# Are GB/GBC/GBA/DS saves region-free?



## Deleted member 354686 (Sep 1, 2015)

Basically, would the save file of one regional version of a game work with another regional version of the game?


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## q9p (Sep 2, 2015)

GB, GBC, GBA, and DS games are region free. I have a copy of a Japanese Fire Red and a copy of Red in my house that I have played before. For saves, they are "region free" as well.


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## Deleted member 354686 (Sep 2, 2015)

q9p said:


> GB, GBC, GBA, and DS games are region free. I have a copy of a Japanese Fire Red and a copy of Red in my house that I have played before. For saves, they are "region free" as well.



Thank you.


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## Deleted User (Sep 3, 2015)

never ever mix different language saves with GB/C games. Not sure about GBA but for DS Pokémon games at least I think the saves work on any region. The European version of Scribblenauts has a different word list and the multiplayer is region locked so I'm guessing mixing saves won't work right for that game


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## MichiS97 (Sep 3, 2015)

DS savefiles are region-free but GBA ones are not. You will have to change a specific byte in the save file. I'm not perfectly sure if that's the case for all GBA titles but I had to do that in Pokemon Emerald and Minish Cap when I changed my ROM from the European to the American one.


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## SilverTheGamer (Mar 1, 2017)

MichiS97 said:


> DS savefiles are region-free but GBA ones are not. You will have to change a specific byte in the save file. I'm not perfectly sure if that's the case for all GBA titles but I had to do that in Pokemon Emerald and Minish Cap when I changed my ROM from the European to the American one.


What byte exactly?


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## MichiS97 (Mar 1, 2017)

SilverTheGamer said:


> What byte exactly?


I don't know if it's the same for every game but in Minish Cap you'll need to change BZME to BZMP in the first few lines when you open the save file in a HEX editor to change the save from US to EU. So basically just look for the game's ID.


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## SilverTheGamer (Mar 1, 2017)

MichiS97 said:


> I don't know if it's the same for every game but in Minish Cap you'll need to change BZME to BZMP in the first few lines when you open the save file in a HEX editor to change the save from US to EU. So basically just look for the game's ID.


And pokemon?


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## MichiS97 (Mar 1, 2017)

SilverTheGamer said:


> And pokemon?


Probably pretty much the same. Just find the game ID in the save and if you're playing the US version it should have an E in it, which you can change to P for Europe or J for Japan


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## SilverTheGamer (Mar 1, 2017)

MichiS97 said:


> Probably pretty much the same. Just find the game ID in the save and if you're playing the US version it should have an E in it, which you can change to P for Europe or J for Japan


Thanks. I'm asking because i want to use the Japanese GameCube distributions without playing the game again in Japanese just so i can connect


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## Sliter (Mar 1, 2017)

it's not something that works for all, but we can say in generl they are
for example, for some reason we can't use the saves of a japanese and any of the western pokemon with the Korean version õ3o


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## SilverTheGamer (Mar 7, 2017)

Sliter said:


> it's not something that works for all, but we can say in generl they are
> for example, for some reason we can't use the saves of a japanese and any of the western pokemon with the Korean version õ3o


Region locking? I guess? Question mark?


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## Lumstar (Mar 12, 2017)

Anything really. Data shifting, content added/removed by the translators...
Have you looked for a GameCube Action Replay code to tell the game it's okay to connect to different languages? It may be easier than trying to move a save file.


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## Sliter (Mar 12, 2017)

SilverTheGamer said:


> Region locking? I guess? Question mark?


I don't know, the games should have been compatible, at least by GTS that time?
Like, DPPt don't have hangul (Korean characters) on the JP+west games, they where added to the corean version (also was the "start" of pokemon officially translated in Korea... they also had GS on GBC but in a different way so idk lol... I want these carts on my collection...
(I the gbc case the english version saves may be compatible with Koean because these games have alphabet support, even you don't being able write ingame õ3o)
So then in HGSS they added the hangul in all. but .. I don't really remember if I tried it but I think that also don't worked.. and I remind trying to make a trade and it not working ...
Also I have relates of people with  Korean Mario Kart DS on a R4 ....not being abble to connect to others but well even the DS system is a bit different there and I almost got one, but IDK about saves there ..,



Lumstar said:


> Have you looked for a GameCube Action Replay code to tell the game it's okay to connect to different languages? It may be easier than trying to move a save file.


what kind of connection you mean?


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## Ryccardo (Mar 12, 2017)

Yeah, it all depends on the specific game

Some emulators/flashcards may add a header that prevents loading a save in a game with a different titleid, which is what @MichiS97 said, but this is a separate problem from different regions of a game (which technically are completely separate) supporting other regions'

And yep, 8-bit games - often using a custom character set - are less likely to be compatible


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## Lumstar (Mar 12, 2017)

Sliter said:


> I don't know, the games should have been compatible, at least by GTS that time?
> Like, DPPt don't have hangul (Korean characters) on the JP+west games, they where added to the corean version (also was the "start" of pokemon officially translated in Korea... they also had GS on GBC but in a different way so idk lol... I want these carts on my collection...
> (I the gbc case the english version saves may be compatible with Koean because these games have alphabet support, even you don't being able write ingame õ3o)
> So then in HGSS they added the hangul in all. but .. I don't really remember if I tried it but I think that also don't worked.. and I remind trying to make a trade and it not working ...
> ...



GCN games that region lock their GBA connection features. Pokemon Colosseum & XD expect the correct language cart, or they'll block it.

Other stuff not related to Pokemon applies too. Like the bonus disc items only (officially) work for North American Fire Emblem.


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## Sliter (Mar 13, 2017)

Lumstar said:


> GCN games that region lock their GBA connection features. Pokemon Colosseum & XD expect the correct language cart, or they'll block it.
> 
> Other stuff not related to Pokemon applies too. Like the bonus disc items only (officially) work for North American Fire Emblem.


ok this need to be edited in game, if you want to accept all region maybe you have to write some code to make it happen :/
in DS/wii we have a similar issue that I really wanted to get rid of , in pokemon battle revolution , we cant link games with the region different of the wii game region :/ I don't know why this since the games aren't locked for communication between regions...
well for he Gc I saw something to get the colosseum  celebi on a english game but you need to make a change on the GC game...
https://gbatemp.net/threads/finally-hack-for-japanese-colosseum-bonus-disc-for-us-games.253401/  I found it XD


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## Lumstar (Mar 13, 2017)

right, the japanese celebi is more desirable for being original/legit.
Fans later uncovered its canceled english version.

You want to know about korean games? GS were released first, and they left in broken link compatibility with western games. Even if nothing crashes, you'll get garbled names. non-korean games had no clue what hangul are. A necessary landmine to complete the pokedex without blatant cheating. http://serebii.net/gs/unobtainable.shtml
http://serebii.net/gs/unobtainable.shtml
Although korea didn't have the GBA games, DPPt & HGSS could use the pal park to migrate from them.
black and white at long last fixed it, hangul recognized in all countries. pokemon originating from korean vs non-korean DDPt & HGSS must be transferred to black and white to interact correctly.


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## Sliter (Mar 13, 2017)

yes I knew a bit of this, it's interesting in some points actually o3o


Lumstar said:


> Although korea didn't have the GBA games, DPPt & HGSS could use the pal park to migrate from them.


but what region of GBA games does it accept ? since, at this is region locked on each language ...


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## Dimensional (Mar 13, 2017)

I don't believe GBA saves can be used on multiple region games. I attempted to do that with a Metroid: Zero Mission VC injection, and it didn't read the file. I had extracted the save from the VC, which is a EUR version, and tried to play it on VGBA-M using a US rom, and the file wouldn't be read. In the end I had to extract the game from the VC and play it for it to work. The EUR save wouldn't be read on the US game.


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## Lumstar (Mar 13, 2017)

Dimensional said:


> I don't believe GBA saves can be used on multiple region games. I attempted to do that with a Metroid: Zero Mission VC injection, and it didn't read the file. I had extracted the save from the VC, which is a EUR version, and tried to play it on VGBA-M using a US rom, and the file wouldn't be read. In the end I had to extract the game from the VC and play it for it to work. The EUR save wouldn't be read on the US game.



Well for that game the EUR rom is a slightly better choice. You get the language select menu.
Not counting hacks or mods that use the US one.


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## Nah3DS (Feb 3, 2018)

MichiS97 said:


> I don't know if it's the same for every game but in Minish Cap you'll need to change BZME to BZMP in the first few lines when you open the save file in a HEX editor to change the save from US to EU. So basically just look for the game's ID.


I'm trying to convert my Europe save to USA.
But I cannot find those games IDs (BZME / BZMP) on the ASCII code of my savefile.

EDIT: nvm I got it to work. I just needed to change "HSI.3" (Europe) to "HSI.5" (USA) in two lines of the file.
Thanks for the idea!


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## Ketchup901 (Mar 2, 2019)

MichiS97 said:


> Probably pretty much the same. Just find the game ID in the save and if you're playing the US version it should have an E in it, which you can change to P for Europe or J for Japan


I can't find anything in the .sav, any help?


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## MichiS97 (Mar 2, 2019)

Ketchup901 said:


> I can't find anything in the .sav, any help?


Can you show me the file in a hex editor? Just provide a screenshot of the first 100 bytes or so. Which game are you trying this on and which emulator are you using?


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## Ketchup901 (Mar 6, 2019)

MichiS97 said:


> Can you show me the file in a hex editor? Just provide a screenshot of the first 100 bytes or so. Which game are you trying this on and which emulator are you using?


Pokémon Emerald, trying to convert from USA to EUR. I'm using a DS, no emulators involved.


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## GothicIII (Mar 6, 2019)

Dimensional said:


> I don't believe GBA saves can be used on multiple region games. I attempted to do that with a Metroid: Zero Mission VC injection, and it didn't read the file. I had extracted the save from the VC, which is a EUR version, and tried to play it on VGBA-M using a US rom, and the file wouldn't be read. In the end I had to extract the game from the VC and play it for it to work. The EUR save wouldn't be read on the US game.



I did convert golden sun m3 saves to play on 3ds (VC) the 2nd part. Also conversion between different regions is possible if the game save is not too complex (like having foreign characters which other versions can't display)
It is possible but you have to know how to do this.
Many games have different save formats coded into the rom. If you start the game with a save that has a different format it usually gets wiped by the game and you have to copy it again.
Sadly it is already a few years ago when I did the conversion so I don't have any details but I had to experiment around to get the save working.
I really don't remember it but I think I used decrypt9 to inject a gba save because the save is stored in SRAM(?) and I had to boot sysnand to get the save written for the game.


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## Lumstar (Mar 7, 2019)

Ketchup901 said:


> Pokémon Emerald, trying to convert from USA to EUR. I'm using a DS, no emulators involved.



No such thing, unless you want to change language.
Pokémon Emerald uses the same ROM for all English releases.


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## Ketchup901 (Mar 7, 2019)

Lumstar said:


> No such thing, unless you want to change language.
> Pokémon Emerald uses the same ROM for all English releases.


That would explain why the backup software identifies both of them as BPEE.
Still, the save from the USA version doesn't work in the EUR version.
Also, neither savegame_manager.nds nor GBA_Backup_Tool.nds creates any good savefiles from my EUR copy (they're mostly blank with some sporadically filled in bytes, and a large chunk of FF toward the end).
In addition, my USA copy is fake while my EUR copy is legitimate.


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## Spokenlastchance (Mar 8, 2019)

Snugglevixen said:


> never ever mix different language saves with GB/C games. Not sure about GBA but for DS Pokémon games at least I think the saves work on any region. The European version of Scribblenauts has a different word list and the multiplayer is region locked so I'm guessing mixing saves won't work right for that game



I'm pretty sure pokemon games from GB/GBC saves won't be region free because there are tons of differences in how the games themselves work. For instance you shouldn't ever try and trade from GB/GBC pokemon games due to where information is store.

It might be worth looking into say on an emulator, but I wouldn't try it on actual hardware.


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## Lumstar (Mar 9, 2019)

Ketchup901 said:


> That would explain why the backup software identifies both of them as BPEE.
> Still, the save from the USA version doesn't work in the EUR version.
> Also, neither savegame_manager.nds nor GBA_Backup_Tool.nds creates any good savefiles from my EUR copy (they're mostly blank with some sporadically filled in bytes, and a large chunk of FF toward the end).
> In addition, my USA copy is fake while my EUR copy is legitimate.



Who knows what quality control fake games have. It might be modified in some way that makes saves incompatible with legitimate games.
Perhaps the fake uses SRAM saving, while the original uses EEPROM?


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## zfreeman (Mar 10, 2019)

The GBA reproduction cartridges typically have a patched ROM instruct the SRAM to flash to the ROM chip, cutting the cost of including a battery. This will happen during the process of saving the game; button inputs, video, and audio will freeze. If the cartridge's ROM is dumped, the save will be in it. If the cartridge's SRAM is dumped, the save will be null, as the SRAM only holds a save with a battery or during gameplay.


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## Ketchup901 (Mar 14, 2019)

zfreeman said:


> The GBA reproduction cartridges typically have a patched ROM make the SRAM flash to the ROM chip, cutting the cost of including a battery. This will happen during the process of saving the game; button inputs, video, and audio will freeze. If the cartridge's ROM is dumped, the save will be in it. If the cartridge's SRAM is dumped, the save will be null, as the SRAM only holds a save with a battery or during gameplay.


Yep, that's exactly what happens on my fake game.
So then is there any way to extract my save from a dumped ROM? I'm pretty sure I can dump the ROM using the same backup tool as I use for my savefiles.


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## zfreeman (Mar 14, 2019)

Just play the dumped ROM in an emulator and it will generate the correct file after saving.


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## Ketchup901 (Mar 14, 2019)

zfreeman said:


> Just play the dumped ROM in an emulator and it will generate the correct file after saving.


Tried this with mGBA and it didn't work. When just loading the rom, mGBA created its own save file just loading the ROM, and there was no continue option, just new game and option, and if I tried to also load the savefile, an in-game message told me the savefile was deleted due to corruption.


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## zfreeman (Mar 14, 2019)

Try VBA (Visual Boy Advance). http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/gba/vboyadvance.html


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## Ketchup901 (Mar 14, 2019)

zfreeman said:


> Try VBA (Visual Boy Advance). http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/gba/vboyadvance.html


Thank you, it worked!!! The save file created by VBA was 64KiB, rather than the 128KiB that was apparently wanted, so Rudolph's GBA backup tool wouldn't let me restore from it, so I had to use nds_savemanager instead.
Thank you for all your help! Much love.


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