Help a noob:what to look for when buying a Gameboy?

that's if you're at the fleamarket obvs, although a decent ebayer will send you a photo of the battery compartment I would think.

and the volume control thing doesn't matter so much  if you intend to pro-sound mod it before the volume pot

Last edited by Duck (Mar 5, 2019 12:42 pm)

First and foremost, if an online listing doesn't show pictures of the back, ALWAYS ask if it has the battery cover before buying. I personally ask if it has the ORIGINAL cover as many of these systems don't come with a cover at all or if they do, it's a replacement made from a different color of plastic. You may not mind having no cover but it can be an inconvenience if it doesn't.

Second bit of advice, buy from a Japanese seller. I've gotten the majority of my collection from Japanese sellers (who sell on the US eBay site) and they're usually in great condition, work perfectly, and they take a ton of pictures with the listing. Rule of thumb is if they have less pictures then they probably have something to hide!

And as a matter of preference, I would go for a DMG rather than a GBC. I just like the sound better, but either will work with most of the same peripherals - although a DMG link cable is usually harder to find than a GBC one and if you buy one of the clear color ones that link to both, they can often times be duds, from what I've seen.

back when i wrote gameboy music, i recall always preferring actually writing on an MGB (gameboy pocket) for the sake of portability/feel, and then bouncing the finished track to my computer from a DMG since it obviously sounds much better.