For years, progress in the emulation scene stagnated when in came to Game Boy Advance to GameCube connectivity; a feature used in some games. This is because the task is no easy one as it requires thorough understanding of the two systems. However, with its 0.9 release, popular GBA emulator mGBA emulator brings support for connecting to Dolphin as well as some fixes on Dolphin's end of the GBA <-> GCN protocol to improve stability when connecting with any supported GBA emulator (not just mGBA).

The official Dolphin Emulator YouTube channel released a new video today testing the feature on several games, concluding that connectivity is better than ever:

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However, a new article on the Dolphin Emulator website notes that there are certain issues with some games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. These issues can be attributed to the latency with the current protocol. That said, the Dolphin Emulator team says that they have a plan to address those issues by integrating the emulators more closely and include mGBA features in the process like save states and netplay.

You can check the Dolphin Emulator article in the source link below for more details about this feature and for a compatibility list.

SOURCE

 

[raxadian]

May be possible to use mGba and nintendont to play four sword adventure?

No, nintendont is for the real Wii, but you can play four sword adventure on Dolphin without it, but for now there is some bugs with the mGba conectivity.

 

[Cyberfalcon]

Holy Shit dude! I swear today I was playing Pokemon LeafGreen and I was literally thinking "I wish there was a way to connect the Pokemon roms into a Gamecube emulator".

 

[PatrickD85]

When emulators for different systems work together ... priceless

 

[LightBeam]

I hope it'll work better than with VisualBoyAdvance, I'm still looking forward to play Four Swords Adventure with friends over Parsec

 

[raxadian]

Oh now I remembered Animal Crossing has that whole GBA island thing, is that working?

 

[MetoMeto]

Why this wasn't implemented from the start? Its a GameCube feature not a dolphin feature

 

[Rahkeesh]

Because mGBA doesn't interface with real gamecubes? Just Dolphin and anything implementing the same custom protocol.

 

[raxadian]

Why this wasn't implemented from the start? Its a GameCube feature not a dolphin feature

Because the original goal was to emulate Gamecube games; then they included Wii games and now when most games of the Wii and Gamecube work fine they decided to add this by combining two emulators.

 

[DuoForce]

I still got my old GBA and GameCube so I don't really emulate games often but this is still cool to see for those who don't own a GCN/Wii!

 

[raxadian]

I still got my old GBA and GameCube so I don't really emulate games often but this is still cool to see for those who don't own a GCN/Wii!

Don't forget the GBA to Gamecube cable that's expensive as hell nowadays.

 

[Xzi]

Will there ever be a better emulator than Dolphin? I'm starting to doubt it.

 

[pedro702]

This is awesome.

So hear me out, the Wii can connect with a DS (and by extension, 3DS). If we were to put mGBA on our DS (if there even is a mGBA emulator for the DS which I'm seeing may not be the case...) and had it connect to a Wii running a modified Nintendont, could we theoretically get this setup running on a Wii/vWii and DS/3DS? Cuz that would be amazing.

first there is no mgba on ds and ds cant even run any gba emulator reliably.
second you would need to emulate gba link cable functions which nintendont does not emulate, that is why it only works in native mode with wii with gc ports.

 

[SonicRings]

The future is looking bright with feats like this.

 

[Lumstar]

Why this wasn't implemented from the start? Its a GameCube feature not a dolphin feature

the GameCube is not yet 100% emulated. a few edge cases like panasonic q support remain.

 

[Jester_Helquin]

What a perfect time for me to get back into emulation!

 

[SaulFabre]

Beautiful improvement to mGBA, I really want to play Pac-Man VS. GameCube game with mGBA in these days...
Also see if i can find unlockable content in Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse when connected with GBA game Magical Quest Starring Mickey & Minnie...

 

[veesonic]

Cool might have some fun with the chao garden

 

[Lodad]

yay I will finally be able to complete the golden tingle statue sidequest on ww

Tingle Tuner was the absolute best. Back when wacky Nintendo gimmicks made you feel good about brand loyalty for little extra effort.

 

[MikaDubbz]

first there is no mgba on ds and ds cant even run any gba emulator reliably.
second you would need to emulate gba link cable functions which nintendont does not emulate, that is why it only works in native mode with wii with gc ports.

Hence why I said a modified Nintendont, one that would have to be updated for such functionality alongside the mGBA update.

 

[pedro702]

Hence why I said a modified Nintendont, one that would have to be updated for such functionality alongside the mGBA update.

again there is no mgba on the ds so what would you want to connect to the wii? the 3ds? there would need some major work all right making custom connections for 3ds to wii plus emulator changes nintendont changes for very little use if at all from actual people imo.