Nintendo e-Reader Gets Homebrew Dot-Code Games

figa writes "Tim Schuerewegen announced that the Reed Solomon error correction used by the Nintendo Game Boy Advance e-Reader has been figured out. This was the last remaining obstacle to creating custom dot-code printouts for use with the GBA e-Reader (more info), which scans special Nintendo trading cards to load in mini-games on your Game Boy Advance. This should be a boon to homebrew GBA developers who want to print their own games - Schuerewegen has examples and documentation on his site, and has released a dot-code version of the homebrew BombSweeper game by SnowBro."

Comments

Homebrew?

[Pig Hogger]

So, when can we load Linux on it, so we can make a beowu...

Thanks to the awful Job Market

[RicJohnson]

Now I can develop my own games
Thank god for the awful job market for Geeks like us to have to to reverse-engiNerd this stuff so I can play with it

Wait...I see a 6!

[gevmage]

Wait, the dots resolve into a 6!

Does that mean I owe my optometrist a bunch of money?

C&D

[glam0006]

How fast can you say "cease and desist"?

Who cares about a demo game..

[Anonymous Coward]

Where is the information on the reed solomon code? Get that information out before Nintendo takes this site down. Stupid closed source hackers..

Who needs E-Readers

[Munden]

I want P-Readers for punchcards and the ability to swap and exchange thousands of punchcards per games.

OMG, OLD SCHOOL JOKES

[lotsofno]

Now if only they could get the games to work without having to blow into the e-reader all the time...

Curious like me ?

[rcastro0]

E-reader, uh ? I had never seen one of these. In fact, had never heard about them. So, to save you some time, this is what I found after looking for some info:

Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. provides the "Dot Code Technology" used by the e-Reader to read data embedded on each e-Reader card. Each card can hold up to two code strips. A long bar holds 2.2 kilobytes of information and a short bar holds 1.4 kilobytes. The memory configuration in the e-Reader is 64Mb mask ROM and 1Mb flash memory. The scanned information transforms into a digital display on the Game Boy Advanced screen.

More in this site. Frankly, it looks too large a device, and the info stored (4 kB) too little. Its price is cheap (US$ 39), but probably not so much for the young kids which would be interested. I would discard it as destined to fail if I didn't know the tremendous attraction that card trading games have for kids (see Magic The Gathering, Yu Gi Oh and Pokemon).

Re:Translation, please?

[lotsofno]

As apparently, a real geezer, I have no idea what this post is about. Is it just saying that the "Game Boy Advance" has been reverse enginnered, so people can write games for it? And why exactly is this interesting? Isn't the Game Boy a relatively ancient little hand held thing?

People have been able to create their own games for game boy for a while now, and there's even hardware/software to write your own carts for use with the gameboy, to play them. Nintendo looks down on the usage and sales of these carts/cart-writers as they are mostly used to "burn" and play pirated ROMs. Nonetheless, there are many people who use these carts to make GBA games as a hobby.

What this project has managed to do is extend their hobby to GBA's e-reader system. The e-reader is a hardware attachment that you can plug into your gameboy, and it'll let you play special games for the GBA, written on cards. Though these games aren't as complex and full-featured as those on carts, they are much much cheaper, and great for kids as well as collectors.

As for the GBA being an "ancient little hand-held" thing, they are VERY popular, and with good reason. The machine has matured much with it's long-life rechargeable battery, wonderful backlight, and it's stylish case. Throw in the huge gaming collection and it's portability, and you can't lose with it. It's impressive RPG selection (Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, Zelda: Four Swords, Tactcis Ogre, Golden Sun, etc..) is reason enough to invest in one.

Also used in CDs

[Anonymous Coward]

Reed-Solomon codes are also what does error correction in Compact Discs

Re:Place You bets

[Schnapple]

How long till nintendo has this place shut down under the DMCA!

I could be wrong, but I don't see Nintendo giving a damn about this. I finally picked one of these e-Readers up a few months back, only to find out Nintendo has essentially abandoned the thing. Those 13 NES games small enough to fit on five cards are the only ones being released. Most e-Reader cards are trite gimmicks, and the one release that looks rather interesting, the Game & Watch series, has been postponed so many times it looks like it'll never be released. Couple that with the fact that Nintendo is re-releasing some of the e-Reader NES games on GBA cartridges this summer and I don't think they'll give a damn that someone reverse engineered code that anyone can see.

What I find interesting is how these things are to be printed or used. I was always on the impression that the information was too tiny to be reproduced except by high-end printers and scanners, making "piracy" a rare thing. Oh well, I guess I'll print some out on cardstock at work and see this afternoon...

Re:Why?

[outofpaper]

Can you print tiny Roms or magnetic strips? Enh? Enh? Didn't think so. Ok posibly you can but some one just geting into programing for the game boy probably dosn't have a rom writer or a magnetic strip writer (and definetly dosn't have a magnetic strip reader for thier gameboy). Don't kick this for no reason it's neat and fun and if it turns more people on to programing then good for them. If not, atleast some game boy programers can share there games more easly.

I'll better clear some things up.

[Lord Graga]

As a 1337 homebrew GBA coder, I think I should clear some stuff up:
First of all: Yes, you can write your own code for GBA. The most used language is C, and ASM for heavy optimizing. The compiler used is called Devkit Advance, but there's an even better one called... DEVKIT ARM (which also supports Gamecube and Gp32).
The GBA is reverse engineered pretty much 100%, and everything documented in some way. It's really simple too. Just set a few registers, and ZOOOOM, you have everything ready to use, I recomend it to everybody who needs a short break from everyday coding.
Also, ARM ASM is really cool to code for too :)

Re:Place You bets

[LittleBigLui]

Error correction cannot be copy protection, since it is not encryption, copying the error-coded dots is trivial, and stripping the error codes from the data is easy.

... or so the defendant would want you to believe, dear Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury. Of course, his arguments seem plausible and logical, but let me show you one thing: *rolls down poster of wookie*

This *points to poster* is Chewbacca.