DogTag
Offline
Murcia, Spain

Hello guys

First off, I didn't know if I was supposed to put this thread under Nintendo Handhelds or here, so if it's in the wrong place, please move it for me : )

I decided to make this thread to allow people to have a closer look at this peculiar handheld, and get here all the information we can so that this thing gets documented.
Right now I'm pretty much busy, so all I could do was posting some pics on Flickr with all the detail I could (sorry for some of them being a bit twisted). Here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doggietagg … 126649090/

When I thought of getting one of these things, I had like a million questions about how it felt, how it was finished, the quality of the screen, etc. which I really coudn't get answered, so I hope this thread helps people with the same questions.

I got the GB Boy Colour with the intention of using it exclusively for gaming, so I haven't really put it to play music or anything yet (any info will be welcome, I'll update the thread with anything).

Aesthetically
The console seems to have a different plastic from the original GBC, or at least that's what it looks like to me. It's slightly bigger (see comparison picture).
The buttons feel more or less the same as the original ones, except for Select and Start, which are "clicky" like the rest, instead of therubber ones we're accustomed to.
The screen came with a protective film, which, once removed revealed a completely clear and clean new screen.
The link port is kinda weird, obviously not the same as the original.
The volume wheel and the power switch are similar to those of the GBC, with the only difference being that the power switch is like "weaker" in the GB Boy.
There's a small 3V DC input as well as a standard 3.5mm input jack, same as the GBC. I've plugged it to my speakers playing one of my LSDJ songs and I didn't hear any noticeable background noise or hum, but I wouldn't trust me as I did it on a hurry xD
All the screws holding the case are philips-style, except for a weird one, of which I took a picture too.

Use
The screen has a weird aspect ratio, as if the image was "flattened". However, it's of a not so bad quality, and it's BACKLIT! As you can see in the pictures, the light is very clean and it gives a very nice image, pretty much all we need for playing our GBC games. Another weird thing about it is that when you switch it off, 95% of the times the image stays still, I don't know for how long, but it does.
I've not played for a long time, but the buttons seem to respond very well, and they are comfortable.
The speaker does well its job, altough I've heard some strange sounds while the music is playing in games... as if it went out of tune momentarily or something...  maybe due to the hardware, or just my imagination xD
I've found that, annoyingly, my unit doesn't come with precharged games, selectable when you switch it on without a cartridge. Maybe that came up later and my unit was older or something...

What else?
I bought the handheld from Kitsch (thanks!!!) and it came in a brand new, original box. The manual is in chinese, so I don't know if there's something important there xD

As I said, I hope this helps anyone in the situation of deciding wether to get this thing or not. It's too early to say anything determining about it, but just for the backlit screen it looks promising!

When I find time this summer, I'd also like to open it and take pictures of what's inside.

If anyone wants to add new pictures, sound samples/comparisons, or anything related, please post it here and I'll update this first post. I wanted to link a comparison made by thebitman, but I can't find the link right now.

Update (06/16/2013): After comparing the three sound clips, the main difference between the original and our clones could be that the PU1 is not "perfectly designed", and finds trouble when dealing with pitch bends and similar effects. Also, the WAV channel isn't perfect, and some glitching happens once in a while. (thanks thebitman for your dmg-killing tune and your impressions)

Resources

Sound comparison by thebitman:
http://chipmusic.org/thebitman/music/ri … ur-version
http://chipmusic.org/thebitman/music/rises

Same song, but played on my GB Boy Colour (seems to be a newer revision, yet to be checked):
http://chipmusic.org/dogtag/music/rises … r-research

"First look inside" by Circuit Ben (more videos of the thing are on his channel):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKiX6lXmRI8

Now, share things for the common knowledge : )

Last edited by DogTag (Jun 16, 2013 8:35 am)

TheBronyChip
Offline
Maine

how's the bass compared to the dmg prosound?

Pale
Offline
Jyväskylä, Finland

Thanks for the info, this made me more interested to buy one someday.
I have a question about the battery life. I'm not sure if you have had time to test it, but is it worse/same/better than GBC?

dsv101
Offline
Medina, Ohio

There is this video online where some dude tears it apart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKiX6lXmRI8

DogTag
Offline
Murcia, Spain

I've found, at last, the links to thebitman's songs.

Here's a song by him (don't know if played in a GBC or a DMG):
http://chipmusic.org/thebitman/music/rises

And on the GB Boy Colour:
http://chipmusic.org/thebitman/music/ri … ur-version

The WAV souns quite different (nicer, IMHO), and so does the noise channel.

About the battery life, it's too early for me to tell you about it. Moreover, I haven't depleted a pair of new batteries in my GBC for years... so I wouldn't know either xD Someone will have to come up with this at some point.

Thanks for the video! I'll add it to the first post, along with the thebitman links.

thebitman
Offline

Take note, the pulse channels shit the bed when it comes to pitch bends (V, L, and P commands in LSDJ). I am not sure however if this applies to just my unit. I will send you a save file, and if you could record a track of mine off of your GB Boy Colour (seems to be a different hardware revision?) I would appreciate it. There may be more difference than the lack of built in games.

DogTag
Offline
Murcia, Spain
thebitman wrote:

Take note, the pulse channels shit the bed when it comes to pitch bends (V, L, and P commands in LSDJ). I am not sure however if this applies to just my unit. I will send you a save file, and if you could record a track of mine off of your GB Boy Colour (seems to be a different hardware revision?) I would appreciate it. There may be more difference than the lack of built in games.

Indeed, it must be a different revision!
That'd be awesome. Whenever you feel like it, send it over and I'll record and upload it!

In case this means something, my unit says model "GBC-409". Is yours the same?

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind

check what the printing is on the PCB itself, not on the box.  that's not a reference to the PCB revision

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind

(and great thread btw)

basspuddle
Offline
washington

wow, that screen looks really nice!

DogTag
Offline
Murcia, Spain
kitsch wrote:

check what the printing is on the PCB itself, not on the box.  that's not a reference to the PCB revision

First thing in my to-do-in-summer list!

Spaceman
Offline

I dont know why yours didnt come with the preloaded games but I bought mine on Amazon about a month ago and it came with them. Most of the games are poopy but it has a few good ones like Contra.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B6O … &psc=1

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind

i'm told they've discontinued adding in the games, so most likely that stock was a little older

DogTag
Offline
Murcia, Spain

That'd make sense. Are these things still in production?
Another thing I forgot to add in my first post is that the screen keeps the last image it had when switched off... a bit creepy. It seems to disappear after some time.

DogTag
Offline
Murcia, Spain

I've just uploaded Rises played in my console.

I don't know if the same thing happened to you, thebitman, but in the third row on the song menu, the PU1 sometimes doesn't play or plays just half of the phrase... very very weird. I finally got a recording in which everything sounded more or less okay, but you are more accustomed to your song, so please tell us what's really going on there:

http://chipmusic.org/dogtag/music/rises … r-research

(First post updated)

thebitman
Offline

Thanks DogTag. I am definitely hearing the same issues in the PU1 channel as I did in my recording (my unit has the built in games, I got it off of Amazon). Also, some of the WAV playback with vibrato doesn't sound like the original DMG version. The WAV channel on your recording also has some glitching where certain instruments don't play back correctly but they glitch the same way in my GB Boy Colour recording.

This is what I can gather: PU1 can't deal with pitch bends past the start of a bend, and it is clear that while the WAV channel is very usable it's not perfect. Noise is fine across the spectrum and PU2 strangely seems to be fine.

I believe that the engineers for this device may have goofed in some way with PU1. The only thing I can think of is how PU1 has different command and instrument options than PU2 and this difference causes some sort of error when interpreting data.