Heya! I'm new!

[EkansEater]

So, a bit about me...
I'm 29. I love video games and music. I play guitar in a few classic rock bands. In a way, yes, I'm still chasing that dream. It's actually going somewhere so I'm not quitting now...

I'm also into computers. I used to gut my old eMachine and put it back together for shits and giggles. If you've ever assembled a PC, you know what I mean...

Anyway, I've been into electronics, using my skills with a soldering iron on amplifiers, speakers, and guitars. Now I want to use that skill to relive my childhood with a badass modded GBASP.

That's why I've come here. I realize that there must be a community with the same goal as me, and we can all help each other. So, hear me out...

I imagine a GBASP that is backwards compatible with the GB and GBC cartridges, but that also has the back-lit panel from the AGS-101. Ok, that's task #1.

#2 is adding a FFWD button onto the system. It would be a push-release button that would toggle a turbo booster, speeding up the game, maybe, 10x. The reason for this button, I think, is obvious: Turn-Based games like Pokemon or Mario & Luigi. I drew up a draft of the idea I had in my head. I don't know if it'll work or not.

Lastly, #3. It would consist of adding two more buttons like the FFWD button, except they would be used to instantly save and load states. I was thinking about putting them next to the bumpers, on the "top" side of the system. Since your fingers naturally rest on the bumpers, the save/load state buttons would be just a few mm away from the bumpers, one on each side. Left button would "Load State" and right button would "Save State", instantly.

Again, I don't know what it'll take but I'm obviously interested in delving into this project. Any one care to help a fellow gamer out?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

#1 is easy, AGS 101 kits are basically everywhere and is super easy to do.

#2 you won't get 10x, but the GBAccelerator is what you'll want for this. Essentially OC's the GBA, and can net you up to 1.75x speeds IIRC. You'll probably never get more than that without serious hardware modifications (that I'm not even sure anyone has made yet)

#3 Not possible without an entirely separate PCB, which would likely have to be way more bulky than could sit in a GBA SP so it'll have to be some external adapter. You would need something that can dump (and write) the contents of the RAM from the GBA to a flash chip for storage, which wouldn't be entirely easy to do. Someone made something like this for the Gameboy, but beyond that I don't know of anyone else who's attempted to make a save state creator for a physical GBA.

 

[EkansEater]

#1 is easy, AGS 101 kits are basically everywhere and is super easy to do.

#2 you won't get 10x, but the GBAccelerator is what you'll want for this. Essentially OC's the GBA, and can net you up to 1.75x speeds IIRC. You'll probably never get more than that without serious hardware modifications (that I'm not even sure anyone has made yet)

#3 Not possible without an entirely separate PCB, which would likely have to be way more bulky than could sit in a GBA SP so it'll have to be some external adapter. You would need something that can dump (and write) the contents of the RAM from the GBA to a flash chip for storage, which wouldn't be entirely easy to do. Someone made something like this for the Gameboy, but beyond that I don't know of anyone else who's attempted to make a save state creator for a physical GBA.

What if we used something like an R4 card with a written program on it to carry the storage demand?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

What if we used something like an R4 card with a written program on it to carry the storage demand?

It's still something you would have to create yourself, there are currently no flash carts on the market for the GBA that supports creating/loading save states, it's something that would require more hardware than you could stuff in a GBA cartridge in order to read and write to the GBA's RAM.

 

[JuanMena]

What if we used something like an R4 card with a written program on it to carry the storage demand?

Depends on the clock of the console and not on "using new hardware"
Probably, if you could change the CPU with higher clock rates that could be possible.

For instance... the 3DS and GameYob (for 3DS and not the DS version) allows players to speed up the game up to 10X times (Gameboy only) because it takes advantage of the 3DS Clock Speed.
Some says that the speed was even faster with New3DS consoles because of the slightly improved CPU power.
This means that using a GBA to do this kind of stuff is almost impossible...

Now that I'm thinking a little bit about it.... I've seen people soldering an something to the SNES StarFox Cartridge to boost the FPS...
So probably doing the same for the GBA SP isn't that impossible.

Welcome to the community!

 

[Magsor]

Emulator on psp or vita or gaming android? You will sweat less and save money and have a bigger backlit screen.

 

[JuanMena]

 

[EkansEater]

It's still something you would have to create yourself, there are currently no flash carts on the market for the GBA that supports creating/loading save states, it's something that would require more hardware than you could stuff in a GBA cartridge in order to read and write to the GBA's RAM.

Understood.

 

[JuanMena]

 

[EkansEater]

Depends on the clock of the console and not on "using new hardware"
Probably, if you could change the CPU with higher clock rates that could be possible.

For instance... the 3DS and GameYob (for 3DS and not the DS version) allows players to speed up the game up to 10X times (Gameboy only) because it takes advantage of the 3DS Clock Speed.
Some says that the speed was even faster with New3DS consoles because of the slightly improved CPU power.
This means that using a GBA to do this kind of stuff is almost impossible...

Now that I'm thinking a little bit about it.... I've seen people soldering an Ohm resistor to the SNES StarFox Cartridge to boost the FPS...
So probably doing the same for the GBA SP isn't that impossible.

Welcome to the community!

Maybe there's a newer chip I can use? Idk... I don't want to quit now...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Emulator on psp or vita or gaming android? You will sweat less and save money and have a bigger backlit screen.

So, that's been my alternative for a while. Thing is, I want that physical button feeling. Brings me back, you know? I have an xbox 360 Rock Candy controller that I plug into my phone via USB-A adapter. It's done the trick, but a bit bulky to carry around.

At least with a modded SP, I would get the best of both worlds...

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Understood.

To give you a good idea what I mean, here's the Gameboy save state thing I was referring to:

https://bennvenn.myshopify.com/products/gameboy-save-state-thing?variant=41969271124 < as you can see, the thing is slightly bigger than a GB cartridge itself and sticks way out. Something similarly sized would need to be made for the GBA, so if you wanted to play your SP with a big ol' GB cartridge, plus a GBA cartridge, sticking out, then it'd be possible. Otherwise, you're better off using emulation.

 

[EkansEater]

Yeah, that looks way too bulky haha. I'm going to give it a shot. I've seen some incredible work done as far as handheld systems. There's gotta be a way.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Yeah, that looks way too bulky haha. I'm going to give it a shot. I've seen some incredible work done as far as handheld systems. There's gotta be a way.

Try asking around forums like Bit Built https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php < They focus a lot more on hardware modification for consoles than GBAtemp, they could probably stick you in the right direction.

 

[EkansEater]

@Tom Bombadildo Apparently they have a pocket wii assembly you can buy Plays gamecube and wii titles in GB sized console. I'd post the link, but it's against the rules.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

@Tom Bombadildo Apparently they have a pocket wii assembly you can buy Plays gamecube and wii titles in GB sized console. I'd post the link, but it's against the rules.

Not against the rules, your account just needs to have 10 posts to post links

But yeah, they have a lot of neat stuff there, you can find build logs for portable GCs and Wiis and such, so it'd be the perfect place to ask about OCing a GBA or adding a save state creator to it.

 

[EkansEater]

Not against the rules, your account just needs to have 10 posts to post links

But yeah, they have a lot of neat stuff there, you can find build logs for portable GCs and Wiis and such, so it'd be the perfect place to ask about OCing a GBA or adding a save state creator to it.

Thanks for your help, man! I really do appreciate it!

 

[spotanjo3]

Welcome to GBATEMP. I hope that you really like here. We are all family here.

 

[EkansEater]

Welcome to GBATEMP. I hope that you really like here. We are all family here.

Thanks! Already feel welcomed