Review/Guide REVO K101+

Package Contents

The console comes in a beautiful, black, cardboard box.

The package includes:

1. Revo K101+ console;

2. Mini-USB cable;

3. USB AC adapter (unfortunately, with a Chinese plug);

4. 2.5 mm AV-Out cable;

5. K-Card flash cartridge;

6. Micro SD memory card (8 GB);

7. Screen protector film;

8. Small Phillips screwdriver;

9. Instruction manual;

Where to Buy the Console?

On AliExpress:

You also need to buy a card reader for the memory card (if you don't have one). To write games from your computer to the memory card.

Console Dimensions

In size, the K101 Revo is comparable to the Game Boy Advance, but in thickness, it is almost twice as thin. And most importantly, it is not as small as the Game Boy Micro.

Technical Specifications

The developers wrote everywhere that this is a "hardware clone" of the console, which is not entirely true.

Let's make a small digression. Despite the fact that we say "ARM7," implying a specific processor, this is not entirely accurate. We can't go to a store and buy a couple of such processors. ARM sells not processors, but architecture, which different companies (including Nintendo) adapt for themselves. Unfortunately, Nintendo does not share the blueprints of their processors.

Therefore, K-team took some version of the ARM7 processor, developed their own unique graphics chip, used the original Game Boy Advance instruction interpreter, and made it all work together.

Architectural diagram of the console:

As a result, it turns out that this is not a "hardware" clone of the console, but their own development that does everything differently, but also well.

The console uses two processors: ARM7 and ARM9.

ARM7 clock speed – 16.67 MHz.

ARM9 clock speed – 100 MHz.

ARM7 is needed for games and sound, while ARM9 performs many different additional functions:

1. Outputs the image to a large screen;

2. Handles the use of the K-Card cartridge;

3. Used for background management of various functions (cheats, hotkeys, etc.);

4. Plays mp3, txt, and jpg files.

The console uses a clone of the Nokia BL-5B 3.7v 890mAh Li-ion battery. It charges via a standard Mini USB.

The developers separately worked on the sound. The console has a sound processing device that significantly improves the sound compared to the original GBA consoles. Additionally, there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

It features a 3-inch TFT screen with 8 backlight modes. You can switch between 3 screen ratio modes: 4:3, 3:2, and the original GBA resolution (240x160 pixels).

Screen ratio 4:3.

Screen ratio 3:2 - this is the original GBA screen ratio.

Original GBA resolution (240x160 pixels).

There are also additional buttons X and Y, but they duplicate the L and R buttons. They cannot be remapped.

Main Features

According to the developers, the Revo K101+ console is compatible with all Game Boy Advance games. It supports both official and pirated cartridges. Moreover, unlike other clones, it also runs flash cartridges, such as EZ Flash Omega.

Network play is supported, both between Revo K101 and original consoles, and between two Revo K101s. However, the GBA Wireless Adapter is NOT supported.

The console has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. There is also a 2.5mm jack for connecting the console to a TV.

The Revo K101 features a high-quality LCD display with 8 brightness levels and a built-in LCD scaling mechanism.

There are various functional key combinations (*+L for in-game menu, etc.).

According to the developers, there is a built-in "eject controller" to change cartridges without turning off the console, but I do not recommend doing this.

The console comes with a K-Card flash cartridge (does not work in original consoles). It has many features typical of flash cartridges.

You can exit games to the menu;

It has RTC;

You can listen to music, read books, and view pictures;

You can use cheats in games;

Games can be launched directly from the archive. However, launching from the archive takes longer!

Why Buy It?

The most pressing question is probably – why buy it? If we were talking about this a couple of years ago, I would have said that it is not needed. But as of 2022, the situation has changed dramatically.

1. The cost of original consoles has increased significantly. If in 2018 a Game Boy Advance SP could be bought for 1000 rubles, and a regular Game Boy Advance for 500 rubles, today they cost around 5000 rubles.

2. Original consoles are not without flaws. The Game Boy Advance has no backlight and no battery, and the sound quality is very poor (constant hissing and crackling). The Game Boy Advance SP has no headphone jack, also has poor sound, and some people don't like the recessed D-pad. The Game Boy Micro is simply very small and very expensive (around 8-10 thousand rubles).

3. To bring original consoles to an ideal state, they need to be modified and, in some cases, resoldered. Besides being expensive (for example, an IPS screen costs 3500 rubles), not everyone will bother with this.

4. Original consoles require the purchase of a flash cartridge. The best flash cartridge in terms of price/quality costs 4500 rubles.

Of course, if you constantly monitor Avito, you can buy a console cheaper, but only if you are very lucky.

Suppose you decide to get an original Game Boy Advance.

The console itself costs 5000 rubles. Plus, playing on a screen without a backlight is a dubious idea, so you need to install an IPS screen, which is another 3500 rubles. Of course, you also need to install a mod for a built-in battery (+3500 rubles). Without a flash cartridge, you can't really play much, so that's another 4500 rubles. Most likely, you will also need to replace the case if it is in poor condition (1000-1500 rubles).

What do you end up with? You need to spend from 16500 to 18000 rubles to enjoy Game Boy Advance games. 18 thousand rubles! That's just crazy.

Even if you take a Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101, you will have to spend 5000 rubles on the console and another 4500 rubles on a flash cartridge. 9500 rubles is also quite expensive for a 15-year-old console.

Additionally, you need to consider that these will be used consoles. It is unclear what condition they are in and whether they need repairs. Typically, after 20 years, they accumulate a lot of dirt. Many people psychologically dislike used items.

And here comes the REVO K101+. It is new. It costs 5500 rubles. It has a bright and vibrant screen. It has a headphone jack, and the sound is free of hissing. It comes with a flash cartridge. This console can be connected to a TV. It has an 890 mAh battery. It has a sleep mode that works even with original cartridges. It boots up just like the original console, with the same blue lettering splash screen and nothing else happens.

An almost perfect ready-made solution for those who don't care whether it's an original console or not. And for those who don't want to bother with modding original consoles.

I will also tell you about the drawbacks.

If you take the console without the flash cartridge, it feels different. Slightly cheaper plastic, different button feel, they press differently. However, these are more personal impressions rather than drawbacks.

The most noticeable and main drawback of this console is the lack of native support for Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges.

Some people complain about the poor quality of the speaker.

Additionally, the K-Card flash cartridge is not as good as the EZ Flash Omega. Emulation of old games using the K-Card is not perfect. There is no instant save function.

Using the Console with Original Cartridges

Figuratively speaking, the Revo K101 has two modes of operation: with a flash cartridge and without it. It should be noted that without the K-Card, this console works like a regular Game Boy Advance. There are no built-in games, and there is no way to load them into the console's memory. But with the K-Card flash cartridge, things are a bit different. It loads using the ARM9 processor, bypassing the Game Boy Advance instruction interpreter (this is why it cannot be used on the original GBA), so additional features and capabilities appear.

Using the Revo K101 with original or pirated cartridges is practically no different from playing on the original console, except for a couple of hotkeys that work in this mode as well.

* button - changes the brightness of the console.

* + left – switches the console between the screen and TV output.

* + right – switches between PAL/NTSC modes for TV output.

* + down – changes the screen aspect ratio (there are three options: 4:3, 3:2, and the original GBA resolution (240x160 pixels)).

* + R – puts the console into sleep mode (to wake it up, press A or B).

Some flash cartridges also work on this console. We tested the main ones, and here are the results:

EZ Flash Omega – works;

EZ Flash Definitive Edition – works;

Everdrive GBA x5 – works;

EZ Flash Reform / EZ Flash 4 – does not work;

SuperCard – does not work;

Using the Console with K-Card

K-Card is a flash cartridge that is exclusively compatible with Revo K101. It could be called the perfect flash cartridge if not for one issue – it lacks a quick save feature.

K-Card supports Micro SD (SDHC, SDXC) memory cards up to 32 GB. The cartridge's memory card must be formatted in FAT32 (NTFS and exFat are not supported).

To play games, you will need ROM images of games (or applications) with the ".rom" extension, which you can find online.

After that, you write them to the root of the memory card, or you can create a folder on the memory card (or multiple folders) and write the ROM images into them. K-card can recognize folders and display their contents.

So, after we've written the necessary ROM images, we insert the memory card into the cartridge, then into your Revo K101+, turn it on, and enter this menu:

This is the start screen, and it shows all our folders and games. From here, we can launch games, music, text files, and images, delete files, and so on.

To navigate the menu, press the L and R buttons.

The next menu is settings.

There are many settings, so let's break them down:

Language – simply change the language. Options include: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, French, and Spanish.

Display – has 5 settings:

Display Device – switches the display from the console to TV output and vice versa.

LCD scaling – switches the aspect ratio of the console screen between: 4:3, 3:2, and the original GBA resolution (240x160 pixels). Only works for the console itself.

LCD brightness – adjusts the screen brightness (from 0 to 8). Only works for the console itself.

TV scaling – changes the output resolution from 480x320 to 640x480. Only for TV mode.

TV system – switches the TV output mode between PAL and NTSC. Only for TV mode.

Keypad – has 3 settings:

Key Sound – turn on/off the sound.

First delay – delay before the first button press (range from 0.1 seconds to 1 second). Default value is 0.5s.

Repeating delay – delay before repeated button presses (range from 0.1 seconds to 1 second). Default value is 0.1s.

It's not very clear why these settings are needed, especially if you increase the delay. But perhaps it would be useful for speedrunners.

RTC – real-time clock settings. Used in various games, such as Pokémon, for in-game events tied to time.

Enable RTC – turn on/off RTC.

Year – year.

Month – month.

Day – day.

Weekday – day of the week.

Hour – hour.

Minute – minute.

Second – second.

File filter – file filter, allows hiding files with different extensions.

All – show all files (can only be set to ON, then all other values below will switch to OFF. If you switch other values to ON, this setting will switch to OFF).

Game – show ROM images of games or hide them from the file system.

Save – show/hide save files.

MP3 – show/hide music files.

JPG – show/hide image files.

TXT – show/hide text files.

Miscellaneous – various settings.

Boot-up screen – turns on/off the startup screen.

GBA splash screen – turns on/off the official Game Boy splash screen before launching a game.

Auto-Sleep countdown – enables automatic sleep mode after a certain time (from 5 seconds to 10 minutes).

Wakeup Mode – switches the wake-up mode. Normal – wake-up occurs when pressing the A or B button. A + B – wake-up occurs when both buttons are pressed simultaneously.

Save settings – save changes.

The next menu is help. Unlike EZ Flash Omega, this is actually a useful section. It lists all the hotkey combinations, supported file formats, and information about the console itself.

How to Launch Games?

Games are launched very simply, you need to find the game in the folder and press A. Then it will just start.

If you HOLD the A button, an additional menu will open. Without releasing the A button, move to the desired line and release the A button.

Open – launch the game.

Delete – delete the game.

Cancel – close this menu.

Config – game settings.

Start new game – start the game.

Game Cheat – turn on/off cheats in the game.

Game Guide – you can create a txt file with notes, name it the same as the game xxxyyy.gba -> xxxyyy.txt and view this file directly from the game. But it doesn't work for me.

Auto-fire mode – you can assign Auto-fire to any button. By default, if you hold a button, it triggers once. If you enable this function and hold the button, it will act as if it's being pressed rapidly.

RTC - set the time for the clock.

Hotkey – simply shows the hotkey combinations.

Reset Game – restart the game.

Return to file list – return to the menu.

Hotkey Combinations

Button * - changes the console's brightness.

* + A – turn on/off autofire.

* + B – turn on/off cheats.

* + start – save the game to the memory card.

* + left – switches the console between the screen and TV output.

* + right – switches the TV output mode between PAL/NTSC.

* + down – changes the screen aspect ratio (there are three options: 4:3, 3:2, and the original GBA resolution (240x160 pixels)).

* + up – turn on/off RTC.

* + R – enter sleep mode (to wake up, press A or B).

* + L – brings up the in-game menu, which we discussed above.

How to exit the game?

Press the button combination * + Y and select Return to file list.

How to Save in the Game?

K-Card only has normal saves – these are saves made in the same way as if you were using a regular licensed cartridge.

Saves in the K-card cartridge are made automatically. To save, you need to wait until you reach a checkpoint in the game (where the game automatically saves) or an automatic save point, or press the save button yourself (if the game supports saving) and wait a bit.

During the game, the save file is in the DRAM volatile memory and is not written to the SD card. After turning off the device or entering the in-game menu, the game save will be written to the SD card. The combination * + START allows you to quickly save the game.

If you turn off the console, you don't need to do anything else. Progress is only lost when pressing the RESET button or when the battery runs out during the game. When the battery is low, it is recommended to save progress manually from time to time.

Epilogue

Overall, I really liked this console. It feels like an enlarged version of the Game Boy Micro (except for the nice aluminum body of the GBM).

The cost of the console is a bit high, but it comes with a good flash cartridge. This makes it almost twice as cheap as an original GBA console + Ez Flash Omega.

There's no need to modify the console (my Game Boy Pocket's almost new IPS screen broke).

If your goal is gaming, not collecting consoles, then this is the perfect option.