N64 can play Game Boy games?

[plaidbrad3141]

What is this adaptor called and will it allow you to play all GB games or just some?

[shadow460]

It absolutely can.

 

There are a couple of ways to do so. First, and simplest, is the use of Pokemon. The Pokemon Stadium carts released in the USA (and probably 2 and 3 in Japan) are capable of playing several Game Boy Pokemon titles via the Transfer Pak. Sadly, you're limited to half a dozen different titles this way, and it's really not worth the effort of hooking it all up, IMO.

 

The second is through the use of a development tool called WideBoy 64. I've read that some of these were sold to different publishers like IGN to allow them to do reviews for upcoming GB and GBA games. WideBoy isn't cheap--the original cost was around $1500.

I'm sure Wideboy does have some compatibility limits like Galaga, DK '94 and Burai Fighter Deluxe. Other than that, I believe it plays anything up to Color Game Boy. Another version is required to play GBA games, and I believe that version is backwards compatible with the older titles.

 

The Transfer Pak works with several other titles:

Pokemon Blue, Red, and Yellow will interact in many ways with Pokemon Stadium 1. Pokemon Stadium 2 will interact with those, in addition to working with Gold, Silver, and Crystal.

Mario Tennis allows you to tranfer data to and from the N64 and Color Game Boy carts. It is just as complete as the interaction seen in Pokemon. Essentially, you can level up your Game Boy character in full 3D on the N64, although you're not actually playing the Game Boy ROM.

Mario Golf allows you to upload players.

Perfect Dark will open up four additional cheats when the Game Boy cart is detected. The rumble cart won't vibrate when it's in the Transfer Pak (you'd think it would take the place of your rumble pak), and it's really too heavy to hold for long periods. You only need to boot up Perfect Dark once to save the cheats, after that, pull that Transfer Pak out and play normally.

Mickey's Speedway USA will open up Huey on the character select screen. Huey remains a playable character even after the Transfer Pak is removed.

Edited May 31, 2007 by shadow460

[raindog151]

What does the wideboy actually do? just stretch the pixels to fit on a standard TV?

[shadow460]

I think it's essentially a Game Boy on a cart. I read a little about it here and there, but I don't remember much. The Wikipedia article says very little about WideBoy aside from the fact that it puts up a border like the Super Game boy does. That kinda hints that the screen resolution is kept at Game Boy settings, and that border fills the rest of the TV screen.

I do know it works totally different than Pokemon does.

[Atariboy]

Theres also a SGB like device that hooks into the controller like a rumble pack that will play GameBoy games, but without any sound I believe.

[nathanallan]

I know there's a gameboy player for the SNES, neat info on the 64 though.

[Atariboy]

This is the device:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GB_Hunter

 

Looks like I was remembering wrong, plugs right into the N64's cartridge port.

[jimid2]

It would actually cost you less nowadays to find a used GameCube and the base Gameboy Adapter for that than to go after a Wideboy, I'm sure... I think I paid $60CDN for my 'Cube and Gameboy adapter, combined, and there are lots of them out there.

[plaidbrad3141]

This is the device:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GB_Hunter

 

Looks like I was remembering wrong, plugs right into the N64's cartridge port.

I think this is the one I had heard about. Thanks for the info everyone.

[Shawn]

There are some wideboy clones in the asian pirate market but they are kinda pricey too.

[+FujiSkunk]

It would actually cost you less nowadays to find a used GameCube and the base Gameboy Adapter for that than to go after a Wideboy, I'm sure...

 

Seconded. Go for a Game Cube instead. You'll get Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance support all in one device. The adapter attaches to the bottom of the Game Cube, meaning you can leave it in place even while playing other Game Cube games.

[plaidbrad3141]

It would actually cost you less nowadays to find a used GameCube and the base Gameboy Adapter for that than to go after a Wideboy, I'm sure...

 

Seconded. Go for a Game Cube instead. You'll get Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance support all in one device. The adapter attaches to the bottom of the Game Cube, meaning you can leave it in place even while playing other Game Cube games.

Cool, another excuse to get one more system.

[fishsandwich]

This is the device:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GB_Hunter

 

Looks like I was remembering wrong, plugs right into the N64's cartridge port.

I think this is the one I had heard about. Thanks for the info everyone.

 

I hate this thing. It plays the same simple song over and over and over again. Maddening.

[shadow460]

It would actually cost you less nowadays to find a used GameCube and the base Gameboy Adapter for that than to go after a Wideboy, I'm sure... I think I paid $60CDN for my 'Cube and Gameboy adapter, combined, and there are lots of them out there.

 

Blashpemy. The purist must settle on no less than WideBoy 64.

[chrisbid]

one would think there would be a way to make the transfer pack a simple gameboy color player. it would require a homebrew N64 cart to activate though.

[plaidbrad3141]

one would think there would be a way to make the transfer pack a simple gameboy color player. it would require a homebrew N64 cart to activate though.

I'd buy one.

[MaDDuck]

This is the device:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GB_Hunter

 

Looks like I was remembering wrong, plugs right into the N64's cartridge port.

I think this is the one I had heard about. Thanks for the info everyone.

 

 

I HAVE that device!!!

Here's a couple of cautions:

 

1. It plays this funky 'Gameboy '70's p0rn' soundtrack in the background, it's funny-cool for about the first 20-30 minutes!

2. It will kill ANY save-game info, and not allow you to save from any game in progress. Bad for Pokémon, good, for Tetris!

3. You have to plug ANY official N64 game into the pass-thu connector.

 

Other than that, plug Tetris in, turn the sound down, put on the music of your choice and your smokin'!

[shadow460]

one would think there would be a way to make the transfer pack a simple gameboy color player. it would require a homebrew N64 cart to activate though.

 

I think the Game Boy emulation software would have to reside in the homebrew cart.

Before we all hop on the bandwagon, though, we need to sit down to Perfect Dark with the Game Boy cart hooked up. The Transfer Pak and a cartridge are crazily heavy. You don't notice it with Pokemon because your hands are not in the normal playing position. Pokemon uses the D-pad even on the N64. I used an Arcade Shark with Mario Tennis and I loaded from a standard pad in port 4. When you hold the middle grip, though, with the Transfer Pak and a cart in place, it will really cause your left wrist to hurt.

 

A better idea would be to use a RAM cart that could copy the contents of any Game Boy game into itself. You'd load the game into memory, then pull the Transfer Pak. I believe that's how Pokemon works (Mario Tennis just loads the player data). It takes a while to dump the cart (Crystal players know this already), but once its dumped, you would have access to everything on it. From there, the N64 would still use the Game Boy pak's RAM chip to save your progress. Throw in a battery into the RAM cart and you'd be able to start the dame game back up without re dumping the cart. The game would simply load your position from the Game Boy pak, and off you go. Buy several RAM carts and play the games you're currently interested in without waiting for them to load.

 

The homebrew cart would still need to emulate the Game Boy pak's RAM chips, though. The RAM that saves your game is used during gameplay as system RAM. I guess they use half of the 256K for the actual game save, and the rest for system RAM during play.

 

I think the best solution is the Wideboy, though. The only fault I could see there is losing the effect of the rumble carts, and that's it. Use of the Transfer pak isn't really feasible--it is too slow and too heavy.