GBA SP Emulation

[Sprucemoose]

Has anyone bought a flash cart for their GameBoyAdvance (SP) and played games (NES, SNES,ZX80, SMS, etc..) , music, video.  Here is a link with some GBA emulators:

http://www.gameboy-advance.net/gba_roms/emulated_on_gba.htm

I am thinking about doing this, but wanted to get feedback from you guys.

[RecycledPast]

I've used the Flash Advance 128M ready to go Set (Visoly).

NES: PocketNES is great.  You can link to a 2nd GBA and it loads the game on their system so you can play 2 player.  Plus you can fit 30+ games in 64 mb
You do have to scale the screen to fit.

I haven't tried many other programs.  There seems to be a lot of tools to create your own games but I never tried any of them.

[Sprucemoose]

Cool, thanks for the insight.  I have been reading that they are just now starting to get SNES games working.  That would be sweet.

I think I am going to go for a flash cart.  Recommendations?

The EZFA looks to be pretty easy and highly rated.

[Dave_K.]

I just got a gameboy SP since I was going was traveling a lot last month.  And I also looked quickly into the flash cart thing.  I read that the EZFA is good and simple, but lacks a lot of functionality the newer FA cards have.

The big issue is, if you want to play real GBA roms, you will have problems in the save game area.  Since real GBA carts are always advancing (technically), the way games are saved varies from game to game.   So the problem is how to do come up with a common save game feature for roms that work with your flash cart?  The latest FA carts have these two small buttons on the cart that are used to help save games somehow (not sure how it works myself)...but this seems to be the latest way to do it (regardless of game).  It also helps manage different game saves for different roms on the same cart.

Lastly, some RPG games use a realtime clock in the cart, but I think most flash carts now have this as well.

Let us know what you decided to get and post a review.

[Sprucemoose]

Thanks for the info Dave.  I'm going to do some more research and I will be sure to update my finding for anyone else that is interested.

[Shieldwolf]

my friend showed me his flash card. one word....AWESOME

and of course boardering illegal.... but AWESOME

[tmasman]

and of course boardering illegal.... but AWESOME

boardering?
nope...

Just plain illegal.
_{(I'm not going to tell anyone though...)}

[gnateye]

i've just heard of these this week for the 1st time. how does the whole emulator thing work? do you have to load the emu onto the cart and the roms? im wondering about the gba roms too, but im sure i shouldt nbe asking this here so i wont. but hte emus seems safe enough.....

[Dave_K.]

i've just heard of these this week for the 1st time. how does the whole emulator thing work? do you have to load the emu onto the cart and the roms? im wondering about the gba roms too, but im sure i shouldt nbe asking this here so i wont. but hte emus seems safe enough.....

Yes the NES/SNES emulators load everything on one cart.  If that is what you are really interested in (emulation on a handheld) you should look into the GP32 (Gamepark) as it has a more powerful processor in it than the GBA (and a larger LCD screen!)

[gnateye]

i already have a few gameboys though so i will stick with that. now my next question. does this thing work with the gamecube gameboy player?

[Sprucemoose]

From what I have read, as long as you have the interface between the Gamecube and GBA, then the games will work.  At least the GBA games.  I'm not sure about NES/SNES etc.. games through a GBA then Gamecube.  I have all mine on my mame cab already so I don't have the need.

"do you have to load the emu onto the cart and the roms? im wondering about the gba roms too"

The GBA games will show up as a list when you start up your GBA, but I believe for other systems you have to startup an emulator from list and then the game.  Please keep in mind that I am giving you info secondhand as I will not receive my Flash card until today or tom.  I'll keep you updated.

[Sprucemoose]

For those interested, I received my EZFA 256mb card last week and have had a chance to test in out a bit.  It works really well with GBA roms and I have not yet had a problem saving games.  I have only tried about 12 games though.  NES games work great, you have to resize the screen, but it is no big deal.  I have not had a chance to test out Pogoshell (windows like application) yet, but I plan on it this week.  SNES games are just now starting to work, without sound.  Hopefully the emulation comes along quickly.  I put about 6 games on my card while on vacation last weekend and I must say that I really enjoy the card and highly recommend it to anyone interested.

Still need to test:
MP3
Movies
Pogoshell
Sega Master System
Atari 2600