#4578 - Vortex - Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:59 pm
Are there any carts (ROM or FLASH) on the market with a battery-backed realtime clock?
The question is closely related to another one: is it possible to develop a GBA game which requires keeping track of date/time when the cart is not active. An example for such a game for NGC is Animal Crossing.
Thanks
#4589 - darkcloud - Thu Apr 03, 2003 10:58 pm
It is possible because games like Pokemon (the GBA and GBC version) keep track of time even when you shut off. I'm not sure how you could get one of these "clock carts" though.
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#4599 - Quirky - Fri Apr 04, 2003 7:33 am
"By being Nintendo" is the probable answer :-)
#4606 - phonymike - Fri Apr 04, 2003 8:44 am
I've seen on some descriptions for the XG flash carts that they contain the real time clock but I don't think they actually do. They also claimed to play GB/GBC games directly, go figure.
Now if you wanted, you could buy pokemon sapphire/ruby and program a game to use their clock (dump the games then RE them to see how they read the clock, then plug the cart in.) It would be cool for a game to have a little clock in the corner (just like a computer :)
#5147 - Krisjohn - Tue Apr 22, 2003 4:42 am
Datel of the UK produced a PDA cart for the old GBC. Not only did it have a real time clock, but the alarm would sound even if the cart wasn't in a Gameboy.
Unfortunately it doesn't work in a GBA. Possibly something to do with the missing IR port (it also had a learning IR remote function).
Personally, I'd love a clock/day's appointments cart for my GBAsp that I could sync with my PC's calendar...
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#5167 - Sweex - Tue Apr 22, 2003 4:02 pm
Too bad that there's nothing like a realtime clock inside the GBA or cart (except apparently pokemon)...:-(
You could do some cool stuff with that, like a tamagotchi type of game, or make it a bit of a PDA...