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How to put a GBA rom onto a cart (Kinda, More or Less) Nothing Fancy or great looking, but gets the job done

Apr 15, 2011 at 9:22:23 AM
JohnnyPhantom (118)
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(John k Arpin) < Lolo Lord >
Posts: 1799 - Joined: 06/08/2009
Rhode Island
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Hey Everyone.
 
I know a lot of people are kinda bummed that the Mother 3 GBA English translation was a no go.
 
But I'm gonna post how to make your own GBA cart so you can get your Mother 3 (or any other GBA game you like) on real hardware fix!
 
This isn't really a reproduction, but it works, looks good, no boot loaders, no SD cards you'll end up with a GBA cart that you pop into your system and play! The project isn't really "cheap" since you have to have some equipment, but once you have it, you can use it over and over again.
 
Now you will need a few things. (you can either buy or borrow if you have a friend with these things)
 
You will need a Nintendo DS or DS lite (DSi, DSi XL, and 3DS will not work)
 
You'll need a DS with both a slot 1 and slot 2
 
Next!
You'll need a DS Slot 1 Supercard, or TT, or whatever brand you like. (http://eng.supercard.sc/...)
 
You'll also need a GBA flash cart ( I Used http://www.realhotstuff.com/expan...)
 
and lastly you'll need some software (the GBA Rom you want to play, and a piece of software to put onto you DS cart to write the ROM onto the GBA cart) (Link for Writer coming Soon, rom = you're on your own)

Writer Link To flash the GBA cart I used a program called "gbaldr" which can be found and doucmented on this site..
http://ezflash.sosuke.com/about47...
 
I'll add links later and I'll revamp this article as well, right now I'm writing all this from the top of my head/memory so I don't recall links and names just yet. but this will give you an idea on the process and I'll fine tune it later.
 
The process is very simple.
 
You put both the DS writer software and the GBA rom you like onto your SuperCard Slot 1 device (or which ever brand) 
 
you put the Supercard into slot 1 of the Nintendo DS
you put your GBA Flash cart into slot 2 of the Nintendo DS
 
power on the system, launch the Writer software, select the GBA rom.
 
And then the Writer will erase the GBA flash cart, load the rom and that's it!
 
I've done this with Mother 3 (Fan Translation) and so far it works flawlessly! Saves work too!!
 
I then took it to the next step (optional) and created a new label of the GBA Flash cart so it looks more legit.
 
The only thing is the flash cart isn't the same shade of Black and it says the Flash carts name on it rather than Nintendo Gameboy advance on the plastic cart. I've tried replacing the innards of a Donor GBA game with that of the flash carts, its a no go. :'( if anyone gets this part working let me know ^-^
 
Ok thats the quick run through for now, I'll beef this up later 
 
What's nice about this is you can always re-flash the GBA cart again with a new game if you get bored of what's on it!
 
Thanks everyone!!
~John


Edited: 04/05/2012 at 01:52 PM by JohnnyPhantom

Apr 15, 2011 at 6:04:40 PM
Dwedit (0)
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(Dan Weiss) < Crack Trooper >
Posts: 130 - Joined: 05/25/2010
Illinois
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Writing a commercial game onto a GBA flash cartridge is not "making a game".

Apr 15, 2011 at 11:22:01 PM
Jero (1)
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(Jeroen ) < El Ripper >
Posts: 1106 - Joined: 03/02/2008
Netherlands
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Poorly chosen words yes....but they're not 100% inaccurate either. Don't think we have to make a big deal about that.

Apr 16, 2011 at 9:06:05 AM
JohnnyPhantom (118)
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(John k Arpin) < Lolo Lord >
Posts: 1799 - Joined: 06/08/2009
Rhode Island
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Ture its not actually Making a game, then again, I'm also not showing how to program and compile you're own GBA games either. but like the heading says "How to make a GBA Game (Kinda, More or Less)" with words like "kinda" and "more or less" it's implied its not a complete reproduction, it's just showing how to put a GBA rom onto a device to play it on real hardware. without a cart with a flash card slot and with out a boot loader menu. Just a plug and play solution (once the cart is flashed). And in my opinion flashing a flash cart is pretty much the same as programming a eprom chip for any reproduction. A flash cart just saves on wiring and donor's

Jul 9, 2014 at 9:36:43 PM
Fluffy (11)
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(Fluffy is asleep) < Meka Chicken >
Posts: 876 - Joined: 06/24/2014
New York
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Not that anyone still views this thread, but there is a video on YouTube of someone doing this, but he got the GBA flash cart to work with a donor GBA game! link: