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Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

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Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#71

Post by Igelau »

dleslie wrote: post #41
Igelau wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The greatest handheld console was the Genesis Nomad. Cons: - It was the size of a brick. - It was designed with oddly skewed angles. - It didn't have room for batteries inside, so they had to be shoved in a little pack that clipped on to it. Pros: - It was a handheld Sega Genesis. - You could connect it to your TV. - You could connect a second controller. - You could run it off A/C power. - Ergo it's also a console!…

Calling the pack "little" is a stretch; the battery pack itself is larger and heavier than the GBA SP. Also, the screen suffers from terrible ghosting. I can barely bring myself to play sonic on it. Still, the Nomad is a neat piece of kit.

To be honest, I don't remember the ghosting. I do remember the ghosting on the Game Gear, so if it was even marginally better on the Nomad I probably overlooked it.

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#72

Post by joshvm »

gambiting wrote: post #65
GrantSolar wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought an EZ Flash IV last year for around £35.

Yeah, from my research the EZ Flash IV has some limitations(like max 2GB card support and miniSD only??), so the EverDrive X5 is recommended.....but that's £130 apparently?? https://www.deadpanrobot.co.uk/everdrive-gba-x5-mini-for-gam...

It's expensive because of economy of scale. EZ Flash sells way more devices. However, it's more power efficient than the EZ Flash I believe due to better use of the FPGA. The Omega looks good though, and it also supports save states (nice for games like Harvest Moon FOMT where it's basically impossible to get all the best items without save scumming).

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#73

Post by mikepurvis »

fuball63 wrote: post #32
abhinav22 wrote: post #2

Game Boy Advance, especially the SP, was the greatest handheld console to me. Had rechargeable batteries that you could charge by plugging in (back in those days, as a kid, it was a game changer), played all your existing library of game boy games, amazing folding mechanism and portable, small size and of course a great library as well. Perfection. And as I say that, the Switch has proven to be an amazing challenger…

I think that the GBA is great because of the kinds of games you can make for it. It is a perfect blend of having hardware limitations to inspire creativity but being powerful enough to have games with enough depth to be compelling. Golden Sun comes to mind.

Advance Wars 2 is this game for me; I only recently discovered it and it blows my mind how much tactical depth there could be on such a tiny little screen with just a few buttons of controls.

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#74

Post by yc-kraln »

implicit wrote: post #14

I did a little bit of GBA homebrew development back in its heyday. It is a really fun little bit of hardware to hack on. It's powerful enough that you can write your whole game in C++, but not so powerful that you should rely on the system allocator for anything. It's in a lovely sweet spot for a particular dialect of zero-overhead C++ that's really fun to write. As a simple example, I had a little class library of d…

Reading this article gave me the warm fuzzies for the same reason; The GBA was a dream to homebrew for.

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#75

Post by timw4mail »

dleslie wrote: post #42
danbolt wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never had a Nomad, but did you ever find the console inconvenient to use? One thing I find Nintendo always does so well with their consoles is the ease-of-use and complimentary library. I feel like a clunky handheld that plays Gunstar Heroes for 2-3 hours might be harder to appreciate than Pokemon for ten.

I have one. It's not convenient to travel with; the carts are comparatively large and the unit itself is roughly the size of an early 90s camcorder, and as awkwardly shaped too. The screen ghosts something awful... It's mostly a cool gimick to show your friends who are Sega fans; akin to owning a working CDX or Activator.

The CDX is more practical than the Nomad, though. I will agree that it's a poor portable CD player, but it's the most compact Genesis and Sega CD. It even works with the 32X, and there are 3d-printed supports for the CDX/32X to help with the 32X weight.

I may just be proving your point, though.

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#76

Post by apple4ever »

anonunivgrad wrote: post #8
abhinav22 wrote: post #2

Game Boy Advance, especially the SP, was the greatest handheld console to me. Had rechargeable batteries that you could charge by plugging in (back in those days, as a kid, it was a game changer), played all your existing library of game boy games, amazing folding mechanism and portable, small size and of course a great library as well. Perfection. And as I say that, the Switch has proven to be an amazing challenger…

The Switch is great but you have to get a third-party dock and AC adapter for optimal portability[1]. I'm kind of perplexed by the bad design of the official dock. [1] There were some issues with unofficial docks/adapters bricking consoles, but they seem to be sorted out in the current gen third-party accessories.

Get the Genki Covert Dock. [1]

Its perfect for portable gaming.

1. https://www.genkithings.com/products/covert-dock

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#77

Post by willis936 »

rtpg wrote: post #9
EE84M3i wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought it was interesting that (as mentioned in the article) the GBA has two processors, one for GBA and one for original gameboy/game boy color games. Similarly, the DS has an ARM7 in addition to it's ARM9 in order to play GBA games, however it lacks the sharp processor to play original game boy games. The notches on the carts prevent you from putting an original gameboy game into a DS, IIRc.

luckily the GB/GBC was nice and slow so homebrew emulators could totally run your legally dumped gameboy carts onto your extremely legal flash carts

HackerNews, not CorporateBootlickerNews.

Ripping video games and playing them on other consoles or emulating them is no different than ripping CDs and playing them on your phone. Does any of this seem illegal? More importantly, does any of this seem to violate the agreement of purchasing and ownership?

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#78

Post by IntelMiner »

mikepurvis wrote: post #73
fuball63 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the GBA is great because of the kinds of games you can make for it. It is a perfect blend of having hardware limitations to inspire creativity but being powerful enough to have games with enough depth to be compelling. Golden Sun comes to mind.

Advance Wars 2 is this game for me; I only recently discovered it and it blows my mind how much tactical depth there could be on such a tiny little screen with just a few buttons of controls.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike for the DS is also a treasure and expands upon AW2 quite nicely

Unfortunately the much more grim and depressing "Days of Ruin" sold poorly and the studio has seemingly drifted away from making another AW game

Competitors like Tiny Metal or WarGroove just don't scratch the same itch either unfortunately

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#79

Post by whywhywhywhy »

dleslie wrote: post #36
abhinav22 wrote: post #2

Game Boy Advance, especially the SP, was the greatest handheld console to me. Had rechargeable batteries that you could charge by plugging in (back in those days, as a kid, it was a game changer), played all your existing library of game boy games, amazing folding mechanism and portable, small size and of course a great library as well. Perfection. And as I say that, the Switch has proven to be an amazing challenger…

Did you ever try the Micro? I have hands large enough to find the original xbox controller to be comfortable and preferable to the S, but even still the Micro with its superior display and larger shoulder buttons is preferable to the SP. I feel a bit like I'm balancing it on my fingertips, but nevertheless, it's the pinnacle of mobile gaming.

Micro had the best dpad and buttons by a large margin. Definitely felt less cramp in my hands using it than with the SP.

Re: Architecture of the Game Boy Advance

#80

Post by mikepurvis »

IntelMiner wrote: post #78
mikepurvis wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advance Wars 2 is this game for me; I only recently discovered it and it blows my mind how much tactical depth there could be on such a tiny little screen with just a few buttons of controls.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike for the DS is also a treasure and expands upon AW2 quite nicely Unfortunately the much more grim and depressing "Days of Ruin" sold poorly and the studio has seemingly drifted away from making another AW game Competitors like Tiny Metal or WarGroove just don't scratch the same itch either unfortunately

Yeah, I played a bit of Dual Strike and enjoyed it also— my main complaint with it was that the slight 3D tilt on the gameboard mangles all that beautiful pixel art.

Have tried Wargroove (it was in a recent Humble Bundle) and it was fun, but agree that it's just not quite the same.

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