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This modder proves everything’s better with a GBA SP screen attached

A picture of a Nintendo DS Lite that has had its top screen replaced by one from a Game Boy Advance SP
Is this a Game Boy Advance SP or Nintendo DS Lite? Who can say? | Image: Retrohai hai Softbank

Have you ever looked at a Nintendo DS and thought it would be cooler if the top screen was swapped for the Game Boy Advance SP’s? Or looked at a Super Nintendo controller and wished it had a GBA SP screen bolted onto the back? Whether you have or not, Hardware modder Hairo Satoh, aka Retrohai hai Softbank, has you covered with some truly cursed reimaginings of Nintendo’s portable consoles. (Recall their portable emulated PlayStation built into the Takara Roulette Controller.)

Let’s go on a little journey through Satoh’s Instagram account. Before we get into my favorite mutated Nintendo handhelds — frankententos, if you will — know that Satoh also does some very pretty custom jobs on the company’s various portable consoles. And they’re made to order.

This one they posted recently is a good example. We are Known Transparent Case Stans here at The Verge, but this goes a step further with its colorful hologram stickers and ChromaFlair-style color-changing sheen. Oh, and it runs Game Boy Advance games.

That controller mod I mentioned up top isn’t the only time Satoh has turned a console gamepad into its own handheld. The GBA SP’s screen looks remarkably at home on an SNES (well, Super Famicom, technically) pad...

...and on a PS2 Dual Shock controller, too.

But why not jam one onto a Nintendo DS Lite, too? It doesn’t make sense at all, even if this is a mash-up of the two most attractive pieces of hardware Nintendo ever made, but I don’t need any justification for this thing’s existence. Also, this is the point where things start getting a little cursed.

I guess this is also a Nintendo DS?

Again, but more colorful.

Ah yes, the Original Game Boy Advance SP DS (OGBASPDS).

I’m enamored with the concept of a multi-position adjustable screen on this original DS.

What if... GBA SP but also T-Mobile Sidekick?

Give me this and the ability to emulate the fantastic vertical-scrolling shooter Ikaruga, please.

I’m sorry, what?

Ah, yes, this makes sense.

I can’t say I understand the extra buttons and d-pad here, but I respect the chaos.

The Nintendo Long Boy DS.

I think this is probably the final boss of Satoh’s inventive creations.

Satoh didn’t respond to us when we reached out, but we’d love to know more about these creations. How much of these are made up of custom hardware on the inside? How many of them are emulating Nintendo’s handhelds, rather than rejiggering its original hardware components to fit? If we receive a response, we’ll dig in some more.

Replacing the OLED iPad Pro’s battery is easier than ever

13-inch iPad Pro with screen removed and laying partially on top of it.
The 13-inch OLED iPad Pro with the screen removed. | Screenshot: iFixit

Apple’s newest iPad Pro is remarkably rigid for how thin it is, and apparently also a step forward when it comes to repairability. iFixit shows during its teardown of the tablet that the iPad Pro’s 38.99Wh battery, which will inevitably wear down and need replacement, is actually easy to get to. It’s a change iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari says during the video “could save hours in repair time” compared to past iPad Pro models.

Getting to it still requires removing the screen, which is glued in and is connected to the iPad in four places, but iFixit was essentially able to pull the almost immediately after removing the screen (after removing the camera assembly and dealing with an aluminum lip beneath that, which made some of the tabs hard to get to). For previous models, he notes, you have to pull out “every major component.”

Screenshot of the iPad Pro with screen off and two hands pulling at pull-tabs on either side near the bottom. Screenshot: iFixit
The battery is surprisingly accessible in the 13-inch OLED iPad Pro.

After that, though, the thinness proves to be an issue for iFixit, as many of the parts are glued in, including the tablet’s logic board.

Screenshot of the Apple Pencil Pro from iFixit’s video. Screenshot: iFixit
This used to be an Apple Pencil Pro.

But you can’t say the same for Apple’s new $129 Apple Pencil Pro, which shouldn’t shock anyone. Mokhtari was forced to cut into the pencil using an ultrasonic cutter, a moment he presented as “the world’s worst ASMR video.” (That happens just after the five-minute mark, in case you want to mute the video right there to avoid the ear-piercing squeal of the tool.) Unlike the iPad Pro itself, the Pencil Pro’s battery was the last thing he could get to.

By the time Mokhtari is done, the pencil is utterly destroyed, of course. He says the site will have a full chip ID soon that will include images of the MEMS sensor that drives the pencil’s barrel roll feature that lets you twist the pencil to adjust the rotation of on-screen art tools.

Sam Altman and Greg Brockman respond to Jan Leike, say they've raised awareness of the risks and opportunities of AGI, will keep doing safety research, and more (Greg Brockman/@gdb)

Greg Brockman / @gdb:
Sam Altman and Greg Brockman respond to Jan Leike, say they've raised awareness of the risks and opportunities of AGI, will keep doing safety research, and more  —  We're really grateful to Jan for everything he's done for OpenAI, and we know he'll continue to contribute to the mission from outside. In light of the questions his departure has raised, we wanted to explain a bit about how we think about our overall strategy. First, we have

Is Bridgerton already setting up its promised queer romance?

A diptych featuring Eloise Bridgerton reading a book and Benedict Bridgerton holding cards and looking generally amused
Graphic: Polygon | Source Images: Netflix

The new Bridgerton showrunner promised queer romances, and we have thoughts

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Ben Crump Weighs in with Details in Shooting of Black Air Force Airman by Fla. Cop

Updated as of 5/18/2024 at 3:00 p.m. ET

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