[GameCube] Game Boy Player game thru link cable?

[lightwo]

I had a crazy cost-cutting idea that I wanted to bring up in case it's already been done: using the GC-to-GBA link cable to transfer games from a GameCube controller port to the extension port of the Game Boy Player, and playing said game all on one complete unit.

Sounds cursed, I know, but using a random cable running between two separate components of the same system, while making both of them busy, sounds like a fun time.

Given that feeding the GBA with the link cable has been done many years ago (with major limitations), I wouldn't be too surprised if using it to play games on GBP was possible. After all, the parallel port isn't the one feeding the data, it's the cable, so there shouldn't be any bottleneck.

From what I could tell by briefly checking the docs of Game Boy Interface and doing some more searching, there's no PoC or implementation, so am I wrong by any chance? Has anyone actually managed this?

 

[Mixtape]

Believe it or not, I found a version of what you're describing from way back in 2008. The writer's goal was to set up Four Swords Adventures to use four CRT-connected Gamecube Players rather than GBAs:

https://racketboy.com/retro/legend-of-zelda-four-swords-5-gamecubes-5-tvs

The idea has also apparently been iterated on a few times by various folks on YouTube.

I'd say that's a PoC, no? My understanding of the hardware of the GBP itself is that it's effectively an entire GBA with remapped IO, so I see no reason that it wouldn't support the same exploits available on other models.

 

[lightwo]

Believe it or not, I found a version of what you're describing from way back in 2008. The writer's goal was to set up Four Swords Adventures to use four CRT-connected Gamecube Players rather than GBAs:

https://racketboy.com/retro/legend-of-zelda-four-swords-5-gamecubes-5-tvs

The idea has also apparently been iterated on a few times by various folks on YouTube.

I'd say that's a PoC, no? My understanding of the hardware of the GBP itself is that it's effectively an entire GBA with remapped IO, so I see no reason that it wouldn't support the same exploits available on other models.

That's not what I meant. This is taking a Game Boy linked to a GameCube playing a supported game, and replacing it with a Game Boy Player. Cool for sure, and I already ran into this article before, but I wouldn't consider this to be a secret or anything.

What I meant was plugging in the link cable to a GameCube on one end and the Game Boy Player it's mounted on on the other end.

Moreover, I didn't mean games that transfer "companion" code to the Game Boy, I meant homebrew that simultaneously acts as Game Boy Interface (I/O with GBP) and GoombaSend (sends GBA game dump data over link cable).

I suspect this would be extremely slow and unusable, but it would be fun to try out, I guess.

 

[tech3475]

From my limited understanding and presuming I understand correctly, it MAY be possible but not as is and would likely need custom software written i.e. modify GBI to include the 'goombasend' feature.

Overall I'd class it as a '****s and giggles' project, i.e. impractical but someone with the knowledge may be able to do it.