#35351 - pmlabrier - Thu Feb 03, 2005 2:01 pm
Since it has been shown to be possible to load NDS code from the GBA game slot I was wondering if it would be possible for developers to create GBA games that would have DS features when played on NDS? i.e. Allow the use of the additional buttons, utilize the lower screen or wireless features.
Pmlabrier
#35355 - tepples - Thu Feb 03, 2005 3:46 pm
I know what you're thinking about (akin to "Help! Help!" samples in Donkey Kong for SGB and the hidden Super NES game inside Space Invaders for SGB), but that has not yet been not shown to be possible. For one thing, the current Nintendo DS booting methods require a card in the Nintendo DS slot. A GBA game can't currently boot the DS by itself.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#35365 - Fatnickc - Thu Feb 03, 2005 6:07 pm
But.. remember the old 'added functionalityt in GBA games'?
#35368 - Lynx - Thu Feb 03, 2005 6:25 pm
I think the main question that still needs to be answered is if a GBA cart can contain a DS cart header or such information so that when the DS runs code from the GBA port (without help from a DS cart or passthrough setup) _CAN_ the GBA cart have access to the additional hardware?
Does the DS only limit the GBA hardware access to save power when it sees a "standard" GBA header from a commercial cart, where it knows the cart doesn't have code to use the extra hardware?
We know that when the Mpeg4/MP3 player is released, it will have an SD card adapter that uses the GBA port. But, will it also require a DS cart to boot from? OR, will it simply be a GBA cart and not use the additional features of the DS? Same question for a GPS receiver (if it exists). Or any other GBA port "accessory" that will use the DS touchscreen or wireless. Do they _HAVE_ to boot from a DS cart? Will all accessory manufacturers that use the GBA port be required to have a DS cart to boot off of to have access to the additional hardware?
I guess we won't know for sure till A) someone leaks this kind of info, B) a product is released for the DS that is only in a GBA cart package, but has access to the touchscreen/wireless, or C) someone is able to hack a header together that allows the DS to boot from the GBA and access all hardware (without a DS cart or passthrough setup).
#35370 - DiscoStew - Thu Feb 03, 2005 6:33 pm
I know that in 1 of the GBC Zelda Oracle games, it would allow a certain building to be accessible if the game was in a GBA, but I don't remember whether it actually used any special features that the GBA could do.
_________________
DS - It's all about DiscoStew
#35375 - Dwedit - Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:59 pm
The only special feature the zelda oracles games used was the different initial values of the GBZ80 registers on bootup. You can look at those and determine whether the game ran from a GB, GBC, SGB, or GBA.
Likewise, the GBA game can get the Bios checksum, which is different on the DS. No extra features, but you can detect a DS.
_________________
"We are merely sprites that dance at the beck and call of our button pressing overlord."
Last edited by Dwedit on Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:08 pm; edited 1 time in total
#35381 - nix - Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:23 pm
Oh, and it was in both of the Oracle games. They both had an "Advance Shop"
#35393 - TJ - Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:48 am
| Quote: |
| We know that when the Mpeg4/MP3 player is released, it will have an SD card adapter that uses the GBA port. But, will it also require a DS cart to boot from? OR, will it simply be a GBA cart and not use the additional features of the DS? |
It just works as a standard GBA cart.
#35420 - Vince - Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:10 pm
Hi,
I think it's possible : look at NDS game packages. They come with both an NDS and a GBA cartridges slot.
As for whether it's technically possible, I have not investigated the question. Maybe Nintendo planned to do this when they designed the game cases/boxes but they may have been retreated since ...
Just my 2 cents,
Vince
_________________
Reclaim control of your F2A/F2AU with if2a !!
#35422 - jp - Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:28 pm
Hi,
About the GBA slot in the NDS package : i guess it's for future special module. For example a DS game could include a rumble pack wich will fit in the GBA slot of the NDS (apparently when some flash cart are inserted in the GBA slot, the nds thinks it's a rumble pack). Moreover if you look at the DS manual, it says the GBA slot is an "Expansion slot".
I agree with TJ as i think the GBA slot (when used without any ds cart or passthrough) can not take the control of all the ds functionalities.
JP.
#35736 - pmlabrier - Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:08 am
| TJ wrote: |
| Quote: | | We know that when the Mpeg4/MP3 player is released, it will have an SD card adapter that uses the GBA port. But, will it also require a DS cart to boot from? OR, will it simply be a GBA cart and not use the additional features of the DS? |
It just works as a standard GBA cart. |
Will we be able to listen to mp3's while playing a game that is in the NDS slot? I would bet so.
pmlabrier
#35753 - tepples - Thu Feb 10, 2005 4:19 pm
| pmlabrier wrote: |
| Will we be able to listen to mp3's while playing a game that is in the NDS slot? I would bet so. |
Even if this were to have a separate sound output, then how would you hear musical cues and sound effects?
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#35761 - TJ - Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:01 pm
| Quote: |
| Will we be able to listen to mp3's while playing a game that is in the NDS slot? I would bet so. |
Unless your DS can run a GBA game and a DS game at the same time...then no.
#35768 - Wriggler - Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:37 pm
I think what he means is: Will future DS software do a check for the MP3 player thingy in the GBA slot, and then make use of the music on it?
I bet no. I suppose it's possible (not that I really have any idea how it works), but despite that it's just not Nintendo's style. They are far too... ermmm... strange.
Ben
#35775 - Lynx - Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:39 pm
| TJ wrote: |
| Quote: | | Will we be able to listen to mp3's while playing a game that is in the NDS slot? I would bet so. |
Unless your DS can run a GBA game and a DS game at the same time...then no. |
Actually, that cart has a coprocessor on it, so it _may_ all be up to the developers creating games for the DS..
#35779 - OddOne - Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:33 pm
This is what I would like to see if this _IS_possible.
Have the GBA slot with the media player.
DS slot has ds cart in it.
The DS cart runs the software for full touch screen support for accessing
the media content on the Media cart in the GBA slot.
You would have FULL Video/audio support for tracks/scanning.
It has got to be possible.
WE just need to find out how.
BUT sorry that I do not know :(
#35787 - tepples - Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 pm
Easy. Make a DS passthrough card that redirects to an Option Pak in the GBA slot. This Option Pak, similar to the Supercard, would contain decoder software and an ATA interface for reading a Type 1 CompactFlash card. Display the decoded video on the top screen and put a VCR style remote control on the touch screen.
Once these passthroughs get commercialized, somebody will probably hack a Supercard to do just this.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#35788 - OddOne - Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:29 pm
When the PLAY-YAN is realeased There will be alot of people trying to do that very thing I am sure.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/15/news_6115158.html
#35796 - Sebbo - Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:33 pm
how about a DJ mixing game/program that will let u use mp3 files on your play-yan or GBA movie player? would b a nice step up from Decks 'n' FX on PS2 (i think thats its name at least)
#35915 - foog - Sat Feb 12, 2005 4:19 pm
flubba made somethin for his emulators that can tell if his emulator was being played on the ds, gba, or if you're using the [unk] bios...
just thought id throw something in...
_________________
want to earn some cash?? no joke, its awesome!
http://tinyurl.com/5dvuw
#35917 - tepples - Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:49 pm
The BIOS thing doesn't matter. It's only there for games to tell whether they're on a GBA or DS screen or possibly to unlock something like the Advance Shop of the GBC Zelda games. There's currently no way for code loaded entirely from the GBA slot (without a DS passthrough) to double the ARM7 clock speed, access the ARM9, or access the enhanced graphics or sound of the Nintendo DS.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#35919 - dagamer34 - Sat Feb 12, 2005 7:20 pm
| tepples wrote: |
| The BIOS thing doesn't matter. It's only there for games to tell whether they're on a GBA or DS screen or possibly to unlock something like the Advance Shop of the GBC Zelda games. There's currently no way for code loaded entirely from the GBA slot (without a DS passthrough) to double the ARM7 clock speed, access the ARM9, or access the enhanced graphics or sound of the Nintendo DS. |
So, I am probably guessing that from your findings, the DS doesn't care where it loads code from after the ARM9 binary has pointed execution to the GBA slot.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#36276 - jazzleo - Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:42 pm
To answer the question of this topic, try running Wario Ware Inc ( for the GBA) on your DS. Notice how the power LED color changes in sync with the music when you are playing the mini games?
Go figure :)
#36278 - ampz - Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:45 pm
| jazzleo wrote: |
To answer the question of this topic, try running Wario Ware Inc ( for the GBA) on your DS. Notice how the power LED color changes in sync with the music when you are playing the mini games?
Go figure :) |
This is power realated. Not something the software can control.
Go check your thread for details.
#36329 - eyeball226 - Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:30 pm
I had a similar effect when playing SM64DS, the light was changing between green and red in time to the music, I put it down to minute changes in the power consumption as the music played, as when I turned the sound down, it would stop.
_________________
I can't be bothered now...
#53839 - happylewie - Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:17 pm
You might find this interesting. ^__^
| Quote: |
"This Request Selection addon plugs into your Nintendo DS? Gameboy Advance? slot. An additional 31 songs are stored on this cartridge providing extra fun. Songs include hits from th J-Pop artists Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Orange Range, Janne Da Arc, day after tomorrow, Porno Graffiti and others. There are also video game related tracks recorded from games such as Catch! Touch! Yoshi!, Super Mario 64 DS, Touch! Made in Wario, Donkey Konga Jungle Beat, Starfox 64 (main theme), Yoshi's Island and many more.
This cartridge is strongly limited and only available for a short period of time.
Please note that a copy of the original "Daigasso! Band Brothers" will be required for using this addon." |
I think the original DS game loads extra songs from the GBA cart. Here are the links.
Original Game
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-70-d7p.html
Add-On songs
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-70-xpy.html
#53842 - TJ - Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:28 pm
Yes, but that isn't a GBA game being aware of the DS hardware, that is just a GBA cartridge being read by a DS game, which is something that we have always known was possible.
#56578 - zigg - Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:00 pm
I have one of the aforementioned Request Selection cartridges for Band Brothers, and I believe I was able to dump it successfully, though I'm not entirely sure.
It's definitely not a GBA ROM -- the logo area is filled with 0xff, for example. If I page down in the hex editor, I see data that resembles the saved song data I've seen in the EEPROM, though it's missing the magic header those saved songs have.
I'm really curious to figure out how this thing works, but I'm not really sure how to go about it at the moment. Any tips or offers of help? What I'm really interested in doing is constructing a custom ROM containing some of the songs found online.
#56594 - deltro - Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:37 am
GoomBA for the GBAMP is DS aware, I plugged it into my DS, and it dected it as a DS, and I plugged it into my SP, and it detected my SP- if homebrew can do it, you can be assured that they can.
#56609 - DiscoStew - Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:17 am
| deltro wrote: |
| GoomBA for the GBAMP is DS aware, I plugged it into my DS, and it dected it as a DS, and I plugged it into my SP, and it detected my SP- if homebrew can do it, you can be assured that they can. |
That is probably just a simple check in the BIOS for detecting which system you are running on. It's one thing to be aware of whether you are running on a GBA or DS, but it's another thing to be able to actually use DS features through just the GBA cart if the DS is detected. It would be nice if it were ever possible, to enhance the experience of a GBA game on the DS.
_________________
DS - It's all about DiscoStew
#56620 - tepples - Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:07 am
The major things in a GBA game that need to be enhanced on the Nintendo DS are 1. the gamma correction (don't need to use as much shadow expansion) and 2. the panning (as the DS has built-in stereo speakers).
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.