The GBA GEM SP kit turned a Game Boy Advance SP into an unhinged handheld like the original Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color. The GEM pulls inspiration from these original Game Boys, handheld emulators like the RG35XX, and the original Gameboy SP Slab.
The GEM started as a final “sunsetting” feature push for our Remixed Slab but ultimately was scrapped and started over from scratch in order to make the best Unhinged SP we could without the limits of someone else’s design files. We consider the GEM to be the spiritual successor to our Remix Slab kit and so it improves on it’s many unique features we designed like the angled L & R soft tactile buttons, front light pipes, brightness button, and the custom button PCB that press fits the speaker like the original SP. All of these features will make building this project that much easier and enjoyable!
We want to thank everyone who voted on social media for the speaker grill’s design and placement (we were team “B” by the way) as well as other ideas like the lanyard slots (thanks b4retro) and properly oriented “L” and “R” text on the shoulder buttons (thanks zosejelaya)! This was truly a community driven design!