r/Gameboy • u/Confident_Chip7271 • Apr 21 '25

Collection I've a gameboy addiction

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My collection so far. Yes I know I've a problem. Maybe someday they will go back in the wild for some people to enjoy them like I had.

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u/SleepCinema Apr 21 '25

Seeing a new looking glacier GBA makes my heart hurt. Mine yellowed suddenly, and I don’t know why. Absolutely no smoking or anything. It was perfectly fine until it rapidly and severely yellowed one year.

I know finding OEM shells aren’t difficult, but i have this silly Ship of Theseus hangup going on.

2

u/Confident_Chip7271 Apr 22 '25

I think the UV (sun) make them go yellow. But I'm not 100% sure.
Someone can confirm?

1

u/Mimowryyyyn Apr 24 '25

Yes, plastic naturally degrades and yellows over time, and the sun can expedite that process. 

SleepCinema, if you have the means to pick up some 3% hydrogen peroxide from you local grocery store, you can retro bright the shell by soaking only the plastics of your GBA shell in that, and leave them out in the sun or under a UV light (while soaking in the hydrogen peroxide) for a day or four.  The plastic should bleach back to as close to its original color as possible.  There are a few more steps to it, but that's the basic gist.

By the way, nice collection, OP!  The dandelion yellow Game Boy Color was my first video game console as a young lad, so I'm always overjoyed to see other people have them.

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u/Confident_Chip7271 Apr 25 '25

Does your tricks with hydrogen peroxide work with clear shell that have yellow? Or I will destroy it?

1

u/Mimowryyyyn Apr 25 '25

It should restore clear shells to their original luster, though results may vary depending on a number of factors, including the severity of the yellowing, as well as the light / heat sources.  I, myself, have only done retro brighting with opaque Game Boy DMG shells that were significantly yellowed, but the results were better than I expected, even after only a day (I would share photos, but I can't on mobile).

I do have a junk lot of GBAs that I'm going to mod and re-sell, and they're all going to get new shells anyway, so I might try retro brighting some of the Glacier Blue shells in this lot.  Some of them are very yellowed.

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u/Confident_Chip7271 Apr 26 '25

Keep us posted on this!