Hacking Flashcart to play GBA, GB & GB Colours Roms on NDS & GBA SP...

[retroborg]

Good day,
I recently obtained a Slot 1 Flash SD Card to be able to play ROMS on my Nintendo DS Lite. It came along with the appropriate loader software all ready installed.
It boots up fine by selecting “Metroid Prime Hunters Demo” from the menu and all DS games and mp3 music files seem to work fine and it even saves in real time, but when I try to load a GBA Roms, this error message comes up prompting me that there is no flash cartridge inserted in Slot 2 (The GBA Slot).
There was no Slot 2 Cartridge included in the package and I have tried inserting a regular GBA Cartridge, in case it needed some data from it, but with no success. None of the GBA Roms work and the error message persists.

So, I thought I would try this GBA ExpLoader:
http://filetrip.net/nds-downloads/applications/download-gba-exploader-0-58b0mx-f10382.html

I copied the GBA ExpLoader files in the root of the flashcard, I created 2 directories "GBA" and "GBA_SAVE." in the R4's MicroSD card and copied the GBA Roms into the "GBA" directory; I inserted it into the R4 cartridge and into the Slot 1 of the DS Lite and I loaded the "GBA_ExpLoader_058b0_MX.nds" from the list:

How ever this error message appears telling me that Slot 2 Expansion pack was not found:

Either I press “A” or “B”…

This comes up:

And when I choose a GBA Rom from the list in the Slot 1 flashcart, it begins to load, the Gameboy Advance bootup screen appears, but no game loads up.

I guess it’s not possible to play GBA Roms through the Slot 1 cartridge on the DS Lite.

So, if I buy this Slot 2 EZ-FLASH IV Flash Cart for GBA GBA SP NDS NDSL, will I be able to play GBA Roms on my DS Lite and GBA, GB & GB Colour Roms on my GBA SP consoles?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/EZ-F...-GBA-SP-NDS-NDSL-Game-Console/1731865594.html

Thanks in advance

 

[soulrazor]

Direct answer to your question:~
Yes you will be able to play gba games on ds and gba and thats it no gb or gbc games natively (unless you use a gb/gbc emulator for the gba goomba)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Good day,
I recently obtained a Slot 1 Flash SD Card to be able to play ROMS on my Nintendo DS Lite. It came along with the appropriate loader software all ready installed.
It boots up fine by selecting “Metroid Prime Hunters Demo” from the menu and all DS games and mp3 music files seem to work fine and it even saves in real time, but when I try to load a GBA Roms, this error message comes up prompting me that there is no flash cartridge inserted in Slot 2 (The GBA Slot).
There was no Slot 2 Cartridge included in the package and I have tried inserting a regular GBA Cartridge, in case it needed some data from it, but with no success. None of the GBA Roms work and the error message persists.

So, I thought I would try this GBA ExpLoader:
http://filetrip.net/nds-downloads/applications/download-gba-exploader-0-58b0mx-f10382.html

I copied the GBA ExpLoader files in the root of the flashcard, I created 2 directories "GBA" and "GBA_SAVE." in the R4's MicroSD card and copied the GBA Roms into the "GBA" directory; I inserted it into the R4 cartridge and into the Slot 1 of the DS Lite and I loaded the "GBA_ExpLoader_058b0_MX.nds" from the list:

How ever this error message appears telling me that Slot 2 Expansion pack was not found:

Either I press “A” or “B”…

This comes up:

And when I choose a GBA Rom from the list in the Slot 1 flashcart, it begins to load, the Gameboy Advance bootup screen appears, but no game loads up.

I guess it’s not possible to play GBA Roms through the Slot 1 cartridge on the DS Lite.

So, if I buy this Slot 2 EZ-FLASH IV Flash Cart for GBA GBA SP NDS NDSL, will I be able to play GBA Roms on my DS Lite and GBA, GB & GB Colour Roms on my GBA SP consoles?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/EZ-F...-GBA-SP-NDS-NDSL-Game-Console/1731865594.html

Thanks in advance

The slot 2 expansion pack referred to is an EZFlash 3-in-1. With that you can run GBA games from the R4, but you'll still need an emulator for GB/GBC games (whether using it on DS or GBA)
If you are planning to use it with a GBA as well the EZFlash 4 is probably the best choice. You can use the EZ3in1 with a GBA, but you will have to transfer the game to it using the DS first (and you can only fit one game at a time this way). The EZ4 loads games from a built in MiniSD slot while with the 3in1 they are copied from the DS cart automatically when you launch a game.

So to answer your question, the EZ4 will run your GBA games and it does a pretty good job at it too, but the 3in1 is more convenient if using it on a DS.

Note that the DS lite has a smaller cartridge slot which will work with any GBA cart, but the GBA's bigger cartridge slot will only work with full-size slot-2 carts. The EZ4 linked fits the bill there, but will stick out a bit on a DS lite. If you don't need to use it with a GBA then a lite-size slot 2 cart would be preferrable since it fits flush with the DS lite.

You can run GBA games on your R4 without buying any extra hardware as well, although it's far from perfect and audio is rather crackly. Use gbaemu4ds for that: http://gbatemp.net/threads/gbaemu4ds-gba-emulator-for-ds-i-dsi-entry.281715/

 

[retroborg]

OK thanks for clearing this up!
So, there is no way to play original GB & GB colour ROMS using any other kind of flashcart on the GBA SP directly without resorting to emulation?! What exactly is the problem that prevents this?

 

[Vague Rant]

You would need a Game Boy/Color flash cart rather than a GBA one to play them. The system feed the cartridges different voltages, so you can't just write a GB/C game to a GBA cart and expect it to run, because the system will run in GBA mode. As such, if you want to run Game Boy/Color games from a GBA cart, you need to use emulation.

 

[retroborg]

Interesting.
But does a Game Boy/Color flash cart even exist?
I've never heard of such a thing.

 

[Clydefrosch]

yes there are gb/gbc flashcards, but they're a bit more obscure than gba and ds ones and most likely you wont find many of them.

however, those would only work on your gba sp. the ds doesnt do gameboy or gbc carts.

however, what exactly is your problem with gb/gbc emulator? gameyob on ds is pretty much perfect in 99% of the games.

 

[emmanu888]

yes there are gb/gbc flashcards, but they're a bit more obscure than gba and ds ones and most likely you wont find many of them.

however, those would only work on your gba sp. the ds doesnt do gameboy or gbc carts.

however, what exactly is your problem with gb/gbc emulator? gameyob on ds is pretty much perfect in 99% of the games.

Obscure ? Maybe search before posting ? There's the Everdrive GB that's easy to find