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Gamecube Finally Plays GBA Games
ytzombe writes "Gamespot News is reporting that for about 5000 yen an attachment will be available to play GBA games on the Gamecube. The serial port underneath the system will be the gateway to the device and will include a port to enable multiplayer games. This will finally allow me to play the Castlevania games without fusing my naked retina to the screen."
A kick ass game (just got it today), and it will be using this feature too.
Will run a MAME port, so you can run Super Mario Bros. on a machine that can play Super Mario Advance connected to a machine that can play Super Mario Sunshine. Or maybe I'm the one eating magic mushrooms.
but as far as console addons go, i don't think anything can hold a candle to my trusty Sega 32X for Genesis. man, that was sweet.
"Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?"
... games without fusing my naked retina to the screen.
You really should get that looked at. It can't be heathy.
Maybe this is only funny becuase it's so late on the East Coast of the US.
EveryDNS. Use it. It works.
AC's need not reply
The unit is scheduled to hit stores worldwide in early-to-mid 2003 and is currently scheduled to sell for around 5000 yen, or approximately $41.34.
Hmm... I think someone isn't quite clear on the use of the word approximately.
Do not read this sig.
i already bought the GBA "cybernetic upgrade" tv adapter on a trip to hong kong.. it's not licensed by nintendo though, it makes your GBA big and bulky, requires it's own power source, and costs about the same..i just installed it on a second GBA that i had laying around (they're very cheap in asia). look into it if you don't have a gamecube but you are as annoyed with the GBA screen (w/no afterburner) as many other people are.
$40.85 USD
$5,000 Canad..Whoops, $64.61 Canadian
No. This negates the need for a Game Boy Advance completely. It comes with an emulator disc and the hardware part is just a cartridge reader. So, it's a $44 attachment for the $150 console to play games that are around SNES quality (not NES, that was the Game Boy Color)
An adapter that lets me play sweet retro-looking 16 bit games on my tv *drool*
- oh wait I can just dust off the snes in the attic!
If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
This will finally allow me to play the Castlevania games without fusing my naked retina to the screen.
Or, if you're feeling particularly ambitious, you can install Triton Labs' Afterburner lighting kit.
Sure, you'll have to open up your GBA and do some (very easy) soldering, but if you're reading Slashdot, chances are that you either
A) Can solder in your sleep
B) Are smart enough to find someone who can solder if you're not up to the challenge, rather than fuck up your GBA by trying anyway.
The end result is worth it. Clear visibility in any lighting, even complete darkness! Sure, there's a modest drain on the batteries, but you'd get the same drain using an (inferior) external lighting solution. Plus, you can opt to install the potentiometer (included) to allow you to dim or turn off the light when not needed.
Sure, you can buy the attachment to play GBA games on the GC, but why? The main reason to buy a Gameboy is portability. If you want to play the games on a large screen, get an emulator.
A $44 attachment for a $70 unit to plug into your $150 console to play $35 games with the quality lesser than that of a 1990 era NES that sells for $20?
Hands down best console game EVER. My jaw was on the ground for the 7 hrs I played it today. If there was EVER a game to buy a single console for, this game is IT. Also, when you win the GBA Metroid Fusion, and link it to the Metroid Prime, you get the ORIGINAL Metroid game unlocked to play on the GameCube. It REALLY looks like Nintendo hit a virtual goldmine with the GBA to GameCube connectivity features. Wait till you see ZELDA in a few months.
Just my $0.02
THAT is why it is being made. People still love the 2D side scrollers like Castlevania, but no developers have had the balls to make any more on an actual 3D based console since Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Why? I have no idea, SotN sold a LOT of copies, you would have thought Konami would have started doing more 2D based games after that. Same with Nintendo .. But I suppose they dont want to infringe on their GBA market (lol.. )!
Why buy a GBA, GC and GBA to GC adapter (AUS$600+ plus games @ AUS$70 each)when you can pick up a used SNES for AUS$30 and Classic Games for AUS$12 each? All the good games Nintendo have released for GBA are ports/remakes of the greatest games ever! Just plug a SNES into your TV... so easy!
Zelda has ALWAYS looked like a cartoon. Nintendo is doing EXACTLY what true console fanatics want. They are giving us the next generation of THE best console games ever made. And to top it off with a nice cherry, they're giving us a great retro nostaligic kickback to the very cool 2D gaming we all fell in love with on the GameBoy Advance, and now the Adaptor to play them on the TV. If you're REALLY into the console gaming, the stuff Nintendo is doing is HEADS AND TAILS above everyone else. If you look at what Microsoft is doing, its laughable. They're trying to turn CONSOLE GAMING into PC GAMING - If I wanted to play Unreal Tournament on my TV, I would have used my TV OUT on my video card! Talk about ignorant marketing!
The idea of allowing portable games to be played on the big screen is not new. Nintendo has had a device called Super Game Boy which allowed you to play Game Boy games on the Super NES/Famicom. Some Game Boy games even could take advantage of Super Game Boy features such as limited color ability, etc. SEGA also had a handheld system called Game Gear, which had an adapter to allow its games to be played on the Genesis/MegaDrive.
-- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
Posts aside about this adapter being the functional equivalent of pulling an SNES out from the closet, the point is there are NEW, addictive games for the GBA that deserve an occaisonal big screen treatment. And it's not like we forget the GBA is portable, you take the game with you when you can't sit in front of the console any longer.
Here'd be another neat trick, getting the SNES cartridges to work with the GBA with a smart dongle. Then you'd have the full monte.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
No, no, no... the article said 5000 yen. That's like.... um.... 7 cents.
There is a boot disc that makes the Gamecube AWARE of the device, it's more of a device driver, but the actual GBA functionality is all hardware based. Games like Metroid Fusion that can talk to GameCube games will NOT need to have this disc loaded beforehand. The games are aware of the GBA carts in the add-on and can and will read directly from the memory of the GBA game in question. Again, NOTHING is being "emulated" with the Gameboy Player, you will just need to load the device driver disc to play the games beforehand. But you WILL NOT need to use it when using Gamecube games that use GBA linkups because thats already in the Gamecube software itself.
It will also feature some form of link cable support for multiplayer gaming.
You know, the GBA has four controller ports on it, coincidentally the same number the GBA link cable supports...and a TV has enough screen real-estate for four GBA screens. You'd probably have to scale down the resolution a bit, so somegames could start to look rather nasty...but I bet it could be a decent feature for a lot of games.
The product will also come with a disc, presumably used to boot up the GameCube and prepare it for use with the peripheral.
LAAAAAAME. Extra hassle is never good, and in this case a user has to put in a disc (which can get lost or broken) and a game pak. Extra steps are never fun.
The unit will not have full compatibility with the entire back catalog of Nintendo portable software, but no specific incompatibility problems have been announced at this time.
Double LAME. I would expect the inner-workings of the GB series to be understood well enough to emulate perfectly.
± 29 dB
One thing immediately springs to mind as a PAL gamer who likes Japanese games...
Since GBA games aren't region-coded and Gamecubes are region-specific, I wonder if this item would limit the region you could play your GBA games in?
You know what I noticed about GBA and just Nintendo games in general, they might not have the best graphics or the latest type of shading and lighting but they are addictive and fun. For Example for me its SUPER MARIO CART....I can't get enough of that game. Even Mario, I thought I'd get tired of him by now but once I started playing I am just as much addicted now as I was 10 years ago with Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo.
5000 Yen. Spiffy and nice, but I am not good at currency conversion. This is just a dream, but I would love to see this:
5000
And then let the browser do the job. Either let it be, translate it to my choice, or give me both the original and in my choice in paranthesis.
Would be pretty simple, really, as long as you can grab a conversion table from somewhere.
Nintendo is not growing with the gaming industry?
Why? Because they release an GBA adaptor to play good 2D games on your TV? Because they still make great games that are fun for both youngsters and adults?
What should Nintendo be doing? Should Miyamoto ditch his emphasis on gameplay and enjoyability and instead fill his games with T&A or tons of blood? I don't think so.
It is quite obvious that Miyamoto could make a better game with an abacus than Microsoft can with an X-Box.
The new Zelda looks 100% sweet. It is definately done in the tradition of the original NES Zelda:
A fun game set in a fantasy world that will captivate both children and adults. I don't see anything wrong with that approach at all. The cell shaded animation looks great, IMHO.
The Game Cube may not be doing the best in sales, but it and the GameBoy Advance has the most enjoyable games out there.
As for me and Link, we will be doing some serious princess rescuing this upcoming spring.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
"This will finally allow me to play the Castlevania games without fusing my naked retina to the screen"
If you bothered to pick up Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, you'd see that Konami has put some things in the game to combat the lack of backlighting. Large characters/monsters, some bright colors, lighting effects, spell effects that center on the character, and even Juste's "blue-shadow" all contribute a lot to making the game very playable when other games on the sustem aren't.
You still need decent light, but it's not a total eye-strainer. You can even play Harmony of Dissonance well in moderate indoor lighting, which is a feat on the GBA.
Still, I'd like to see it on a TV. That'd hopefully fix some issues with the crappy sound (which few people seem to bitch about, but which sucks).
To my understanding (correct me if i'm wrong) but doesn't the gameboy double as a controller when hooked up to the gamecube?
If so, then why didn't they build that functionality into the system to begin with? The gameboy already has a connection to the system, how hard would it have to have the gamecube access the gamboy game and pipe it through the GC and out to the tv?
Maybe it has something to do with it going over a controller port. In any case it would have been a neat feature to add if they thought about this ahead of time and could get it to work right.
Otherwise this is nothing new. The SNES had a cart/adapter which allowed you to play old gameboy games on your SNES.
Personally i never saw the point, except it's easier on the eyes which doesn't seem to justify the cost of buying one. I couldn't see people buying this adapter and buy gameboy games without a gameboy either. But hey, options options options!
A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
games with the quality lesser than that of a 1990 era NES
If you can say that with any degree of seriousness my guess is the answer is no. The graphics are most definitely comparable to a mid-1990s SNES, the 16 bit one, not the NES (the 8 bit).
Besides, I think you're missing the point entirely; far too many modern games suck because they over-emphasize the importance of graphics. I'll take the old Final Fantasy games for the SNES over the newer ones any day for the simple reason that they were more fun. The graphics were usually pretty simple, but the story and game play were always unbeatable, and GBA has done a bit to bring that sort of game play back
I also like to own my games.
Then only dump the cartridges that you have purchased. Format-shifting of non-encrypted media such as GBA games is your right under the RIAA v. Diamond precedent.
Will I retire or break 10K?
This is pretty ridiculous. Zelda has always been a "kids of all ages" series. Personally, I like the new look (which actually is more in the spirit of the original series than the rather generic look of the N64 Zelda games).
I think Nintendo's business model is stronger than ever. There are always going to be kids, and Nintendo is the only company that seems to have found the formula for producing games that appeal to kids as well as to many adults. The only difference is that they have broadened their focus to accept a few of the best teen game, like Resident Evil.
Buy a Gravis gamepad an a video card that supports video out.
Let's see... Can you get a good gamepad (the Gravis GamePad Pro USB is too touchy on the SE diagonal), a video card with TV-out, and a $30 PC link cable for under $40? thought so.
Even if you don't have a Cube, it's difficult to squeeze a good gamepad, a video card with TV-out and 3D acceleration, and a PC link cable for $190 ($150 for Cube and $40 for wideboy).
Will I retire or break 10K?
I doubt I have ever read a /. comment/reply that I have agreed with more.
MP is the perfect transition from 2D to 3D.
I love the action of games like Quake3, but playing MP last night I remembered why the old school Nintendo games (Metroid, Zelda etc) were/are so addicting; you need to use your brain to figure stuff out. They are not just spray and pray games.
That is why I decided on the GC instead of PS2 or the XBOX, playable games. MP was the hook though, as were Madden 2002/2003 to a lesser degree.
Why the heck couldn't they stick a freakin' CD/DVD in the N64?
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For one thing, N64 came out in 1996 and DVD Video came out in 1997 or so.
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For another, loading on the PlayStation takes up to 15 seconds or more, and Miyamoto claimed that such delays would kill the flow of a game. Note that "Super Smash Bros. Melee" for GCN never loads for longer than 4 seconds.
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Third, Nintendo didn't yet see how a CD-ROM could improve game play, given how bad the FMV games for Sega CD and 3DO were.
Will I retire or break 10K?
"SEGA also had a handheld system called Game Gear, which had an adapter to allow its games to be played on the Genesis/MegaDrive."
No, they had an adapter to let you play Master System games on the Game Gear. AFAIK, there is no Super Game Boy equivalent for the Genesis.
On the other hand, Nintendo released a "Super Game Boy 2" in Japan for the Super Famicom. Just like the original only with a game link port. It was released a little after Pokemon (go figure).