Can the DS still play the old Black and White Game Boy games?




Posted by Jesse Smith

If it can't, how far back does it go? Game Boy Color, or just Game Boy Advance.




Posted by NightmareBassX

Im pretty sure that you can play any game involving game boy because if it has the same port as GBA then it can because that port plays original game boy games.




Posted by Bebop

Only GBA games. GB and GBC games do not click in.




Posted by Jesse Smith

That was fast! Thanks. it wasn't me asking the question, it just poped up [url=http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232626]over here.[/url]




Posted by NightmareBassX

Are you sure? I mean it has the same port as GBA so it should go in.

I dont really care that much anyway, i dont play old GB games anymore, I dont have anything against them though.




Posted by Bebop


Quoting NightmareBassX: Are you sure? I mean it has the same port as GBA so it should go in.


Yes! I JUST tested it!



Posted by Speedfreak

It doesn't have the hardware of the original Gameboys to play the games, but there IS a very simple mod you can do to make them work.




Posted by NightmareBassX

Oh, i thought it could since it has a GBA port, Oh well.




Posted by Speedfreak

JOY almighty, the fact that it has a GBA port doesn't mean a thing other than GBA carts and GB carts happen to have the same width.




Posted by NightmareBassX

I just thought that because one gba reg Gb games could work on the GBA port, so I was thinking it'd be the same, Guess I thought wrong.




Posted by Scorpion


Quoting Speedfreak: It doesn't have the hardware of the original Gameboys to play the games, but there IS a very simple mod you can do to make them work.


Explain...



Posted by Speedfreak


Quoting Karl Kroenen: Explain...


Well, the GBA has 2 chipsets in it, the GBC chipset and the GBA chipset, both of which have access to the cart port, which supports both types of cartridge. The DS, however, lacks the GBC chipset, so it won't understand what the hell the GBC cart is when you put it in there. I can't remember where I saw it, but there was a guy who managed to mod his DS to make it play GBC/GB games, and it was a VERY simple mod. Even simpler than the Japanese GC mod that makes it play US games.



Posted by Bebop

The games dont clikc in however so they would jsut by sitting there.




Posted by Speedfreak

The guy who performed the mod had to file down the port so carts would fit in.




Posted by Prince Shondronai

Indeed. An interesting note: When I put Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga into the DS, the "GameBoy Player" logo pops up, indicating that the game thinks it is in a GameBoy Player for the GAMECUBE. If the GameBoy emulator in the DS is the same as the GameBoy Player's, then there's no reason why the DS can't play old GameBoy games. I wonder why Nintendo physically obstructed players from doing so.




Posted by Speedfreak

Eh? It says Gameboy Player if you're playing it on a GBA, there's no emulator in the DS at all, just the GBAs actual chipset.




Posted by NightmareBassX

Your very Informative Speedfreak, well now I understand what you meant, I dont know why they wouldnt allow you to play regular GBC games... Maybe they just didnt think it would really be used for them so they didnt mind.




Posted by Prince Shondronai

Oh. I thought it only displayed that logo if you were actually playing it in the GameBoy Player. My mistake.




Posted by Speedfreak


Quoting NightmareBassX: Your very Informative Speedfreak, well now I understand what you meant, I dont know why they wouldnt allow you to play regular GBC games... Maybe they just didnt think it would really be used for them so they didnt mind.


It's because they couldn't fit in the GB/GBC hardware as well as the GBA and DS hardware, or because they just didn't want to.



Posted by WILLETH FOR MONTHS

I choose to believe that they didn't want to - they need to retain control of the handheld market until GBE, and if the DS effectively kills the market for GBA, GBE having full GameBoy backwards-compatibility won't be a huge issue. It also wouldn't support their third-pillar strategy at all. DS would just obliterate the GBA market by having full backwards-compatibility in it.

Not only that, but there needs to be a point where backwards-compatibility stops - otherwise in about ten years our handheld will be massive because they have chipsets in them all the way from 1985, or something.




Posted by Mystic Hero

No, unfortunately the DS in unable to play GB games. It can only play GBA games as it says in the DS manual.




Posted by WILLETH FOR MONTHS

I've done some reasearch on the net about this DS thing. I've found a whole legion of people who think it's a hoax, but the comments on his site by other people seem pretty positive... odd.

I don't think I'll be trying it until I have




Posted by Prince Shondronai

Let me guess: You're anxiously awaiting the glitchy psp, Wings? I laugh.




Posted by WILLETH FOR MONTHS

Wait, wtf? No... I'm not going to mod my DS until I can afford another one, just in case I make a mess of it. Because it's not even launched over here yet, and I'd really hate to get one at launch and then cock it up.

Before any mod that I do I like to make sure that it's possible, and after doing a bit of research I'm found a load of people who say it's fake and that the images are photoshopped, whereas on the site itself there are a lot of comments that say 'wow! it works! thankyou!' So I don't know what to think, and I'm erring on the side of caution.

Anxiously awaiting the PSP - I ask you... :rolleyes:




Posted by shades

Ok heres the deal on that mod, even though this is pretty late, I just joined. =P

The mod was a hoax. Why do you ask? If you seen the orginal screen shots, the colors for the Gameboy games were yellow and there was a big black border around the game. Simply put, he was using Goomba.

The only thing you'll achive by trying that mod is totally messing up your Nintendo DS and having to spend more money.

You really want to play old GB, GBC games on your Nintendo DS? Pick up a Flash Card. You can easly get a 1GB Flash Card for $200, and use Goomba and PocketNes to play Nintendo, Gameboy and GBA roms on your GBA.

And I guess, some guy even got the metroid prime demo to run OFF the GBA flash card. So *** knows what they might be able to pull off later this year or the next?




Posted by Osic

EB did the deals in the US like they did in Austrlia right, trade in your GBA and get a doller off or somthing stupid like that. Buy a preowned GBA and have fun.




Posted by Scorpion


Quoting shades: Ok heres the deal on that mod, even though this is pretty late, I just joined. =P

The mod was a hoax. Why do you ask? If you seen the orginal screen shots, the colors for the Gameboy games were yellow and there was a big black border around the game. Simply put, he was using Goomba.

The only thing you'll achive by trying that mod is totally messing up your Nintendo DS and having to spend more money.

You really want to play old GB, GBC games on your Nintendo DS? Pick up a Flash Card. You can easly get a 1GB Flash Card for $200, and use Goomba and PocketNes to play Nintendo, Gameboy and GBA roms on your GBA.

And I guess, some guy even got the metroid prime demo to run OFF the GBA flash card. So *** knows what they might be able to pull off later this year or the next?


You relize that the DS only costs $140, so if you bought a Flash Card you would be spending an extra $60 than you would if you just bought another DS...



Posted by Osic


Quoting Scorpion: You relize that the DS only costs $140, so if you bought a Flash Card you would be spending an extra $60 than you would if you just bought another DS...


Or about $130 more then if you broght a GBA. Duct tape it to the underside of the DS, problem solved and you have a 3 screened DS



Posted by WILLETH FOR MONTHS

...awesome. The ability to play two GBA games at once! Perfect for those Pok




Posted by metroid man


Quoting Wings: I choose to believe that they didn't want to - they need to retain control of the handheld market until GBE, and if the DS effectively kills the market for GBA, GBE having full GameBoy backwards-compatibility won't be a huge issue. It also wouldn't support their third-pillar strategy at all. DS would just obliterate the GBA market by having full backwards-compatibility in it.

Not only that, but there needs to be a point where backwards-compatibility stops - otherwise in about ten years our handheld will be massive because they have chipsets in them all the way from 1985, or something.


everybody here seems to have good info. but even fileing down the port shouldnt make it work



Posted by nakile

The reason the DS can't play GB/GBC games is because it doesn't have a Z80 processor. The Z80 is geting rare now, and Nintendo really didn't want to add a third processor to the DS.




Posted by Shakyl

I thought they worked




Posted by Fantum

Thanks for bumping a 4 month old thread.