NINTENDO ANNOUNCEMENT: Play GBA games on a normal TV!

[DeathsHand]

This is exactly what I've been looking for since my big problem with handhelds is that the screen is too small and the lighting sucks...

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/021119.html

Here's a "rough translation" (got it from some guy off the IGN boards)



Report data
November 19, 2002
Nintendo Co., Ltd.


The Game Boy software can enjoy itself on TV screen.
"About a NINTENDO game cube Game Boy player"


Nintendo Co., Ltd. (head office : Minami-ku, Kyoto-shi, the president : Satoshi Iwata) puts on the market "the NINTENDO game cube Game Boy player (henceforth, Game Boy player)" which enables the play of the software of a handheld game machine "Game Boy" on TV screen next spring.

Exclusive software of "by equipping home TV game machine "NINTENDO game cube" main part bottom with Game Boy player", it is "Game Boy", the "Game Boy color", and the "Game Boy advance" * The play of (the number about 1,400 sorts / of number abbreviation of domestic total sale 170 million book and titles, and as of March 31, 2002) is attained by the controller of a game cube on domestic TV screen. Moreover, a "NINTENDO game cube GBA cable" can be used and the Game Boy advance can also be operated as a controller.
Of course, if a game cube is equipped with the "Game Boy player", in order to function as one set of a Game Boy advance, communication and waging war of the Game Boy advances also become possible by connecting it and the Game Boy advance of a stock by "the communication cable only for the Game Boy advances."

While beginning "Pocket-Monsters ruby sapphire" and "tradition gods' try force &4 ‚Â sword of ZERUDA" towards next spring from an end of the year and putting many good role playing games on the market for the Game Boy advances, at home, a character is raised on TV screen and the play style of communicating and playing a match against a friend with a handheld game machine outside is born.

This the "Game Boy player" has planned sale in May of the same year in Japan, and has planned deployment in Europe and Australia after that probably beforehand in March, 2003 and North America.

* Some Game Boy software cannot be used.


Brand name NINTENDO game cube Game Boy player
NINTENDO GAMECUBE GAME BOY PLAYER
Sale scheduled day March, 2003
Manufacturer's suggested price 5,000 yen (according to tax) schedule
Size Width [ of 150mm ] x height [ of 57.3mm ] x depth of 155.1mm
Mass About 370g
Color variation Four kinds (a NINTENDO game cube main part and same color)
Use power supply It supplies from a NINTENDO game cube.
The maximum power consumption 0.8W (NINTENDO game cube ŠÜ‚Ü‚¸)
Others The Game Boy player startup disk enclosure



And a nice picture:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/021119.jpg

it doesn't even look like you need a GBA to play it, either... although it would probably come in handy as a controller...

So how much is 5,000 yen in US?

[bobcat]

Dunno but I would be interested in playing those long platform games and rpg's

[Angrist]

Hmmm.... do you think 4-players are supported?? That would be cool! Playing Mario Kart on your TV with splitscreen! :D With a few Cube and AGB contollers! :roll:

[Jonbo298]

Is that accessory using the high speed port? It seems to be from what I see. I guess now the only thing left to know is what Serial Port 2 can do. But back on subject. I already knew Nintendo was gonna announce eventually that there would be a thing that allows you to play GBA games on your TV. They did it with GB on the Super Game Boy, so it was just a matter of time for me for them to announce it.

[BlueFire]

Looks interesting.

[Angrist]

There's an official statement thingy on www.nintendo.com I think... :)

And I read that you can't play with 4 players on 1 TV screen. :( You'll have to use link cables, and only the first player sees it on screen.

It sure would be cool to play Fusion on a TV, should feel like Super Metroid! :D

[Professor S]

Its been done before with the SNES and Gameboy. Its a nice feature to be sure for those who have GBAs, but I don't think it will push any units as IMO people won't shell out $200 just to play their GBA games on a big screen.

[TheGame]

Cool feature... but I don't see much of a point for peeps who own GBAs.

I remember playing Pokemon on N64.... and playing tetris on Super Gameboy, it wasn't much of an improvement. Well, it's bigger, but the frame rate suffers, and you see how ugly the games really are on the TV.

If it costs more than a GBA I don't think it's worth it to buy one (unless you just like looking at the new feature on the cube)... I'll just have to see the price.

[DarkMaster]

5000 yen is around $65 Canadian or $41 US

[Dyne]

Damn, I wanted a hard drive. Or at least a keyboard. :(

This looks really cool; I'm going to get it. This boosts the bond between GBA and GCN completely! I wonder if FF:CC uses it.

[DeathsHand]

Originally posted by The Strangler
Its been done before with the SNES and Gameboy. Its a nice feature to be sure for those who have GBAs, but I don't think it will push any units as IMO people won't shell out $200 just to play their GBA games on a big screen.

True, but what about people who own both GBA and NGC and want to play their GBA games on a big screen? Or people who don't have a GBA? I don't care how many units it pushes, I just care that if I want to play GBA games, I won't have to put up with a crummy small screen with crummy lighting ;)

The only problems could be what TheGame said... if the image is just blown up it will look like crap, and if the framerate suffers that'd suck... but there's gotta be something to do to fix that, ya?... Ya? As for Price, Darkmaster said 5000 Yen is about 41 bucks... so I bet it comes to the US for 34.95 or 39.95...

Oh and does this thing not require a GBA/NGC connection cable thing? Like for the junks in Metroid and the like... I would hope it doesn't since the damn thing is plugged right into the system :p

[TheGame]

I think you will still need that link cable DsH... *looks at AC and SA*

Yeah, um, some stuff just can't be done without both screens. Hopfully they find a way around this.

[DarkMaster]

Originally posted by DarkMaster? wtf?

[DeathsHand]

Originally posted by DarkMaster
Originally posted by DarkMaster? wtf?

Oops... I hit the quote button on your post because I was going to quote what you said, then decided to quote what The Strangler said and just copied and pasted it into the thing and forgot to change the name... silly me :p

[Dyne]

Well, now that I think about it, there must be a huge graphical boost. It's going to use the Gamecube Hardware, right? Framerates will be more than fine.

[DeathsHand]

Originally posted by Dyne
Well, now that I think about it, there must be a huge graphical boost. It's going to use the Gamecube Hardware, right? Framerates will be more than fine.

no, it's more like an emulator, I think... like the ones you can get on computers... the graphics stay the same and the framerate is normally the same or worse :p but hopefully it will have at least the same graphics and framerate as the games do on GBA itself...

They should release some kind of add-on that plays NES and SNES games ;) Nah won't happen :p

[Dyne]

Originally posted by DeathsHand
no, it's more like an emulator, I think... like the ones you can get on computers... the graphics stay the same and the framerate is normally the same or worse :p but hopefully it will have at least the same graphics and framerate as the games do on GBA itself...

They should release some kind of add-on that plays NES and SNES games ;) Nah won't happen :p

Well, what I'm thinking of is how the original Game Boy games got a good boost on the GBA..... Maybe the GCN will boost GBA games? I sure hope so..

[Jason1]

This looks great...I knew it wouldnt be an expansion pack allready...im a little surprised, actually...wont this reduce the # of AGB's sold? Now you dont even need one to play...but whatever, I will probably pick one up when they are released.

[TheGame]

Originally posted by Dyne
Well, what I'm thinking of is how the original Game Boy games got a good boost on the GBA..... Maybe the GCN will boost GBA games? I sure hope so..

Did SNES boost up the 1-Bit Gameboy's preformance? Nope

Did N64 pump up Gameboy Color's preformance? Nope

So I guess that it's not gonna change much this time. Thank God that GBA's graphics are already decent to begin with.

[Shadow_Link]

Originally posted by DeathsHand
no, it's more like an emulator, I think... like the ones you can get on computers... the graphics stay the same and the framerate is normally the same or worse

That's not strictly true. Yes, a PC with a poor performance will no doubt suffer from a bad frame rate, and possibily blurrier visuals.
But if you have a PC with a high end CPU, and a very good graphics card, then even enlarging the screen would not result in loss of graphical quality. And I have heard of cases where the frame rate jumps up quite a bit.

[DeathsHand]

Originally posted by Shadow_Link
That's not strictly true. Yes, a PC with a poor performance will no doubt suffer from a bad frame rate, and possibily blurrier visuals.
But if you have a PC with a high end CPU, and a very good graphics card, then even enlarging the screen would not result in loss of graphical quality. And I have heard of cases where the frame rate jumps up quite a bit.

I guess so, and my computer is crappy (300Mhz, although 256MB of ram and a voodoo 5) but sometimes even NES emulators run slow... You would think there'd be enough power to make it run nice :unsure:

[Crash]

the big question is, will this make the gamecube a "real cube" as in same dimensions up down left and right. now we know why it was called the gamecube, and wasn't actually a cube shape.

[GameKinG]

http://www.mainichi.co.jp/life/hobby/game/news/news/2002/11/image/19-1.jpg


Mmmmmm...sesky

[Cyrax9]

I will GLADLY buy this after the US elase in the "Platinum" Color for my Newest GCN (I now have wo), because I gotta be hones, playing GBA/GBC and old GB Games on a "Small Scren" can be mighty hard on the ol' eyebals if the lighting isn't correct. The Super Game Boy Didn't "Enhance' the Graphics in any major way, but it did have some cool features.

Also is this thing only going to play GBA games, ro will it also play GBC and GB games on the GCN?

I want to pla my old B&W GB Games without having to "force" My Super Game Boy to Play Correctly, it's old and it wants to die.

Let me know where I can find an "Offical US Announcement as well, because I know what I'm buying, this is gonna be sweet man! :) :D :)

[Jason1]

Yes Crayax. it playes GB and GBC titles as well as GBA games...

[GameMaster]

I'm glad I kept my game boy camera.