Since a little before Covid started wrecking the place I have been going on a bender collecting old gameboys. Primarily I just wanted one of each kind. I’m currently missing the Advance Micro and the standard Advance. My SP is pretty ratty, so maybe another one of those would be good as well. With these thoughts in mind, I fell instantly in love with these Vapourwave GBA’s put out by OasisLtd.

The SP was released alongside Tupperwave’s Cartridge album release of “To you baby, with love”. Yeah that’s right, they released a vapourwave visual album right to the GBA and VHS. It’s a super rad concept, and I’m not the only one who thinks so because both these bad boys are sold out. The publishers listed what they actually did to the refurbished SP’s as well.

“OEM frontlit LCD replaced with backlit IPS LCD including touch controls for brightness/color, OEM GBA SP shell has been swapped with custom vapor-dipped shell and the buttons & bumpers replaced with a fresh black set. Old silicone button pads & worn shoulder button springs have been replaced and the circuit board cleaned. Original rechargeable battery swapped with fresh higher capacity replacement. Includes wall charger and GBA SP headphone adapterĀ dongle.”

I didn’t think of it till now but the SP frustratingly never included an auxiliary port, hence the inclusion of an adapter dongle which plugs into the charging port.

In another release for OasisLtd. Mixtape #1 they refurbished the original Advance.

“OEM LCD replaced with backlit IPS LCD, OEM GBA shell has been swapped with custom vapor-dipped pink/purple shell while the buttons & bumpers have been upgraded with Retrosix Transparent Black replacements. Old silicone button pads & worn shoulder button springs have been replaced, the circuit board cleaned, and the front plastic screen swapped with a fresh holographic glass screen.”