Emulator and Hardware Question
5 years ago
Oregon, USA

Is playing on a Game Boy Micro with an EZ Flash IV with Game Boy game ROMs compiled using Goomba Color allowed? Is that too weird for you guys? Footage quality shouldn't be an issue.

Tennessee, USA

I mean uh, wow. Bit of a different setup there; the main thing is making sure it runs at the same speed as a normal game boy, so if that’s the case I don’t see much of a problem.

Iowa, USA

It's not accurate in the slightest, I wouldn't allow it at all. Re-read the original post, just record off an actual good emulator on PC.

Edited by the author 5 years ago
Colorado, USA

To me, it seems like the issue would be the Goomba Color part, which seems to convert the game from GB to GBA. I feel like that part would be really problematic.

Germany

As hinted at before, and as you probably are aware yourself, the GB micro lacks backwards compatibility on its own, hence the rom conversion. I don't know of any instance where this has been done before in a speedrun context and I'd at least be interested in the results, although I share the concerns about the accuracy and the categorization of such a setup in general. That said, I have a simple test setup for framerate and loadtimes (in SML2), so feel free to hit me up if you're willing to do some recordings for my GB platform comparison with your setup.

phxxd likes this
Oregon, USA

I'd love to participate in a scientific experiment to decide the accuracy. Might take a moment to get my ducks in a row as I'm starting a new contract job but if I can't get to it immediately I'd like to come back to this topic.

Not many people know that the Micro does indeed have the architecture to handle original Game Boy games but that was disabled by Nintendo and was never utilized. That said, even though it's there doesn't mean it's accessible. The goal was to make the device a fashion accessory and a big gray Game Pak sticking probably didn't fulfill that requirement for them.

But yeah, I think it'll be fun to find out for sure. Even if I can't act now, go ahead and send me instructions for what you want me to do with Super Mario Land 2 specifically for the tests. That way I can just jump into it when I'm ready.

I'm also operating on limited resources because I have to setup for my new contract job so if I can't use the Micro then I can't submit runs at this time. I can't record Game Boy footage on my laptop because it lags the whole computer. Have to drop recording frame rate to 15fps to make it work and that's just not acceptable.

Oregon, USA

The laptop really only needs to function for contractual transcriptionist work in Deposition Services so don't knock it's lower power. It's doing what it needs to do for me. I can think about better hardware several months from now but right now that laptop only needs to perform one function for me until I'm better established.

Germany

If you figure out that the micro is just as accurate as the original cartridge or an emulator there is no problem of course.

Anyways, how would you record your footage? If your laptop can‘t handle an emulator + recording I‘m wondering how recording the GB Micro works for you. Are you using a capture device? If so, the easiest and cheapest way for you is to probably buy a game boy player as long as you own a gamecube.

Oregon, USA

Off camera recording with tripods to stabilize the Micro while playing (remember how Game Boys we're bolted down in store display units?) and a flexible tripod for the camera. The adjustable brightness on Micro makes it easy to adjust for the camera lens and taking off the faceplate removes glare. These little tricks allow the camera to be square in front of the screen while allowing me to view from a higher or lower angle, allows the hands to be seen while playing, and demonstrates the system being turned on. Once I load a game from the SD card the standard bootmenu appears like you'd see when you start up a Game Boy.

Crankykong likes this
Oregon, USA

I want to use a SGB2 for original games and a GBP for Color and Advances but that's a long time from now.

Tennessee, USA

Well uh, you do you but if you still wanna try this for speedstuff you’re not really gonna be able to submit anything if it’s as inaccurate as the other mods are saying it is. But feel free to post what you do have in our discord; it’ll be easier to talk about it there anyway. This just seems uh, a bit complicated that’s all.

Germany

@phxxd I've written a short instruction on what to record for my comparison: https://pastebin.com/YxZFkCuu Would be nice if you contacted me about this via Discord or Twitter so we don't clutter this thread unnecessarily.

Crankykong likes this
Oregon, USA

I have a thing about playing Game Boy games on original hardware but the games get hard to pack around so that's how I ended up doing emulation on the Game Boy Micro. I also feel the Micro has the best D-Pad. If the emulation is off, I'd be curious to know how off it is because I wouldn't want to use it as a practice system either of it's that bad. I haven't noticed anything so far and I'm usually sensitive to small variances but that's not scientific either. I am curious about the results whether it allows me to use the Micro for emulation or not.

PC emulation with an 8-BitDo Yellow gamepad is in the future but I gotta throw money at transcription tools for depositions for now so it has to be set aside for bigger priorities.

I'll find you on Twitter. I have a Discord but haven't figured out how to use it yet. I've stepped into Speed Running Game Boy games out of no where so all of my setup is for video production and personal Game Boy use. I don't have all that I need to do it the mainstream way at this point and it's fun being unique anyways so I'm not put off by the process.

Oregon, USA

So that plan is dead. Don't have video equipement anymore. I guess I'll see all of you in 6-9 months if I haven't lost interest by then.

Crankykong likes this
Germany

Don‘t give up, you‘ll find a way to run and record GB games even if it takes some time.