Programs for Testing Game Boy Advance

BtnTest Program

The simplest program, as the name suggests, is designed for testing buttons. It looks very simple and does nothing more than testing buttons.

KeyTest Program

Also a simple program designed for testing buttons. The plus is that it is well animated.

GBAUtilityTools Program

A more advanced program, made for the NeoFlash cartridge in 2013 by user Gamer2020.

It has four functions:

1. Dump BIOS – creates a BIOS image.

Let's make a small digression, what is BIOS and why is it needed? (under the cut)

2. Button test – as the name suggests, just a button test.

3. RTC test – tests the real-time clock function of the cartridge (clock and calendar).

4. Sound test – tests the sound on Game Boy Advance.

Not the most advanced program, but it can do much more than the first one.

AGB/AGS TEST PROGRAM (Aging Test Cartridge)

And on the cartridge, it is written in transliteration as "eejingu kaatorijji," which means "Aging Cartridge."

Accordingly, this is the name of the cartridge. Aging Cartridge. The cartridge got this name because it is used to check if the Game Boy Advance has aged to the point where it starts to behave incorrectly.

And we will start with the fact that you are unlikely to find such a cartridge anymore, but the program can still be downloaded.

When you load this program onto your flash cartridge, the first thing it will write is an error:

Nothing terrible happened, it's just that this program, when loading, enters the selected mode for loading, which is saved in EEPROM. And accordingly, at the first load, it tells you that it did not find a save and enters the default mode.

Press any button, and the program enters the AGS AGING CARTRIDGE mode. Here you can immediately turn off the console. And turn it on again by holding the L and R buttons.

Then the cartridge will load into the menu:

Let's go through the menu items:

Configuration:

Has three settings:

1. Target:

Here you need to select the default loading mode. That is, if you only need a specific test, for example, to check the buttons, then set the desired option here, and it will be automatically saved. After that, the program will enter the button test mode at each load, and to return to the menu, you will need to hold L and R when loading.

You can choose 6 loading options (we will talk about what these options are a little later):

Menu – loading directly into the cartridge menu.

Next is the choice of which cartridge testing program to launch at startup:

LCD unit checker

Flicker adjuster

Aging cartridge

Self test cartridge

Key Input text

2. Type – select the type of console, there are two options:

AGS – (Game Boy Advance SP)

AGB – (Game Boy Advance).

3. Aging time – setting the time for the Aging cartridge mode. There is an endless mode Endless or you can choose the program's operating time from 30 minutes to 99 hours.

Next menu – Test program.

And here you can choose 4 program options:

LCD unit checker - a fairly standard program for checking for dead pixels.

Color slides that switch with the A and B buttons.

Flicker adjuster – I understand this is a program for adjusting screen flicker (that round regulator that is located under the battery in Game Boy Advance SP).

In fact, three slides that duplicate the first three slides in LCD unit checker, but without the remaining colored ones.

Aging cartridge – the main program for the cartridge, which first checks the technical characteristics, and then launches a funny animation for a certain time, which runs for the time specified in your settings.

A few slides of animation:

And the last mode of this menu:

Self test cartridge – an interesting testing program that combines all three previous modes and the button test mode, as well as network equipment testing (which was not in the previous modes, for this you need a second Game Boy Advance and a network cable, for this test to work, you need to not wait for the second Game Boy Advance to finish loading, but immediately press start as soon as the screen turns on).

And the last menu option – Option program

It contains only one program that allows you to test the Game Boy Advance buttons. The undoubted advantage of this program is that it is more beautiful and, most importantly, more visual than both previous programs:

Epilogue

The AGB/AGS TEST PROGRAM is good not only for testing Game Boy Advance but also for testing Flash cartridges. Not all Flash cartridges can pass the standard test. For example, EZ Flash Omega, EZ Flash 4, EZ Cart 1, G6 Flash, and M3 Lite passed this test, while Flash Advance and, surprisingly, SuperCard did not pass this test (for SuperCard, you need to use special software for recording). But even if the Aging cartridge test does not start due to an error, you can still try all the other tests.