Super Game Boy question

[LINK398]

Might seem like a dumb question but I couldn't find any sold information on this. Does the Super Game Boy play Game Boy Color games

[Aussie2B]

Only if the GBC games are compatible with the original Game Boy (i.e. the black-shelled carts as opposed to the transparent GBC-exclusive games). But they'll display as a b/w Game Boy game would display on a Super Game Boy, so don't expect to see it in full-color mode like when played on a GBC.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

To elaborate, the Super GameBoy can be used to play certain GameBoy Color games, but not all, or in fact, most. It differs from game to game.

The general rule of thumb is the shell of the game. If it is black or otherwise colored, there is a high probability it will work with the Super GameBoy, albeit limited to 4 colors like it does with standard GB games.

However, if the game cartridge is transparent, it will not work with the Super GameBoy whatsoever.

Why? The Super GameBoy is based off of the original GameBoy hardware, with its 4Mhz processor.

The GameBoy Color on the other hand has a much beefier 8Mhz processor and eventually GBC games began to use it to its full capabilities, which meant those games could no longer be player on older models of the GameBoy.

If you wish to play GameBoy Color games on a tv, your only option outside of emulation is the GameBoy Player for GameCube. It will play GB, GBC and GBA games. However, the way it handles original GameBoy games is exactly like the GameBoy Color - auto assigning pallets that can only be changed from one pre-arranged pallet to another during bootup. For this reason, playing original GB games is much better on the Super GameBoy than the GameBoy Player.

[Jorpho]

Or in other words, the Super Game Boy will only play those few Game Boy Color games that will work on the regular B&W Game Boy.


If you wish to play GameBoy Color games on a tv, your only option outside of emulation is the GameBoy Player for GameCube.Well, there's the Wide-Boy 64 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64_accessories#Wide-Boy_64), but most of us will probably never see one of those.

[Atarileaf]

In other words, the best of both worlds is to have both a Super Gameboy and a Gamecube player, which was something I decided was the way to go about a year ago when I started collecting GBC games and some wouldn't work on the SGB

[Koa Zo]

Does the Super Game Boy 2 play GBC games?

[fahlim003]

No GBC support on the SGB2. The addition over SGB1 is that it has Link Cable/play ability as far as I remember.

[SparTonberry]

However, if the game cartridge is transparent, it will not work with the Super GameBoy whatsoever.


Pretty sure the transparent design was to deliberately block the power switch on the original Game Boy (aka the DMG-001), so yes that should be the sign to look for when determining GB/SGB compatibility.
I hear the only exception is Robopon (which has a custom case because it has a battery-backed alarm feature).

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Does the Super Game Boy 2 play GBC games?

The Japan only Super GameBoy 2 does not play any non backwards compatible GBC games either.

The only differences are:

-A slightly slower GB processor - The original model SGB actually overclocks GB games to 101% the proper speed. This corrects it back to the normal 100%.
-A Link cable port to hook up to other GameBoys, or in theory, other Super GameBoy 2s.
-A power LED
-A new set of borders
-A transparent blue shell

Otherwise, it lacks the GBC hardware, and is in fact a generation behind the GBC. The GBC is twice as powerful as the SGB2.

[SparTonberry]

I've heard the SGB2 was primarily released to support the Game Boy Camera/Printer (because supposedly Sega/Atlus' Print Club instant-photo machines were that popular at the time). Would explain why it wasn't released here (and Nintendo went on to make an N64 photo-editing app in Japan called Mario's Photopie).
But I wonder why Nintendo strangely made the SGB2 cart to fit both the SFC and NA SNES (not that I'm against it :) ).

[FoxNtd]

Might want to check this out to weigh your options with regard to audio quality. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ70oA_RDRg

[wiggyx]

I've heard the SGB2 was primarily released to support the Game Boy Camera/Printer (because supposedly Sega/Atlus' Print Club instant-photo machines were that popular at the time). Would explain why it wasn't released here (and Nintendo went on to make an N64 photo-editing app in Japan called Mario's Photopie).
But I wonder why Nintendo strangely made the SGB2 cart to fit both the SFC and NA SNES (not that I'm against it :) ).

What do you mean? It's shaped like any other SFC cart, and it doesn't have the cutouts which would allow it to fit into a US SNES console, just like any other SFC cart.

[SparTonberry]

Okay maybe I'm wrong on that. I'm sure in the past I've seen SGB2 carts before that were cut to fit, and it looked too good to be a hack job (as in they actually had the hole molded in the plastic and not simply cut through).

[wiggyx]

You can VERY easily mod a US SNES to accept JP carts. No need to cut carts up.

[BlastProcessing402]

[QUOTE=Jorpho;1990130]Or in other words, the Super Game Boy will only play those few Game Boy Color games that will work on the regular B&W Game Boy./QUOTE]

Right, though I don't know if I'd say it was few. Most of the GBC games I've played also work in a GB. The Zelda Oracles games being among the exceptions.