Fan Transforms Old Game Boy Advance SP Into A Nintendo Switch Dock

This used to be an ordinary Game Boy SP until DIY-er Alexander Blake decided to make it into a retro-accessory for his Switch. It’s a lot more work and less sturdy than the one that comes packaged with the console, but you have to admit it looks way cooler.

Image credit: CptnAlex

“In the process of tinkering with a second Nintendo Switch Dock, I realised the circuit board was pretty much the exact same size as a Gameboy Advance SP,” Blake said in a post on Imgur. “And then I remembered one of my old SPs doesn’t work anymore. So I got to work.”

He removed the handheld’s guts and replaced them with what’s inside the base of a Switch dock, carving out a hole above and inside the screen so that the port that actually connects to the Switch would be snug and protected. Blake’s solution isn’t the most structurally robust given how light-weight the SP is, but that’s also part of its advantage when it comes to portability.

Ever since the Switch came out a few months ago, people have been playing with different designs for carrying cases and the system’s Joy-Con controllers. But most of all, people have been searching for a more elegant solution to the Switch dock, an accessory that feels too big and a little cheap. The conundrum as led to a number of different results, from simple, external boxes to docks, like Blakes, that are made out of old Nintendo hardware.

For anyone not interested in messy DIY projects, however, it’s hard to beat the practicality of Nyko’s micro-dock coming out later this year.

“It’s crude in some places but it works,” he said, admitting that this was his first time trying to physically mod a console (most of his previous work was in painting controllers). He also did it all with an X-Acto knife instead of a dremel (a small, electronic hand tool for cutting metal and plastic) and even made a short video showing the creation in action in case people didn’t believe him that it worked.