Games - GBA Movie Player

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	Games - GBA Movie Player

The GBA Movie Player, abbreviated GBAMP, is a device that reads CompactFlash/Secure Digital cards to upload data onto the Game Boy Advance (it is also fully compatible with the Nintendo DS's GBA compatibility mode). The latest version is called the M3 adapter. With this device, a user can play NES games through the PocketNES emulator, play GBA games smaller than 250 KB, watch video clips, listen to converted music files, and read .txt files (referred to as e-books). With the addition of the Game Boy emulator, Goomba, it can also play original Game Boy or dual-mode Game Boy Color games. The firmware update E19 adds a built in launcher for Game Boy files from the menu system, whereas in previous firmware versions it was necessary to build Goomba compilations.

The M3 adapter improves on the GBAMP by adding 32MB of RAM and allowing for Nintendo DS ROMs and DS-native homebrew applications to be run on a Nintendo DS in conjunction with a PassMe device. The official PassMe variant for the M3 adapter is known as the Passkey. An update to the original PassKey, known as the Passkey2, allows for the running of DS code on DS consoles that have the newer firmware (version 4 or above). The added 32MB of RAM allows for GBA games to run at full speed with no slowdown because all the game data is loaded into the RAM. DS games smaller than 32MB can also be loaded into RAM, but if they are over 32MB, they must be directly booted from the CompactFlash or SecureDigital card. Games loaded from the CF/SD card rarely exhibit slowdown, as compatibility with DS games is very high on the M3 adapter. At this current time, it is unknown if the M3 adapter is compatible with the DS Lite.

The built-in NES and Game Boy loaders have size limitations; the emulator plus game must fit inside 256 KB of memory. Special versions of PocketNES and Goomba were created to overcome these limitations. One special version of PocketNES, called PocketNES-compy, uses compression to shrink the game before it is loaded. In that version, games are limited to 256k instead of 192k. Another version can load files directly off the CompactFlash card using virtual memory techniques, bypassing all size limitations of the usual built-in software but creating slowdown on some of the larger games. The special versions were created independently of the company which makes the movie player, using information discovered through reverse engineering.

The PC-side software uses DirectShow technology to convert videos to the GBA Movie Player's format. It is also possible to install the conversion software's DirectShow filters and then use low-level DirectShow tools such as GraphEdit to convert files, rather than using the official conversion tool.

Additionally, Chishm has created an unofficial firmware modification which allows owners of a Nintendo DS with old firmware and PassMe (or with FlashMe firmware) to run Nintendo DS homebrew code from the GBAMP.

A lockout feature was used to try to stop other manufacturers from copying the player's firmware and making knockoff products, but it was ineffective. Unauthorized knockoffs appeared on the market, and attempting to upgrade the firmware on a knockoff causes the product to reboot to the message "Update Failed! This card is a FAKE!! System Crash!!!" every time it is turned on. Moreover, the ROM locking feature frequently prevents the real GBAMP from booting, especially after quickly turning the power off and on.

NES gameplay aspects

Multiplayer can be done via GBA link cable on GBA, GBA SP, and Game Boy Player
.
The NES screen is bigger than the GBA screen. PocketNES can display the NES game's graphics in a window that the player can scroll up and down, or it can scale the graphics to fit the smaller screen.

GBA Homebrew

The GBAMP will also load and run multiboot homebrew GBA code. Because it loads programs into the GBA's 256 KB RAM, ROM sizes are limited to 256 KB, although the more expensive M3 adapter has 32 MB of onboard RAM for use with full-size GBA programs. Here are some good sites on GBA programming:

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Games - GBA Movie Player

NES gameplay aspects

GBA Homebrew

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