Homebrew GBA emulator for DS

[jono_]

with all these new Slot One carts coming someone will need to create a GBA emulator for ds yeah? since the slot one cant play GBA? anyone know anything?

 

[Heran Bago]

If you want to play GBA backups, get a GBA backup device. =P

 

[Vater Unser]

with all these new Slot One carts coming someone will need to create a GBA emulator for ds yeah?

no.
that'd be the biggest waste of time ever...

maybe there will be a way to play GBA games directly from the DS slot, but there's no way anybody would code a GBA emulator for DS

a GBA backup tool is not that expensive...
if you want GBA backups, why don't you just get a flashcard which supports both NDS and GBA roms?

 

[jono_]

so ur telling me you dont want to be able to play GBA games with ur new DSXtreme thing?

with a rumble in?
RAM expansion?

etc etc

 

[Darkforce]

Well the RAM and Rumble expansion packs serve absolutely no use to any GBA games whatsoever. It is pointless making a GBA emulator for something that can already play GBA games!

 

[Veho]

There was already a spirited argument on the subject here:

spirited argument

I wouldn't be surprised if it happened, then again, I wouldn't be dissappointed if it didn't.

 

[Psyfira]

Anyone in that position probably already has a GBA flashcart they could use instead. With all the other interesting coding projects people could take up for the DS a GBA emulator is pretty low on the list (and I'm assuming from your post that you aren't going to be making one yourself). And anyone who's written an app they want running on the DS would just port it (I think the coding techniques are pretty similar but don't quote me on that).

 

[kobewan]

with all these new Slot One carts coming someone will need to create a GBA emulator for ds yeah? since the slot one cant play GBA? anyone know anything?

Pretty much the only reason that I can think of for a GBA emulator would be to improve the GBA support of the SuperCard.

The main (or one of the main) reason that Slot 1 can't play GBA is bandwidth issues. The GBA slot (Slot 2) has like double the bandwidth of the Slot 1, so playing GBA on Slot 1 at 100% speed is [probably] never going to happen.

 

[Veho]

A GBA emulator could enable the multiplayer option (via WiFi) that the DS so sorely lacks.

 

[carloandreacchio]

which would require copeous amounts of coding.... I believe that a gba emulator will not happen

 

[jonny_eh]

In order to do proper emulation, the new system's CPU has to be MUCH faster than the emulated CPU. Remember, the DS isn't that much more powerful than the GBA. The DS just doesn't have the power for EMULATION.

I guess it would be possible to do some kind of translation, similar to wine.

 

[Veho]

You wouldn't need actual emulation, because the GBA and DS CPU's are compatible, and can use the same code.

You only need a faster processor if it isn't compatible with the system you're emulating; the processor has to run a virtual machine that acts like the system being emulated, and then that virtual machine runs the game code. In the case of the DS, you don't need a virtual machine.

 

[dude1]

its more likely someones going to find a work around for slot1 doing gba then verbalization

 

[shadow1w2]

Would be nice to have a prog that enhanced the GBA play on the DS.

Something that'll enable the second CPU in order to gain extras like
scaling/stretching to fit the screen, stretching over both screens, useing both at once, tunneling cable/wifi connections, plus slow mo and turbo features :3 (I dont think overclocking would be that easy if even easy enough to be feasable)

I was disapointed when the GBA support on the DS didnt have a nice stretching feature like the GBA did for GBC games. Or even a dual screen enhancment.

Perhaps one day someone might figure out how to pass code from Slot one and through a weird hack run it on the arm9 processor with the arm10 for extras.
Though Id love to have extras for my actual cartridges.
Ive always hated having to switch screens by going back to the bios menu.
Having X and Y be useless ;-;
Having no control over the darn back light >.<

Even for the cost of extra battery power Id like to have these options. Ofcourse Id like to be able to turn them off too.

Still, would be too hard to do anyway. But with some poeple making their own firmwares and all, maybe someone will stumble over something that might enable a chance for added what Nintendo neglected.

Also, as for GBA roms. Your better off with a GBA flash cart anyway.
Or an emulator. Much better compatibility.
Plus running GBA off the DS slot is kind of a novelty of an idea. Fun to brag about Id say, but kinda useless in the long run.

 

[neojei]

Think the reason for the GBA emulator would be if Nintendo ditches the GBA Slot. Imo, they just put it there to entice people with the GBA library to buy the DS. Maybe the next one will not have a GBA slot at all. Would be nice to be ready if a day came like that.

 

[Pado]

But shouldn't the next step be a ds lite sized slot 2 flash cartridge with build-in rumble + RAM expansion ??

.. sure it's pretty much impossible to cram all that stuff in 1 cartridge with the currrent technology

... but it's still cool

.

 

[cracker]

no.
that'd be the biggest waste of time ever...

That same argument could have been made about Goomba. It was made for people that had a GBA flash cart but no GBA Bridge. And the GBA supports GB/C. Is basically no different than asking for a GBA emulator on DS.

And actually it isn't that far-fetched since the opcodes wouldn't need to be emulated, only rerouted to the cpu.

 

[Psyfira]

That same argument could have been made about Goomba. It was made for people that had a GBA flash cart but no GBA Bridge.

Which is a category that a lot of people fell in to at the time. (potential dumb moment from me here: did GBC flash carts even exist?) But the current situation with the DS is different;anyone developing for the DS right now has the current generation of gear, i.e. a GBA style cart. Demand for a DS-slot emulator will be a lot lower as the DS has been out for so long that a high percentage of the users who want flash carts already have one, and even if they upgrade to a DS-slot cart will still be in possession of the GBA style cart.

In fact, there's be more chance of someone making a reverse-passme; think about it, the passme is a piece of hardware that plugs into the DS slot and lets you boot DS code from the GBA slot. I don't know about the details of implementing it or if it's even possible but in theory turn the concept the other way around, plug it into the GBA slot and you'd have your solution. (but if lakersfan's right about the slot throughput then even that wouldn't be possible)


(In a slightly unrelated note what's this obsession with built-in rumble pack support for the DS? Am I the only person in the world who finds rumbling controllers pointless and irritating?)

 

[cracker]

Yep, there sure were flash carts for GB/C -- at least a dozen of them. I still got a this piece of nostalgia.

True, a lot of people do have a GBA flash cart that are going to get a Slot 1 flash cart but not everyone. But in comparison, the GB bridge was readily available and worked with many of the flash carts (Flash2Advance/Visoly) that were THE best carts at the time.

I wouldn't doubt if a programmer made an emulator for GBA on DS -- afterall there are more useless things that are made every day.