This modder proves everything is better with a GBA SP screen attached

Have you ever looked at a Nintendo DS and thought it would be cooler if the top screen was replaced with the one from the Game Boy Advance SP? Or have you looked at a Super Nintendo controller and wished it had a GBA SP screen bolted to the back? Whether you’ve done it or not, hardware modder Hairo Satoh, aka Retrohai hai Softbank, brings you some truly cursed reimaginings of Nintendo’s handheld consoles. (Remember their portable emulated PlayStation built into the Takara roulette controller.)

Let’s take a little trip through Satoh’s Instagram account. Before we get into my favorite mutated Nintendo handhelds – frankententos, if you will – know that Satoh also does some very nice custom work on the company’s various handheld consoles. And they are made to order.

The one they released recently is a good example. We are known Stans Transparent Case here at The edge, but it goes even further with its colorful hologram stickers and ChromaFlair-style color-changing glow. Oh, and it runs Game Boy Advance games.

That controller mod I mentioned at the top isn’t the only time Satoh has turned a console gamepad into his own handheld. The GBA SP’s screen looks remarkably at home on an SNES pad (well, Super Famicom, technically)…

…and on a PS2 Dual Shock controller as well.

But why not put one on a Nintendo DS Lite too? It makes no sense, even if it’s a mash-up of the two most attractive pieces of hardware Nintendo has ever made, but I don’t need any justification for this thing’s existence. This is also when things start to get a little cursed.

I guess it’s also a Nintendo DS?

Again, but more colorful.

Ah yes, the original Game Boy Advance SP DS (OGBASPDS).

I am seduced by the concept of a multi-position adjustable screen on this original DS.

Give me that and the ability to emulate the fantastic vertical scrolling shooter Ikaruga, please.

Oh yes, that makes sense.

I can’t say I understand the extra buttons and d-pad here, but I respect the chaos.

The Nintendo Long Boy DS.

I think this is probably the final boss of Satoh’s inventive creations.

Satoh did not respond to us when we contacted him, but we would like to know more about these creations. How much of this is custom hardware inside? How many of them imitate Nintendo’s handheld consoles, rather than revamping their original hardware components to suit them? If we receive a response, we will delve further.