Game Boy to Famicom adapter
Try your hand at the quiz: how well do you know the history of Nintendo handheld hacking?
Friends, SuperChis flash cartridges for GBA are now available on AliExpress
.And the best flash cartridge for Nintendo DS — DSPico
Cool eXtremeRate cases for GBA SP.
Friends, help me buy (if you have) various old stuff: Help me buy.
Recently, a really interesting accessory showed up for sale — an adapter that lets you run Game Boy cartridges on an original Famicom.
From the front, it looks like a typical Dendy-style bootleg cart.
But once you look at the back, you can immediately see the big potential: this cartridge-adapter lets you run original Game Boy cartridges on a home 8-bit console.
Special thanks to Ruslan — he consistently finds and buys all sorts of weird retro stuff, and, most importantly, he’s happy to share it.
Where to buy?
The adapter pops up from time to time on AliExpress and in some retro shops.
There’s also a version for the NES, but I haven’t tested it yet.
What’s in the box
The package includes only what you need: the adapter itself and a small protective cap that covers the cartridge slot.
And here’s what the adapter looks like from all sides:
Compatibility
Original cartridges
Classic gray Game Boy cartridges work.
Even Road Rash works — a cart that normally runs only on real Game Boy consoles, because it uses undocumented CPU features.
Black cartridges that are made to run on both Game Boy and Game Boy Color also work.
Transparent Game Boy Color cartridges do not work.
Flash cartridges
EZ-Flash Junior doesn’t work at all. You see “EZ-Flash” and then it turns into gibberish.
Everdrive GB x3 (a Chinese AliExpress clone) works.
Everdrive GB x7 (original) works.
Overall, compatibility is pretty solid.
I was really surprised that Road Rash works, but after opening the cartridge I found an original SGB-CPU-01 processor inside.
Note: Despite its external similarity to the Super Game Boy and having the same processor inside, this is still not a Super Game Boy. The Famicom does not support the special commands used by the Super Famicom and cannot provide the same features. As a result, when using the GB–Famicom cartridge, the device’s capabilities are closer to those of the Game Boy Color (the adapter can colorize original Game Boy games, offering a choice of 16 color palettes).
As for EZ-Flash Junior, most likely it doesn’t fail because of the adapter, but because of its own quirks. Even with the original Super Game Boy (the SNES adapter), it boots but works very unstable. So it’s not surprising that on adapters like this one it simply won’t start.
How to use
Using the adapter is as simple as it gets: insert a Game Boy cartridge into it, then plug the whole thing into the Famicom — and you can play.
But the device has a couple of extra features too.
Switching the color palette
During the game, hold Up + Select to cycle through the color scheme.
To change the palette again, release the buttons and hold them again.
Brightness adjustment
Hold Left + Select to step through the brightness levels of the current palette.
Epilogue
So yeah — a pretty unexpected accessory. This is exactly the kind of adapter Nintendo could have made themselves.
Both the build quality and the features are right up there with official products.
If you love the original Game Boy and want to try your cartridges on a big screen, this adapter won’t disappoint.
