Guides & How-Tos

LEDs are everywhere in game consoles—from power indicators and activity lights to custom modding projects—but choosing the right one isn’t always straightforward. This guide breaks down how LEDs work, explains color, voltage, brightness, and resistors, and shows how to safely select and install LEDs for console repairs and mods. Whether you’re restoring vintage hardware or customizing a system, this overview gives you the confidence to do it right.

Vintage game consoles don’t fail overnight — they slowly age. From leaking capacitors and corroding batteries to dried thermal paste, cracked solder joints, brittle plastics, and failing optical drives, time takes its toll even on well-stored systems. Understanding how and why these components break down makes it easier to prevent damage, avoid costly repairs, and keep original hardware running for years to come.

There’s something charming about a Dreamcast that still thinks it’s 1999—until it keeps asking for the date. Here’s what causes it, how Sega designed the RTC battery, and the best ways to fix it today.

The Wii is a great little console and having it modded to play third-party apps, games, software, etc just makes it that much better.

Getting started with Wii Homebrew is not quite as intuitive as the Wii itself and there are a few tips and pointers you'll need to get going. Here we'll walk you through installing apps, playing backup games, and making backups of your game library.

Not all PlayStation 2 consoles are built the same, even when they look identical on the outside. This article breaks down how to identify PS2 hardware versions using external labels and internal mainboard markings. Accurate version identification makes repairs easier and helps prevent ordering incompatible replacement parts.

Original Xbox revisions 1.0–1.5 include a clock capacitor that is known to fail over time and can damage the motherboard. You can determine whether your Xbox is affected by checking the manufacturing date on the bottom of the console—no disassembly required.