Hacking Dumping GBA ROMs Using a GC Link Cable.

[Burnt Lasagna]

Hey guys,
I have a theoretical question.
Would it be possible to dump GBA roms using a GBA2GC link cable on a softmodded Wii?

(GBA GC link Cable)

Would something like this be technically plausible?

This has just been something that’s been nagging me every time I look at my old link cable, so I figured I’d post about it here to give food to the thought.

 

[Wiisel]

I've often thought how underused the link cable is, it would be great if VBA had: Dumping/ Flashing/ GBA controller & Multiboot. Then there's other uses like gecko output etc how cool would it be to see bootmii spew output on the tiny screen as your wii boots?

 

[FAST6191]

Theoretically quite possibly- when you boot the GBA if you hold select and start it will go into multiboot mode.

If the GC or Wii was there to transmit a program that could in turn send data back along the cable (256K should be more than enough to do it) and the GC/Wii set up to catch things sure. I don't think the cart itself would be disabled (I imagine it was a way for some games to link up with the GC and actually use the game in the GBA slot) but that is my only reservation.

Why anybody would do this when it is trivial to do on a DS with a simple software program in a matter of seconds vs the ages it would take to do a full rom over link protocol (gbatek says 256Kbit/s or 2Mbit/s if you do it right but 256Kbit/s is the standard/suggested method) I have no idea but you asked for theoretically possible.

Now if you were going to talk about a version of VBA-link-real* for the GC/Wii that I could get interested in.

*there was a version of VBA that could be linked up to a GBA via a custom cable but the specs for the cable seem to have been lost.

 

[Burnt Lasagna]

Why anybody would do this when it is trivial to do on a DS with a simple software program in a matter of seconds vs the ages it would take to do a full rom over link protocol (gbatek says 256Kbit/s or 2Mbit/s if you do it right but 256Kbit/s is the standard/suggested method) I have no idea but you asked for theoretically possible.

Well GBA roms are not that big (Max being 32mg) so if 256Kbit/s was the speed of dumping it should be practical.
If you didn't own a DS/R4 card this would be another viable method to dump your roms (GBA2GC cables are also very cheap).

Simply stating that it wouldn't be as pointless as one would originally think.

 

[duffmmann]

I'm really surprised no one ever attempted Wii homebrew that utilized the ability for the Wii to link up with a gba, seems like a missed opportunity to me. Same with the ability to connect to the ds, but I imagine that would be much more difficult to program homebrew in conjunction with (if we even could).

 

[shortz1994]

lol a corded wii u.. to me thats all the wii u controller looks like.(game boy color). that would be nice t see done if it could be.

 

[Foxi4]

I'm really surprised no one ever attempted Wii homebrew that utilized the ability for the Wii to link up with a gba, seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Pretty sure that the Wii cannot connect to the GBA.

 

[Pong20302000]

I'm really surprised no one ever attempted Wii homebrew that utilized the ability for the Wii to link up with a gba, seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Pretty sure that the Wii cannot connect to the GBA.

Wii have the Gamecube controller ports
and the cable connect GBA to Gamecube controller port

 

[Foxi4]

I'm really surprised no one ever attempted Wii homebrew that utilized the ability for the Wii to link up with a gba, seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Pretty sure that the Wii cannot connect to the GBA.

Wii have the Gamecube controller ports
and the cable connect GBA to Gamecube controller port

Not my point. As far as I remember, the MIOS doesn't have this functionality anymore. I'll check now, I'm curious myself.

EDIT: Tested on Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (PAL) and Sonic Advance (EUR) - after some initial issues, likely caused by the fact that the GBA port was dusty, it turns out that the connection does work. My bad.

 

[duffmmann]

Yeah, I could have told you it still works, me and some friends still play 4 swords adventures and crystal chronicles on my Wii with the gbas from time to time.

 

[crwys]

Yeah, I could have told you it still works, me and some friends still play 4 swords adventures and crystal chronicles on my Wii with the gbas from time to time.

Me too, love those games.
The reason no one has done is because they are simply more easy to obtain by downloading them. (or its not possible)
Everyone does so there's really no point in making a Wii app to do this.
Would be pretty cool though.

 

[loismustdie555]

*there was a version of VBA that could be linked up to a GBA via a custom cable but the specs for the cable seem to have been lost.

Would a GBA link cable to USB from a GameShark work? Cuz I have one... Gimme a minute to post some pics.

Ok, here ya go;

Spoiler

 

[duffmmann]

Yeah, I could have told you it still works, me and some friends still play 4 swords adventures and crystal chronicles on my Wii with the gbas from time to time.

Me too, love those games.
The reason no one has done is because they are simply more easy to obtain by downloading them. (or its not possible)
Everyone does so there's really no point in making a Wii app to do this.
Would be pretty cool though.

Right, but surely other homebrew apps could be made in conjunction with the linked up gba. It would be cool if you could simply use the linked gba as a controller for vbagx and other emulators.

 

[Anon10W1z]

In theory, if someone has the time to develop a homebrew app which has these features...then it will be possible.

 

[loismustdie555]

It's really unfortunate that it's so hard to find tools to dump ROM's other than DS games these days.

 

[Anon10W1z]

It's really unfortunate that it's so hard to find tools to dump ROM's other than DS games these days.

? DS games can't dump roms.

 

[FenrirWolf]

You know what he meant =P

 

[mrgone]

In theory, if someone has the time to develop a homebrew app which has these features...then it will be possible.

just port ucon64 to the wii or whatever platform u need

It's really unfortunate that it's so hard to find tools to dump ROM's other than DS games these days.

most roms are already dumped

 

[Brayton]

https://github.com/FIX94/gba-link-cable-dumper

 

[SCOTT0852]

https://github.com/FIX94/gba-link-cable-dumper

If you looked at the timestamps, you'd see that this post is 6 years old and the GBA/GCN dumper was first put on github in 2016.