dreamgazer
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Post by dreamgazer on Jul 15, 2020 9:52:59 GMT -5
Anybody who has fallen into the rabbit hole of Game Boy modding has come across these. Ebay is absolutely loaded with these things, there are so many available that one could get pretty much any custom colored system they desire. The thing that has really been nagging at me lately is just how accurate they are; they're dead ringers for the original shells! Everything, and I mean everything about these shells if faithful to the original hardware, from the specific texture on the back down to the GBA sticker above the battery cartridge.
Maybe there are trained eyes better than mine. Personally, if someone where to put two shells in front of me I wouldn't be able to spot the reproduction. It's almost like the original factories for these things are still running outside of Nintendo's peripheral vision. Does anybody know exactly where these things come from?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2020 10:04:39 GMT -5
I can't answer your question about their origin, but I too have an aftermarket original GBA that's backlit. The thing is very, very close to the original, and even came with a cardboard box. I don't remember exactly how I found it wasn't an original one that was just modded, but there was a tell. I believe the messages that recorded all that are long gone now, though. Hopefully more light can be shed on it.
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dreamgazer
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Posts: 27
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Post by dreamgazer on Jul 15, 2020 10:19:08 GMT -5
I do know that it is relatively common in China to manufacture a product for a company by day, and then run the factory after hours off the books. However, it would be nothing short of incredible if one of these original GB shell factories was still running literally 20 years later. I would assume these original factories where quite large to keep up with the insane demand of the Game Boy line in the 90s/early 00s. That would make it really difficult for these places to still be profitable nowadays.
The only real answer I can think of is that someone produced tens of thousands of shells in the 00s and all of the shells on the market today have been sitting in warehouses all this time. Even then one would question if it would even be worth the space to keep such a quantity of such a niche product lying around all these years.
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Post by Ex on Jul 15, 2020 10:49:15 GMT -5
However, it would be nothing short of incredible if one of these original GB shell factories was still running literally 20 years later. I doubt that's the situation. Print on demand plastics have become ubiquitous for purposes legitimate and counterfeit. Once a producer has the 3D CAD drawings for an object, say a Game Boy shell, it's relatively trivial to print a convincing replica of that object. Even if a producer doesn't have official 3D CAD drawings, using a handheld laser scanning system creates a competent 3D CAD drawing quickly and efficiently. Once the dimensional information is available to the printing system, quickly producing the plastic object is inexpensive. It's such a trivial process these days, that even just printing one plastic case and selling it on eBay, can be profitable. The other related components, like the membrane buttons, screws, and screens, are all easily available to a shell producer, to combine into a final product. So my wager is the majority of these shells are aftermarket counterfeits. Either reproductions of shell designs that did exist in the past, or new creations entirely, presenting patterns and colors that did not exist in the prime of their target object's market presence. Game Boy products remain in vogue to a certain retro-loving crowd, so it's not surprising to me the demographic is still there. |
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dreamgazer
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Posts: 27
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Post by dreamgazer on Jul 15, 2020 11:20:52 GMT -5
Print on demand plastics have become ubiquitous for purposes legitimate and counterfeit. Once a producer has the 3D CAD drawings for an object, say a Game Boy shell, it's relatively trivial to print a convincing replica of that object. Even if a producer doesn't have official 3D CAD drawings, using a handheld laser scanning system creates a competent 3D CAD drawing quickly and efficiently. Once the dimensional information is available to the printing system, quickly producing the plastic object is inexpensive. It's such a trivial process these days, that even just printing one plastic case and selling it on eBay, can be profitable. The other related components, like the membrane buttons, screws, and screens, are all easily available to a shell producer, to combine into a final product. These shells definitely aren't printed, however. 3D printing has made great strides in the past decade but it isn't at a level yet where it can 1:1 mimic textures. These shells definitely came from an injection mold, which is a process that is a great deal more expensive than 3D printing.
Generally speaking, most reverse engineering is done from carefully measuring the original project and putting said measurements into a draft. However, some things just aren't reasonably measurable, such as the texture of certain areas of the shell, more complex areas like the sound grate, the depth and bevel of the imprinted Nintendo logo, etc. Even the best counterfeit products have some leeway. I do suppose its possible that an official design draft for the GBA got into the hands of these "counterfeiters", or even an actual official mold itself.
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Post by Ex on Jul 15, 2020 11:38:21 GMT -5
These shells definitely aren't printed, however. 3D printing has made great strides in the past decade but it isn't at a level yet where it can 1:1 mimic textures. some things just aren't reasonably measurable, such as the texture of certain areas of the shell, more complex areas like the sound grate, the depth and bevel of the imprinted Nintendo logo, etc You're behind the times on 3D printing capability. This video is from two years ago: It shows well made printed glossy bezels, printed designs on shells, and 3D printed shells themselves. 3D printing has evolved even further in the two years since. |
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dreamgazer
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Post by dreamgazer on Jul 15, 2020 11:43:10 GMT -5
These shells definitely aren't printed, however. 3D printing has made great strides in the past decade but it isn't at a level yet where it can 1:1 mimic textures. some things just aren't reasonably measurable, such as the texture of certain areas of the shell, more complex areas like the sound grate, the depth and bevel of the imprinted Nintendo logo, etc You're behind the times on 3D printing capability. This video is from two years ago: It shows well made printed glossy bezels, printed designs on shells, and 3D printed shells themselves. 3D printing has evolved even further in the two years since.
Christ, I stand corrected. Those are stellar.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 15, 2020 12:33:29 GMT -5
That being said, I'd wager a lot are Chinese plastic manufacturers that have down time and need to fill it with something. And the shell market definitely has some demand.
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