gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

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ShinyRayquaza
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gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by ShinyRayquaza » Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:09 pm

Is it possible to hack a gameboy micro so it can take the original Gameboy or Gameboy Color cartridges?
Has anyone tried that already?

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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by NiCEL.2X » Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:41 pm

I'm pretty sure this is impossible i think the correct hardware is missing.
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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by Bibin » Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:14 pm

It's possible, but I am way too worn out today to explain. Maybe another day.
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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by eurddrue » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:49 pm

I believe that the gbm has the ZN-80 prossesor in it, but you'd need some software to get to it or something. A dev team was working on it, but they dropped off the face of the internet. :cry:
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chainfire95 wrote:220V I believe
I think we should check to see if you can withstand 220 volts

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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by samjc3 » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:57 pm

eurddrue wrote:ZN-80 prossesor
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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by Bibin » Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:33 pm

eurddrue wrote:I believe that the gbm has the ZN-80 prossesor in it, but you'd need some software to get to it or something. A dev team was working on it, but they dropped off the face of the internet. :cry:
It's The Zilog Z80.
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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by eurddrue » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:22 am

Bibin wrote:
eurddrue wrote:I believe that the gbm has the ZN-80 prossesor in it, but you'd need some software to get to it or something. A dev team was working on it, but they dropped off the face of the internet. :cry:
It's The Zilog Z80.
But I was right for the most part?
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wallydawg wrote:
chainfire95 wrote:220V I believe
I think we should check to see if you can withstand 220 volts

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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by XCVG » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:10 am

IIRC Nintendo removed the Z80 and all the GB(C) hardware in order to shrink the device and reduce power consumption. It is incapable of playing GB(C) games. You have only one option to play GB(C) games on it. Get a flashcart, I think there is an emulator availible.

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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by Bibin » Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:19 pm

The GBZ80 is present in the micro. People (including myself) have successfully managed to mess with it to the point where the Game Boy color logo played, and you could adjust the screen with L and R like on a regular GBA. This could not happen without the Z80, which is why this fails on a DS.

However, getting it to read the cartridges is very difficult, as while we've managed to kick it into GBC mode the cartridge interface is still in GBA mode, with the 3V vs 5V issue being just one issue among others. This is where the mod gets tough and impractical.
XCVG wrote:IIRC Nintendo removed the Z80 and all the GB(C) hardware in order to shrink the device and reduce power consumption.
Sorry, you don't remember correctly. That wouldn't save power anyway, as in GBA mode the GBC hardware wouldn't be powered on in the first place.
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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by eurddrue » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:27 pm

XCVG wrote:IIRC Nintendo removed the Z80 and all the GB(C) hardware in order to shrink the device and reduce power consumption. It is incapable of playing GB(C) games. You have only one option to play GB(C) games on it. Get a flashcart, I think there is an emulator availible.
OBJECTION! It IS present, it's just kind of hidden a bit. It won't read the games, it just boots in GBC mod. And yes, you can emulate the GBC games, but crystal doesn't work very well if my sources are correct, which is the whole point of having a GBC :cry:

In other words, what Bibin said. :mrgreen:
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wallydawg wrote:
chainfire95 wrote:220V I believe
I think we should check to see if you can withstand 220 volts

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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by palmertech » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:35 pm

There was a big thread about this a while back, somewhere around here.

What bibin says is correct.
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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by ShockSlayer » Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:56 am

Of course, bibin is smartiest. Now, tell me HOW you did it, I've done my fair share of micro modding.

SS
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Re: gameboy micro taking gb(c) ?

Post by Bibin » Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:04 pm

ShockSlayer wrote:Of course, bibin is smartiest. Now, tell me HOW you did it, I've done my fair share of micro modding.

SS
I got it to crash into GBC mode with a simple program DWedit wrote; no hardware hacks done. Let me dig it up.

Thread: http://boards.pocketheaven.com/viewtopi ... =micro+gbc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Homebrew GBC-mode entering app: http://www.dwedit.org/dwedit_board/atta ... p?item=127" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

THEORY: What might work is to cut the trace that supplies voltage to the cartridge, and manually apply 5V to the cart slot once it cuts into GBC mode. The GBA flash cart must take 3V though, so be quick with your switching by hand.

Further explanation:
Dwedit wrote:Fact:
If it's showing the GBC bios, then there is a GBZ80 in there.

Speculation:
Nintendo didn't bother changing the GBA chips at all, and left everything alone. It would probably cost more to change stuff than to make special reduced-functionality versions.
I haven't looked at a GB Micro circuit board but I suspect that Nintendo just removed all the GBC traces on the PCB, and related components, leaving the GBC mode still intact in the main GBA processor.
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