Play Game Boy Advance Games in HD with the GBA Consolizer

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A brand new mod for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) has entered the spotlight. After a few years of development, the GBA Consolizer provides native 720p HD output from a GBA to a moden HD television. This mod allows you to play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games upscaled in HD with zero lag and the crispiest pixels.

Since Nintendo releases the Super Game Boy in 1994 for the Super NES, there has been a market of fans longing to play their handheld games on the big screen TVs in their home. Nintendo has offered a variety of solutions from console attachments to digital downloads on Wii U. There’s an entire rabbit hole of getting the best picture out of Game Boy hardware.

The GBA Consolizer is created by Stephen Williams, who goes by the handle Woozle. Williams uses a Field-programmable Gate Array (FPGA) as the heart of this mod. The GBA Consolizer replaces the screen of the GBA, while leaving the rest of the system intact. The mod does require soldering skills to install.

Williams has also been working on a 3D printed case that would replace the GBA shell with a more console-like shell. He even tweeted out the idea of custom colors for a more personal touch, which is the featured image of this article.

#GBAConsolizer update:
Working Gerbs from fab reviewed and look good so production of the first pre order will start asap and we should get the boards around mid Jan, then prog and testing can commence, ship not long after!
Still working on the full case, news coming soon.
— GameTechUS (@GameTechUS) December 31, 2018

Once installed though, the results look spectacular. Rather than simply being a barebones plug-and-play option, the GBA Consolizer includes some nifty settings. Users can add scanlines to mimic an old CRT or the GBA’s own LCD, modify the color palette, smooth the graphics, or scale the image up 5x to fill most of a TV screen. Check out the video below to see Williams latest sample footage, including these features.

The GBA Consolizer also includes a SNES controller port, allowing for a more console like feel. This also works with 8BitDo’s wireless SNES adapter that supports bluetooth controllers and 8BitDo’s own wireless controller line. This sounds perfect for games like Metroid Zero Mission.

Game-Tech US will be selling the GBA Consolizer through their online store. Late last year there was a small pre-order window to help serve as a final wave for testing. Game-Tech US tweeted out on December 31, 2018 a brief update on the GBA Consolizer supply indicating that orders may take place at the end of January 2019.