How do i homebrew a GBA?
- Thread starter ijustwannaplaywii
- Start date
- Views 1,861
- Replies 21
What are you thinking, exactly? Are you thinking you can download games illegally and magically get them on a GBA somehow? If you don't have a flashcart, there's nothing you can do.
(Technically you can use a GC-to-GBA cable to connect it to a hacked Wii or Gamecube, but the internal RAM in a GBA is too small to do very much – certainly not enough for commercial titles.)
There is no firmware or anything on anything with a GBA slot that makes for a reasonable means of running GBA code like you might be used to with later systems. With a DSi or 3ds you could use emulation that gets basically there but eh, same for a DS with an enhanced flash cart (the baseline DS is not really able to sensibly emulate a GBA, the DSTwo family being the main thing that can owing to it having onboard extra hardware to do such things but you might find an ISMM somewhere).
Two broad options to do things in hardware* (emulation has long existed, indeed other than save types a current emulator at the time of the NA release will probably do most of the library just fine) then are
1) Multiboot cable.
2) Flash cart.
*this is ignoring the likes of the analogue pocket which I would argue is hardware but includes options to run from its own internal loaders.
Multiboot cables are limited to about 256KB of data and naturally need a device (basically going to be a PC, there are some things for gamecube and standalone devices but don't).
I am not aware of any being sold these days so build your own
http://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm#auxxboopctogbamultibootcable
https://web.archive.org/web/20150810222526/http://reinerziegler.de/GBA/gba.htm#Multiboot
https://web.archive.org/web/20150810170955/http://www.devrs.com/gba/files/mbv2faqs.php
The main bonuses to them are theoretically quicker if you are testing out code (though eject SD card, shove into reader, copy files is plenty quick) and ability to have your GBA speak to your PC (said code might take in info/data from the PC beyond that) which for 99% of people means you can use your GBA as a PC controller if for some reason you want to do that (they are nice to hold but why I would when I have any number of other controllers I don't know, some like to emulate GBA on PC and control as though they were though).
Flash carts...
They have existed for a very long time (possibly longer than emulation but it is months at best) and other than the very first ones and supercards (and clones thereof, cyclops doing one) then if it fits on the cart itself it will run it bug for bug compatible with all but about 9 ROMs, 7 of which have patches that do most things for most people,
https://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995 for the list of trouble games and fixes.
Like with most things you can categorise them in any number of ways but I will attempt one here.
1) Very oldest stuff. If you ever see speed patches and such it is probably for these (or supercards but more on those later). Avoid and frankly you will be hard pressed to find it.
2) NOR era. The GBA read speed for ROM data is actually really quite high for the time and necessitates fast memory to run it. This might even trouble SD cards (which are basically NAND memory) today, certainly did at the time. The main solution other than RAM (more on that next) which has the problem of being small, expensive and needing power to keep its data is NOR memory, which is expensive per megabyte, has some quirks that limit useful maximum sizes and the like.
These will tend to come with either cradles/linkers in which to put the carts to write to/read from (which is also a nice way to dump GBA games) or custom cables that plug into the cart or are the special twist on the multiboot stuff above, probably going to need a Windows XP machine (or virtual machine) to sort them. Some limited options for some carts if you have a DS/DS lite and DS flash cart to write things.
3) NAND era.
Rather later in the GBA lifetime (the DS would hit not so very long after) there came these.
Rather than trying to add more and more NOR they opted for RAM and a big chunk of NAND.
The EZFlash 3 (different to the 3 in 1 we cover shortly) being the main reference point for most, though the G6 also features here.
4) DS GBA slot era.
Overlaps a bit with 3) actually but rather than sticking a bank of NAND on the cart itself things moved to using CF and then SD cards instead (lets the user pay for it, lets the user swap out when they like, and swap when it breaks as it is common enough to be annoying). The DS was also a thing by this point, and hacked, so people were trying to fit the far larger DS games on legacy GBA era things and thus people wanted more size.
This is where Supercards, M3 and the EZFlash 4 came to the fore. Supercard sacrificing GBA abilities considerably, the others having models that diminished GBA options in favour of being a cheap DS player. You may also encounter the G6 which is more like 3) but of the 4) era. Their main focus for most of this was DS games so many will lack finely honed features some of the 2) and 3) stuff might have like cheats, savestates and what have you.
5) Expansion pack era. Might realistically be 4a) but oh well.
Flash cart teams realised that if you had a DS slot flash cart you probably had all the storage you needed (average GBA game is 8 to 16 megabytes, SDHC 8 gig or 16 gig cards were reasonably affordable at this point). Consequently they went back somewhat to the NOR era but also NAND era with small carts and say 256Mbit/32 megabytes of NOR (the maximum for most purposes of GBA ROM size), possibly some RAM (quick to write, though in the case of the 3 in 1 then limited to 16 megs where GBA largely tops out at 32 even if not a lot and a few ROM hacks, see previous links for trouble games as it also includes that list) and were built for DS cards to manage them. If you can make them fit (the DS lite features a reduced size GBA slot and was popular at the time hence most things for it being that size) then they will work on a GBA but it is not worth it outside of specialist things like faking a GBA game for the purposes of DS games that see their older titles and unlock bonuses accordingly https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_DS_games_with_GBA_connectivity . For use with pokemon for such things you tend to want a DS flash cart as well https://gbatemp.net/download/pokepatch.27240/ . Options to do this with others here are available depending upon what it is and might need some effort, for most purposes get the save, load it in an emulator and fake it with that as it is usually a one and done thing, and there might be some cheats as well.
6) Modern era.
For many years (see the link above on trouble games, the thread was made when such things were getting scarce).
Believe it or not other than the GBA and things following it then flash carts for most other consoles was limited to legacy old nasty things (as in would have been the height of tech in the same years the consoles were current and not much later), and trying to twist whatever possibly deliberately limited homebrew flash cart was made to working for your purposes. This was until everdrive came along and rocked that whole world with their stuff which brought it kicking and screaming into the modern world.
They tried the same for the GBA but as mentioned above all but the oldest and weakest will play anything in the GBA library in a bug for bug/as it was on original hardware (if not better) manner. Still a very nice GBA flash cart from them though, quite pricey but justified for many. EZFlash also fired back with the Omega line (which also saw a further successor with the truly amazing Omega definitive edition).
You will pay up here but they are basically everything you probably could want from a GBA flash cart. Can carry basically the entire GBA library, homebrew to a point (music and video players exist, though nothing amazing or all that useful compared to basically anything else you might have running today, so obviously your choices are infinite there. All the things the GBA can emulate though https://gbatemp.net/threads/flubbas...s-plus-assorted-other-recent-homebrew.619739/ http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/gba-emulators-1158176.html you could probably crowbar in there as well) and ROM hack on you if you really wanted, certainly several hundred of your favourite games is nothing to them where if you go back to 2) above then you might get 6 on the average one if you choose carefully.
Short version of that. Ignore multiboot unless you know it is what you want (you didn't ask about/mention any coding you were intending so you don't want it).
There might be some old EZFlash 4, reform or redux carts out there in some vendor. They won't have fancy options like savestates and onboard cheat support is spotty (easy enough to hardcode cheats in https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbaatm-rebirth-gba-auto-trainer-maker-a-new-hope.564321/ ) but will be cheaper and allow you to play basically everything with minimal fuss as far as I am concerned. Avoid any GBA slot supercards and the limited GBA option things of other makers (there is a reason you might still find them in some shops all these years on -- nobody wants one).
If you have a DS and DS flash cart there are probably some EZ 3 in 1s around, probably need a battery replacing but easy enough if you can solder. Theoretically you could use it with a GBA but... don't.
If you are willing to spend a bit then the modern offerings in flash cart world are pretty nice. See
https://gbatemp.net/review/everdrive-gba-x5-mini.1575/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ezflash...on-gba-flash-cart-in-house-at-gbatemp.581991/
https://gbatemp.net/review/ez-flash-omega.765/
https://gbatemp.net/review/ez-flash-omega.795/
Two broad options to do things in hardware* (emulation has long existed, indeed other than save types a current emulator at the time of the NA release will probably do most of the library just fine) then are
1) Multiboot cable.
2) Flash cart.
*this is ignoring the likes of the analogue pocket which I would argue is hardware but includes options to run from its own internal loaders.
Multiboot cables are limited to about 256KB of data and naturally need a device (basically going to be a PC, there are some things for gamecube and standalone devices but don't).
I am not aware of any being sold these days so build your own
http://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm#auxxboopctogbamultibootcable
https://web.archive.org/web/20150810222526/http://reinerziegler.de/GBA/gba.htm#Multiboot
https://web.archive.org/web/20150810170955/http://www.devrs.com/gba/files/mbv2faqs.php
The main bonuses to them are theoretically quicker if you are testing out code (though eject SD card, shove into reader, copy files is plenty quick) and ability to have your GBA speak to your PC (said code might take in info/data from the PC beyond that) which for 99% of people means you can use your GBA as a PC controller if for some reason you want to do that (they are nice to hold but why I would when I have any number of other controllers I don't know, some like to emulate GBA on PC and control as though they were though).
Flash carts...
They have existed for a very long time (possibly longer than emulation but it is months at best) and other than the very first ones and supercards (and clones thereof, cyclops doing one) then if it fits on the cart itself it will run it bug for bug compatible with all but about 9 ROMs, 7 of which have patches that do most things for most people,
https://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995 for the list of trouble games and fixes.
Like with most things you can categorise them in any number of ways but I will attempt one here.
1) Very oldest stuff. If you ever see speed patches and such it is probably for these (or supercards but more on those later). Avoid and frankly you will be hard pressed to find it.
2) NOR era. The GBA read speed for ROM data is actually really quite high for the time and necessitates fast memory to run it. This might even trouble SD cards (which are basically NAND memory) today, certainly did at the time. The main solution other than RAM (more on that next) which has the problem of being small, expensive and needing power to keep its data is NOR memory, which is expensive per megabyte, has some quirks that limit useful maximum sizes and the like.
These will tend to come with either cradles/linkers in which to put the carts to write to/read from (which is also a nice way to dump GBA games) or custom cables that plug into the cart or are the special twist on the multiboot stuff above, probably going to need a Windows XP machine (or virtual machine) to sort them. Some limited options for some carts if you have a DS/DS lite and DS flash cart to write things.
3) NAND era.
Rather later in the GBA lifetime (the DS would hit not so very long after) there came these.
Rather than trying to add more and more NOR they opted for RAM and a big chunk of NAND.
The EZFlash 3 (different to the 3 in 1 we cover shortly) being the main reference point for most, though the G6 also features here.
4) DS GBA slot era.
Overlaps a bit with 3) actually but rather than sticking a bank of NAND on the cart itself things moved to using CF and then SD cards instead (lets the user pay for it, lets the user swap out when they like, and swap when it breaks as it is common enough to be annoying). The DS was also a thing by this point, and hacked, so people were trying to fit the far larger DS games on legacy GBA era things and thus people wanted more size.
This is where Supercards, M3 and the EZFlash 4 came to the fore. Supercard sacrificing GBA abilities considerably, the others having models that diminished GBA options in favour of being a cheap DS player. You may also encounter the G6 which is more like 3) but of the 4) era. Their main focus for most of this was DS games so many will lack finely honed features some of the 2) and 3) stuff might have like cheats, savestates and what have you.
5) Expansion pack era. Might realistically be 4a) but oh well.
Flash cart teams realised that if you had a DS slot flash cart you probably had all the storage you needed (average GBA game is 8 to 16 megabytes, SDHC 8 gig or 16 gig cards were reasonably affordable at this point). Consequently they went back somewhat to the NOR era but also NAND era with small carts and say 256Mbit/32 megabytes of NOR (the maximum for most purposes of GBA ROM size), possibly some RAM (quick to write, though in the case of the 3 in 1 then limited to 16 megs where GBA largely tops out at 32 even if not a lot and a few ROM hacks, see previous links for trouble games as it also includes that list) and were built for DS cards to manage them. If you can make them fit (the DS lite features a reduced size GBA slot and was popular at the time hence most things for it being that size) then they will work on a GBA but it is not worth it outside of specialist things like faking a GBA game for the purposes of DS games that see their older titles and unlock bonuses accordingly https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_DS_games_with_GBA_connectivity . For use with pokemon for such things you tend to want a DS flash cart as well https://gbatemp.net/download/pokepatch.27240/ . Options to do this with others here are available depending upon what it is and might need some effort, for most purposes get the save, load it in an emulator and fake it with that as it is usually a one and done thing, and there might be some cheats as well.
6) Modern era.
For many years (see the link above on trouble games, the thread was made when such things were getting scarce).
Believe it or not other than the GBA and things following it then flash carts for most other consoles was limited to legacy old nasty things (as in would have been the height of tech in the same years the consoles were current and not much later), and trying to twist whatever possibly deliberately limited homebrew flash cart was made to working for your purposes. This was until everdrive came along and rocked that whole world with their stuff which brought it kicking and screaming into the modern world.
They tried the same for the GBA but as mentioned above all but the oldest and weakest will play anything in the GBA library in a bug for bug/as it was on original hardware (if not better) manner. Still a very nice GBA flash cart from them though, quite pricey but justified for many. EZFlash also fired back with the Omega line (which also saw a further successor with the truly amazing Omega definitive edition).
You will pay up here but they are basically everything you probably could want from a GBA flash cart. Can carry basically the entire GBA library, homebrew to a point (music and video players exist, though nothing amazing or all that useful compared to basically anything else you might have running today, so obviously your choices are infinite there. All the things the GBA can emulate though https://gbatemp.net/threads/flubbas...s-plus-assorted-other-recent-homebrew.619739/ http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/gba-emulators-1158176.html you could probably crowbar in there as well) and ROM hack on you if you really wanted, certainly several hundred of your favourite games is nothing to them where if you go back to 2) above then you might get 6 on the average one if you choose carefully.
Short version of that. Ignore multiboot unless you know it is what you want (you didn't ask about/mention any coding you were intending so you don't want it).
There might be some old EZFlash 4, reform or redux carts out there in some vendor. They won't have fancy options like savestates and onboard cheat support is spotty (easy enough to hardcode cheats in https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbaatm-rebirth-gba-auto-trainer-maker-a-new-hope.564321/ ) but will be cheaper and allow you to play basically everything with minimal fuss as far as I am concerned. Avoid any GBA slot supercards and the limited GBA option things of other makers (there is a reason you might still find them in some shops all these years on -- nobody wants one).
If you have a DS and DS flash cart there are probably some EZ 3 in 1s around, probably need a battery replacing but easy enough if you can solder. Theoretically you could use it with a GBA but... don't.
If you are willing to spend a bit then the modern offerings in flash cart world are pretty nice. See
https://gbatemp.net/review/everdrive-gba-x5-mini.1575/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ezflash...on-gba-flash-cart-in-house-at-gbatemp.581991/
https://gbatemp.net/review/ez-flash-omega.765/
https://gbatemp.net/review/ez-flash-omega.795/
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2022
- Messages
- 7,341
- Trophies
- 3
- Location
- The Wired
- Website
- m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
- XP
- 22,645
- Country
I really love seeing your very descriptive and interesting posts. Wish I could do that.
It is easy enough if you are old enough to have been there to see it all (and actually seen it all, not just been breathing but doing other things). Most things have choices as well -- very rarely is anything like a perfect solution going to exist.
I will also have to one day write up my theory of the idiot savant but as applies to choices for complicated things -- I routinely get people that can use a computer in the sense they can do normal people things but I probably have to sort email signatures for when they change job/get a new phone/get a new tablet/new laptop (no appreciation for https://xkcd.com/627/ is what I am saying) still manage to find obscure solutions to their problems (sort by lowest price is probably most of it but not always) and I get to knock them down so tend to head that one off at the pass, or try to make it work (sadly for my sanity/future self's enjoyment I quite often succeed*) when they go ahead and buy it without first asking me.
Combine the two and you too can rack up several paragraphs long posts covering minor esoterica such that you need a summary at the end for those that ultimately do just want at best a simple choice. The reason I can do it around here is my interests are largely limited to games, hacking games, electronics and nuts and bolts engineering which is what most people come here wanting to discuss or sort problems with.
*have had a few clients over the years watch me recover things from broken computers/installs such that backups become less important in their minds, and while I fully expect the following thing to come up in my trial for witchcraft one day then for the last 4 stuck/sheared/rounded bolts I have dealt with for one guy then cheapo bolt extractors have worked (out of the hundreds I have ever tried them for that being 4 of the 5 that worked) so now we get to try them every time rather than going straight for the viable methods.
This is slightly related.
I may or may not have just indirectly alerted Tepples that GBATemp here exists and the GBA homebrew scene is still alive and well, with old PocketHeaven folks appearing and continuing projects. You might remember Tepples as being the coder behind GBFS, GSM Player, Multiboot Menu, cycle-accurate Tetris games, other stuff viewable at pineight.com that we don't have to search The Internet Archive for, etc.
I hope he joins. The more the merrier!
I may or may not have just indirectly alerted Tepples that GBATemp here exists and the GBA homebrew scene is still alive and well, with old PocketHeaven folks appearing and continuing projects. You might remember Tepples as being the coder behind GBFS, GSM Player, Multiboot Menu, cycle-accurate Tetris games, other stuff viewable at pineight.com that we don't have to search The Internet Archive for, etc.
I hope he joins. The more the merrier!
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,203
- Trophies
- 1
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 6,858
- Country
Short and to the point answer: it is not necessary (or possible) to do so, for the reasons stated above. Besides lad, if @youjustwannaplaywii, why do you ask?
Side note: @DanTheManMS how come with such an old account you have so few XPs? Okay, all taken care of! @M4x1mumReZ kindly said he will gladly give you his XPs.
Side note: @DanTheManMS how come with such an old account you have so few XPs? Okay, all taken care of! @M4x1mumReZ kindly said he will gladly give you his XPs.
Last edited by Nikokaro,
Flashcart allows you to run homebrew on GBA.
No modchip required.
"Flashcart" was the correct answer
The OP only asked how to run homebrew on a Gameboy Advance.
These walls of text are not friendly to new forum members and don't give them a direct answer.
No modchip required.
"Flashcart" was the correct answer
The OP only asked how to run homebrew on a Gameboy Advance.
These walls of text are not friendly to new forum members and don't give them a direct answer.
Last edited by elk1007,
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,203
- Trophies
- 1
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 6,858
- Country
Pal, grant our know-it-all that bit of vanity and personal satisfaction that cheers him so much.
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2022
- Messages
- 7,341
- Trophies
- 3
- Location
- The Wired
- Website
- m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
- XP
- 22,645
- Country
*sheShort and to the point answer: it is not necessary (or possible) to do so, for the reasons stated above. Besides lad, if @youjustwannaplaywii, why do you ask?
Side note: @DanTheManMS how come with such an old account you have so few XPs? Okay, all taken care of! @M4x1mumReZ kindly said he will gladly give you his XPs.
Also no.
Post automatically merged:
The XP is precious to me
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,203
- Trophies
- 1
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 6,858
- Country
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2022
- Messages
- 7,341
- Trophies
- 3
- Location
- The Wired
- Website
- m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
- XP
- 22,645
- Country
It's okay.Woh! Sorry, my bad.
Post automatically merged:
But at least they give out a point, that's for sure."Flashcart" was the correct answer
The OP only asked how to run homebrew on a Gameboy Advance.
These walls of text are not friendly to new forum members and don't give them a direct answer.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 2,203
- Trophies
- 1
- Location
- Nautilus (under) Lake Como, Italy 🇮🇹
- XP
- 6,858
- Country
How did I not notice, given the delicacy and gracefulness of your avatar?
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2022
- Messages
- 7,341
- Trophies
- 3
- Location
- The Wired
- Website
- m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
- XP
- 22,645
- Country
Most people would just guess by looking at their avatar, but this isn't the case.How did I not notice, given the delicacy and gracefulness of your avatar?
Last edited by SylverReZ,
As others said.
How exactly would a GBA be homebrewed? It has no internal NAND chip, nor non-RAM storage. It only has barebones firmware that doesn't even contain a menu and all the content is loaded from cartridges.
How exactly would a GBA be homebrewed? It has no internal NAND chip, nor non-RAM storage. It only has barebones firmware that doesn't even contain a menu and all the content is loaded from cartridges.
Similar threads
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
@
BigOnYa:
You ask your questions there, create a new thread if its not already answered, then eventually a 3ds genius will respond. -
-
-
@
BigOnYa:
@K3Nv2 I got some cheapies at wallys, that are pretty good, already have lost a few expensive ones (one falls out and gone, can't find) while cutting grass so bought some cheap ones, and of course never lose these cheap ones. (Cheap meaning only $35, compared to air buds which I only have 1 of 2 now)
-
-
-
-
-
@
BigOnYa:
You would think, esp using bluetooth, not GPS, like a "your getting hot-er" meter on your phone.
-
@
BigOnYa:
I think they should tie up diddy, and let all the victims come and abuse him, we'll make a holiday of it every year. (jk, maybe)
-
-
-
