What happens if i flash a gameboy game onto a bootleg gameboy color cartridge?

[ALT703]

Basically, im learning to make my own *simple* gameboy games. Original, not Color or Advance. I understand you can buy bootleg carts from places like AliExpress or eBay, and flash ROMS onto it with something like a Joey Joebags, or Joey Jr. I want to do this with my games so i can have dedicated cartridges for them.

I want to buy a Bootleg Pokemon Crystal just because i really like those transparent blue boxy cartridges that Bootleg Crystals have. But what happens if i flash a Gameboy game, not a gameboy color game onto it? i assume it will run fine on a Gameboy Color, but will it run on a Gameboy DMG or Pocket? Im worried it would detect the cartridge as a gameboy color cartridge, even though it contains a regular gameboy (.gb) ROM.

I assume if the gameboy checks the ROM before loading, it presents the error if its a Color game. Although maybe it checks the cartridge itself before loading whatever ROM is on it
tl;dr if i flash an original gameboy game to a bootleg gameboy color game, will it run on an original gameboy?

 

[dragonblood9999]

From what I understand those carts can be over written with no problem. I have some but I dont have a way to overwrite them to test for you.

I have Pokemon crystal, red, green, yellow, TCG2, Survival Kids 1 and 2. Not sure if I have more or not

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[ALT703]

From what I understand those carts can be over written with no problem. I have some but I dont have a way to overwrite them to test for you.

I have Pokemon crystal, red, green, yellow, TCG2, Survival Kids 1 and 2. Not sure if I have more or not

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Yes i know they can be rewritten, with the right tools because they are made with reflashable chips. My question tho, is if i flash a Gameboy Color cartridge with an original Gameboy game, will it run on an original gameboy, or will it give me the "Gameboy color games cannot be played on gameboy" error message?

 

[tech3475]

Yes i know they can be rewritten, with the right tools because they are made with reflashable chips. My question tho, is if i flash a Gameboy Color cartridge with an original Gameboy game, will it run on an original gameboy, or will it give me the "Gameboy color games cannot be played on gameboy" error message?

My guess is that the restriction is part of the ROM and not some other part of the cart.

Unless there’s something else going on which may affect things e.g. ‘code injection’ by a support chip.

 

[ALT703]

My guess is that the restriction is part of the ROM and not some other part of the cart.

Unless there’s something else going on which may affect things e.g. ‘code injection’ by a support chip.

thanks, thats kind of what i was thinking as well since most games have vustom error messages associated with the game, zelda game, zelda themed etc. Although it could be a piece of the cartridge still presenting the error. dunno. gonna keep looking for answers to see what others say

 

[dragonblood9999]

Yes i know they can be rewritten, with the right tools because they are made with reflashable chips. My question tho, is if i flash a Gameboy Color cartridge with an original Gameboy game, will it run on an original gameboy, or will it give me the "Gameboy color games cannot be played on gameboy" error message?

It should be fine. That "this game can only be played on a gameboy color" screen is programmed into the rom not the cart AFAIK.

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[CMDreamer]

There are three main GB (not GBA) cartridge types:

-Gameboy (DMG) -gray-
-Gameboy Color (backwards compatible) (CGB) -black-
-Gameboy Color Only (CGB) -translucent-

I'd think that from an electronic point of view, the first two of them are alike, while the third one isn't (special chips maybe). So as long as your flash-cartridge is compatible with any of the first two, you'll be ok, as long as your homebrew doesn't require specific functions present on the CGB only one.

Now, from a software point of view, there should be similar rules, so the same might apply.

Hope someone with a better explanation comes and sheds some ligth on this.

 

[cearp]

yep, that's in the rom, as long as there's space to reflash whatever rom you have chosen - you will be fine.
not really sure where the MBC types will come into this... for best luck I'd guess the MBC type of the game you want, and the MBC type of the fake game you bought should be the same. just something to keep in mind. maybe not important.

also, depending on the type of fake cart you bought, you might not be able to save without some further work...

 

[ALT703]

It should be fine. That "this game can only be played on a gameboy color" screen is programmed into the rom not the cart AFAIK.

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Thank you so much! this is what i was looking for. Didnt really mind getting one of the other ones, but i really wanted the crystal clone because i love the design tbh. And it comes with the ability to play Color games if i chose to load one, or learn to make my own color games!

 

[Titney]

The DMG and dual mode carts have a notch on the side, and the DMG brick gameboy on-button has a flap that goes into the notch when you turn it on. Nintendo's original color only carts don't have the notch so it's impossible to start them in a DMG without physical modification. Don't know if the bootleg carts have that notch or not though. (Gameboy Pocket and Light have differently designed on-buttons that don't go into the notch.)

 

[Deleted member 668561]

If you flash a gb rom, it will boot as a gb cart, the rom it self checks whether the game was booted on a gb or gbc, flash a gbc rom it should work on gbc, also note if the cart doesn't have a backup battery or sram, saving will be broken and what memory mappers the cartridge may or may not support may prevent certain games from booting