Modder Creates 'Automatic' GBA-To-GBC Converter
Just when you think the retro modding scene has finally hit the hardware ceiling, someone comes along with a sledgehammer to smash through it.
The Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance are, architecturally speaking, worlds apart. One is a glorified 8-bit calculator with a colour screen; the other is a 32-bit powerhouse that can push relatively complex sprites and pseudo-3D. Trying to run software from the latter on the former is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, provided the peg is also on fire and the hole is the size of a postage stamp.
Yet, that is precisely what a developer on the r/Gameboy subreddit claims to have achieved.
Would you play GBA games on a GBC? Pokémon Sapphire on GBC.
by u/Admirable-Battle2573 in Gameboy
In a thread posted this week, the user showcased a work-in-progress tool designed to "automatically" convert Game Boy Advance ROMs into a format digestible by the humble GBC. To prove the concept, they displayed footage of Pokémon FireRed, a native GBA title, running on what appears to be standard Game Boy Colour hardware.
The technical implications here are headache-inducing. The GBA runs at a resolution of 240x160, while the GBC is limited to a claustrophobic 160x144. To get around this, the tool appears to employ a mix of aggressive sprite scaling and cropping, effectively squashing the image to fit the older display. It is not the prettiest solution, but it is functional.
Then there is the issue of controls. The GBA's shoulder buttons (L and R) simply do not exist on its predecessor. While the developer has not fully detailed the input mapping, one assumes some combination of the Select and Start buttons will have to do the heavy lifting.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect is the claim of automation. "Demakes" are usually painstaking, hand-crafted affairs where developers rebuild a game from scratch (see the recent Halo demake for GB). A tool that can ingest a 32-bit ROM and spit out an 8-bit compatible file without human intervention borders on sorcery.
We remain cautiously optimistic. The frame rate in the demonstration footage is understandably choppy, and one imagines the audio quality has taken a severe hit to fit within the GBC's limitations. However, as a proof of concept, it is undeniably impressive.
You can view the full demonstration and follow the project's development on the original thread below.
