Game Boy Player
The GameBoy Player is a device made by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube which enables Game Boy, Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance cartridges to be played on a television. It connects via the High Speed (Parallel) port at the bottom of the GameCube and requires use of a boot disc to be run to access the hardware. The hardware in the Game Boy Player is the same as a Game Boy Advance without the screen or batteries.
The GameBoy Player allows for control either through a GameCube controller or a GameBoy Advance (SP) hooked up with a GameCube-GameBoy Advance Cable. When using a GameBoy Advance, the buttons are identical, but due to the GameCube controller's different layout, there are two different mappings you can use. Also, you need at least one GameCube controller plugged in to access the menu.
| GameCube Button
| GBA Equivalent - Map One
| GBA Equivalent - Map Two
|
| Control Stick/Directional Pad
| Directional Pad
| Directional Pad
|
| A/B Buttons
| A/B Buttons
| A/B Buttons
|
| L/R Buttons
| L/R Buttons
| Select
|
| X/Y Buttons
| Select
| L/R Buttons
|
| Start Button
| Start Button
| Start Button
|
| C Stick
| Not Used
| Directional Pad
|
| Z Button
| Open Menu
| Open Menu
|
The menu has six options to choose from:
- Frame: changes the coloured border around the game "screen" to one of twenty different patterns (Super GameBoy borders are not supported). Some future and present GBA games and GameCube games have caused the Game Boy Player to have new special frames.
- Size: changes the size that the GBA screen takes up on the TV (Normal is about 80% while Wide enlarges the image to the left and right edges of the TV)
- Controller: switches between the two controller mappings
- Screen: switches between soft, normal or sharp contrast to reduce potential flicker from programming tricks designed for a GBA screen
- Timer: set an alarm for one to sixty minutes
- Change Cartridge: stops the game so you can replace the cartridge
The GameBoy Player is available in Indigo, Black, Spice or Platinum in Japan, Black in North America and Black and Indigo in Australia (and potentially Europe as well). A special GameBoy Player for the Q GameCube/DVD player had to be made due to the Q's legs. All GameBoy Players have screws on the bottom to secure it to the GameCube and also have an eject button on the right side of the unit for GameBoy Advance games. GameBoy and GameBoy Color games stick out from the unit (just like the GameBoy Advance (SP)) so they can just be pulled out (when the system is off or Change Cartridge has been selected from the menu). Prototypes have featured a storage compartment on the left side of the GameBoy Player, but it does not show up in the retail product.
