About Us

Our Past

     Hi, my name is Leon Kiriliuk and welcome to retroconsolemods.ca! We are a one-man outfit with the single purpose of repairing, restoring and modernizing retro video game consoles and computers from the 1980's, 1990's and 2000's.  Whilst retroconsolemods.ca is relatively new, I've been an active member of the retro video game community since the 1990's. 



     Between 2002 and 2018 I ran nesreproductions.com, a site focused on creating new NES carts of never released prototypes, hacks and home-brew games. In addition, I translated many Japanese exclusive Famicom carts to English. During those years, I've created thousands of new NES carts and shipped them around the world, so chances are if you've been around the Nintendo collecting scene in the 2000's, we probably crossed paths!

     Around 2010, I noticed an increase demand from local video game stores for me to fix consoles that were starting to fail due to age. Initially it was consoles that failed due to leaking capacitors (the usual suspects, like the Sega Game Gear or NEC TurboExpress) but also requests to repair consoles that broke (NES system that no longer powered on, Sega Saturn with a failing laser, etc.) Ever since, I've fixed hundreds of retro video game consoles and retro computers that failed for multiple different reasons.

     retroconsolemods.ca is here to repair and restore all your retro video game consoles and retro computers.  

Our work featured in the media


Moving forward to HDTV

     As the world transitioned from CRT technology to modern flat panel LCD, these old retro video game consoles (that were designed to be used on standard definition CRT TVs) did not transition to this new display technology as flawlessly as gamers hoped. Multiple issues crept up including blurry/smeared video output as well as horrible game lag; a solution was needed and a solution was delivered by the retro video game community.  For the past decade, bright engineers developed new solutions to modernize many of these old consoles to work with modern displays. Some solutions involve installing circuit boards inside the consoles to unlock the internal video signal and generate a video format that modern displays can consume. These formats tend to be either RGB (analog signal) or HDMI (digital signal).

     With HDMI mods, all you need is an HDMI cable between the console and display and you're set. The image quality would be outstanding and lag will be limited to that of your display.

     With RGB mods, you will need an additional device to convert from the RGB signal to something your display can use. There are many devices in the market to do this.  Some of the better ones are the XRGB mini, OSSC and RetroTink 5X. Unlike an HDMI upgrade, the added advantage of the RGB mods is that you can also connect your console to a high quality CRT display that accepts RGB input (such as the Sony BVM and Sony PVM) to give you the best CRT video quality.

Other modernization solutions

     In addition to improving display fidelity, in recent years there's been a push to replace a lot of the failing optical disc drives in these old consoles with modern flash based solutions. Imagine being able to store all your CD games on a single SD card or SSD drive. Then select the game you want to play from a menu that shows up after you power on the machine.  This is now a reality for many of these consoles.

Our services

    Whilst all these modernization solutions sound exciting, many of them require low level soldering skills to install them. For instance, most of the HDMI solutions require specialized tools and soldering techniques to install; you'll typically find me soldering the connectors under a microscope, using a professional micro soldering station. retroconsolemods.ca is a service provider that will install these kits into your retro video game consoles if you don't have the required skills, or don't feel comfortable doing it yourself.

     For the past decade, I've been listed as a (for some only) trusted installer for many of these kits for all of Canada. For most of these kits, I've been installing them since they first appeared on the market.  For instance, I've been installing RGB kits in the NES since it was first released in 2013. For some upgrade kits, as a trusted installer, I've had the privilege to work directly with the kit makers to test the installation process before they even were released to the public.


Other ways to see our work



     For the past decade, people found my services through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as word of mouth from past customers and local retro video game stores. As the number of available products and services grew, I needed a way to gather them in single spot and showcase what's available to potential customers.  Hence, retroconsolemods.ca was born. 

     All the console modification images found on this site are those I've done for previous customers; I do not use stock images. You can also follow me on Twitter (click here) to see some of my most recent repairs and upgrades. I do a lot of work on systems that might not be listed here, so if there's something specific you want help with, the best way to reach me is via email (leonki@gmail.com)

     Thank you for visiting and enjoy your stay!