How to Easily Correct The Super Game Boy's Incorrect Clock Speed
118This episode, we show you how to How to Easily Correct The Super Game Boy's Incorrect Clock Speed for the US Super Nintendo and Japanese Super Famicom.
Click here to see Voultar's original video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDO-ZFbzKp4
The Game Boy was such a marvelous little machine. It allowed us to take our 8-bit adventures with us just about anywhere, as long as we had enough AA batteries and a decent light source. All was not over for the Game Boy when the Super NES launched, however, and Nintendo even extended the life of the system and the library by releasing the Super Game Boy. Designed to plug into your Super Nintendo just like a regular cartridge, it allows you to play Game Boy games on your television, a concept that was mind-blowing at the time
The Super Game Boy is essentially a Game Boy without a screen with a Super NES interface. While it was wildly popular, it was not without its flaws. The original Super Game Boy had an internal clock that ran at 4.295454 MHZ, about 2.4% faster than the 4.194304 MHz of the Game Boy handheld, meaning the games would play slightly faster and slightly less authentically. One solution was the Super Game Boy 2, released only in Japan. Nintendo addressed this clock speed issue in their home country, but the fix never saw the light of day anywhere else. Thanks to the brilliant handiwork of Qwertymodo, in a matter of minutes you can have a Super Game Boy 2 performance on an original Super Game Boy, and best of all it's under 20 bucks.
Disassembling the Super Game Boy is a snap, as long as you have a 3.8 mm game bit and a Philips head screwdriver. Once inside, you need to remove three components, and solder one PCB onto your system. I can remove components for a PCB easily, but getting the new board tack down might be a challenge for some. I used my KSGER soldering iron, set it to 350°, and got to work
Removal of the three components was Super easy, just as I expected. The new little circuit board attaches to two of the solder points that you remove components from, along with a larger pad that was previously unused. Finally, there is a surface mount component that you solder the right side of the board to. Without running dialogue and recording this, this is a 5-minute or less job which is beautiful.
For some reason, my capture card has had issues lately recording audio, which is why the Super Mario Land audio is non-existent. It is also why the captured footage appears to be 16:9 vs 4:3. However I will tell you that comparing the original to the new modded system, the music does sound slightly slower, and if you notice in the upper right-hand corner of each screen the clock moves at a slightly slower time as well. Everything else remains unchanged, the graphics look the same, which was completely expected. The overall experience more closely mirrors that of the handheld now, which is exactly what I was looking for.
Why it RoX:
- Under $20
- Great instructions on the website
- Performs exactly as promised
- Very easy to install
- Replicates the performance of the Super Game Boy 2 without the cost
- Compatible with all Super Game Boys
What could be improved?
- High demand means you may have to back order
- Voultar does not install it for me
- Uhhhhh, nothing really, this thing's amazing
Should you buy one?
This is one of the easiest recommendations I've ever made, yes, you should buy one of these. It doesn't take a whole lot of soldering skill to install, and even if you don't have game bits now, you'll have enough uses for them if you are into retro gaming to justify a $10 purchase. This performs exactly as advertised and the results are terrific. I had wanted to get a Super Game Boy 2 for a while simply to address this issue as I do have a Super Famicom. I don't need to anymore. At least I don't need to get the expensive one anymore, I can get the cheaper one and simply pick up another one of these mods and install it into there! Major kudos to Qwertymodo and thanks to Voultar for spreading the word. This is absolutely a must-have.
#SuperGameBoy #VideoGames #ModWork #Qwertymodo
The footage used in this review are used under the Fair Use laws, referenced below:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107