Gameboy Color games on an original Gameboy

[wiggyx]

Fun stuff going on in here...

[jb143]

The infrared port sensor on the GBC can only talk to other GBC units, that something the programmers couldn't get around. So, for the specific thing they were trying to do, they had to build in a second one

It's just sending bytes to a port. The hardware doesn't know or care what's on the other end. I'm pretty sure I've seen homebrew projects for using the GBC as a universal remote, interfacing it to IR keyboards, and the like... all done in code.

The function of the unit was so that the game could pick up random signals from most types of TV remotes. No, seriously. Chests are opened by aiming the game at a TV remote (or pretty much any type of remote, I've read that the Wiimote sort of works). The game decodes the signal from the remote and that determines what's in the chest. It's also how some Robopon evolve and a way to jumble stats.

A Wii remote wouldn't work for that. It's an IR camera, not an emitter. There are IR-LED's are on the "sensor" bar though, which is probably why it sort of works...If you are in range of the Sensor bar, then you might occasionally pick it up while trying to point a Wii Remote into the GBC.

[SparTonberry]

I'm pretty sure I've seen homebrew projects for using the GBC as a universal remote,

I thought one licensed game had that as a bonus feature.
Mission: Impossible, maybe?
(next most likely suspect would be the Austin Powers "games")

[BlastProcessing402]

Last I checked, I don't think so. At least, the kids over at GFAQs hadn't found that it did anything yet, but that was when the GBA was new. Something might have been discovered by now.

Edit: Seems that it does nothing and I was wrong about the availability. The special shop and ring are only in Ages.

No, you were right the first time, there's one in each Oracle.

The Advance Shop, also referred to the 100 Rupee Advance Shop, is a location found in both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. It is a unique store because of the fact that it can only be accessed when the game is played on a Game Boy Advance,[1] hence the name of the shop. The shop is adjacent to the Lynna Village Shooting Gallery in Oracle of Ages,[2] and adjacent to the Know-It-All Birds' Hut in Oracle of Seasons.[3]

http://zeldawiki.org/Advance_Shop

[TonyTheTiger]

I started messing around with some black carts to see what would happen if I did the reverse. Instead of tricking the game into thinking an original Game Boy was a Game Boy Color I tricked them into thinking the Game Boy Color was an original Game Boy. The results were not what I expected. I had assumed that they would display on the Game Boy Color like an ordinary gray cart does. But that's not what happened. What I got was a weird color scheme that was, depending on the game, either a somewhat odd looking tint that was otherwise perfectly playable or a nearly blank solid white screen that was not.

Furthermore, when the code remained active while playing on an original Game Boy, there were different results. The previous codes for the clear carts (meant to trick the game into thinking an original Game Boy is a GBC) prevent the game from even starting when used on a Game Boy Color. But with the black carts the codes either don't have any effect or muck things up rather than outright crash when used on an original Game Boy.

Mega Man Xtreme works pretty well. The few colors that remain actually change when the screen changes, either to a cutscene or a menu. So Mega Man X may start blue but could change to red at some point.

Game Genie: 209-A0F-4CA


Zelda and Dragon Warrior are just plain unplayable. It's like nearly every color defaults to white. I'm not sure what would happen if I tried to enter the GBC exclusive dungeon in Zelda under these conditions. I was hoping for something more fun than this.

Game Genie: 281-52F-6EA


Game Genie: 281-54F-6EA

[okame]

Many more, particularly from Western third parties, don't, including some that you might think might like R-Type DX, and lots of stuff like Roadsters, Oddworld Adventures 2, etc etc etc.

I've been playing Roadsters on my SupaBoy & Super Gameboy combo for about a week now. I got some free Gameboy multicarts a few days ago, and one of them, the Hits 2000 Color 12 in 1, with a Pokemon Yellow ROM that I'm trying to get working, has Roadsters. http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/ok...lxofc.jpg.html I checked online, and Wikipedia has it listed as a Super Gameboy game. It's a DMG cart, according to a PAL version I saw online. It's listed as Roadsters '98, but mine is just called Roasters. I just put it in my Gameboy Light, which is just a back lit Gameboy Pocket. That's the closest I can come to a DMG right now. Here's proof. I don't know what's wrong with your copy, but my BOOTLEG copy works. http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/ok...vlg3y.jpg.html Oddworld Adventures 2 works on everything, from my Gameboy Light to my GBA SP, where it almost looks like a GBA game. I've been playing that one for over a month, and it's fine on my Super Gameboy. I found a You Tube video, in French, with R-Type DX, running on a Super Gameboy. None of your examples have any problems working on any Gameboy. If you tested them yourself, there's something wrong with either your Gameboy DMG or your carts. If not, check your facts. Not trying to be mean, just to educate. No insults, no trolling, just facts.

[Jorpho]

This is interesting stuff.

There were a couple of GBC games that had completely different code for executing on a GB, weren't there? The most famous example I'm reasonably certain of is Blaster Master: Enemy Below.

[A Black Falcon]

I've been playing Roadsters on my SupaBoy & Super Gameboy combo for about a week now. I got some free Gameboy multicarts a few days ago, and one of them, the Hits 2000 Color 12 in 1, with a Pokemon Yellow ROM that I'm trying to get working, has Roadsters. http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/ok...lxofc.jpg.html I checked online, and Wikipedia has it listed as a Super Gameboy game. It's a DMG cart, according to a PAL version I saw online. It's listed as Roadsters '98, but mine is just called Roasters. I just put it in my Gameboy Light, which is just a back lit Gameboy Pocket. That's the closest I can come to a DMG right now. Here's proof. I don't know what's wrong with your copy, but my BOOTLEG copy works. http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/ok...vlg3y.jpg.html Oddworld Adventures 2 works on everything, from my Gameboy Light to my GBA SP, where it almost looks like a GBA game. I've been playing that one for over a month, and it's fine on my Super Gameboy. I found a You Tube video, in French, with R-Type DX, running on a Super Gameboy. None of your examples have any problems working on any Gameboy. If you tested them yourself, there's something wrong with either your Gameboy DMG or your carts. If not, check your facts. Not trying to be mean, just to educate. No insults, no trolling, just facts.

My post was about whether GB/GBC dual-mode games have Super Game Boy enhancements or not when played in a SGB, not about whether the games work in an original Game Boy. Sorry if you misunderstood.

[davidbrit2]

This is interesting stuff.

There were a couple of GBC games that had completely different code for executing on a GB, weren't there? The most famous example I'm reasonably certain of is Blaster Master: Enemy Below.

That sounds interesing. Like the game engine is totally different? I'll have to pull out the SGB and see what it does.

[okame]

My post was about whether GB/GBC dual-mode games have Super Game Boy enhancements or not when played in a SGB, not about whether the games work in an original Game Boy. Sorry if you misunderstood.

S'aright. I was half asleep when I wrote that. Lack of sleep makes me a bit off. I've got more DMG games than Color, especially with the multicarts, so I'm good either way. I wish there was another way besides the RetroN 5 and Game Cube Gameboy Player to play Color games on as TV. A Gamecube is hard to find in the wild for me, and the eBay prices are over my current budget. I don't like the RetroN 5, on the sole basis that it doesn't play bootleg carts, and right now, that's half my Gameboy collection!

[Jorpho]

That sounds interesing. Like the game engine is totally different? I'll have to pull out the SGB and see what it does.

Turns out TCRF has more info.
https://tcrf.net/Blaster_Master:_Enemy_Below

In brief, apparently the original Japanese version was GBC-only, but actually works fine if you enter a Game Genie code; the US and EP versions work as-is. It's not clear from the article if there's actual different code being executed.

[MetalFRO]

This is fascinating information. I knew the GBC had improved hardware over the original Game Boy, in terms of a faster processor and updated sound hardware, but it's interesting to see the results of trying to force a GBC-only game to work in a GB-like environment. A technological square peg, round hole scenario, if you will. If the underlying code in a GBC-only game didn't truly make use of the power that the GBC had to offer, and was GBC-only simply due to the fact that the original GB models had been phased out, it stands to reason that, aside from some optimization issues, slowdown, or minor sound/graphical corruption, theoretically, it could work. The question is, are there any GBC-only games that were in development as a GB/GBC title and the GB side of it was shelved in favor of GBC-only because the GBC was far enough along in its life cycle that the developer felt they could scrap the GB side of things. Were that the case, it would seem logical that such a game could still run on a GB, perhaps with some issues. Does anyone know of any titles that fit that description?