DMG Button Breakout PCB

The DMG Button Breakout PCB is a small board I made for projects that reuse the original Game Boy DMG shell and controls. Instead of soldering directly to awkward button contacts, the board exposes the controls through cleaner pads.

It was designed with custom handheld builds in mind, especially Game Boy Zero-style projects and RetroPie conversions. In those builds, the electronics are usually not the only hard part. Cable routing, button wiring, shell constraints, and serviceability all matter.

This board is not complicated, but it makes the build process nicer. It reduces messy wiring, gives the buttons a more predictable interface, and makes the inside of a modded handheld look less like a one-off hack.

I like these small PCBs because they solve very specific annoyances. They are the kind of parts you only appreciate once you have built the same thing the hard way a few times.