ExtremeRate produces a wide range of accessories, and especially shells for PS4, PS5, the Xbox consoles, and Switch. As well as shells for retro consoles such as the DS, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance SP. The designs are some of the coolest that you can come across, and these products will tempt you to upgrade your old handheld and re-shell it. The process of re-shelling can be intimidating at first, but take your time, prepare a clean workspace, and gather your tools, and you won’t regret your decision. Through a re-shell, you can customize your device to be unique to you, and ExtremeRate also sells numerous spare parts to repair broken hardware. Also, with these shell replacements everything you could want is in the package, including rubber contact pads, screws, and even the screw drivers that you will need. I’ve re-shelled one of my Game Boy Advance SP consoles, and this short review will run through my experience.
Presentation and Look
Firstly, when I opened the ExtremeRate package, I was pleasantly surprised at the nice branded packaging. The packaging is high quality and branded with ExtremeRate’s logo. After I cut a small amount of tape the box opened and revealed the beautiful shell, buttons, screws, stickers and more. Each set of items was in its own small bag. When everything is disassembled, it can seem like you’ll have a lot of work to do. However, if you take your time, and watch a re-shelling of your device on YouTube, you will be much more likely to succeed. It’s good to follow the steps in the video guides on re-shelling. The Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo DS Lite can be especially difficult because of the hinge. Once I got the bulk of the Game Boy Advance SP shell out of its bag, I could almost feel the nice grey color and art that matches with the original Game Boy.
Installation
My donor Game Boy Advance SP was a system that I had put to the side, as the R shoulder button wasn’t consistently registering a button press. It was in a black and green shell. The hinge mechanism was working well. It was tight, with a solid snap when closing. The console was not modded and is an AGS 001 model.
I started off the mod by completely disassembling the donor console until I was left with just the motherboard and screen attached via the ribbon cable. I then went ahead and disconnected the ribbon cable. I can’t specifically remember in what order I did the following steps, but it went something like this;
I put the screen into the new housing and screwed it shut. I then run the ribbon cable of the screen through the hole in the shell and connected it to the motherboard. I then screwed in the required hinge section (that is the black portion of the hinge that you can see in the pictures). I then put the buttons and contacts onto the new shell. I then screwed in the motherboard to the shell. Then I put the remaining piece of the new shell onto the face piece making sure the power switch and sound switch were aligned with the power tab and sound tab. Then I screwed the whole set up together. I then installed the hinge modules.
Those were generally the steps that I took. The hinge modules only properly clicked into place after some difficulty. However, the hinge is now just as strong as it was in the donor console. Once the installation was complete, it was time to play some games.
Gameplay and Feel
The first thing that struck me about the shell was its nice texture. It has an almost rubbery feel, which helps it to melt into your hands. The feel is different from an official shell but arguably more comfortable. Now that I had completed the re-shell, I decided to boot up my EZ Flash cart. I decided to play some Super Mario Land 2 since the design of the shell is reminiscent of the original Game Boy on which the Super Mario Land games were released. The buttons are clicky, and the rubbers make good contact with the board. I breezed through a couple of worlds because of how responsive and tight the button work was. I then decided to play an actual GBA game and chose The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers, a classic Diablo clone. I was briskly firing off arrows and easily avoiding enemies with the d-pad. Whether it is just the design of the SP or it was this particular shell, the SP is always the console I make the least errors with.
Style
The shell that I’m reviewing uses the Game Boy DMG as inspiration. That original model used colors such as grey, pink/purple, some blue, and of course the green screen. I’d say that this design is one of the better retro SP designs. I’m a bit sick of the designs based on the NES, so I thought I’d choose one that honoured the classic original Game Boy, that was made great by its limitations. Maybe it’s ironic that that original system has Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon, and the ‘upgraded’ Advance SP has those same Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon but as evolved versions (Zelda: Minish Cap, Super Mario Advance 4, Pokemon Emerald). The DMG design for the SP looks super cool and is completely unique to extremerate as far as I know.
Conclusion
Overall, ExtremeRate is a company that strives to make the best accessories possible for new and old gaming systems. Shells are their specialty, and here I have installed and reviewed an ExtremeRate shell that has a cool DMG-style inspired design and a comfortable rubber finish. The buttons are super responsive, and with a good flash cart, there are hundreds of classic games waiting to be played. The kit is easy to install (although the hinge can be a bit troublesome), and comes nicely packaged with more than what you’ll need to do the mod. If you take your time with the install, you definitely won’t regret making the effort.
BongoBongo123 is an avid Zelda fan who also likes the odd game of Smash. His interests in gaming are broad but he loves a good Metroidvania or action RPGs.