Context: I am on a personal agenda to backup all my games myself. In this search I landed on the Open Source Cartridge Reader (OSCR) it was expensive so I held off until a few months ago when I could finally afford it.
When I got it, I also bought every adapter I needed including the Virtual Boy one, which comes as a Kit. I didn’t think it looked bad, which is why I ordered it. But I held off on making since I started getting cold feet.
Today however I got the courage to try and… it was awful. 60 teeny tiny pins needed to be aligned and individually soldered. It was setup so a skilled micro solder could doing the job in an hour or so… it took me 4 hours and scouring the floor finding pins which fell. Let alone unclogging holes which were accidentally soldered.
However after testing my patience and redoing the last step 3-5 times. It works!!!
Now I can play Jack Bros without a VB, and Viper on 3DS is amazing.
Shoutout to Save The Hero Builders. I got everything from them and they were extremely helpful with a noob like me.
I drunkenly ordered the Switch 2 Virtual Boy and forgot about it, but I gotta say Nintendo really did a good job. The lens are real and the emulator quality was shockingly good. Had very low expectations but it really does feel like a modern VB.
JACK BROS! The first translated SMT game available in the West! thats awesome!
I know, right? That cart is probably the most expensive thing in the photo.
Kudos to you for archiving games you own!
I was gonna say… most likely all those carts are already dumped and archived at ROM sites, right?
But if this is one ethical person who wants to do things completely legally, I can see the point.
I’m really glad that it works, and please don’t take this the wrong way… but the solder joints look awful.
The only reason I’m saying this is because I suspect that after repeated use, they might fail and you will have to redo them. Maybe redo them now?
May I ask what your soldering technique is? Did you by any chance try to apply the solder to the iron and then struggle to apply that to the pins? This is a common misconception among beginners, hence me asking - you’re supposed to heat the pins with the iron and then apply solder to the heated pins, where it will flow into place. Also, applying flux beforehand will help with that.
No flux and my only solder tip was 3x the width of the pin and probably not hot enough.
The only joints which matter is on the back the other are for stabilizing it. I went over to ensure there was enough solder and reflowed then for what I hoped to be a good connection.
Most ready to solder tin sold has a flux core. Meaning you don’t really need flux, that is, if you do it the way the original commenter did said.
Another thing that can help is a soldering iron that doesn’t take 15 minutes to heat up. If it takes 15 minutes to heat up, there is no way it can transfer enough heat for more than a few pins, as the iron will cool down too much to get a decent joint.
get yourself one of these if you want to continue to DIY. it will save you from having to redo any work and remove the stress of soldering in the first place. I used to basically use a hot tenpenny nail as an iron, and saved myself so much stress and selfdoubt by using a similar iron.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D86FF2M1
also, some good resin, and desoldering braid.
also, get yourself one of those copper scouring pads at the grocery store as a tip cleaner. squirt some of that no-clean resin on it and you have a pretty good soldering station. with some proper practice you can make some professional looking joints within a few hours.
Tight! I had a VB, but I don’t think it lasted a year.
It was really fun though as a kid.
I don’t care for VR at all as an adult though.
Kinda interesting thinking back on that.
Kid me goes ‘oh neat!’ adult me goes ‘ug, can we just go to a park or build something instead’
How did it break?
Virtual Boys are sadly fragile systems. Specifically the displays. They are glued down and the adhesive is corrosive and failing to hold up. Getting mine repaired soon.
I sold mine when the 3DS was about to be released. Since it was still in perfect condition it seems I made the right choice while it was still good.
(I thought the rotating mirror or whatever would wear down)
Those have been the more reliable components on mine 🥲
Must have taken a load of patience to stick with the soldering, good job!
It was after I lost the second row of pins to the floor the second time that I almost threw in the towel.
I’ve grown to respect micro solderers more after this.
My dad is a soldering genius. If the job is more complicated than 18 awg wire directly to another 18 awg wire, then I call him in.
That’s so friggin’ cool. Well done!
