Super Game Boy - Predecessors and Successors

Predecessors and Successors

The Super Game Boy is the successor to Intelligent Systems' Wide Boy 2 (which connected to the Famicom or NES). One difference between the Wide Boy and the Super Game Boy is that the former did not use any part of the Famicom/NES other than the video memory. Even the controller (a single Famicom controller) is hardwired directly into the Wide Boy. The Wide Boy would continue running even if the reset button is held down on the Famicom/NES. The Game Boy had twice as many tiles as could fit in the Famicom/NES's video memory, so the Wide Boy had to refresh the Famicom/NES's video memory halfway down the screen.

Camerica had the Game Boy to NES developed by Biederman Design Labs, which appeared similar to the Super Game Boy.

The Super Game Boy was followed by the Transfer Pak for the Nintendo 64, which allowed one to play the six (seven in Japan) Game Boy Color Pokémon titles in Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2 in a Super Game Boy-like fashion, complete with the Super Game Boy enhanced borders and palettes. The games were played via the use of a software emulator on the Nintendo 64. However, the main role of the Transfer Pak was to transfer data from Game Boy Color to Nintendo 64 games, not to play games.

A Wide-Boy64 AGB was released for the N64, which allowed Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles to be played on a television. It cost $1400, and like the original Wide Boy, it was only available to developers and the gaming press.

The GB Hunter is one of two Nintendo 64 items released by EMS Production Ltd., the other being the N64 Passport. It is a Game Boy emulator for the Nintendo 64. A N64 game is plugged into the back of the item and a Game Boy cartridge is plugged into the top. Like the Super Game Boy, it connects to the N64's cartridge slot and requires a N64 boot cartridge plugged into its back, and makes it possible to play Game Boy games on it, without the game's sound; instead GB Hunter's theme is played over and over during the game. There is also a cheating device programmed into it, called the "Golden Finger" (like the Game Genie or Game Shark). Holding the 'L' and 'R' buttons simultaneously will cause the game to freeze at that point and the GB Hunters' Menu to appear. The Game Screen can be maximized or minimized, from the Main menu, allowing the player to see the game full screen. The GB Hunters color pallet can also be changed from the menu, to view the game in a variety of the 3 different colors. Most sellers of this item, on eBay and other places such as the EMS site itself, do not mention that the video game sounds while being played on the GB Hunter are not emulated. Rather, users are subjected to the theme song of the GB Hunter, which loops endlessly.

A product made by Datel Design & Development Ltd called GameBooster was released for the Nintendo 64 in halfway through the console time in the game market. It wasn't officially licensed by Nintendo as it had a slot at the back for an N64 game to over-ride the lockout chip. Datel also did a version for Sony's PlayStation console, which uses the Parallel I/O port on the back of the console, not found on the Series 9000 models of the system or the slimline PSone system.

On the GameCube, the Game Boy Player was released in 2003, which could play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games. It allowed these games to be played on a full television screen. The GBP attaches to the bottom of the console and a boot disc must be running in the GameCube disc drive in order to operate it. The Game Boy Player functions just like a Game Boy Advance, letterboxing the games' display on a standard television set. Some GBA games were programmed with consideration for the Player, including activating the vibration feature in GameCube controllers and special color palettes which accounted for a TV's brightness and resolution. The Game Boy Player will not activate Super Game Boy options on a Super Game Boy enhanced cartridge, however. Also, when playing a Game Boy or Game Boy Color game on the Game Boy Player, a black border will appear between the main border and the gameplay area; this is a carry-over from the Game Boy Advance.