by 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again – despite the passage of time and arrival of superior hardware, the original DMG-01 Game Boy is one of my favourite handhelds, and I still keep mine to hand whenever I fancy a quick game of Tetris or Super Mario Land.
Just as many people have an unbreakable connection with their first portable console – be it the Game Gear, Game Boy Colour, Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS – I find cradling Gunpei Yokoi's monochrome marvel in my hands to be an overwhelmingly nostalgic and ultimately comforting experience.
This was the system I took everywhere with me as a child, and its form factor, dimensions and blurry pea-soup display all trigger very positive emotions within me, even all these decades later.
Yes, I know there are superior portables available now, and yes, I realise the Game Boy Colour and GBA do everything the original Game Boy did, and much more besides – but as much as I adore those systems, the 1989 original is the one I'll probably ask to be buried with.
You can imagine, then, my disappointment upon discovering that my trusty DMG-01 (not my original, sadly, but one I purchased about 15 years ago) had finally developed the notorious black lines on its dot matrix display. I'm no expert, but I believe these are caused by the glue which holds the ribbon cable degrading over time (feel free to leave a comment to correct me if I'm wrong), and it's a very common issue with the Game Boy – a device which, after all, is operating well past its intended lifespan in 2026.
I'd hoped my particular Game Boy would last longer than most, as it's already been subjected to a 'bivert' mod, which involves inverting the hardware's LCD image data using a logic chip, then fitting a polarisation film rotated 90 degrees to invert the image a second time. When twinned with a backlight, this results in a far better image.
I had this mod carried out many years ago and was very happy with the results, as it meant I could retain the characteristics of the original blurry screen whilst benefiting from better contrast and illumination – but at the back of my mind, I knew the fix wouldn't last forever.
With the black lines appearing and obscuring the image, I knew it was time to act. Game Boy LCD mods have been commonplace for a while now, but I've always been a little sceptical about them as I already have ways to play Game Boy games on a modern screen, such as the excellent Analogue Pocket.
However, I'd heard of recent advances in these panels which made them a closer fit to the DMG-01's original display – but, being almost incapable of carrying out such work myself due to an unfortunate allergy to soldering irons (that's a joke, by the way), I decided to enlist the services of an expert.
Matthew Whitehead is a name that might be familiar to you if you're a long-time visitor of one of our sister sites, Nintendo Life. A few years back, I paid him a visit (he lives a short distance from me in the English Midlands) to take a look at his Game Boy modding business, Jelly Belly Customs. He's now rebranded as Lab Fifteen, which sells parts and display stands for Game Boy mods.
As a favour, Matt did a one-off paid modding commission for me which involved removing the biverted display, fitting a new modern LCD and replacing the old membranes for the D-pad and buttons. Again, it's worth stressing that the upgraded screen isn't anything new – you've probably seen one in the flesh if you've visited Super Game Shack in Leicester or seen one of the store's stands at the many retro gaming conventions that take place all over the UK – but I'm still blown away by the quality.
The mod also replaces the contrast dial with a 'push-in' option that cycles through the available screen colour presets. I was only really concerned with reproducing the classic DMG-01 look, which required a bit of tinkering in one of the sub-menus. Once I'd got the right colour levels and turned on the pixel grid effect, I was in pea-soup heaven.
I've always maintained that the Analogue Pocket has the best reproduction of the Game Boy's iconic display on the market, but this comes very, very close. The pixel effect is amazing, and you can turn on frameblending as well, which gets you even closer to the look and behaviour of an original DMG-01 LCD.
With this screen mod, my Game Boy now feels like it has reached its ultimate form – especially when combined with two other essential upgrades. The first is an EverDrive GB X7 flash cart, which lets me carry my entire Game Boy collection on a single cartridge. This also supports save states, which is something I love about playing Game Boy games on the Analogue Pocket.
The second improvement is the CleanJuice battery pack, which removes the need to keep swapping out AA batteries. This drop-in replacement is charged over USB-C and comes with a specially designed replacement battery panel.
Granted, you may already have a means of playing your Game Boy games on enhanced hardware – as well as the aforementioned Analogue Pocket, there are other options on the market, and many people prefer to use their GBA SP to cover all of their Game Boy-related needs. For me, though, the original DMG-01 is the one that feels best in my hands – and it's my preferred portable, even if it means I'm missing out on GBC support.