Game Boy Player

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Game Boy Player
Game Boy Player usage sample: Controller and GBA are equivalent, GBA SP is recognized as another player
Manufacturer	Nintendo
Type	Accessory
Generation	Sixth generation
First available	^JP Mar 20, 2003 ^NA June 24, 2003 ^EU June 20, 2003
Media	Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges
Predecessor	Super Game Boy

The Game Boy Player is a device made by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube which enables Game Boy (although Super Game Boy enhancements are ignored), Game Boy Color, or Game Boy Advance cartridges to be played on a television. It connects via the High Speed (Parallel) port at the bottom of the GameCube and requires use of a boot disc to access the hardware. The hardware in the Game Boy Player is the same as a Game Boy Advance without the screen or batteries. The Game Boy Player is not compatible with Game Boy Advance Video paks (see Compatibility Issues).

The Game Boy Player is available in Indigo, Black, Spice, or Platinum in Japan; Black in North America and Europe (the color limitations are to prevent confusion from retailers) ^[1]^{[verification needed]} and Black and Indigo in Australia. A special Game Boy Player for the Panasonic Q GameCube/DVD player had to be made due to the Q's legs. All Game Boy Players have screws on the bottom to secure it to the bottom of the GameCube and also have an eject button on the right side of the unit for removing Game Boy Advance games. Game Boy and Game Boy Color games stick out from the unit, as with the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP, so they can just be pulled out when the system is off or Change Cartridge has been selected from the menu. Prototypes have featured a storage compartment on the left side of the Game Boy Player, but it is not featured in the retail product.

One interesting feature of the Game Boy Player is that of being able to set a timer on play time from one to sixty minutes.

Unlike most Nintendo GameCube accessories, Game Boy Player is not compatible with the Wii. The Wii lacks the hi-speed port of the GameCube into which the Game Boy Player fits; in addition, the Game Boy Player matches the GameCube's footprint. The Wii has a substantially different footprint, making compatibility too complicated to be included.

1 Controllers
- 1.1 Third party controllers
2 On-screen menu
3 Compatibility
4 Compatibility Issues
5 Advance Game Port
6 See also
7 References

[edit] Controllers

The Game Boy Player allows for control either through a GameCube controller or a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP hooked up with a GameCube-Game Boy Advance Cable. When using a Game Boy Advance, the buttons are identical, but due to the GameCube controller's different layout, there are two different mappings you can use. Also, at least one GameCube controller must be plugged in for access the Game Boy Player's internal menu, which can be accessed by pressing the Z button. For a select few GBA games, such as Drill Dozer, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, the rumble feature can be enabled on the GameCube controller in Controller Socket 1.

All controllers, Game Boy Advances, and Game Boy Advance SPs connected to the GameCube are recognized as the same player. This allows a sort of co-op mode for games that don't normally have it (most likely this was not intended by Nintendo). Furthermore, allowing for multiple controllers recognized as the same player allows for simpler and more comfortable play of single system multiplayer Game Boy Advance games, such as those found in Mario Party Advance. This is in lieu of up to four players wrapping their hands around one Game Boy Advance unit.

If players want to link other hardware, they'll need to connect to the extension port on the Game Boy Player with the proper cable, which depends on whether the game was designed for Game Boy Advance or a Game Boy system released before the Game Boy Advance.

GameCube Button	GBA Equivalent - Map One	GBA Equivalent - Map Two
Control Stick/Directional Pad	Directional Pad	Directional Pad
A/B Buttons	A/B Buttons	A/B Buttons
L/R Buttons	L/R Buttons	Select
X/Y Buttons	Select	L/R Buttons
Start Button	Start Button	Start Button
C Stick	Not Used	Directional Pad
Z Button	Open Menu	Open Menu

Map One is closer to the Game Boy Advance's normal layout, while Map Two makes it easier to play with one hand and also allows some SNES rereleases to control more like they may have with the SNES controller, as they often had the A button mapped to R and the X button mapped to L.

[edit] Third party controllers

Japanese hardware manufacturer Hori created for the Japanese market a special digital-only controller designed for use with the Game Boy Player. The design of the controller is similar to the design of the SNES controller, but with the Gamecube's face button layout. In addition, there is a Select button on the controller mapped to the X/Y buttons internally.

[edit] On-screen menu

The menu has six options to choose from:

Frame: changes the colored border around the game "screen" to one of twenty different patterns. Super Game Boy borders are not supported.
Size: changes the size that the GBA screen takes up on the TV (Normal is about 80% and appears sharper on some sets, while Full enlarges the image to the left and right edges of the TV)
Controller: switches between the two controller mappings
Screen: controls a motion blur effect to reduce potential flicker from programming tricks designed for a GBA screen. Can be set to "sharp" (no blurring), "normal" (some blurring), or "soft" (more blurring).
Timer: set an alarm for one to sixty minutes
Change Cartridge: stops the game so cartridges can be swapped safely, without having to turn the GameCube off (it is best to save game data before doing so)

[edit] Compatibility

The Game Boy Player supports the following:

Games: compatible with most Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games

E-Reader: compatible with the E-Reader accessory, as well as all Mario Party-e, Super Mario Advance 4-e, Animal Crossing-e, Classic games, and Pokémon Battle-e cards

Nintendo GameCube-Game Boy Advance cable: can be used to connect a GBA or GBA SP to a GBP to use as a controller, and to play games with 2-4 players

Wireless Adapter: the GBP fully supports the use of a Wireless Adaptor, and it will still work with all games compatible with the accessory

[edit] Compatibility Issues

The Game Boy Player has problems, be it software or physical hardware, with the following GBA accessories:

GBA Video: For copyright reasons, the GBA Video series is incompatible with the Game Boy Player (those involved feared that users could use a television recording device to copy the shows off the cartridge). The Game Boy Player detects the GBA Video carts and refuses to boot them giving an error message. Even if the carts were playable on the Player (which they are through the use of pirate carts and Action replay), the resolution was greatly reduced for the GBA medium, causing pixelation and sound pops that a large screen with louder speakers would pick up.

Action Replay\Gameshark: Most models of the Action Replay or Gameshark for the GBA or GBC are too wide to fit into the GBA slot and often curl underneath the Game Boy Player system.

Motion sensors:The three Game Boy games that use motion-sensors, Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble for Game Boy Color, Yoshi's Universal Gravitation (Yoshi Topsy-Turvy in North America) and WarioWare: Twisted! for Game Boy Advance, while able to be displayed on-screen, cannot be controlled properly due to the motion-sensoring being designed with a Game Boy unit in mind and tilting the GameCube itself would be completely impractical. There are motion sensing patches for the ROM images to allow for use on the Game Boy Player ^[2], but these methods are neither legal, nor possible without a flash cart.

Pirate Carts: Some flash carts will not work on the Game Boy Player, possibly due to the fact that they are not condoned, or even licensed by Nintendo themselves.

Boktai/Boktai 2: Both light-sensitive cartridges are fitted with a subtle curve of plastic to prevent them from fitting into the GameBoy Player. This is mentioned in the manuals for both games and therefore intentional. If the carts are removed from their plastic casing they do fit into the device, but in this position the light sensors are essentially useless.

[edit] Advance Game Port

Datel's version of the Game Boy Player, released in 2003. This dongle would connect to memory card slot B and would be booted up with the included boot disc. Some models had code generators for built in cheat devices. The advantage was that no removal of plates on the bottom, nor tools, were needed to install it. Unlike the Game Boy Player, however, there are a few problems with the audio and video framerate and was not 100% compatible with GBA games.

It is compatible with Wii, but it requires use of a Freeloader (or Action Replay with Freeloading function built in). First you activate the Freeloader/AR as you would for playing an import, then put in the AGP disc, then remove the Action Replay memory card if you're using one, and insert the AGP into the memory card slot, and finally plug in a GBA game. If this does not work you will may need to tamper with the pin connectors, as some unlicensed memory port accessories need slight modification to run on Wii.^{[citation needed]}