Nah, it wasn't problematic -- it was just not the one I ordered. The screen was darker than other modded GBAs I've seen, though, but like I said in the article, there was no ghosting on it (or image retention, if you like), so it was a fine trade off. Still perfectly viewable. And I was able to break the d-pad in.
Thanks for clearing that up, though -- I was worried this was going to devolve quickly.
Your first comment was to say that other people seemed to be talking about things they don't know about. I just wanted to point out that you might have done the same.
I'm glad you're loving yours, I still really want to get one.
Your first comment was to say that other people seemed to be talking about things they don't know about. I just wanted to point out that you might have done the same.
I'm glad you're loving yours, I still really want to get one.
Yeah, it's... I love it. Hoping the supply issue doesn't last forever; obviously it starts to become prohibitively expensive to make these if modders have to start buying SPs with screens that may or may not work with the adapter for the OG motherboard... I've seen some modders offering frontlit OG GBAs recently, which is basically back to the Afterburner days. Anyway. I really do want to contribute to this thread more. Gotta get my collection together.
It's great that you had a good experience, but please don't put words on other peoples mouth. I had a terrible experience first hand with RCG, it was not telephone effect.
It's good the see they are improving, but don't try to make excuses for their previous behavior. It was terrible.
It's great that you had a good experience, but please don't put words on other peoples mouth. I had a terrible experience first hand with RCG, it was not telephone effect.
It's good the see they are improving, but don't try to make excuses for their previous behavior. It was terrible.
Yep, read enough poor impressions and experiences for me not to take the risk of spending a significant amount to ship all the way to the UK. Now, the designs are fantastic, but those prices aren't worth the risk for me.
I would never order one to Europe. One guy I know got a faulty one, returned it and had to pay import tax on the replacement unit too. Considering the prices it's just not worth the risk.
Hah! They spelled Super Famicom (スーパーファミコン wrong. They forgot the circle to make ha into pa.
Thanks for your write-up here. I read your article too. Just a couple of questions to clarify your experience:
Were RCG aware you were writing an article for Nintendo World Report?
Consider that if the answer to this is yes, your experience is an anomaly, and not really comparable to any old customer ordering from them.
Did you have to pay for the GBA out of your own pocket, was it paid for by Nintendo World Report, or was it provided free by RCG for review purposes?
If the first, then your experience will be more comparable. If either the second or third, please understand the experience is vastly different for people when you have hundreds of dollars on the line and something goes wrong.
Anyway, I know you're new to GAF, but complaining doesn't outweigh praise here in every case. In many threads different companies/modders/stores/etc are recommended over and over again for different reasons. Unfortunately for RCG, they're not one of them.
Also I noticed this in your article and couldn't help but comment:
You could try eBay, wheres youll pay somewhere around $150 for a pre-modded system that may or may not be in good condition, most likely hasnt been professionally built, and probably isnt even using genuine Nintendo parts or you could check out Rose Colored Gaming instead.
People have bought pre-modded systems off eBay for as low as $60 here, for a start.
Secondly, don't be fooled. All the new parts come from the same place. I'm all for using as many original parts as possible, but let's not pretend RCG has exclusive access to "genuine Nintendo parts".
Rewritten/rearranged for fun:
You could try eBay, wheres youll pay somewhere around $150 for a pre-modded system that may or may not be in good condition, most likely hasnt been professionally built, and probably isnt even using genuine Nintendo parts or you could check out Rose Colored Gaming instead, wheres youll pay somewhere around $250 for a pre-modded system that may or may not be in good condition, most likely hasnt been professionally built, and probably isnt even using genuine Nintendo parts.
I always have a chuckle when people say "professionally" in regards to modding. How would you define this, just out of interest?
Anyway I'm sure people in this thread will appreciate your write-up, even if it is your job. I hope RCG has some motivation to improve and do some awesome work in the future.
I appreciate the write up as well, it's good to see a bit more exposure for the backlight GBA even if they are on the verge of being hard to find.
WRT ordering on ebay, it seems like on average people here have had better luck with ebay sellers than with RCG so I wouldn't write that off. My ebay'd GBA backlight was <$100 and was/is totally great. I'm honestly fine with having a repro case vs getting a potentially gross 2nd hand GBA. I also vastly prefer that to the painted (which would eventually chip or wear) RCG cases.
Thanks for your write-up here. I read your article too. Just a couple of questions to clarify your experience:
Were RCG aware you were writing an article for Nintendo World Report?
Consider that if the answer to this is yes, your experience is an anomaly, and not really comparable to any old customer ordering from them.
Did you have to pay for the GBA out of your own pocket, was it paid for by Nintendo World Report, or was it provided free by RCG for review purposes?
If the first, then your experience will be more comparable. If either the second or third, please understand the experience is vastly different for people when you have hundreds of dollars on the line and something goes wrong.
Anyway, I know you're new to GAF, but complaining doesn't outweigh praise here in every case. In many threads different companies/modders/stores/etc are recommended over and over again for different reasons. Unfortunately for RCG, they're not one of them.
Is that your job, truly?
Also I noticed this in your article and couldn't help but comment:
People have bought pre-modded systems off eBay for as low as $60 here, for a start.
Secondly, don't be fooled. All the new parts come from the same place. I'm all for using as many original parts as possible, but let's not pretend RCG has exclusive access to "genuine Nintendo parts".
Rewritten/rearranged for fun:
You could try eBay, wheres youll pay somewhere around $150 for a pre-modded system that may or may not be in good condition, most likely hasnt been professionally built, and probably isnt even using genuine Nintendo parts or you could check out Rose Colored Gaming instead, wheres youll pay somewhere around $250 for a pre-modded system that may or may not be in good condition, most likely hasnt been professionally built, and probably isnt even using genuine Nintendo parts.
I always have a chuckle when people say "professionally" in regards to modding. How would you define this, just out of interest?
Anyway I'm sure people in this thread will appreciate your write-up, even if it is your job. I hope RCG has some motivation to improve and do some awesome work in the future.
Not initially, when I first started inquiring about parts, process, etc., because I hadn't locked down that I would actually *be* writing about this anywhere except for my own website. I went through many rounds of emails/Facebook messages (going back to March, when the design was first teased) before that became part of the conversation. Prior to that, I'd been in contact with Wiggy previously through Digital Press, where I've been a member for several years (I tend to stick to DP and Famicom World, for the most part, for collecting communities.) But I do agree with you in principle.
Out of my own pocket, at full price. NWR is an all-volunteer site. I do get some freelance work now and then, but it's not been a priority for me for the past year or so.
People have bought pre-modded systems off eBay for as low as $60 here. . .I always have a chuckle when people say "professionally" in regards to modding. How would you define this, just out of interest?
I define professionally as "it doesn't look like the $60 GBA I bought on eBay last year," which was cracked on the back, had a volume slider that crackled every time I adjusted it, and a ribbon cable that wasn't even attached properly so the screen wouldn't turn on until I opened it and connected it myself. Basically, there's an amateur who does this kind of stuff at his dining room table (see my 3DS XL Shell Swapping Guide on IGN... I'm an amateur), and there's a pro, who has a dedicated space for working, proper tools and materials, and actual training.
And that's all I got for now. It's 7 and my wife is asking why I haven't washed the dishes yet
It's great that you had a good experience, but please don't put words on other peoples mouth. I had a terrible experience first hand with RCG, it was not telephone effect.
It's good the see they are improving, but don't try to make excuses for their previous behavior. It was terrible.
I've been following this thread since last year. I'm not at all saying that anyone who has had a poor experience is lying. What I am saying is that some people in this very thread have been parroting hearsay as first hand experiences, and that there's a disproportionate number of those responses compared to someone saying they had a good experience and then someone else saying "RCG makes good stuff."
I'm not trying to be combative, as another user said... just trying to add a point in the opposite direction because again, as in all things in life, complaining tends to far outweigh praise.
I define professionally as "it doesn't look like the $60 GBA I bought on eBay last year," which was cracked on the back, had a volume slider that crackled every time I adjusted it, and a ribbon cable that wasn't even attached properly so the screen wouldn't turn on until I opened it and connected it myself. Basically, there's an amateur who does this kind of stuff at his dining room table (see my 3DS XL Shell Swapping Guide on IGN... I'm an amateur), and there's a pro, who has a dedicated space for working, proper tools and materials, and actual training.
It might sadden you to hear that people have received systems from RCG with exactly these types of problems and more. Some have posted here, some I've talked to directly, and some can be found on other forums and such.
What sort of training are you referring to? Some experience working for Nintendo repairs perhaps?
Recently, on the whole, people seem to have had more of a positive experience with eBay sellers than RCG. For the prices they charge, I'd expect it to be the other way around. I love some of their designs and colour schemes, so I really hope they can step it up a notch and provide good service across the board from now on. Perhaps their greatest challenge is going to be consistency. If everyone had the same experience as you, I bet they could repair their reputation.
Although, having said that, the issues you outline in your write-up could be deal breakers for a lot of people here. I wouldn't put up with sticky buttons or severe ghosting on screen, but then again I'm pretty OCD about these things.
Weighing in on the Rose Colored Gaming debate, I went over this earlier in the thread, but I'll say it again.
We got our system in from them and it looked great, the screen was awesome. But the D-pad was all sorts of messed up. It wouldn't press one of the directions right. I think the right. Doesn't matter, it didn't work right.
So I emailed them. And they emailed me back, and agreed to fix our issue with the system.
It came back and works flawlessly.
I don't doubt that some people (people here, apparently as well) have had issues with them in the past. But my experience with them fixing our issue is nothing short of amazing. I was quite happy with the level of service.
Weighing in on the Rose Colored Gaming debate, I went over this earlier in the thread, but I'll say it again.
We got our system in from them and it looked great, the screen was awesome. But the D-pad was all sorts of messed up. It wouldn't press one of the directions right. I think the right. Doesn't matter, it didn't work right.
So I emailed them. And they emailed me back, and agreed to fix our issue with the system.
It came back and works flawlessly.
I don't doubt that some people (people here, apparently as well) have had issues with them in the past. But my experience with them fixing our issue is nothing short of amazing. I was quite happy with the level of service.
I remember reading about these a while back but I don't recall when or where...
The cases look pretty nice but it'd cost me a fortune to buy cases for all of my games! :S
Hah! They spelled Super Famicom (スーパーファミコン wrong. They forgot the circle to make ha into pa.
I'm confused by this. People can judge my product based on experience with one piece of hardware, unless it's a positive experience?
By that measure, the people who've had negative experiences (with ONE of our products) shouldn't be able to adequately judge whether our products are quality or crap?
I remember reading about these a while back but I don't recall when or where...
The cases look pretty nice but it'd cost me a fortune to buy cases for all of my games! :S
These are made by a great guy over at The Cover Project (ShadowFox). I pledged to buy them when I initially found the thread and received some from the first batch. They're AMAZING. I cannot recommend them enough. If you go over to TheCoverProject (here are the threads: http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=14889.0 & http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=14919.0) he may be able to give you a more reasonable shipping discount. These cases are actually what's spurred me over the last year to buy back and build up my GB/GBC/GBA collection since I've been too downtrodden to go back after it since all the stuff was stolen from my folks' place a half decade ago...
I don't know if it is him on eBay or just someone who bough the cases and is selling them with custom covers but all of my games are going in these and they're fantastic. Look original and overall the build quality (save a rare bent corner) is superb.
Hey guys, here's the writeup of the Rose Colored Gaming SNES/SFC themed GBAs I promised last week (it's a little late!), over at NintendoWorldReport. Tons of images, too, so check out the gallery. Hope you like it!
Nice writeup and pictures. I like seeing these taken in natural lighting instead of someone's yellowish kitchen lights or in a light box. The only concerns I have are with the picture you posted in your comment. As someone mentioned before, it looks like they used a ハ instead of a パ which is an easy mistake to make, but definitely something I'd find unacceptable in a $250 mod. And the speaker grill looks messed up and wavy.
In all honesty, I too have gotten the impression that the overall opinion of RCG here is negative. And I'd wager only a minority of that negativity comes from actual customers. But the complaints from actual customers are entirely valid, just like the positive comments and small niggles in the NWP review. That said, I do think it's important to consider such positive experiences when negativity typically wins out on the internet.
Meanwhile, as long as my Toys R Us midnight blue GBA and backlight kit work well, I'll be more than happy with that.
I'm confused by this. People can judge my product based on experience with one piece of hardware, unless it's a positive experience?
By that measure, the people who've had negative experiences (with ONE of our products) shouldn't be able to adequately judge whether our products are quality or crap?
No one should be making judgements on anything other than what they've bought and used.
Some people have bought a product and not been pleased with it.
Others absolutely adore it.
Just don't understand, having 2 GBAs, one not being bright enough, you can then move on and say that RCG make quality products of that. The one GBA that he was happy with was to his liking and that was a quality product.
I also didn't get how he thought his job was to promote when it was to review.
No one should be making judgements on anything other than what they've bought and used.
Some people have bought a product and not been pleased with it.
Others absolutely adore it.
Just don't understand, having 2 GBAs, one not being bright enough, you can then move on and say that RCG make quality products of that. The one GBA that he was happy with was to his liking and that was a quality product.
I also didn't get how he thought his job was to promote when it was to review.
When I pitch a writeup to a site and they run it, it's my job to do whatever I want with it. In this case, I love the product and feel it's the best way to play GBA games, so of course I want to promote the work RCG does.
And yes, Super Famicom is spelled correctly in both English and Japanese - as Rose_Colored_Gaming says, the punctuation is there, but my camera may not have picked it up because it's so small. I'm looking at it right now in person.
I got two frontlit modded Game Boy Colour's from them. The screens were fantastic, much brighter than the previous mod I'd bought from another seller, however, the machine had dirt under the screen (what looked like a glob of glue), and glue residue across the side and top of shell's seam. It could've been a one-off, but it's something to consider. Aside from that though it was really great!
Going to comment on the aesthetics of this. It's three colours per sprite plus the transparency colour, you're using four. While it's certainly possible on the Game Boy to layer sprites to create this effect (among a plethora of other tricks), it's almost never used and would certainly put a strain on any game. Too often I see people trying to emulate the Game Boy and most times they simply jump to four colours because they don't know what they're doing.
My apologies if this sounds harsh (it is), but one of my biggest pet peeves these days is a blatant disregard for system limitations when trying to emulate a specific style. I guess at the end of the day though, most people don't seem to care (looking at you Shovel Knight), so why put in the effort.
Anyway - I'm not expecting my single voice to change the minds of a bunch of people who are convinced RCG is crap, but if one person here is swayed, I've done my job.
No offense to RGC but did they know you were a blogger with a Nintendo site? I mean, there could have been some preferential treatment involved regarding quality and inspection work compared to an anonymous customer.
My apologies if this sounds harsh (it is), but one of my biggest pet peeves these days is a blatant disregard for system limitations when trying to emulate a specific style. I guess at the end of the day though, most people don't seem to care (looking at you Shovel Knight), so why put in the effort.
Technically correct and I guess from a purest pov correct as well. However some leeway should be expected in this type of thing because I don't particularly want sprite flicker and slow-down in my games any more (if we're really talking about making it authentic), so having one extra shade of black to work with on sprites isn't such a huge deal to me.
No offense to RGC but did they know you were a blogger with a Nintendo site? I mean, there could have been some preferential treatment involved regarding quality and inspection work compared to an anonymous customer.
Going to comment on the aesthetics of this. It's three colours per sprite plus the transparency colour, you're using four. While it's certainly possible on the Game Boy to layer sprites to create this effect (among a plethora of other tricks), it's almost never used and would certainly put a strain on any game. Too often I see people trying to emulate the Game Boy and most times they simply jump to four colours because they don't know what they're doing.
My apologies if this sounds harsh (it is), but one of my biggest pet peeves these days is a blatant disregard for system limitations when trying to emulate a specific style. I guess at the end of the day though, most people don't seem to care (looking at you Shovel Knight), so why put in the effort.
Nah man, you're not being harsh. I totally get why that would peeve you. However, we were just working within the restrictions of the official GBJam rules.
The Official Rules
1. The aim of GBJam is to create a GameBoy themed game
2. All assets must be created during the duration of the Jam
3. Keep in the original GameBoy screen resolution of 160px x 144px
4. Use only 4 colors in your game
These are made by a great guy over at The Cover Project (ShadowFox). I pledged to buy them when I initially found the thread and received some from the first batch. They're AMAZING. I cannot recommend them enough. If you go over to TheCoverProject (here are the threads: http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=14889.0 & http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=14919.0) he may be able to give you a more reasonable shipping discount. These cases are actually what's spurred me over the last year to buy back and build up my GB/GBC/GBA collection since I've been too downtrodden to go back after it since all the stuff was stolen from my folks' place a half decade ago...
I don't know if it is him on eBay or just someone who bough the cases and is selling them with custom covers but all of my games are going in these and they're fantastic. Look original and overall the build quality (save a rare bent corner) is superb.
Ah, that was it! That was the exact thread I read a while ago.
I'd love to box up all of my Game Boy games but it'd be a huge project (I have several hundred games from GB->GBA era) and I simply don't have the space to display them right now. :S
On a completely unrelated note, does anyone here have a Play-Yan for GBA?
It was a Japan-only mp3 player cart for GBA that also apparently had some WarioWare-esque mini games that you could download.
I stupidly didn't pick one up when I was in Japan and I've been trying to track one down online but I haven't seen any for sale other than some insanely overpriced ones on Amazon. :S
On a completely unrelated note, does anyone here have a Play-Yan for GBA?
It was a Japan-only mp3 player cart for GBA that also apparently had some WarioWare-esque mini games that you could download.
I stupidly didn't pick one up when I was in Japan and I've been trying to track one down online but I haven't seen any for sale other than some insanely overpriced ones on Amazon. :S
So I bought my first game after I sold my retro collection over a decade ago... FFVI GBA complete package. I don't even own a GBA system yet and was left wondering whether to get a Micro or SP with the better 101-screen?
As an owner of both, I'd go with the AGS101 if I had to choose one. It's much more comfortable, offers compatibility with GB/GBC, and has a screen sharp and large enough that you don't need to hold the console too close to your face in order to see text/detail easily.
Also -- how much did FFVI cost you? I've been looking for a reasonably priced copy for a while.
FYI if anyone is in need of Micro faceplates, apparently RCG did a mass-produced batch that should supposedly be cheaper than the previous, hand-made ones.
Should go on sale sometime today. I'll probably snag 2 of them just because they're impossible to get in pristine condition otherwise.
My first one I got had a dead battery, but I received a replacement and they installed the firmware and tested it before sending it to me the second time lol.
Google. Search for ez flash IV skins and the first hit or so is a forum with them. Just get the BIN file for whichever skin, put it on the SD card with it renamed to EZFLA_UP.bin and hold R whilst turning gba on.
Google. Search for ez flash IV skins and the first hit or so is a forum with them. Just get the BIN file for whichever skin, put it on the SD card with it renamed to EZFLA_UP.bin and hold R whilst turning gba on.
FYI if anyone is in need of Micro faceplates, apparently RCG did a mass-produced batch that should supposedly be cheaper than the previous, hand-made ones.
Should go on sale sometime today. I'll probably snag 2 of them just because they're impossible to get in pristine condition otherwise.
I can only go off of what I heard (because I only recently acquired a Micro) but I think they were like $30 or something ridiculous like that. They were hand-made and relatively few in number (so they say) which explains the price.
According to their Facebook: With this shipment apparently they had thousands made, so stock should be good.
You can get faceplates (albeit third party ones) from China for pretty cheap now. I'm gonna buy 10 or so and see if the quality is any good. I'll post some pics when I get them in case other gaffers are interested.
You can get faceplates (albeit third party ones) from China for pretty cheap now. I'm gonna buy 10 or so and see if the quality is any good. I'll post some pics when I get them in case other gaffers are interested.
So I bought my first game after I sold my retro collection over a decade ago... FFVI GBA complete package. I don't even own a GBA system yet and was left wondering whether to get a Micro or SP with the better 101-screen?
Hey guys, here's the writeup of the Rose Colored Gaming SNES/SFC themed GBAs I promised last week (it's a little late!), over at NintendoWorldReport. Tons of images, too, so check out the gallery. Hope you like it!
Also, I want to address the complaining I've seen on this thread about RCG, which, in the grand tradition of the Great Almighty Internet, frequently outweighs the praise. There's been a lot of talk on this thread about poor customer service and subpar products at RCG, but from what I can tell, that's just the telephone effect -- one person says they had a poor experience, then everyone <snip>
No offense, but it'd be nice if you cooled it with the attitude. "The Great Almighty Internet" and "the telephone effect"? So what is this? "The Great Almighty Blogger with the Ivory Tower effect"? From your first post in here when you expressed irritation that someone had posted pics of your first unit before you could, you've come off as kind of condescending, no offense. That's great that your Super Famicom GBA mod turned out well, it looks beautiful and the impressions are very welcome (if they make more I'd be tempted to get one) but the fact you had to get another just lends creedence to the fact that RCG sometimes has quality control issues and your rather impolite attempt to broadly marginalize the experiences others here have had with them is neither welcome nor helpful. Painting folks in here as just typical internet fanboys making noise comes off as very Ben Kuchera-esque.
