Looking nice. I did a shell swap myself and it was a fun project (took me about 4 hours). I’m hoping someone comes out with some cool buttons to give me an excuse to keep working on it 😂
I always loved atomic purple casing. It looks so good on the steam deck. I want to swap out the casings for my Switch joy-cons but have yet to dive in and buy some casings.
Speaking of GBA, I’ve recently picked up this little guy in the same color! It can emulate anything up to PS1 including, well, GBA.
P.S. It’s called Miyoo Mini Plus but there is also a whole bunch of competitors in similar price range so picking one of them is a matter of personal choice
Nice! I’m getting my Retroid RP3+ delivered today (not the atomic purple colorway, though), and I’ll be swapping out the joysticks for 3rd party Switch-style hall-effect joysticks. That swap should be less than 30 mins, but I really appreciate the inspiration! The sub-$150 retro gaming scene is getting crazy good!
It feels nice too! I’ve been afraid it’s some cheap plastic, and even if it is, feels nicer to touch than my dbrand skin I’ve been rocking for several months
It requires full disassembly, and by full I mean full. Every component has to be unmounted and then remounted again because the front plate is the carrier of all other components. Official video guide I followed (with cuts and perfect execution) is 1.3 hours long.
People usually say it takes them 3+ hours, I took my time and was very careful, took little breaks, double checked everything and landed at around 5.2 hours. No regrets though!
I was not around when original consoles in this color were released, only found out about it recently and I’m obsessed! Already own two other things in atomic purple (8BitDo controller and Miyoo Mini Plus)
Looks awesome. I am doing a full button swap with joysticks. Just waiting for the replacement fan (might as well change that) before beginning and super excited to do it.
I’ve considered getting joystick replacements too but decided against. They are not super hard to replace as they are immediately exposed after taking the back cover off, and while less durable can still last years upon years, none of controllers I used in my entire life ever developed stick drift.
Buttons meanwhile require to take out a lot of stuff, so be prepared and leave enough space on your desk for components. Good luck with mods!
I see that you kept the original trackpad surfaces. I considered this a lot. Do they rub on the chassis at all? Is there anything else you did differently that you like?
I’ve basically just finished it an hour ago and only run a single game + input tests to make sure everything works, so I can’t vouch for anything longterm.
I decided to keep original trackpad covers because I gave up trying to lift the covers and got scared it may break if I apply even more heat / pressure. You have to place black adhesive under transparent covers anyway so it’s not a huge visual compromise. They don’t seem to rub on the chassis, at least so far. Otherwise I kept to the instructions and replaced everything.
Hey that’s great to know! I agree: the amount of effort to remove them is a little silly. I found that the best way to do it is to pry it from the corners. There is a PCB underneath with traces on the surface, so you want to be careful.
Although, I like the surface of the originals better, and seeing that they fit nicely on yours, I might swap them back.
If surface feeling is your only concern, you may look into getting some trackpad stickers from aftermarket. I’ve had dbrand skin before this mod and it felt fine. There should be a bunch of variants with different textures on places like etsy. I mean redoing the trackpad covers seems like a huge pain in the ass.
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