You forced the hinges out while both halves were misaligned, which is why you had trouble. You are supposed to remove them with the screen frame open to the self-supporting detent position (standard play position). That also made them more difficult to insert and likely changed the feel of the whole thing. Opening from the detent position makes the left hinge particularly hard to access when removing but there are a few ways to do it easily enough. First, always remove the right hinge first, then... 1) Unclip the left hinge, open the frame, then push it out with something long that reaches through the hole where the right hinge used to be. 2) Use Makho's 3D printed tool that fits inside and lets you push even once opened. 3) Disassemble a Bic Round Stick ink pen and cut the cone piece down to size so that the part that friction-fits the pen's main tube/body fits tightly between the hinge clips and the nearby structural rib. Wedge it in there, open the screen frame, and then remove the hinge. If it doesn't pop out on its own, use something long and thin to push. It should take very little effort. Personally, I use the ink pen with a long/thin watercolor brush even though I have 3D printers. ;) You can find videos of 2 and 3 on my an Makho's channels.

Hey, thanks for the video. I'm about to turn 21 and I've probably had my gameboy since I was literally 4 years old. I dropped it in 2021, shattering the shell, but the motherboard was still fine. I ordered a new shell off amazon, and my dad and I had a blast making a project out of it while using this as a guide. :)

Thank you so much for this video! Successfully replaced my shell and screen protector. Was 100% nervous about breaking something before I saw this

Thanks for the guide. I was able to refurbish my SP following this guide with a new battery and shell. The biggest issue I had was replacing the hinges. It was very difficult to remove.

I’ve had my SP since I was 5! Every few years i’d pick it back up and replay some of the classics. After 21 years of it trucking through life perfectly fine I finally dropped it and the shell cracked, I guess the old plastic got brittle over time, it practically fell apart as I disassembled it. I switched over to a nice atomic purple shell, and this was super useful!! Thank you so much!!

Big thank you for this video! Helped me fix my gameboy that’s been broken for years! ❤️

Disassembly starts at 2:05

This is a brilliant video, I watched the video first then realised that I could possibly do this! My Gameboy Advance had become brittle and bits started snapping off. Thank you so much, I now have a usable Gameboy again!

Thanks for posting this! I had an sp with a bad screen, and another one with a bad motherboard. This video helped me take the good parts from each, and re-shell it for my wife.

Thank you so much! Just did a a kyogre shell on my sp and this video was amazing. Looks like a pro put it together and it’s my first time! Thank you again!!!

Great video man was able to fix my broken gameboy case good tutorial to follow!

Thank you so very much. This video helped me reshell my coworker/friend cobalt blue gameboy advance sp that he had as a child. It went from looking well used and tarnished to brand new. Thanks again so much.

here's a little tip for those who are interested in changing or replacing a part. the first time you do it. it's gonna be hard, and there will be times you mess up. but, the second time you give it a try you'll succeed. but I do recommend after you take apart your first console/system etc give it some time to let it sink in also. I HIGHLY recommend you buy a tool kit smt with alot of screws like Philips and tri wing

Thanks man awesome video

Thanks alot man mine turned out perfect just that I messed up the hinges a little bit but aye still works!

thx you so much never took one apart and now i have a re cased my console so happy thx you for your help

Success! Thanks for the guide!

Thank you my guy. You are a life saver; a friend of mine broke my gameboy that my girlfriend grandma gave me. I bought the replacement peice but then got stuck at some point putting it together.

Thanks dude, my SP has some sort of dust in between the glass lens thing and you helped me out

Your video was very helpful. I had used a step by step guide but a few of the steps were actually missing and made the work confusing. You narrate at a nice pace, show your entire work and aren't blocking what you're doing with your hands and by watching the way your removed the ribbon and replaced the speaker I was able to place my GBA in a nice new shell. No joke, the step by step instructions I was reading didn't explain or show HOW to correctly detach the ribbon from its coupling, skipped over the part with replacing the secondary hinge AND they put the speaker back into the device backward. It wasn't fun taking everything apart again to flip the speaker so it actually created sound, but, hey, live and learn! If I hadn't watched this video I would've surely damaged my system and I would've been heartbroken. Thank you for providing a video that's easy to follow, easy to watch and easy to listen to!

This video was really helpful. Thankyou. My only problem was I forgot to put the power slider in and promptly stripped the screws 😔 I'm going to try to get them out tomorrow so hopefully it'll work out. My SP is clear purple with glow in the dark buttons. I love it.

This helped me a lot. I hate how they designed the screen connector. So hard to line up with your fingers!

lots of things i missed out on thanks

Great vid. Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the help this video helped me

I used your tutorial on my channel for swapping the shell, worked out great (little self plug but it’s a video on my channel if u wanna see it lol) Looks awesome, turned a Gameboy that was scratched and dirty into basically a new Gameboy!

Thanks so much. My Presents bought one of these little guys for 3 dollars at a thrift store and I was really interested in it so I bought it from him. It was really scratched up so I wanted to re paint it.

High key thank you so much, I got hella scared when I went to take out the hinges and it looked like the things keeping them in place snapped and I couldn’t push it out with my Alan wrench. I know that you said not to but I propped one of the screwdrivers in place and used Inertia to knock them loose and it worked in 1-2 swings and the hinges were intact. Now I can play Pokémon emerald on my atomic purple gameboy, thank you so much.

Thanks. Helpful video

Many thanks, you help me out, i left a like for your video

Thank you much. Was swapping my shell again and absolutely forgot about the screw under the ribbon cable 😅

Hey, great video. It’s always nice when you can get an oem Nintendo replacement shell.

Thanks for the video. I bought a new replacement case and I couldn't figure out what was up with the hinges.

It might’ve taken me 3 hours… BUT IM HAPPY I DID IT!!!!

What screws are used where? Are the long tri wing screws used for the screen?

I did this just recently and total forgot about that little block for the battery cover screw till I had it all back together also had a nightmare thinking I'd broken the sound . But no ID realised that the speaker fell out about 20 minutes later when I found it on the floor. All a learning curve I think next time I'd fly through it alot faster.

Thank the lord for this guide! 🙏

I just did this but can some one tell me what this Square metal piece is for? @ 10:14 you can see by his right hand with the screws right above it, I have two pieces that fell out while removing and applying the old/new shells and I have no idea what theyre fore and Ive been looking around trying to figure out what its for with no luck. Thank you

THANKS BUD. FIXED MY SP UP GOOD AND NICE! PLAYED THE SHIT OUT SHREK ON IT AND HAD A BLAST. I WISH YOU WERE MY DAD

Can you list the different tools needed to do this rebuild?

So I did my reshell and followed anything but now I have no sound? What do I do to fix that?

the piece on the hinge that is supposed to just 'slide on' keeps falling off, and i remembered the screw that was underneath the ribbon cable that supposedly helped it stay i place but it didnt do anything haha, any tips? ive never done anything like this and im clearly missing something.

I followed this video and it was my first time doing anything like this. It worked but the first time I did it the screen would not light up and I forgot to screw a hinge cover in so when I redid it the while screen won't turn on. I can not figure out what I did wrong. The power turns on and sound works just no display. Can anyone help

Thanks a lot for the video! I’m planning on customizing the GBA my older sister gave me, but I don’t want to damage the hardware

9:30 Jesus Christ these were a pain in the ass I literally had a bite down on them to snap it into place the amount of pressure you have to apply is crazy

Very interesting I now know how to replace a gbasp shell.

Thanks for the guide, i had to replace my old shell because the plastic was so brittle and it was just falling apart. I'll tell you what, i never want to mess with these hinges again. lmao

RIP to my hinges. Sick advice.

Thanks, I’m gonna save this video so I can use it. I’m getting a green tinted clear gba replacement shell soon and I have no idea how to replace it.

Hey, I need help. I accidentally stripped one of the screws while attempting to take it apart. Any way I can remove the screw?

I did this and my audio wasn’t working so I went back it and fixed the audio but now it doesn’t seem to read my cartridges. It’ll show the gameboy logo but not the Nintendo logo but it did when I didn’t have audio

The hinges are left and right so remember. Sometimes they color them left black and right white. Pinch the tabs on it before punching hinges out in a closed position. When you install hinges in new shell do it in closed position.

only issue i ended up with after with that my screen seemed a bit faded in colour and had a slight green smudge 😂 but i guess not bad for a first attempt

This is literally a pain in the ass, how the heck are you having such an easy time with this 😂

Mine is just scratched up a bit, everything works perfectly tho. Is it worth it to swap shells?

I've done a gameboy colour. And this seems more easier. I'm thinking about fixing up my blue one. I have two.

So I did this step by step it worked!! Thanks!! But I noticed the speaker didn't work now. Decided to open it back up but I ended up stripping the long trip wing screws when I was trying to open it up. Help!

what is the hard part for you? we recently got into screen replacements

You didn’t mention the battery nut. Now I have to take it apart again. Other than that it works perfectly

so for some reason, when using this tutorial, i now have neither audio or visual??? the ribbon cable connector did pop off of the motherboard when i was removing the ribbon cable so im sure thats the issue more than anything. it reconnected fine but im guessing not.

I have the pink pearl and the shell is broken but it still works. I’m trying to find someone to fix it.

I just changed my housing on mine but forgot to put in the plastic screen lens, does it need the plastic lens?

I wish they sold just the little rubbers on the top screen that protect the screws, I lost mine and it's the only reason I'm buying a flame case to repair my gba sp.

The screw underneath the battery on mine has been stripped so I literally can’t get the screw out. Any tips on how I can get this out?

i never want to do this again; I’d rather eat 2000 legos covered in ghost pepper hot sauce

How did you get the little screws out so easy? Mine were tight as hell and I stripped both of them

My question to you is my screen doesn’t wanna turn on anymore after I connect the ribbon cable. For whatever reason I can see the lights indicating I get power, but my screen is just blank. And I used my finger for some reason to get the ribbon cable in there. Did I by any chance mess it up?

My screws on the back of the shell won't come out. Neither my friendo who goes to the gym could unscrew them. I guess they are really strong and very hard to get out for some reason. I'll see if I can remove this with any other screwdriver or machine

I’m trying to reshell a Gameboy for the first time. So far, I’m 5 minutes through the video and the only thing I can’t get figure out is how to get those screw covers off the top half!!

thank you

Im putting a flame red sp in graphite black shell for the same nostalgia reason

Thanks

You should have spent a little more time explaining what the screws were when reinstalling instead of having to go back to the start and you should have mentioned the screen does not have a screen protector as mine scratched as I thought it had a clear protector.

I’m confused cause mine has a black wire attached to the cable

I did the same thing with my Gameboy Color.

*starts to remove hinges* "I find popping these out to be a little troublesome..." My guy, do you use Mjolnir as a hand weight? I feel like I'm trying to pull out Excalibur from stone by getting these parts out. My hand is cramping big time.

Mines won’t turn on but will charge for a few seconds. I wonder what I did. 😩

my sound no longer works and i followed the video i dont understand :(

i tried this, i dont know what it is but my A button wont click

Thank you for saying she'll swap ise so many gameboy advance and apple videos that say restoration that's just a shell swap.

Can you slow it down some. I am a beginner.

This vid is quite a help but not complete. I had trouble finding the right screw and with the cuts I was always behind to check things. Especially the last cut where you put the backplate on. It was like placing the mainboard and a sec. after that you said "Lets check if its working".

do we have to have both hinges? mine broke years ago and i lost one hinge, now i decided to get a new case and i have only the right hinge. Do aftermarket cases came with new hinges or do i need to use the old ones?

My lid is floppy, wont stay at a right angle just flops back, what didnt i do??? HELP!!!!!

Mine plays the audio but doesnt show game what should I do?

Here bc my nephew just broke mine :)

Wish I watch this 10 minutes ago. Just broked the ribbon cable.

Fucked my Gameboy trying to change the shell 😭

Well I broke mine. Off to buy a new one.

I tried doing this. My screws got stripped (Absolutely unrelated to this video, just felt like sharing)

I broke off the entire section with the hinge still stuck inside of it so you definitely can be pushing too hard

almost liked the video but the cuts at the end were incomprehensible....

Maybe this is just me but you sound like the guy from tronics fix

i'm so clumsy is this worth risking breaking my gameboy

my speaker somehow broke

Maybe show what screws go where next time. A tutorial should include 100% of the info not 95%

i wish i never watched this, i fucked up my gameboy i just got

Doesnt show how to install triggers. Ok not gonna like or dislike.