Replacing the buttons is just as easy as replacing the shell with half the work! Just open up the Game Boy, remove the front motherboard, and swap out the buttons. While you have that Game Boy open, it's a great time to fix any button sticking issues—visit our guide to learn how to fix sticky Game Boy buttons.
The first step is to remove the back cover of the DMG. There are six screws, and depending on when your Gameboy was made, they are either going to be triwing or phillips. Triwing screws, for those of you unfamiliar, are Nintendo’s favorite way to make opening their products just ever so slightly more irritating. If you don’t want to spend a couple dollars on a triwing driver, you can do what I did and use a small flathead in one of the three slots in the screws. It’s not super difficult, but you definitely want to be careful to avoid stripping the screws. There’s four obvious ones on the back of the Gameboy, and two inside the battery compartment. You’ll need to remove all of these.
Once you take those screws out, don’t pull the Gameboy apart quickly. There’s a fairly short ribbon connector connecting the screen half of the Gameboy to the circuitry half. Carefully hinge unit so the screen half is face down on your desk with the circuitry portion sticking vertically upward. You could disconnect the ribbon cable at this point (it’s a ZIF socket, so the connector just slides out), but I didn’t want to bother having to reconnect it when I was done. You can do this repair quite easily without having to put this connector back in.
custom dmg case
$10.00 - $15.00
this replacement case is designed by kitsch-bent and is fully compatible with the other elements of the game boy dmg console. the original electronics and accessories fit perfectly into this case.
notable changes to the design include:Gameboy Advance Dmg Shell
- fine matte finish
- squared off corner and back sides for additional interior space
- alternative speaker grill
- raised select/start/a/b text
- minimal surface features
- 5mm power LED hole (appropriate screen protectors may be found here)
- retains compatibility with dmg/nes buttons, screen protectors, and available after-market modding devices including backlit LCD screens
Gameboy Dmg White Shell
this product is available in two formats:- basic (just the case; front, back, and battery cover)
- full (the case, matching NES-style buttons, screen protector, battery contacts, and metal shielding)
Gameboy Dmg-01 Shell
a great compliment to the cartridge shells.