GBA Port

kyslug · Post by **kyslug** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:28 am

yeah, button B on the GBA emu should be assigned to button A on the Dreamcast and button A on the GBA emu should be assigned to button B on the Dreamcast. I say that because they appear in that particular arrangement on my GBA.

GBA: Dreamcast:
---->A ---->B
-->B -->A

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Wed May 26, 2004 1:12 am

X=B and A=A would work well, too; at least one button would have its "real" label, and besides, that would keep it consistent with NesterDC

Some Guy · Post by **Some Guy** » Wed May 26, 2004 9:41 am

Is is possible to give a rough estimation on the release date?

obelisk · Post by **obelisk** » Thu May 27, 2004 1:26 am

as far as B & A are concerned I;d dig it if the "B" was (dC) X and "A" was (dC) A. If you could have D-pad control would make it more traditional in the NES, GB, GBC, GBA line of control history, "B" on left and "A" on right. (yes i know that on the DC they aren't in a straight line between the two)
The ability to cusomize ones' controller layout would be neat but, i don't think that may be on the possibility list right now, so... ttfn.

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Thu May 27, 2004 1:39 am

obelisk wrote:as far as B & A are concerned I;d dig it if the "B" was (dC) X and "A" was (dC) A. If you could have D-pad control would make it more traditional in the NES, GB, GBC, GBA line of control history, "B" on left and "A" on right. (yes i know that on the DC they aren't in a straight line between the two)
The ability to cusomize ones' controller layout would be neat but, i don't think that may be on the possibility list right now, so... ttfn.

I think customizable controls would be a waste of RAM because of the added variables, etc. But yeah, either X&A (my preference), or A&B would be fine...just remember that Ninty is weird and puts B before A.

As I mentioned earlier, a button to go back to the menu and load a new ROM would be nice...I wouldn't bother worrying about savestates (waste of RAM), but some sort of basic menu would be nice. Other than that, everything sounds great; this is a really interesting project, both from a technical aspect and for the sheer number of new titles it will unlock for the DC scene.

SeVenD · Post by **SeVenD** » Thu May 27, 2004 2:05 am

Once upon A time a Big company named Nintendo went to the US patent office and Patented Game Boy Advance Emulation in fear that emulators would decrease sales of their only profitable system

SeVenD · Post by **SeVenD** » Thu May 27, 2004 2:09 am

THE proof.....

SeVenD · Post by **SeVenD** » Thu May 27, 2004 2:10 am

Nintendo Patents GBA Emulation
Date: 29th Apr 2004 | Console: Nintendo | Posted by: Steven Rodriguez | Site: Planet GameCube

Nintendo has recently been awarded a patent for "a software emulator...emulating a handheld video game platform," or in English, any and all Game Boy emulators. Those listed in the patent give the examples of cell phones, PDAs and the video screens found in airplane seats, but in effect, the patent refers to just about anything that duplicates or enhances the Game Boy line's hardware via emulation.

Visit Planet GameCube To view the full Article

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Thu May 27, 2004 2:49 am

Erm, check your other thread. Their patent only refers to a VERY specific method of emulation, which is unnecessary and thus not used in any known PC or console emulators of the GBA.

I suspect their emulation patent was not primarily to curb emu releases as you seem to suggest, but rather for implementation of GBA backwards-compatibility in the DS and (possibly) similar situations in future consoles, so they don't have to keep throwing in an entire circuit of legacy hardware.

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Thu May 27, 2004 2:53 am

(of course, it also may have been a pot-shot at the GBA emulator for Zodiac...but since that hasn't been released yet, we're not even sure if the patent case would apply to it because we don't know how it works)

WRAGGSTER · Post by **WRAGGSTER** » Thu May 27, 2004 12:06 pm

More than likely it was Nintendo having a go at companies selling emulators, where emulators are free they dont seem interested but those companies that sell emulators are the ones that they are after, just look at Bleem/Bleemcast and VGS and you see where Nintendo are going.

Free ports although they may not like them are not the ones they aim for.

Also this emulator will at best support 4/8 meg games and to be honest i cant see anything bigger than 4 meg being actually playable, but im happy to say there are 100s of decent Homebrew games it will support.

Ian Micheal · Post by **Ian Micheal** » Thu May 27, 2004 12:19 pm

4/9 meg, And the size of the games made no change to the speed or playable-ness. Rom size is not the problem nor does it make it slower or faster. Does not speed or slow it down a game because it's larger Rom is loaded into memory once thats done it's up to the emulation.

I was playing a 9 meg game the other day and it played at the same speed as a 1 meg game.

Some Guy · Post by **Some Guy** » Thu May 27, 2004 1:16 pm

I guess my question is absurd in this early stage.

NoMi · Post by **NoMi** » Thu May 27, 2004 2:58 pm

I too would like to know when to expect a release but yah it is absurd but meh.. ingnorance is bliss

Tr? · Post by **Tr?** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:01 pm

I am sure that when it is ready for a release... it will be released...

Tr?

Alexvrb · Post by **Alexvrb** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:21 pm

DaMadFiddler wrote:I suspect their emulation patent was not primarily to curb emu releases as you seem to suggest, but rather for implementation of GBA backwards-compatibility in the DS and (possibly) similar situations in future consoles, so they don't have to keep throwing in an entire circuit of legacy hardware.

This sounds likely. Emulation is a much cheaper option when you have to support every GB down the line.

Post by **Quzar** » Thu May 27, 2004 5:41 pm

im sure it was more of an attack against the zodiac emu, but either way they only patented mobile emulation.

Storminator16 · Post by **Storminator16** » Thu May 27, 2004 9:44 pm

WRAGGSTER wrote:More than likely it was Nintendo having a go at companies selling emulators...

I'd go with that. Lately it seems like the only time you see companies go after emu authors is when you see emu authors selling emus. I'm sure this is the case here, Nintendo truly knows it can't patent emulation unless the US or international judicial systems are stupid enough to think the big N have a valid argument.

obelisk · Post by **obelisk** » Fri May 28, 2004 1:18 am

Okay, my idea for custom-map buttons maybe isn't such a good idea... I would stilll be hella happy if the d-pad was a control, though, so it felt more GB-ish and maybe, like DaMadFiddler said about X=B A=A.

I'm just glad that this is happening at all, I did have a paranoid statement down here, but i deleted it. I'm enjoying what's happening here very much, this machine, the Dreamcast has made me quite happy and actually enjoy video games themselves, and even playing them again. Go DCBoyAdvance team!

Kyoushu · Post by **Kyoushu** » Sat May 29, 2004 3:30 pm

I'd prefer an:
X = B A = A arrangement myself.