Gaming Question about GBA on DSi...

[Truner]

So, as we all know, the DSi (and anything above it) is missing the GBA slot. Is it missing just that, or any extra hardware parts that were used to play GBA games on a DS/DS Lite?

This little conversation came up on IRC, someone saying that GBA games are easy to do on 3DS because it has DS internals, which already had GBA internals...

Which made me curious. If the DSi (and up) consoles do in-fact have this inside, why is it that there are GBA emulators using extra card hardware, instead of accessing the main hardware instead?

EDIT: actually, this topic is at the right place... right? It's more of a question about the Console itself, after all...

 

[Rydian]

When the DS series goes into GBA mode to play GBA games natively, it shuts off any non-GBA hardware.

Including the DS cart slot. Because that's not GBA hardware.

And if that cart slot is shut off, you can't run shit from it.

And if that slot is the only slot you have... well there you go, no native ability, gotta' use something like the DSTwo's GBA emulator.

 

[Truner]

When the DS series goes into GBA mode to play GBA games natively, it shuts off any non-GBA hardware.

Including the DS cart slot. Because that's not GBA hardware.

And if that cart slot is shut off, you can't run shit from it.

And if that slot is the only slot you have... well there you go, no native ability, gotta' use something like the DSTwo's GBA emulator.

So is it safe to assume that not only the GBA Slot is missing, but the hardware to run it natively as well? (which would make sense I guess, but just making sure)

 

[Rydian]

So is it safe to assume that not only the GBA Slot is missing, but the hardware to run it natively as well? (which would make sense I guess, but just making sure)

Not really. The GBA's ARM7 CPu is actually re-used as the sound/wifi/saving chip in the DS.

But the lack of the ability to feed any sort of program or game content to the DS is rather the issue.

 

[Truner]

Not really. The GBA's ARM7 CPu is actually re-used as the sound/wifi/saving chip in the DS.

But the lack of the ability to feed any sort of program or game content to the DS is rather the issue.

Mmh, thanks for the answer! I knew that the ARM7 was inside, but I didn't have any idea how it was used.

 

[Ulieq]

Is it possible to reflash the ds so it doesn't disable certain hardwares?

 

[Rydian]

Is it possible to reflash the ds so it doesn't disable certain hardwares?

Potentially.
But the GBA setup itself doesn't know how to use the DS card slot.
Also the DS card slot is much slower than the GBA card slot so games won't run fullspeed and will have access/IO issues.

People tried the simple shit and it didn't work, which is why we have the complex shit like emulators and hypervisors.

 

[Truner]

Potentially.
But the GBA setup itself doesn't know how to use the DS card slot.
Also the DS card slot is much slower than the GBA card slot so games won't run fullspeed and will have access/IO issues.

People tried the simple shit and it didn't work, which is why we have the complex shit like emulators and hypervisors.

Are these disabled hardwares still in a 3DS as well? That would explain how Nintendo got the GBA games done so well.

 

[Rydian]

Are these disabled hardwares still in a 3DS as well? That would explain how Nintendo got the GBA games done so well.

That's emulation, the 3DS doesn't have the GBA hardware.

 

[SuperrSonic]

Doesn't the 3DS need the GBA hardware for DS bc, as you said in a post earlier that the DS reused GBA hardware?

It can't be emulation, Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones' file select can't even reach full speed without audio static and sfx repeats on Nintendo's AGB emulator on the GC, I can't imagine the 3DS being able to do it flawlessly.

 

[Rydian]

Doesn't the 3DS need the GBA hardware for DS bc, as you said in a post earlier that the DS reused GBA hardware?

A GBA is not a single thing, it's a collection of components.
The ARM7 is definitely reused in the DS... but it's hard to play video games on nothing but a CPU.

The later models have less of the GBA's hardware, only keeping what was required for the DS.

It can't be emulation, Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones' file select can't even reach full speed without audio static and sfx repeats on Nintendo's AGB emulator on the GC, I can't imagine the 3DS being able to do it flawlessly.

Inside tip: Emulation is kind of hard, and the 3DS's CPU power isn't exactly mind-blowing.

 

[Duo8]

Doesn't the 3DS need the GBA hardware for DS bc, as you said in a post earlier that the DS reused GBA hardware?

It can't be emulation, Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones' file select can't even reach full speed without audio static and sfx repeats on Nintendo's AGB emulator on the GC, I can't imagine the 3DS being able to do it flawlessly.

3DS retains the ARM9. Dunno about the ARM7.
Also it IS emulation.