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Beginners > Where do I get info on a home-made GBA cart reader?

#10392 - Gato - Thu Sep 04, 2003 1:47 am

Hi, everyone!

Is it possible to build a home-made cart reader that will read GBA game and save information from an original cartridge? If so, where can I get the info?

There have been sources on the web with instruction, but they are not in English, and they require many electronic components, and babelfish cannot precisely translate the documents.

I checked on the web, and the Flash2Advance USB linker seems to me to be the best and, more importantly, the most affordable, solution.Can it be made at home for a low price? Does anyone know where I can obtain detailed instructions for making it? Are there complex electronics involved in making it? I ask this because it is smaller and looks simpler than the other cart readers (It can read game and save data from original carts, right?) - and, Pok?mon has only one save slot.

#10396 - tepples - Thu Sep 04, 2003 5:00 am

All information on homemade GBA cart readers can be found at Mr. Ziegler's GBA page.

You might find it easier to buy the MBV2 cable and dump carts and saves through that.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#10441 - Gato - Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:03 am

Thanks for the info.

The F2A linker is $US9 cheaper than the MBV2. Can the MBV2 dump carts? I read the MBV2 FAQs, and it says (on lik-sang's page) that the MBV2 doesn't support the dumping of games, but I read (on http://www.devrs.com/gba/files/gbadevfaqs.php that game saves can be dumped from carts to PCs using the MBV2. Which is better/easier to use - the MBV2 or the F2A cable?

#10442 - tepples - Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:18 am

The MBV2 can dump carts, but slowly. The feature is undocumented in the mb.exe helpscreen, but it's still there:
  • insert cart in GBA
  • turn on GBA while holding Start+Select
  • mb -1 pirates.gba -w 200

The MBV2 can, of course, read a cart's SRAM and flash save and write SRAM save. (I'm not so sure about writing flash save or reading or writing serial EEPROM.)

I have never tried the F2A cable, but if you like GUI tools, it may be a better bet.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.