GBA emulator for NDS flash carts?

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September 22nd, 2007, 21:07
AquaLeaderMatt

GBA emulator for NDS flash carts?

I've looked around, but all I could find was GB and GBC emulators for NDS flash carts. I'm using R4, and I REALLY want to play GBA games without buying a GBA flash cart. Is there such a thing?

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
September 22nd, 2007, 21:14
jak66

Quote:

Originally Posted by AquaLeaderMatt

I'm using R4, and I REALLY want to play GBA games without buying a GBA flash cart. Is there such a thing?

No. Never.
September 22nd, 2007, 21:16
AquaLeaderMatt

Can you please elaborate?
September 22nd, 2007, 21:43
ButterBeer121

There isn't.
September 23rd, 2007, 00:13
Shane R. Monroe

It's impossible to run GBA games from ANY slot 1 solution - even via emulation.

A slot 2 solution is the only solution.
September 23rd, 2007, 00:59
cloud_952

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shane R. Monroe

It's impossible to run GBA games from ANY slot 1 solution - even via emulation.

Now, that's not true. You should know better than to toss around 'never' on forums like this.

Nearly anything is possible to emulate. The question is: how well? The DS can be emulated on the PSP.. it just really sucks and is virtually unplayable. ^_^

I also am not totally sure that the GBA couldn't be emulated well, but hey.. that's a matter of opinion and technicality. But it CAN be done.
September 23rd, 2007, 01:42
kcajblue

its possible.
but will never get good enough to be playable.
September 23rd, 2007, 01:55
ButterBeer121

Exactly. If I can play GBA games on my iPod, then we should be able to get it on the DS, but that doesn't mean it's worthwhile.
September 23rd, 2007, 05:55
DanTheManMS

A search for "GBA emulator for the DS" brings up http://dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=74084 in which I explain the various reasons why slot-1 cannot play GBA games.
September 23rd, 2007, 18:46
kcajblue

for those who dont feel like clicking the link

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanTheManMS

GBA games are directly addressed, that is, most data is read directly from the cartridge rather than from RAM. The DS slot is not capable of this method, as it loads chunks of the game into RAM, where it is the run. DimensionT is right in that DS games are streamed from the card in a sense, but GBA games function differently. So you can't run GBA games directly from slot-1.

You can't just use the ARM7 to emulate/simulate the GBA because it functions entirely differently in DS mode than it does in GBA mode. While in GBA mode it handles everything, in DS mode it only handles some buttons, touchscreen, wifi, and power management (among other functions of course). There are functions the ARM7 can handle in GBA mode that are inaccessible in DS mode. So therefore, you can't run GBA games in DS mode at all.

As a result, one must conclude that GBA games must run in GBA mode on the DS. Then the question comes up of where you're going to store the data for the GBA to use. You can't just load up the DS's 4 MB of RAM with GBA game data and then boot into GBA mode, as the DS's RAM is cleared and becomes inaccessible when you go into GBA mode. You can't just load up the GBA's 256 KB of RAM with a multiboot homebrew demo and then boot into GBA mode because the GBA's RAM is cleared by the GBA's BIOS when it runs. So therefore, it's not possible to store the game into on-board RAM before execution.

The only other way to get a GBA game working on the DS without a slot-2 device would be an emulator, and nobody is going to write a software renderer that would be slow and buggy when the DS already contains 100% accurate hardware emulation as it is. It would be a waste of time.

this is dans explanation.
January 12th, 2009, 01:48
toagac

What if we DONT switch to GBA mode... wouldn't it be possible to just have a copy of the GBA BIOS and use that bios image to play the GBA game in NDS mode, rather then switching to GBA mode to use it? If the GBA's BIOS takes up 16 KBs and then the GBA has 256 KBs of ram, that gives us 3824 KBs of RAM free to do whatever else we need to do.

Another option is to enter GBA mode via a patched copy of the BIOS that won't clear the RAM.
January 14th, 2009, 03:55
DanTheManMS

The ARM7 processor functions entirely differently in GBA mode than it does in DS mode, so we'd have no way of executing the GBA code unless we actually enter GBA mode. As for a "patched" BIOS, that would only help if you could replace the BIOS on the GBA's CPU itself. Even then I doubt it would help much.
March 29th, 2009, 15:24
pjpanda

YES it is possible to play gba games on the r4 ds.but it is hard.
April 3rd, 2009, 20:37
DanTheManMS

...

Please excuse me for a second, I need to slam my head into the wall.
April 14th, 2009, 15:14
Jimbonator

DS and DS-Lite have a slot-2 for gba games.

But does anyone have a solution for the DSi, who doesn't have the slot-2?
April 28th, 2009, 12:48
crookedmouth

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbonator

DS and DS-Lite have a slot-2 for gba games.

But does anyone have a solution for the DSi, who doesn't have the slot-2?

I don't think anyone knows but I think there was a rumor that Nintendo itself was going to release GBA games for download, for a price.

If and this is a big IF, if this is possible then possibly the DSi could be hacked to use the SD card.

Don't quote me on this.
April 28th, 2009, 15:40
DanTheManMS

Well, it's more like "if this is possible, AND IF the DSi is hacked to use the SD card, THEN possibly we can run our own GBA games on it"

The act of selling GBA games via the DSi store isn't going to get us any closer to getting the DSi hacked. I don't think that's what you meant to say, but I felt like clarifying it nonetheless.
February 7th, 2010, 10:09
oton

You CAN play gba games in slot1 CAUSE Ive done it!!! I used a emulator that converts gba to nds and plays it as nds! well, graphic sucks, not all of the image is displayed, there is no sound, BUT ITS PLAYABLE!!
post the link soon!
April 9th, 2010, 19:26
desireddesired

Quote:

Originally Posted by toagac

What if we DONT switch to GBA mode... wouldn't it be possible to just have a copy of the GBA BIOS and use that bios image to play the GBA game in NDS mode, rather then switching to GBA mode to use it? If the GBA's BIOS takes up 16 KBs and then the GBA has 256 KBs of ram, that gives us 3824 KBs of RAM free to do whatever else we need to do.

Another option is to enter GBA mode via a patched copy of the BIOS that won't clear the RAM.

Just google arround to see how it works you ***got. Dont say it dont work if you have no clue asshole.
April 9th, 2010, 23:34
Eyedunno

You don't exactly need a slot-2 flashcart per se. You can instead get a RAM expansion cart (but not the official Nintendo one; that won't work) such as the Ewin Expansion Pak, the M3 expansion or the EZflash expansion and then use that to run GBA games from slot-1, using something like Rudolph's ExpLoader.

Otherwise (like on a DSi or something), you're basically out of luck. The DS isn't powerful enough to emulate GBA at all passably, so you need some way to run the games in GBA mode.
September 15th, 2010, 18:41
Jelster64

What you guys maybe don't understand, is that emulating isn't the only option to play GBA games on the R4. Converting is also possible. Don't ask me how to DLDI patch the game, but with the name NDStation you can come far. It converts GBA roms to NDS roms.
April 2nd, 2011, 06:39
hadeki

The Supercard DSTWO has a built-in GBA emulator, so... it's completely possible.
I'm not sure if it's possible for the R4 though.
September 5th, 2011, 13:04
lolo64

yes,there are an alternative

you can run GBA games on your DS using slot-1, but you'll need a Supercard DStwo, on sale for about 45-70$.
I know this is expensive, but the flash card is high-performance (I have one) an is able to run on ds, dslite, dsi,
dsi xl and 3ds. it can run DS Games, SNES games, and, of course, GBA games.They run very good!!!
here's the link to the official website:
http://eng.supercard.sc/manual/dstwo/
and here's the link to the review, by GBAtemp
http://gbatemp.net/t232281-supercard-dstwo-review

hope this will help you!!!