Super Gameboy Question

[GlitchytheHackermain]

So, I have a few questions about how the Super Game Boy works. Particularly with Special Game boy games, and to be exact, Mega Man V.

What I know is that the Super Game Boy applies multiple colors in particular areas by applying different palettes to different parts of the screen.

What I DON'T know however is how the Super Game Boy knows how to do this.

Is there code in the Game that is unreadable to a Game boy, but a Super Game Boy can understand it perfectly? Or does the Super Game boy read the header and know what to do at what time, or is it something to do with the cartridge?

This would be very nice to know.

 

[zfreeman]

https://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/Gameboy_ROM_Header_Info#SGB_features
SGB features
Only one byte long. A HEX value of 03 says that the cartridge has added features for Super Gameboy. Any other value, especially HEX 00 denotes a non-SGB cart.

 

[GlitchytheHackermain]

https://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/Gameboy_ROM_Header_Info#SGB_features
SGB features
Only one byte long. A HEX value of 03 says that the cartridge has added features for Super Gameboy. Any other value, especially HEX 00 denotes a non-SGB cart.

Okay...So then...how does the Super Game Boy know what to do for each game?
As in: What makes Donkey Kong '94 different from Mega Man V if they both use a one byte long 03 hex value?

 

[zfreeman]

It probably points to the game's SGB color palette similar to the way a GBC game works.

 

[Lumstar]

While rarely used, it's also possible for SGB games to load SNES graphics/data.
The special mode of Space Invaders is full-color and borderless.

Needless to say all this complicates emulation. Hardware accuracy means simultaneously emulating both a Gameboy and a SNES.

 

[gamesquest1]

I was actually kinda interested by the question so decided to go have a dig into the topic, seems like this website has a fairly breakdown of how many of the different super gameboy enhancements works (nothing too in depth though, just a rough explanation
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2018/09/game-boy-colorization-examples.html