NES and SNES RetroPort GameCube adapter video review

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Do you want to play your GameBoy GameBoy Color or GameBoy Advance games on your GameBoy Player without putting up with the GameCube's dpad, awful third party controllers or being tied to a GBA itself?

Check out one of the best solutions out there, the NES and SNES Retroports. Full details in the video. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRjZwOxqHGo

[Shulamana]

Shame about the Select button not working, but you can't have everything I suppose.

I really want to get a Game Boy Player before I finally get around to playing through The Knight of Lodis, as well as a 3rd or 4th attempt at trying to finish Final Fantasy II, and I'll definitely look into getting one of these when I do!

[Parodius Duh!]

pretty cool, kind of lame select doesnt work, how are you supposed to enter the games options in alot of instances? youre just beat, huh?

[leatherrebel5150]

You blew in the cart, not cool man, not cool.

Great Video though

[Satoshi_Matrix]

pretty cool, kind of lame select doesnt work, how are you supposed to enter the games options in alot of instances? youre just beat, huh?

Well, its a trade off. If Select was indeed mapped to Select, you'd have no way to reset the GameBoy Player in software. You'd have to physically turn off the power, pull out the game and put it another one. Maybe a better choice for some, but I can at least understand the design choice. Add to that, the GameCube controller has no Select button. For them to add that in, the Select button would have to correspond to X or Y.

If you're playing a game that you absolutely need to hit select, you need to switch to a GameCube controller and then press X or Y.



You blew in the cart, not cool man, not cool.

I am truly evil I know. but the fact is, blowing does clear away the fine layer of dust that accumulates on all cartridge contracts, so it works.

[BlastProcessing402]

If blowing in carts isn't cool, then I don't wanna be a cool.

:beaten:

[Leo_A]

Problem with these in regards to the Game Boy Player is the button mapping. You can't remap the buttons so for many games, the location of A & B on the SuperNes pad makes a game uncomfortable to play or near impossible. Y & B on the SuperNes controller would've been better choices to map the GBA's A & B to (Any game where you'd routinely be holding in a run button while using the other button at the same time, for instance, is less than ideal with this or even a regular GCN controller).

I keep a model 1 GBA plugged in for a controller for my Game Boy Player, with my SuperNes Retroport plugged into my Wii, these days.


Well, its a trade off. If Select was indeed mapped to Select, you'd have no way to reset the GameBoy Player in software. You'd have to physically turn off the power, pull out the game and put it another one.

Doesn't seem like much of a problem to me. How often does someone need to access the menu? And I bet most didn't take advantage of the hot swap capability of the thing. And most people probably have a GCN pad plugged in anyways if they really needed to hit Z to bring up the menu.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

the location of A & B on the SuperNes pad makes a game uncomfortable to play or near impossible.

Matter of opinion. On both revisions of the Super GameBoy, the default controls were mapped to the SNES A and B buttons, and its the same with GBA games when played on a DS or DS Lite. Using A and B instead of Y and B just takes a little getting used to, but by no means makes games impossible to play.

The only way to really ruin the controls is to reverse the buttons, as the GameCube build of Megaman Anniversary Collection did.

[thegamezmaster]

I got the one colored like the snes and it works great with my Gameboy Player. Couldn't be happier.

[Leo_A]

Matter of opinion. On both revisions of the Super GameBoy, the default controls were mapped to the SNES A and B buttons, and its the same with GBA games when played on a DS or DS Lite. Using A and B instead of Y and B just takes a little getting used to, but by no means makes games impossible to play.

The only way to really ruin the controls is to reverse the buttons, as the GameCube build of Megaman Anniversary Collection did.

The Super Game Boy defaults to button A (GB) being mapped to buttons A & B (SuperNes) and button B (GB) being mapped to button Y (SuperNes). It's a logical and comfortable layout that doesn't simply map the buttons so the letters match between the two systems with no regard for comfort and ease of use.

Instead, it adapts the Game Boy's controls to logically fit a controller that has 4 face buttons (Find me a 2 button SuperNes game that actually just uses A & B, they all use Y and B for a reason).

So you're able to play something like Super Mario Brothers 3 just fine on your DS? How do you manage to twist your thumb to do that so you're able to run and jump at the same time? It was so far from ideal that I don't even consider it a option, and I've seen quite a few people that feel similarly.

Playing a Game Boy game that requires using both bottons simultaneously on a DS or with a GCN pad (Or SuperNes Retroport adapter) leaves a lot to be desired for many (Although it's clearly just fine for some like yourself). Just to provide an alternate take on this, I personally think using the GBA to GCN link cable that came with Four Swords on the GCN, combined with a model 1 GBA, makes for the ideal dedicated Game Boy Player controller. I've put my Retroport and Hori digital controller to other uses on my Wii since doing this.

[Edmond Dantes]

Leo_A, I don't know about your Super Gameboy, but mine does in fact default-map the GB's B and A buttons to the SNES' B and A buttons. You have to manually set it to map to Y and B, every time.

[Leo_A]

Really? On mine, what I described is button configuration A and what you describe is button configuration B.

Edit - I bought mine pretty late (1996 or so), I wonder if a revision was done somewhere down the line. The only manual scan I could find online just now matches your description.

[Shulamana]

I'm looking to get more input on this. I finally got a Game Boy Player for a decent price ($30) about a week ago at a local game store, and now I need to find an alternative to the standard Gamecube controller, since I'm really not a fan of it for this particular thing.

So at the moment I see three options:

1) RetroPort (currently $17) that admittedly has its small issue or two
2) A custom made adapter from someone in Canada that supposedly has true 1:1 button mapping, but costs $26 and I'm not likely to find any reviews of.
3) Get one of those very expensive ($100?) Hori controllers from Japan that still has the basic button layout of the Gamecube minus the joystick.

Realistically though, it's pretty much down to #1 or #2.

Any new/more recent opinions?

Edit: On second thought I'm confused, if select maps to Z on the RetroPort, and X/Y map to X/Y, and X/Y map to Select in the Game Boy Player, why do you need to switch controllers to use Select?

[Leo_A]

I'm very happy using the GCN to GBA link cable (like Four Swords Adventures shipped with) combined with a used $20 or so standard GBA as my controller for my Game Boy Player.

Already had the cable thanks to Four Swords Adventures (So that was no added cost for me), the original GBA has a better form factor for my hands than a SP and I'm not unnecessarily wearing out my nice backlit SP to use it as a controller, no complaints about button placement or mappings since it's an actual GBA you're using, the condition or quality of the screen is meaningless for obvious reasons (And if it's scratched a bit, all the better since you don't have to worry about keeping it protected when not in use due to not wanting to damage a pristine screen), the battery life is excellent and will last for dozens of hours, and such GBA's are cheap.

I imagine you could get an entire setup going for under $30 pretty easily. I think I paid $20 for this GBA from GameStop (Just bring along two AA batteries and a GBA game that utilizes all the buttons to make sure it's in full working order) and I imagine the cable can be had for under $10 (Or you might already have one kicking around unused like I did).

Coming from someone that has used their Game Boy Player with a standard Nintendo wired controller, a WaveBird, a Hori digital controller and a Retroport SuperNes adapter, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the way to go to get the most out of this accessory. And it won't cost you very much to assemble what you need.

[Shulamana]

I actually passed on a pink GBA the other week for $14, mainly because 1) Pink, and 2) I'm an idiot and haven't learned to take batteries with me to the thrift store yet. I'll have to keep an eye out.

[Shulamana]

Got the SNES one just this morning, and it's working exactly as I'd hoped. Nice and solid, does not feel cheap at all. X/Y on the SNES controller maps to Select on the Game Boy, so maybe I was just confused, although I thought Satoshi Matrix said this was a problem on both of them. You can definitely use all the buttons you would need on the SNES version so you're all set.

There might be a little bit of input lag, although I could have just been imagining it.

Would definitely recommend this to anyone who has a Game Boy Player.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

There is no input lag whatsoever on the NES or SNES RetroPorts from Retrozone. They're completely fantastic.

[BlastProcessing402]

I'm looking to get more input on this. I finally got a Game Boy Player for a decent price ($30)

Thirty bucks? Is that really a decent price? If so, I'm kicking myself for not picking up the one I saw last year for $10.

[Shulamana]

Thirty bucks? Is that really a decent price? If so, I'm kicking myself for not picking up the one I saw last year for $10.

I'm not sure if you're aware that you need the disc too, otherwise it's a useless chunk of plastic and metal. And yes, I had been failing for weeks to win one on eBay with the disc for less than $40, so when I saw one in a store for $30 I bought it instantly.


There is no input lag whatsoever on the NES or SNES RetroPorts from Retrozone. They're completely fantastic.

I didn't really think so, Kirby's Dream Land seemed a bit sluggish but I've only ever played the game for a few minutes, so I guess it could just be me not being used to the controls. I probably shouldn't have even mentioned it.

Overall I am very pleased with this product and with it and the Game Boy Player hope to rediscover the Game Boy family of titles after spending many years away from them.

[Leo_A]

Someone at AtariAge swears that the Game Boy Player has perceptible input lag even when using wired controllers and a standard definition CRT. So while myself and everyone else there said he was nuts, perhaps there's a bit of truth there and you're noticing it as well. The adapter shouldn't be doing it since it's just a cable. Never had any issues with mine and I'm pleased with it. Use it on my Wii from time to time for Wii compilations, SuperNes games on the Virtual Console, etc.

If you're satisfied using it for your Game Boy Player, that's great. But I suspect the first time you try playing a game that relies on you routinely using both buttons at the same time (Particularly if you have to hold down A while using B, such as jumping while running), I think you're going to be annoyed having to use SuperNes A and B instead of Y and B. That's why I quickly stopped using mine for that purpose.

GameStop's regular price for Game Boy Player's, disc and all, is $9.99. Bought several spares and I've seen others mention purchasing it for that price at GameStop in recent months, so I assume it's still somewhat available with the same price (Although I imagine stock varies greatly these days for any GCN stuff). $30 is a bit steep but for such a great accessory, overpaying a bit for it isn't too big of a deal especially if you're pleased with it.

Pretty sure I paid $50 or so to buy mine new 7 or 8 years ago and it was worth every penny and then some.

[Filth]

I registered just to say that my SNES RetroPort maps Y and X to select. I bought it recently so this may have changed.

I can spit out an item in Kirby and navigate the GameShark menu - both which use select. Let me know if this is new. He may have updated the converter.

Also, I prefer the Super Famicom controller to the GBA w/link cable.