Sure, here’s a rewritten version of the article:
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So, there’s this cool project I stumbled upon—kind of by accident, if I’m being honest. This modder, Natalie, or @natalie_thenerd if you hang out on X (formerly Twitter—why do they keep changing names?), crafted this see-through Game Boy Color motherboard. Yeah, you heard me. Completely clear. It’s like looking at a skeleton, but for tech nerds. Not sure why it fascinates me, but here we are.
Natalie went rogue and did her own schematics—like, a personal blueprint. She axed the usual ground zone to keep the board transparent. Modern gadgets need it, but she figured this old-school device doesn’t care. Maybe it’s because of its simplicity, or maybe there’s some tech voodoo involved. Who’s to say?
Anyway—where was I? Right. She reverse-engineered the whole thing, but farmed out the clear PCB to someone else to make. It’s made from some acrylic-like stuff with a melting point that’s lower than my patience with bad Wi-Fi (seriously, 200 degrees Celsius). So, a gentle touch with that soldering iron was a must.
Most of it’s clear—copper traces, chips, screen (oh, and a tiny daughter board). Even the cartridge reader, she snagged from a Chinese Game Boy clone, is semi-transparent. Matches perfectly with the clear shell and translucent keys. The whole thing? A dreamy throwback to those ’90s see-through phones. You remember those, don’t you? Or maybe you don’t.
But—big bummer moment—you can’t actually buy this beauty. Nope, it’s a one-time art piece. The clear PCB is kind of flimsy, probably wouldn’t survive a gamer’s rage quit. A few people mentioned swapping the copper with silver or adding backlighting. I mean, how sweet would that look? Given Natalie runs the Modded Gameboy Club, there’s hope someone else picks up that idea.
Some folks are dreaming of using this clear-tech idea elsewhere—like on the Nothing Phone 2. Transparent tech is like, trendy again. Clear power banks, SSD enclosures… they’re sprouting up everywhere. But until they make these see-through boards more durable and wallet-friendly, it’s not hitting the mainstream, sadly.
Still, hats off to Natalie. This clear Game Boy Color is a masterpiece. This is why modding rocks—turning consoles into real-life art.
