Modder creates a transparent Game Boy Color with a transparent motherboard

Self-taught fashion designer Natalie Tenerd created a unique motherboard for Game Boy Color based on a completely transparent PCB. It works just like the original, but looks stunning, especially when combined with the transparent case. In her post in X, she noted that she developed her own circuits and completely removed the grounding layer from the board to make it completely transparent. For modern devices, such a solution would be critical, but in the case of a simple Game Boy Color handheld console, it doesn’t pose any problems for operation.

Although Natalie reverse engineered the console herself, she had a third-party manufacturer produce the transparent board. The material used was an acrylic-like material with a low melting point of about 200 °C, which required the most careful soldering of the chips to avoid damage.

As a result, apart from the chips, copper tracks, screen, and a small additional board, everything else in her modified Game Boy Color console is completely transparent. Even the cartridge reader, borrowed from a Chinese clone, has a translucent case. A transparent case with translucent buttons completes the look — a true see-through console.

This transparent version of the Game Boy Color is a unique art project created exclusively for pleasure, so it is impossible to buy it. Moreover, the transparent board turned out to be quite flexible and fragile, so it is unlikely to withstand daily use, especially if it falls into the hands of an emotional player. Several enthusiasts suggested replacing the copper tracks with silver ones for an even cleaner look or adding lights to emphasize the design. Given that Natalie founded the Modded Gameboy Club community and is actively involved in it, it’s likely that more such experiments will be made.

The idea has already inspired other fans of transparent electronics to use this technology in other devices, such as Nothing Phone 2. Transparent design is back in trend: transparent power banks, SSD cases, and other gadgets. But so far, transparent boards remain unstable and expensive to manufacture, so it is too early to expect mass adoption.

Source: tomshardware