Normal JP box.
I also have the box for a green US pocket that was somehow purchased in Japan in the 90s. I have to assume Pokemon related shortages led to a retailer importing from the US.
Things I have learned: 20 year old thermal paper isn’t good anymore.
If anyone has suggestions for a paper to use with my GB Printer, please let me know.
Been meaning to post about this for a while. Recently got:
- Used Pikachu “Pocket Printer” (Japanese name for Game Boy Printer)
- Two NIB GB Printer paper rolls for ridiculously cheap which apparently aren’t all that useful
- NIB Zelda Orcale of Ages JP version
- NIB Red Game Boy Pocket
- Used US version of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
I think, I hope, my GB collection has reached a critical mass where I don’t need much more. But if you see me post about a NIB JP version of Oracle of Seasons in the near future don’t be surprised.
1 Like
Cool! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a gameboy pocket printer in the flesh. The gameboy camera, however, made the rounds in my school. Never did see the appeal of that one. But I guess it was, ultimately, a precursor to the smartphone camera.
Pikachu GB Printer is the ultimate 90s thing.
I made up some thermal paper rolls for my (non Pokémon) one, one day I mean to play through Link’s Awakening DX and print the memories as they happen.
I was reading this article on Ars Technica about installing a backlit screen on the original GBA models, and was amazed to find out that you get better battery life from the modern backlit displays than the non-lit early 00s displays. Progress!
The Game Boy Micro will always hold a special place in my heart, though. That anodised aluminium chassis still holds up, while having a unique shape of its own compared with the homogenous sea of near-identical phone designs. The display came at just the right time - it’s as crisp and nearly as bright as the DS Lite’s (The Lite itself had a high quality display for its time), so it still works great in 2018.
The regional variations are interesting. Japanese and European models have the serial number tastefully imprinted on the back to match the logo and regulatory text. for some reason Nintendo of America insisted that North American Micros have a huge, ugly serial sticker on the back, spoiling the look somewhat:
I haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere, but the START/SELECT buttons are actually different in the European models. For the other models, they are steel with the letters START and SELECT milled out to let the blue light through. The European models replace these with transparent rubber/plastic buttons. Not quite as nice.
The other regional oddities are in colour variations - personally I prefer the Japanese blue and pink models. The European colours seem aimed at taking on the iPod Mini at that time.
The only real downer is the face plates - the plastic scratches easily on them (though every Micro came with a carry case) and they add a small air gap between the plate and the screen. It’s still surprisingly usable outdoors, though. I’m replaying Boktai at the moment.
Never knew any of this. Cool info
I was wondering if anyone could help me confirm whether the European version of Wario Land 4 uses SRAM + battery backup for saving, or whether it uses FRAM or eeprom?
You should be able to use an ever drive to see which save type they use
That’s the thing - I don’t have a cartridge handy. I only have the Japanese version, and upon opening it up it’s SRAM + battery backup.
You can also tell from the motherboard codes just above the contacts to the right hand side, but again no European copy to hand…
I don’t have a pal copy but I should be able to check with my everdrive when I get home.
Thank you. Someone uploaded a list of GBA games which used battery saves, but for some reason in the Europe list Wario Land 4 was absent.
Given its rather early release timing I’m pretty sure it should have been a battery save, but there have been instances where games have received reprints with flash memory instead:
The newer circuit board uses FRAM (see the lettering to the left of the left-most chip on the board), whereas the older circuit board clearly has SRAM powered by a battery.
I checked my USA Warioland 4 rom and my everdrive says its SRAM. Unfortunately I don’t have a PAL rom but a quick search has all the rom sites listing WarioLand 4 as (USA, EUROPE) so I’m going to assume they are the same.
Just for shits I also opened up both of my USA Warioland 4 carts and both have batteries as well.
It seem’s very likely to me that the PAL version of Warioland 4 uses a battery.
FWIW JP ver is also sram+battery.
I really hate seeing batteries in GBA carts.
Thanks for checking. It would make sense if the European version used SRAM plus battery given the game released in 2001 and the circuit boards for FRAM games have “2002 Nintendo on them”. The question is whether there were newer print runs of the game replacing the battery save.
Aye, I recently picked up a Japanese copy (and ended up playing through hard and super hard mode, what a game!) and it does indeed have a battery.
Let me know if you find anything!
Aye. As soon as I see a game uses a battery to save I generally go right to my everdrive.
I’m a bit gutted that the battery on my Boktai cartridge has run dry. While the game supports sleep mode, it’s annoying that every time you do a soft reset (or switch off the system to change games) you have to reset the date and time in the options screen before starting the game. For a title with a heavy focus on ranking and score it makes retrying stages feel like a slog.
Is it easy to replace the battery? I’m seeing conflicting reports online of how you do or do not need a soldering iron. I’m guessing you don’t - you just slide out the CR1616 battery under the holder and slide in a new one. Is there anything else I should know?
Looks like it’s soldered in to me (checking images on google), I don’t have the cart so I can’t tell you for sure but I doubt it has a battery holder.
It’s easy enough to change (if you have a soldering iron)
Thank you, maybe I’ll experiment with a low value cartridge first then…so not Boktai, haha.