How does the Gameboy Player work? Can it be Overclocked?

[Master Kirby]

Do any of you know how the Gameboy Player attachment for the Gamecube works?

I would expect that the hardware should be very similar to the GBA, but with additional circuitry to allow it to interface with the Cube. I was wondering if it was possible to overclock the GB Player like you can to the GBA.

I know you need to insert a disk into the Game Cube to use the attached player. Does this just tell the Cube to boot from the attached hardware, or is there a program running on the cube while the Player is being used?

Here are some questions that would affect the overclocking ability.

- What kind of hardware does the GBP use?
- How does it interface to the Cube? Does the Player just connect to the Game Cube controllers and output A/V, or does it communicate with the Cube's processor?
- If the Player is overclocked, would it still communicate with the Cube properly, or would I need to overclock the Cube the same amount (I don't realy know how to overclock a Cube)?

I would appreciate any input you all may have about the Gameboy Player. I don't have one, so I can't open it up or test things out. I wanted to see if this was possible before going and buying one and then finding that you also had to overclock the Cube.

[Harshboy]

- What kind of hardware does the GBP use?
- How does it interface to the Cube? Does the Player just connect to the Game Cube controllers and output A/V, or does it communicate with the Cube's processor?
- If the Player is overclocked, would it still communicate with the Cube properly, or would I need to overclock the Cube the same amount (I don't realy know how to overclock a Cube)?

1) Uses GBA and GBC Guts that interface with the GCN CPU.
2) The Player sends data to the Gamecube that it's CPU interprets and "spits out onto your TV".
3) Overclocking the Player wouldn't really have any effect on the cube, so it should be possible.

Basically to make it short, the Gamecube Player won't work without a Gamecube running the player software.

[Master Kirby]

1) Uses GBA and GBC Guts that interface with the GCN CPU.
2) The Player sends data to the Gamecube that it's CPU interprets and "spits out onto your TV".
3) Overclocking the Player wouldn't really have any effect on the cube, so it should be possible.

Basically to make it short, the Gamecube Player won't work without a Gamecube running the player software.

Thanks. So basically, the Player processes the games internally using Gameboy processors, and the GCN just processes the video and sound data to send it to the TV. If so, then I would guess that overclocking the Player would work since the game processing is all done internally. If the GCN just displays the video and sound that it recieves, it wouldn't matter how fast things are moving since there is no feedback.

[kasar]

I´m interested also at this, I cuarently own the gba player hardware, and Overclock it seems interesting.

here you got some pics, I supose the gba cpu is this one, but Idk how exaclty the overclock mod works,I remember at n64 you had to give some volts to an especific pin, but Idk at this board.




I´m also interested about the gba player reallocating mod, I want rewire the connector to my portable and put the gba player built in. but Idk if there are any unused pin, for that reason I wanted to ask before I rewire all pins

[palmertech]

It is possible, and easy to boot.

See that little metal oval part next to the main CPU? Just desolder it. It is a 3.4something mhz crstal, it has two pads underneath. Just replace with a crystal of a higher value.

I have overclocked a super gameboy, which works in the same way. No reason it should not work.

[kasar]

It is possible, and easy to boot.

See that little metal oval part next to the main CPU? Just desolder it. It is a 3.4something mhz crstal, it has two pads underneath. Just replace with a crystal of a higher value.

I have overclocked a super gameboy, which works in the same way. No reason it should not work.

thanks!

[palmertech]

No problem!

Let me know what happens, if I ever build a GCP, it would have a gb player, so relocating it would be pretty awesome.

About that... I would bet all those pins are used, there is no reason for Nintendo to not spread the load across as many lines as they can.

Let me know if you need help relocating the actual GBA cart slot, I do have experience with doing that.

[Master Kirby]

Thanks for those pictures Kasar. That oval can next to the processor does look like the Oscillator, though its odd that it is labeled "Y1" instead of "X1" like on the GBA. You can see the 4 tiny resistors right next to it, just like the Oscillator in the GBA, so that is most likely it.

I'll have to keep this in mind for if I ever get a GBPlayer. It looks like you could just wire a new Oscillator and a switch to the points where the wires stick through the board (second picture, right next to the third knotch from the top, on the left side).

If you don't have a pinout of the pins in the third picture, you could probably find them by using a continuity tester between there and the contacts of the board that sticks out perpendicular at the top of the second picture.

[kasar]

thanks a lot mate, for sure I will,before open my cuarent portable and update the hardware, I will try mod the gba player hardware to make it smaller posible, like removing the connector, reallocating the cart slot, gamelink cable port... etc, cause my portable case is really full of stuff,I need get the gba okayer board near as slim as a paper page.
if this is not posible, I also will consider design a custom addon port/device, like bacteria´s project, like a modular system, anyway I preffer to get ths system integrated.

but there is something I got arround my mind those days, it is about power consumition, if the gba player is plugged to the gc mobo, but it is not be used, for example: the user is playing some gc game without use the gba software like mario shunshine or resident evil 4,...etc
will the gba hardware will drain power from the batteries when it isn´t used directly?

[Jongamer]

It is possible, and easy to boot.

See that little metal oval part next to the main CPU? Just desolder it. It is a 3.4something mhz crstal, it has two pads underneath. Just replace with a crystal of a higher value.

I have overclocked a super gameboy, which works in the same way. No reason it should not work.

How do you overclock a super Gameboy? I see no Crystal ANYWHERE on the board, not even anything to indicate a clock.

All I see is 6 chips, 2 RAM chips, a CPU, Lockout chip, and 2 other chips, which one I believe is the chip that interfaces with the SNES, and some other Mystery chip, maybe more RAM?

But there is absolutely no removable Crystal anywhere on this board, is there a certain pin that needs to be lifted on the CPU?

Looks to me like it gets the clock from the SNES itself using the extra pins, would explain why when inserted into a Game Genie, it runs at a VERY slow speed, possibly the default speed that the CPU clocks to when no other clock frequency is given.

Just a guess.

[stuntpenguin007]

what about the 33w........ oscillator. I replaced the crystal in my gbc with an oscilator to overclock it.

[Padoca]

why the hell my post was erased for?

[ShockSlayer]

Probably for bumping an old thread?

[Black Six]

There's no need to post in a topic that's been dead for almost seven months. It's pretty obvious that the person working on the project has forgotten or given up on it.

[Padoca]

So im supposed to create a new topic with the same theme?
im interested in overclocking/downclocking my GB player, just wanted to get some advice