Hardware Sonic Advance save file issues (Tiny Chao Garden)

[SinkyChan17]

hi all.

so, i have sonic advance for the gba. (ordered it, came in the mail today.) it works fine. tiny chao garden saves, the game saves, runs like a dream. my issue, however, is the connectivity with sonic adventure dx / adventure 2: battle for the gamecube. when i try and transfer my chao to and from, it gives me an error as if i have NO GAME inserted in the GBA.

however, when i remove the cartridge, it downloads the temporary tiny chao garden to the GBA and works just fine. i was thinking maybe wiping the save file may help, however the save file is only for the GAME DATA. there is NO WAY to wipe the tiny chao garden save file.

i've unscrewed my cart, and i've taken a look inside. is there any advice you have on this issue / anything i can do to the cart physically to permanently wipe ALL data on it? (thinking that may solve the issue.)

as usual, thanks in advance, guys.

 

[migles]

if you have a NDS and a flashcart you could wipe the data using it...
if the game does have a battery powered sram.. (you can see a coin battery inside the cartridge)
you can remove the battery (you will have to unsolder the tab, DO NOT USE THE IRON ON THE BATTERY ITSELF)
removing the battery would erase all the data on the save
but gba cartridges that use a battery for keep save data are rare, and if it has one probably your game is fake...

if you opened the card and you think on short circuit something to to erase the data, you will most likely permanently fry the cartridge and even take the gba with it... than erasing..


anyway, using a NDS with a DS flashcart would easily do the job..
i am not sure if there is a homebrew to manage save data on a gamecube that connects to the gba...

you could also create a xboo cable, (with a gba link cable) connect it through a parallel port on your pc and make something out of it... but i can't give you much info about this..

 

[SinkyChan17]

ok, well my copy of Sonic Advance IS a physical copy. but I DO have a TTDS and a DS Lite. how can i go about doing that?

 

[migles]

ok, well my copy of Sonic Advance IS a physical copy. but I DO have a TTDS and a DS Lite. how can i go about doing that?

http://gamebrew.org/wiki/GBA_Backup_Tool

download it, launch it on the TTDS with the sonic advance on slot 2
i think there is a option to erase the data
edit;
there is an option to erase the data. select R to change into save restore menu (the blue square will tell you wich tab you are in)
then select B "save area of ROM is initialized"
that means erase, its a badly translated program...

 

[SinkyChan17]

Thanks a lot, man!!!

 

[SinkyChan17]

SO... i went out and bought the adapter. and sure enough, it worked!
HOWEVER..... SADX still acts like i don't have a cartridge with tiny chao garden, when i do. it's sonic advance. : /. so... now i really have no clue what it could be.

 

[migles]

SO... i went out and bought the adapter. and sure enough, it worked!
HOWEVER..... SADX still acts like i don't have a cartridge with tiny chao garden, when i do. it's sonic advance. : /. so... now i really have no clue what it could be.

it can be that you own a fake game..
or own a out of region game (bought a european copy of the game, trying to use a US gamecube game)
or you got a bad gamecube cable or something...

what did you bought? you spent money?

can you show a picture of the cart inside?

 

[SinkyChan17]

i bought a copy of sonic advance from an online eBay shop located in canada (my country), and it's NTSC-U. i'll post a picture of what it looks like.
gamecube link cables work without a cartridge in the GBA. it's only WITH one that they seem to not detect anything, and it's only sonic adventure & sonic advance i've tried. i'll post a picture in a few seconds by editing this post.

EDIT: the moment you said that, it made me realize how different the GBA cart looked compared to the one i owned as a kid.

i found out that it's not an NTSC-U cart. it works because it's region free, but it wont play nice with sonic adventure 2: battle / sonic adventure dx. it's my fault, really. i didn't pay attention when i bought it off of eBay. the listing says "region free" where as the rest of the listings i see specify "NTSC-U", so. not sure if that's my fault or their fault. oh well, i messaged them.

thanks anyways, guys. sucks for me!

 

[migles]

i bought a copy of sonic advance from an online eBay shop located in canada (my country), and it's NTSC-U. i'll post a picture of what it looks like.
gamecube link cables work without a cartridge in the GBA. it's only WITH one that they seem to not detect anything, and it's only sonic adventure & sonic advance i've tried. i'll post a picture in a few seconds by editing this post.

36 minutes waiting for the inside cart pic
if you show it right away i could see it (i am curious about it now)
otherwise i will have to go and only come back tomorrow

 

[SinkyChan17]

it will have to be tomorrow! i'm actually busy for the rest of the night. spent too much time on this!!! thanks, though!

 

[Heran Bago]

Is that one of those games where you boot the GBA holding select so the Nintendo logo goes away, then the Gamecube game boots along the cable? I might be thinking of the Tingle Tuner.

 

[Knightsurfer]

I know this is a bit late but it may be the regions for the games don't match up, quite a few games like this have a sort of region lock set to it.