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Game Boy Advance
Check the dumping hardware overview for a list of known preservation hardware.
If you need help, please come chat with us on the VGPC or No-Intro discord servers.
Introduction
[ This template was moved to dumping_important_notes ]
Luckily there are numerous tools available for dumping Game Boy Advance games, so you should be able to find a great dumper that suits your need.Methods
Method 1 - GBxCart RW
Supports: GB/GBC/GBA, Game Boy Camera, and Nintendo Power Carts and Bootleg flashing
Please see the the page for Lesserkuma's open-source software for the GBxCart RW, FlashGBX.
Method 2 - The Joey Jr
Supports: GB/GBC/GBA, Game Boy Camera, and Nintendo Power Carts and Bootleg flashing
For latest official instruction on how to use the Joey Jr, please see the official user guide.
Method 3 - Sanni Cart Reader
The Sanni Cart Reader comes with Game Boy / Game Boy Color dumping capabilities by default. Follow the Sanni Cart Reader wiki for proper settings, and dumping instructions.
Method 4 - DS + DS Slot-1 Flashcart (Normal Carts)
Tools needed
- A Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite with a flashcart
Dumping
- Run the .nds for GBA Backup Tool
- Ensure that your GBA cart is inserted, then press A on the pop-up.
- By default, GBA Backup Tool is in Save Backup mode. Press R twice to go to ROM backup mode.
- Press B to make a new backup, then hit A to confirm. Your rom will be dumped to your SD card.
Method 5 - DS + DS Slot-1 Flashcart (GBA Video Movie Carts)
- Use duplo (https://github.com/endrift/duplo), here is a prepared build from Whovian: https://archive.org/details/duplo
- This is not needed (and won't work for) for TV series carts, which don't use the Matrix memory chips
Identifying Game Versions
todo: add info on cart/box serials (and non-standard carts if relevant)
SSS-TGGR-V
S = System (Always/mostly “AGB”)
T = Type (N = Normal)
G = Game code (e.g. MA = Super Mario Advance)
R = Region (J = Japan, E = USA, P = Europe)
V = Version (starts at 0)
There is also a shortened version of the code on the left hand side, in the format TGGR-V.