin solder, I don't use lead free stuff!

[@PlantedWave5190]

Neat! We can actually take advantage of the clock mod to sync up with the real Game Boy speed, plus, if we can mod it with a link cable port for multiplayer, we can have fun in Tetris, and battle it out or even trade Pokémon in Gen 1 and Gen 2.

[@SmokeMonster]

Great video as always :D

[@batluckies]

Does this mod also work with the european PAL version of the Super Game Boy? And, if yes, is this mod necessary on PAL versions?

[@Dekomata]

Being completely used to the speed of a gameboy, the faster speed on the super gameboy always threw me off. So this mod would do a great service for me.

[@omfgbunder2008]

I always thought this wasn't possible because the difference in clocks would mean the GB hardware would lose sync with the SNES hardware and stop working (Well, without having to buffer all the cart slot IO)... Never looked into the SGB2 hardware because they're practically unobtainium. This is a really cool mod though, I'll definitely be looking for one of these when I start buying gear again.

[@bm1747]

As a kid I only ever played my Gameboy plugged in. Batteries were expensive. Yet I have never owned a SNES. I *should* have gotten a super Gameboy. It would have made much more sense.

[@SudosFTW]

did this a few years ago. Also a good idea to recap the SGB while you have it open. helps with audio issues later on, since they're using surface mount caps from the 90s in there.

[@davidhendew6632]

While I get wanting to play retro games as they were on the original hardware.. I welcome performance improvements. It's funny that someone invested themselves into slowing down hardware.

[@Nedly79]

I'm pretty sure that is Hank Azaria's voice on that commercial.

[@xwilliammeex]

Dude, I was going to post the same thing. There’s no way it isn’t him!

[@teeffw2776]

Dude I was going insane thinking Supernintendo Chalmers was telling me to play on the Super Nintendo.

[@brettito]

I hear Duff Man. OOOOOOoooooh yyyyyaaaaaaahhhh!!!

[@emiliofahr504]

This is way easier and cleaner to install than the one I used. Awesome product!

[@TheBitPunch]

Well done. Simple, but enjoyable to watch. I’ve got both sgb1, and sgb2, so I probably won’t get one. It would be cool to add an expansion connector to the original sgb though. Anybody have a board for that? If they did, I’d do the clock mod too.

[@Omabatfartsbruh]

wouldn't open flux damage the traces on the pcb if they're uncleaned? that's why the instructions want you to clean off the pads

[@m.burdelis]

Great work by Qwertymodo! We now need the same for the GameCube GBA player

[@nathanrussell2158]

I haven’t touched my super game boy since I got the game boy player. I always thought the music was a little off on that thing. Awesome video.

[@libertyernie]

Love that kid dracula music. I think I read once that the world 2 BGM was an arrangement of a preexisting composition but I can't find that now.

[@mbentley3887]

Thanks @voultar for the helpful videos. I did this exact same @qwertymodo mod about two years ago, but ended up with glitchy short horizontal lines appearing all over the screen. I haven't touched it since. Any ideas on what I may have done wrong? All the solder points seemed pretty solid.

[@AceTrainerX3]

Damn, didn't know the audio was so affected with the og Super Gameboy. Wouldn't mind picking one up and modding in the replacement crystal, as it better fits my north American SNES that the Super Gameboy 2.

[@haloslayer255]

Always love seeing Voultar uploads, nice pcb design.

[@paulbunting4260]

Hi Voultar, Do you think the european pal versions of the super gameboy cart will benefit from this mod upgrade? I have a american ntsc snes that is SuperCIC modded, here in the UK. I also use a european Super Gameboy on the snes that appears to work okay.

[@supermahmoud]

Does the Game Boy Player for Gamecube suffer from the same flaw ? I love to use it more than my Super Game Boy as it's a GBA/GBC beast too !

[@rangerreview1780]

It doesn't. The GB Player has the Link port. Allowing all games to work.

[@CrashFan03]

yknow the speedup of the super gameboy reminds me of how NTSC movies and tv shows are sped up to accomodate for the PAL format. although in that case its 4% faster instead

[@chrisdelaney926]

Maybe there was something intentional to that. There really were a games that played slow to compensate for the OG DMG screen. speeding them up 3% for the big screen would have been a good idea.

[@MaxOakland]

That’s an interesting thought

[@MrBunt]

The intention was - very likely - to save money, by omitting the extra crystal etc. The "small inaccuracy" was accepted as a trade-off

[@kleev6576]

Hahaha this is not a flaw to me... I noticed the games sounded "happier" on a Super GameBoy when I was a kid, and I loved it! Another cool thing was the aspect ratio that changed to 4:3, this made the games look a bit more like their NES or SNES counterparts.

[@bland9876]

the gameboy is not 4:3?

[@germanasf9612]

@@bland9876 it was 10:9

[@assymcgee1]

@@bland9876 I believe what kleev is referring to is the Super Gameboy’s output aspect ratio, as the Super Gameboy converts the Gameboy’s stock 10:9 ratio to a 4:3, which was better suited for television at the time. Otherwise you would have distortion of the games video proportions and thus defeat the purpose of the device to begin with.

[@bland9876]

@@assymcgee1 but the games don't show in full screen anyways so no need to strach or squish the screen.

[@fuijika]

Sweet I just ordered one. 15$ for this mod is a no brainer.

[@TwinOpinion]

The Super Game Boy 2 was the first thing we ever imported from Japan. Very cool to see this mod! Should make a lot of people happy.

[@LoftechUK]

The best fake names at the end I’ve seen in years. Shame Biggus Dickus was forgot 😂

[@Druid_Plow]

I remember using one of these to play pokemon red. The scuffed battle music just felt so wrong and i couldn't do it

[@Daniel-it1dp]

Thanks for the short and sweet video. It was a good reminder that I’ve been meaning to do this mod and ordered one of the last few devices in stock 👍. This’ll be my first console soldering mod in like 20 years 🤭

[@retropulse03]

I'm still new to soldering, but I recently picked up a Super Game Boy! I'm gonna have to pick this up. Man this is just exciting.

[@jmillart]

Are you also gonna add the super game boy link port mod? You can go further

[@elkernel]

X2 Make it so

[@sethwest7655]

Great video and completely reasonable for the speed run community, but I only have one thing to say to this mod. "Thanks, I hate it." I didn't even know there was speed change when I was kid.

[@MegaManNeo]

Now you just have to convince the speedrunning community that your SGB actually runs at the correct GameBoy speed 😅

[@shadowtheimpure]

That's easily done just by listening to the audio track. On the unmodded SGB, the audio track is all wonky. With the modded SGB, your audio track sounds as it should.

[@XFreedy23]

Does the PAL version of the Super GameBoy have the same problem?

[@jaervekaur8788]

Yes.

[@emlyndewar]

When both original/modded opening tracks were allowed to play at the same time… That is the song of my nightmares.

[@stephenshelottiii3272]

Can you please show us how to properly make a mx4sio adapter. I can only find guides with janky hot glue messes.

[@xnamkcor]

Ummmm. I discarded the shell like you said, but at the end it shows you putting the PCB back in the shell. Do I need to buy a new shell?

[@kamencesc]

This affects only to the NTSC? I don't remember where I heard that the PAL one more closely to the original clock.

[@spamaccount6460]

Your positioning makes it look like you're being pulled into a jet engine that's off screen and you're doing everything you can not to get sucked in.

[@h.celine9303]

It's not only looking like that.

[@tanookitech]

Keep up the great content. You are the Bob Ross of your craft. Out here painting lush landscapes on these PCBs with your solder iron.

[@bitronic1]

Great. Next: Original Game Boy hdmi mod.

[@h.celine9303]

Upscaled to 8K, of course.

[@bitronic1]

@@h.celine9303 that's too ambitious.

[@71dembonesTV]

wow this is a really nice clean way to fix this issue. one of the first mods i did was a breadboard version of this fix.it's not pretty but it does work to this day ^_^

[@DrBagPhD]

Speedrunners hate him, watch Voultar slow down games with this one simple trick

[@davidbaisley]

Great video! Now for your follow-up you should add the Gameboy link cable port back to a cart.

[@Yipper64]

I just got a supergameboy 2 for this purpose and removed the tabs. I guess this is a better solution if you dont want to take out the tabs in the SNES unit that is. Mine came in and already had a few chips and cracks so I didnt mind modifying the console further. Maybe ill buy a replacement shell someday idk.

[@darkfoxfurre]

Not gonna clean the flux off your board?

[@P48L1N]

Nice homage to the PAL only game Die Maus with the music. i enjoyed very much that game.

[@Sypaka]

Next on Voultar: Let's add the Link-Cable feature back to the Super Gameboy in less then 30 minutes. lol

[@merman1974]

Excellent video, love that the mod exists and seems very simple to do.

[@AmaroqStarwind]

You know what would be awesome? A hybrid of the Super GameBoy and the GameBoy Color. This would be especially awesome for homebrew games and ROM hacks that contain enhancements for both the Gameboy Color and the Super Gameboy.

[@veghesther3204]

It was amazing their WAS going to be a Super Game boy 2 one that actually PLAYED Game boy COLOR only games but it never did get a release for it even in Japan.

[@qwertymodo]

Game Boy Color would never have worked, it's not possible to transfer the full-color video data fast enough.

[@afriend9428]

*That was fantastic sir!* ⭐️

[@SvennyMcG]

Made a clear case, provided examples and a solution. Fantastic video 👍

[@victorromero8010]

I always thought it was just a higher pitch. I didn’t think it was slightly faster too.

[@elkernel]

8:43 RetroRGB 🥰😭😂

[@adamciesielski1313]

Awesome video, glad I was able to nab a SGB2. Any plans to restock the PC Engine IFU kit?

[@ike-2357]

Hey this was an excellent video, It really helped me install this into my sgb

[@combatking0]

I wonder if there's a mod which adds the link cable socket.

[@treyslay753]

Your superb soldering skills never fail to impress

[@Kevin-lw1kq]

Clean mod. I'm not a HUGE fan of flooding so much solder directly on C5, though. U5-32 would be preferred.

[@qwertymodo]

I intentionally chose to avoid soldering to any IC pins for ease of installation. There's no real issue with soldering to C5 like that as long as you don't go too crazy and short out the cap, or leave the heat on too long and desolder the whole thing.

[@mydude3254]

Well, I might just go fix mine now. ( I'm lazy and bought the Japanese SGB 2 haha) Thanks for bringing this to attention!

[@jjmini]

Dumb question but does the original super game boys higher clock speed benefit the gameboy camera in any way?