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Hardware > GB Bridge question

#6510 - PAH - Wed May 28, 2003 5:10 am

I'm about to order one of the USB->Link port cables and a flash cartridge. I'm a little confused about the GB Bridge, though. The descriptions I've seen talk about valtage requirements of GB and GBC vs. GBA. Given the flash card is designed for GBA, I can see where the bridge would be needed to use the flash card in a GB/GBC, but is it really necessary to backup a GB/GBC game when using a GBA?

Is it necessary to play GB/GBC games in a flash card on the GBA?

Obviously, the GBA can produce compatible voltages for the GB/GBC cartridges, so I don't understand why you'd need the bridge when backing up and playing on a GBA.

Thanks,

Pete

#6512 - tepples - Wed May 28, 2003 5:50 am

PAH wrote:
I'm a little confused about the GB Bridge, though.

GB/GBC games use a non-multiplexed bus at 5V. GBA games use a multiplexed bus at 3V. When the GBA senses a GBC cart, it uses the GBC cart bus protocol and turns on the GBC processor. There is no known way of using the GBC platform with the GBA cart bus protocol.

To use GB/GBC software in a GBA, you need one of the following:
  • a GBC flash cart (which speaks GB/GBC cart bus protocol natively)
  • a GBA flash cart plus a GB Bridge (to translate the GBA cart bus protocol on the cart's end to the GB/GBC cart bus protocol on the GBA's end)
  • a GBA flash cart plus JustBurn's PocketGB emulator (and lose some compatibility)

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#6514 - PAH - Wed May 28, 2003 6:29 am

Thanks, that makes sense.