3DS Can Play Game Boy Advance Games Without Emulation

[@GVG]

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[@DryPaperHammerBro]

I thought something was missing from the video. Thanks SponsorBlock!

[@mattschehr163]

sponsors dont help we just want to watch the video

[@rickster008]

I agree with the secret jon

[@PrzemekZebrzynski]

"3DS library outstanding" - muahahahha xd this console doesn't have any action games, nor any strategy games, nor any RTS games nor horror games... it has only mario and some big-headed jRPG games... Even PS Vita has better library. At least it has Borderlands 2 or Uncharted or God of War 1 + 2, or Assassin's Creed

[@sleepyslurpuff]

@@PrzemekZebrzynski You thought this comment deserved to be posted twice? 😂

[@piratebear3126]

Fun fact: there’s some GBA games that have a built in sleep mode, and it triggers the 3DS’s sleep mode like normal. Just remember the button combo to bring it out of sleep mode.

[@DarkBowser64]

You don't even need the button combo to bring it out of sleep! If the game has a built-in sleep mode, closing the system and then reopening the system will automatically bring it out of sleep mode. There's just no way to put it INTO sleep mode without the actual built in methods of the game.

[@bootmii98]

Doesn't work with Goomba Color

[@karmagiel]

​@@DarkBowser64 oh, i wondered why metroid fusion was active after putting it to sleep and opening the 3ds again. thats why.

[@Michirin9801]

And you can patch Sleep Mode into the games that don't have it! Also, don't use Goomba Color, use Gambatte, or GameYob in DS mode. Gambatte is better for most games, and it's probably perfect on a New 3DS, but for some reason, GameYob in DS mode has better performance with a few extra-demanding GBC games on an old 3DS (Cannon Fodder and Wacky Races for example)

[@SuperFranzs]

Yeah. I used this a lot in Mother 3! I had to play it on the 3DS, as the timings don't work in emulation.

[@AbruptAvalanche]

It's funny how in that same generation, pretty much the exact same thing happened with the Wii U and Gamecube games. The system was capable, but Nintendo just never did anything with it.

[@3dsfan2002]

If the Wii U was given 2 more years to bounce back, maybe GameCube could of arrived

[@The_SOB_II]

​@@3dsfan2002I love your commitment to coping. The Wii U got done dirty but man there was nothing they could do after the first 2 years max

[@HackerBilly13]

​@@3dsfan2002Honestly I think the thing that would've saved the Wii U was the 3ds Player they were working on for it. It got dropped and never released but I honestly believe if that was something that released nearly immediately with the system. It would've done so incredibly well

[@juiceala]

This is false, I was one of the Beta testers of Dios Mios and Nintendont, unlike the 3DS the Wii U CAN'T run GameCube games natively, Nintendo removed the MIOS from the Wii U and it was up to the hard work of the modding community to build, test, fix and adjust Nintendont to make it run well on the Wii U.

[@legoboy7107]

@@juiceala But that's mainly a software-side thing, isn't it? The software the Wii uses when it runs Gamecube games or something is what's missing? The actual native Gamecube hardware is still present in the system since it has Wii hardware (which is basically the same), right? It's just not nearly as usable on its own out-of-the-box as the GBA hardware in the 3DS clearly is because Nintendo removed software that allows you to...access it or something? Correct me if I'm wrong and you really know but that's roughly the idea I had of what's happening there.

[@armadeus8711]

Nothing fills me with more excitement that getting to hear Jon talk about backwards compatibility for 10+ minutes The only thing that gets me more excited is hearing Jon talk about image quality for 10+ minutes

[@Kritigri]

Tell me about image quality, Jon. Show me the pixels.

[@Kiirabu197]

​@@Kritigri look at those pixel-perfect images.

[@Matanumi]

exciting like Sora

[@AlexCFaulkner]

I think this video was a subliminal message on how to play mother 3 in English.

[@YustinJ420]

And Mario vs Donkey Kong without buying the switch version

[@thenightowls2804]

or you could just use an emulator on your laptop/phone lol

[@Lordilucas12]

@@thenightowls2804 The rhythm elements work way better on native hardware because of the lack of input delay, I'd actually argue mother 3 is one of the few games where this native solution has huge gameplay benefits

[@leeartlee915]

That’s how I played it for the first time. And I’m glad I did. That thing is NEVER getting localized.

[@PikadaveStudios]

that's how i did it for the first time! (i found an app that turns .gba files into smt the 3ds could do)

[@kianworld_]

BTW you can enable the GBA startup screen on VC injects by holding Select when turning the system on to load Luma's settings and enabling "Show GBA boot screen in patched AGB_FIRM"

[@JagGentlemann]

"I'm not a liar" >Cuts to a sponsor not narrated by John

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

Tip for anyone playing games with pixel perfect mode, trying playing with the lights off at night. You hardly notice how much of it is not used when you already have a hard time seeing anything but the game

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

I have to squint to see it well though...

[@ihaveagoddamnplanarthur]

​@@gluttonousmaximus9048umm uhh let's say that it's a gameboy micro

[@qnybucks]

pandanoko in the wild...

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

@@qnybucks I love whenever someone brings that up because I then get to talk about how I actually got a Pandanoko in Yo-Kai Watch 2. It's name is Tuxenoko (it's one of the 4 default nicknames, but I like it)

[@xkrylo8002]

If you want a quality sharp image without reducing the screen size on a hacked 3ds, use TWpatch which you can get from the Universal Updater. Feels just like playing a real DS.

[@kitterbug]

Fun Fact: The Game Boy Advance shares the PSG soundchip (PSGs are what we typically call beep boop soundchips!) initially used on the original Game Boy, referred to as the DMGAPU (Dot Matrix Game Audio Processing Unit, 2x Pulse, 1x Wave, 1x noise), along with the GBA's 2 PCM sample channels. This chip is stored in the CPU and since It is used heavily within Game Boy Advance games remains on versions of the hardware without backwards compatibility for the original Game Boy. This means that the entire Nintendo DS family including the 3DS has a leftover from it's grandpa, the Game Boy! The DMG APU cannot be accessed by 3DS or DS software, and any PSG that you hear in DS or 3DS games is their own PSGs (6x Wave/Pulse, 2x noise, it functions out of 8 of the 16 PCM channels on DS, 32 PCM channels on 3DS via CSND), but regardless I think that is extremely cool!

[@Joel97_]

Twilight menu next + NDS forwarder next? And yes, i also did this for years, my 3DS is a emulation beast, i love it

[@wchorski]

ever had emulation problems with gba games and Twilight menu? I switched to mGBA instead for now, but miss the convince of the all in one

[@Joel97_]

@@wchorski I just used native GBA for the 3ds through the injectors, it was comfy enough for me, and I didn't need to do it that often to it would become annoying so. Never had issues with it. I did try GBA Runner on twilight menu, but eh, that would be better on a DSi in my opinion, since you would load more directly to twilight menu

[@Konic_and_Snuckles]

The reason for the dark filter is because the original GBA didn't have a backlight and so most of its game library used very bright assets to stand out better under ambient lighting conditions. Many of these games look fine when played on a backlit display, but some look comically bright like FF6 Advanced.

[@FullaEels]

been injecting gba roms on my 3ds for a couple years now, it's fun! i can play pokemon gen 1-7 all on the same system, which i think is neat, and the only 'not legit' section is gen 3. they really should've put them on vc

[@tylerlaunius7396]

Here's hoping an NSO announcement for the GB/C and GBA games happens at the upcoming Pokémon Presents. It would be pretty neat to have them.

[@JeskidoYT]

like jon said, hope you moved to the openagba firm please

[@ndnixlon9548]

AGB_FIRM doesn't support FLASH1M (the save type every Gen 3 Pokémon game used) so I'm not surprised why it wasn't on the Ambassador Program.

[@johnsducks9816]

I love old Pokémon games but since getting used to playing them on emulators with fast forward it is impossible to go back they are just so much better with ff

[@ndnixlon9548]

@@johnsducks9816 4th Gen Pokémon is the only one in the mainline series capable of fast-forward without the use of emulators (via cheats tho)

[@catmachete2900]

Another great feature of open agb firm is that managing save files is way easier. They’re just put in a folder on your sd card while injects take several steps to backup saves

[@kariminyt]

ah thx i wanted to know this. i always wanted to an easier way to extract the save files from VC. this is the way to go.

[@leonro]

But injects are visible from the normal home screen. I much prefer to have all of my games in one place, even if I can't do it for DS. For games like Pokemon where you might want to transfer the creatures, it might be a better way, but usually I just want to play the game. I only ever injected Zero Mission, and I'd say that it played very well. Usually I just emulate games on my phone or PC though, it's more convenient.

[@kitterbug]

​@@leonroI prefer to use virtual console for presentation, but if I'm lazy I use AGB firm

[@Wryyyong]

@ Surely utility factor should take precedent over aesthetics factor, no? Sure, seeing all those icons on your HOME Menu looks nice n all, but each individual game requires one to inject the ROM dump they desire into an importable archive based off the ones used for the 'Nintendo 3DS Ambassador' program. And if aesthetics are your goal, then that'd also mean making a fitting icon and banner for each game as well, and getting its title and developer/publisher info correct as well. And only _then_ would you be able to install the archive on your system. And if you make a mistake anywhere in your customization for the archive, you gotta go through the hoops of backing up any save data you've made with that game, re-create the archive with the mistakes fixed, install the new archive, run it to generate a placeholder save binary, reboot the system and restore your save backup. Furthermore, each game you install counts towards your "300 title icons" limit. Even once everything's said and done, actually getting into that game whenever you want to play it takes longer overall: 1. Hit the POWER button 2. Wait for the system to boot up and load the HOME Menu 3. Locate the game you want to play and launch it 4. Wait for the game to launch 5. Play your game Meanwhile, if you were to use open_agb_firm: 1. Hit the POWER button, while holding START and selecting open_agb_firm from the payload selector (or any button you've assigned to run open_agb_firm's payload on boot) 2. Select your ROM dump from the menu after the payload has run 3. Play your game if you just want to "play the game" like you say, then would you not prefer the option that requires the least setup and waiting time?

[@benfll]

​@@leonro you can get ds games on the home menu too

[@thebearup]

IIRC the dark filter was for 2 reasons. 1. Nintendo was trying to prevent epilepsy related to flashing lights. 2. Some early GBA games used bright color palettes to compensate for lack of backlighting. So on later consoles they added a darken filter to compensate for the compensation. FWIW GBA Runner is another option for GBA on 3DS but results may vary.

[@NovaDelta]

One neat thing I found out while playing GBA games on a DSi using GBArunner2 is that using it you can actually extend the rendering of the game itself to fully fit the DS's screen to give you an additional 16 horizontal and 32 vertical pixels. Pokemon Ruby was the only game I tested with this and the game actually does render parts of the screen that aren't shown. The world think renders 16x16 tiles at a time, and with the frame extended not only can you see the unused vertical tiles, but also how the screen shifts horizontally and its pretty cool. You can also see some random data, as well as parts of the Hoenn town map that aren't usually fully shown

[@asad9414]

You can use GBArunner2 on the 3ds as well through twilightmenu

[@RBtheMad]

been doing this for years. my modded 3DS was such a clutch handheld for a broke high school student. being able to play NES, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, GBA, DS, and 3DS all on one system was incredible for a long time.

[@vampirestrike_]

Nintendo: You still can't play MOTHER 3 outside of Japan. Jon: *wink wink*

[@UnreaLorenzo]

You can, Just have a Japanese Nintendo account. (Switch is REGION FREE remember?) Besides, just use the English fan translation and inject it as a GBA forwarder (like Jon did) I played it in my 3DS.

[@kariminyt]

@@UnreaLorenzo haha u didnt got that the wink wink meant. there is English translated rom for mother 3 for years. but nintendo cant translate it them self to English without changing the game due to copyright issues is not the same in the west to what its in japan.

[@SnakebitSTI]

_Looks at Mother 3 cartridge_ _Looks at GBA_ What do you mean I can't play it? It works perfectly fine! :P

[@Cerbleur07]

Nintendo (watching the Mother 3 fandub website) : We are not going to localize mother 3 over Japan, we don't even know what that is.... *wink wink*

[@bgill7475]

The vita does this for psp games too, there’s special dedicated hardware inside the vita just for playing psp games without emulation. I love it when companies do this. If you jailbreak it and use adrenaline this will also access that hardware and play the games through that, so you’ll play psp games natively on a vita.

[@fapuloes]

Well, in the case of the GBA the dark filter does actually make sense (at least in theory) since a lot of the original GBA games had set much higher contrasts to counter the non-backlit screen of the original model. Which means playing any of those GBA games on a backlit screen (including the GBA SP even) without color correction does get you an image that is simply too bright and thus not truly representing how that game is actually supposed to look like as intended by the designers. My favorite example being Mario Advance 2 looking completely bleached out compared to Super Mario World.

[@Tempora158]

Unfortunate that the original GBA, released just two decades ago, is already a victim of the Mandela Effect, because people have clearly forgotten how dim the original GBA's reflective screen is, or that there even was the original GBA, because a lot of people seriously think the GBA SP is the original GBA.

[@nadca2]

@@Tempora158 The SP and Game Boy Player are why FFTA had three different display options

[@jaykelley103]

Games looked more or less correct on the first model of the gba sp, as it had a front lit screen that washed the colors out similar to an unlit gba. It's the second model with the backlit lcd screens that really messed up the color palettes. The gba micro as well. Luckily modern emulators have color correction and visual shader support that can get quite close to the intended look. Of course, a lot of people still play with the blowed out bright uncorrected colors, but most people also think those cheap $200 4k TVs from Walmart look good, so theres really no reasoning with the unwashed masses.

[@kitterbug]

I was just reading up on the ARM7 in the 3DS! Crazy how both the Wii U and 3DS had double backwards compatibility that was barely used....

[@Kurlija]

Coincidentally, I just injected the last GBA game I wanted to try (Drill Dozer) last night, adding up to a grand total of 57 GBA titles on my 3DS. It really is a great feature for those of us who haven't grown up with a GBA. The fact it works with fan translations and ROM hacks is a huge plus, too.

[@jaq515]

Being an ambassador also got you early access to the new 3ds ambassador before it launched. Which was nice

[@pokepress]

GBA sound has noise because the digital sample channels only have 8 bits of resolution, so the dynamic range is small enough that you can hear the digital noise floor. For comparison, CDs have 16 bits (which results in 256 times the dynamic range, not just double), and 24 and 32 bit formats also exist.

[@ndnixlon9548]

IIRC someone was able to reduce the hissing noise in the MusicPlayer2000 (or Sappy / MP2k, the default Nintendo sound driver used in most GBA games) called ipatix' High Quality Sound Mixer.

[@111112oo]

8 bit audio resolution has 256 possible positions per channel while 16 bit resolution has 65,536 possible positions per channel, for those that don't know.

[@cube2fox]

How many bits did the SNES have?

[@pokepress]

@@cube2fox It was capable of using 16-bit samples, though lower depths were often used. I think the hard limit on the GBA is part of what gives it the noticeable hiss.

[@SaviTheGamer]

These games were some of the few that I had when I was younger my 3DS and it lead me to becoming a fan of a love of these series! I'm quite glad these are getting the spotlight they deserver, and there's something new to discover about them every day!

[@jacobpro_]

I have a modded New 3DS XL and DSi XL; both such great systems. I bought the DSi for DS games.. even though the 3DS can play them, the resolution difference was too muddy for my liking. DS games look the absolute best on native hardware. Especially on the IPS large displays of the XL. Chefs kiss.

[@DarkNia64]

You might already know this, but DS and VC games can be played in their original resolution on 3DS by holding Start while launching. Only downside is the smaller window size.

[@hahahaani]

I'm really tempted to splurge on a XL for some crisp ds gameplay, but I'm also considering using that money instead to pimp out my lite with an ezflash and new R4. Real first world problems lol

[@СергійДмитренко-ю2ъ]

@@hahahaanii have dsi xl to and i like play on it gba games. I tried gbarunner3 dev build and it worke very smooth! it have no inputlag like plaing native gba.

[@KyLesCaster]

You can achieve pixel perfect with 3DS, its no different. Wouldn't you rather have the entire 3DS library ON TOP of the DS? I dont suggest anyone buy a DS / DSi over a 3DS, if the screen quality is the only arguement.

[@EuroMIX2]

I wish I'd been able to get a New 3DS XL before they became too rare and expensive. I do love my standard XL, but there's times I wish I had the features of the New XL.

[@redchan_ebooks]

it's how i've been playing MOTHER 3. It's perfect Edit: You can actually enable the GBA bootup screen in the Luma3DS menu when holding select on boot

[@steve43ful]

⬆️ what they said, feels way cooler with the logo

[@droycon]

That’s how I played mother 3 it works amazing

[@martinmcneal2778]

Let me just say this. You have a pretty impressive voice and could be a great news anchor or a radio announcer for a product or as a radio host.

[@The_SOB_II]

He could be the next Dookie Nookie

[@JeskidoYT]

i believe jon did work for radio before he got into gaming

[@Qwerty10254]

He knows that already

[@superxnatrl1941]

his voice is horrible

[@The_SOB_II]

@@superxnatrl1941 What makes you say that? Sometimes it feels like he's rumbling my heart and it's going to rupture TBH, but not since they started this channel really

[@ruegore]

I've been following profi200's OAF project since early 2022. I love how it feels like you've turned your 3DS into a GBA with a flash cart in it! Such a fantastic project and I'd love to see profi200 finally implement that GUI they've been working on for so long.

[@FalKoopa]

I play most of my GBA games on the 3DS via emulation because for the most part it works well enough. It's only for games that don't run well (like Warioware Twisted) that I use injects. The 3DS really is an amazing system in the sense it can play literally every handheld game Nintendo ever released, along with NES, SNES and (barely) N64 games.

[@Unithrex]

How did you get Twisted working? Is there a way to use the 3ds gyro?

[@jaykelley103]

The gba emulation has too much input lag. I'll give up savestates in an instant if it means that the games actually perform properly.

[@OutsideSpace-ur2st]

I love the native compatibility, there were also some eshop virtual console titles that instead of using the link cable for multiplayer it would use download play.

[@PixelShade]

I knew about it! and ITS WONDERFUL. I modded mine when Nintendo pulled support. I have GB, GBC, Super Nintendo, GBA, DS, DSi Ware and 3DS games directly accessible from the home screen, and then I tons of other systems through emulators, such as Mega Drive, Master System, Neo Geo, Capcom CPS 1-3... the 3DS is an amazing portable system. :)

[@werethless12]

2:02 to skip to the actual video

[@Joe_334]

Ugh, John could tuck me in bed with a story, with that voice. So calming...

[@gamecubeslayer]

I got a 2ds xl this year and it’s becoming one of my favorite consoles ever Having one system to play Pokémon generations 1-7 is just so cool to have

[@marctestarossa]

10:50 sleep mode + save states. that’s all i need. i get flashbacks from all the times i lost so much progress in a game because my parents made me turn a console off after i told them for the 5th time that i can’t quit right now because i need to somehow get to the next point where i could save the game. or those times where i left my PlayStation running over night and during school to come home to find it turned off because my dad thought i left it on by accident. and with portable devices it’s even more important. ❤ and it might not be pixel perfect but it still looks way better than on original gba consoles other than maybe the gb micro. the screen is tiny but man does it look awesome.

[@KnownAsKenji]

Really goes to show the length of DS's life, that people forgot this was always built-in.

[@vidego]

The same thing happened with the Wii U, where because it's backwards compatible with Wii games, it can also natively play GameCube games. Nintendo never put any on the eShop so you need a modded console, however.

[@negil]

It's interesting cause I seem to remember Nintendo and Nintendo Power explaining that Nintendo was struggling with figuring out how to get the 3DS to emulate GBA games, and therefore there would never be more than the handful they "miraculously" got to work for the Ambassador program

[@redtutel]

11:52 that deserves its own video. Maybe when we get main series Pokémon on NSO

[@TetsuoKunio]

Scrolling comments to find this. Is it just preference, or does he know something we don’t. I have to know.

[@webbedshadow2601]

I have a modded 3DS and didn't know there was a way to launch GBA games straight from boot and avoid having to install injects that is CRAZY to me, so thanks to the homebrew community for making that possible! I can't believe how perfect the 3DS is for playing GBA games! well as long as having nothing showing on the bottom screen doesn't annoy you haha

[@Calham64]

9:56 Oh, boy... I remember this so vividly. Back then I honestly found it quicker to exit to the Home Menu then power it down as it was quicker. The same goes for when in DS Mode. It may have meant waiting for the Home Menu to boot, but it was actually faster than just powering it off straight away, which doesn't really make any sense, lol.

[@scpredmage]

I'm a huge fucking nerd that went down this rabbit hole a while back after I jailbroke my New 3DS XL and wanted to figure out what all it could run. To expand on the explanation in the video with too many technical details, the Nintendo DS included both a 67MHz ARM9 core and a 33MHz ARM7 core. The GameBoy Advance used a 16.78MHz ARM7 core (it also had a 4MHz Z80 for backwards compatibility with GameBoy and GameBoy Color games, but that's all it was used for). When playing GBA games on a DS, it just used that core to run things. That said, DS games also used the ARM7 core, for things like audio, WiFi, and the touchscreen. Because of that, in order to maintain backwards compatibility with DS games, the 3DS had to include that same ARM7 core, in addition to the DS's ARM9 core and the dual-core 268MHz ARM11 it introduced. But the problem is that in order to run those backwards compatible games, the system basically has to switch to "DS mode", which more or less disables the ARM11 core and runs exactly how that system ran, including support for GBA games. With GBA games, not even the original DS had a sleep mode that worked with GBA games, so the same is true for the 3DS. Some games had their own sleep mode activated by a button combo, and I believe would automatically wake when you reopened the DS. The "Ultimate GBA VC Injector for 3DS" (the one used in the video) includes an option to try to patch a sleep mode into games (on screen at 5:44), but as it warns, it doesn't work for all games.

[@NeoVejiita]

This is super cool. If I ever go to play a GBA game portably again I will likely use this method...that being said, I've mostly just used PC emulation lately due to how accurate the emulators can be on a high end PC.

[@tsu7206]

"An horrible dark filter" GBA games weren't made with backlight in mind and most dev used oversaturated colors to compensate the dark screen of the GBA/SP. That "horrible dark filter" is way more accurate to the intended look of the game.

[@lakitudude7577]

The biggest example i've noticed of sound issues is that the confirm sound in the gen 3 Pokémon games sounds off

[@Ecusu]

It's worth pointing out that, if you're using a 3DS XL, old or new, then DS games on Pixel Perfect mode will be the exact same size as if played on an actual DSi. The smaller window size is an illusion due to the empty black space around it. GBA games are sadly genuinely a bit smaller in Pixel Perfect, but still better than, let's say, a Micro.

[@DeoxysChao]

LeafGreen stan here! I still kept my original cartridge to this day. Loved it! 😊

[@Preskryption]

Long live the 3DS!

[@kariminyt]

i found this funny, any way only 1 month left for the online to be shutdown =/

[@Diabrorojo]

​@@kariminyti hope guys do some hacking to have it running on pretendo or anything like that for at last first party games.

[@kariminyt]

@@Diabrorojoits not great on 3ds like its on wii u sadly. only mario kart 7 is supported which is great on 3ds. but i wish it had more

[@Diabrorojo]

@@kariminyt i didn't know that :( I hope they improve it adding more 3DS games.

[@ericbelnades1257]

Oh boy that aged poorly... but also like a fine wine at the same time! Incredible

[@Basegud]

I played the 3DS basically from launch through the death and I am only just now learning that you can hold the start button to start up DS games in pixel perfect res...

[@AlexanTheMan]

The 3DS always seems to show itself as a Jack of all trades as time goes on

[@MegaManNeo]

I knew about the Injector tool but never used it thus also never knew about the 3DS actually having native GBA backwards compatibility. Thanks a lot!

[@mactep1]

I still think this is way better on DS, the screens might be 4:3 but its always in pixel perfect with minimal black bars, unlike the 3ds pixel perfect mode.

[@crazyconan28]

The end made me smile, go Leaf Green. Thank you for the relaxing video to listen to after work as I'm doing house chores.

[@Williamplayz2011]

not me, i like fire red

[@olevet75]

quality of those comparising shots is amazing

[@ThunderDragonRandy]

10:53 For RetroAchievements in RetroArch. But if RetroAchievements never existed, I probably would have went the native route.

[@cheesewombatTV]

John continues to make videos exclusively about my random hyperfixations at 3 am. God bless you fellow crazy man ❤

[@UnreaLorenzo]

I remember back in 2016 seeing one dude play Pokémon FireRed on KZbin on his 3DS and i was like: I also want GBA games on my 3DS (the progress in 2016 was very different. You even had to find your own art and manually crop it to size) Ahh, good memories.

[@vertujoe2886]

Thank you for sharing this informative video, I always heard 3ds had a native GBA mode but never found it's based on custom start options instead of luma3ds. Greatly appreciated 👍👍

[@putridscene]

In reference to Jon's question, I have been doing this for years and ALSO did not know it was running them natively.

[@lewisdowney2066]

awesome tutorial. amazed at how simple 3ds modding is, subscribed and liked

[@Gluurak]

Dark Filter was there cause GBA Games where made for a dark screen and so the games had brighter colors. Since the SP / DS / 3DS has Light inside the screen the brighter colors made the colors not that they were intended. The Dard Filter make it more like it was on a og GBA.

[@JediMB]

I wasn't aware of open_agb_firm, so thanks for that! I haven't had that much time for my 3DS since I modded it a year and a half ago, but I did just rip some of my old GBA games and this could make playing them a much smoother experience.

[@Matanumi]

10:52 -sleep mode.... thats why Man all this reminds me how amazing 3DS hardware is. And i REALLY HOPE next switch keeps tegra X1 chip within

[@ThunderPhant]

I was a "3DS Ambassador" and I was probably 11 years old, but I played the HELL out of Fire Emblem Sacred Stones & Metroid Fusion. Literally 100+ Hours in FE and got me into the series so when Awakening came out I was ready

[@robinrai4973]

emulating is kinda better since you can do things like save states and proper sleep

[@kokocola456]

Great video and another reason why people should mod their 3Ds if they haven’t. I have an old 2DS that I use to play all the GBA games I missed. And the old 2ds to me. Just feels like big gba

[@Thollis1987]

Jon voice is so satisfying to hear talking about video games.😊

[@PhirePhlame]

For the time comparison, I do think it's worth noting that the 3DS seems to take longer to get to the Home Menu when you have a theme applied.

[@ZipplyZane]

Also if you have it hacked and use a decent sized SD card.

[@McGomezAddams]

Realistically there's only 3 consoles you need to play every Nintendo game. New Nintendo 3DS Wii U Switch

[@btarg1]

Somehow i never tried this with any of my modded consoles! This looks like a great way to play Mario and Luigi!

[@ThisIsCSDX]

This is actually super helpful. Now if only I knew how to remove 3DSBank data properly as I made a sort of 2nd profile just for GBA VC.

[@lankyjames88]

I'm glad i found this video, why mess around with emulation, when GBA is all i wanted! This works so well too, Advance Wars in retroarch was stuttering, and the audio was really choppy. With this 'Virtual Console' method all the games i've tried are flawless as i remember them!

[@douggfe]

me casually playing MOTHER 3 (Brazilian-Portuguese/Fan translation) on my 3DS

[@RPGreg2600]

Glad i watched this. I hadn't heard of Open GBA Firm. Maybe 10 minutes later, I've got it working on my 3ds! Far better than emulation, or spending the time to create VC injections!

[@Calham64]

Went ahead and tested the open gba firm myself today. To help out with Jon's issue of it not coming out as well in capture, you can modify the config file values on the SD Card. For scaler, changing the value to "0" does zero scaling on the screen, so gets sharper picture clarity. By default it's on "2" being hardware scaling. Smaller screen, but it's on the same sharpness as a Game Boy Micro. Also, you can change the default brightness as well, as the github page states that you can up the values for both Old 3DS and New 3DS models. The default scaling is okay, but I like my pixels to be crisp clean personally.

[@Faizan1631]

11:22 yes i agree, the 3DS is a great way to play 3DS games

[@ice9dragon]

8:30 WAIT WHAT?! I've modded my 3DS. YEARS ago and I never knew you could run gba like that!!! Wtf! 😅 Thank you so much, now I might actually use my 3DS for GBA games lol

[@benlee9133]

I knew about injects, however I did not know about agb firm. Thank you for that, it's exactly what I was looking for. Also Leaf Green has Ninetales so agreed.

[@MegaDrain]

I still prefer using mgba on the 3ds purely for the fast forward option. If you're not play pokemon or some other rpg, then yeah having the games play native is definitely the way to go, just feels more official. But mgba does have it's benefits to make those more slower games be less of a hassle.

[@pedrobeckup456]

It doesnt work on 3ds old

[@MegaDrain]

@@pedrobeckup456 It does, it just doesn't run well. On new3ds it plays pretty much flawlessly.

[@HeroC14]

I was playing Fusion on MGBA specifically because that intro with the wall of text and Adam talking is such a drag. Ffwd set to ZR is ideal.

[@Joshiki_]

There's a way to speed up pokemon gen 1 and 2 even on virtual console

[@omegamanGXE]

@@Joshiki_how

[@LopezXiann14]

I’m shocked some people haven’t heard about this yet! I did this years ago with my 3DS and was the I played Mother 3! It works great!

[@championCynthia2348]

Honestly my homebrewed 2ds XL is my go to nintendo emulator when I'm on the go, NES, SNES, GB(C), GBA, Genesis, Game Gear, 3ds and nds, it's able to do so so much natively. And then there's retroarch as well, which is amazing

[@gerardoexber]

Playing GBA through Twilight Menu and gbarunner. Original resolution greatness

[@omegamanGXE]

How do you put gbarunner in Twilight Menu

[@gerardoexber]

@@omegamanGXE It came with the twilight menu version I downloaded. You need some extra files for gba, too.

[@DisturbedbyDeth]

I have had a modded 3DS for years and had no idea this was a feature. Tbh I had just been using a GBA emulator within the 3DS which works really well anyway, but it is nice to know I can also play the games natively.

[@MoonSarito]

It kinda reminded me how the Wii U has the Game Cube hardware components and can run all Game Cube games natively but for some reason Nintendo never took advantage of this feature. The Wii U/3DS era really was a set of missed opportunities.

[@lol-ih1tl]

You mean just Wii U era because the 3DS came out during the late Wii era and continued getting games up until the early Switch era.

[@MoonSarito]

@@lol-ih1tl Yes, but that doesn't mean they missed opportunities on the 3DS either. I'm not just talking about all the ambassador stuff with GBA games, but even DS games that could have been on the eShop but were instead on the Wii U's Virtual Console, 3D Classics that was underutilized and even games like Super Mario Maker for the 3DS, which for some reason wouldn't let you upload new levels.

[@gianpy566]

The GBA native mode on 3ds is so well done that you can use all the real time clock fetures, for example the berries in pokemon emerald works like a real GBA.

[@umokwhy2830]

Man I just appreciate golden sun being one of the three on the thumbnail

[@omegamanGXE]

Golden Shower

[@1legend517]

Not just the 3DS, but also the original Nintendo DS and DSi can play Gameboy Advance games from a regular DS cartridge now. I've been waiting a long time for something like Twilight Loader. Always knew this was possible and wondered why nobody was making it happen despite so many people saying it wasn't even possible for such a long time.

[@ThatBassoonist]

I think Nintendo didn't pursue GBA on the 3DS for a wider release because many GBA games have vertical image alignment issues on the 3DS, and while it's fixed by rapidly pressing the home button that does not make for a good user experience. Speaking of the home button, one of my favorite features of the 3DS when it's in DS or GBA mode is that you actually CAN adjust the screen brightness from within the game (though you still have to deal with that horrible dark filter for ambassador games). If you press the home button once, then hold the start button, you can use the up and down directions on the d-pad to adjust the brightness!

[@TheJunky228]

what's this about vertical alignment and repeatedly pressing the home button?

[@Jamesssssssssssssss]

John and I have the same 3DS' ! The wood plates make it look/feel crazy.

[@bootleggery5725]

Now, this is something I've wondered since I heard about GBA games running natively on the 3DS. Could someone mod a GBA cartridge reader onto the 3ds, and then have the 3ds read a GBA cart? That would be the best kind of Frankenstein's monster.

[@theheadlesssoldier]

Somehow, I was just looking into the problem with injections this morning taking forever to put on a 3DS, and I actually installed open_agb_firm by accident without realizing what it can do. Coincidence that this video popped up on my feed? Nah, you’re doing great lad. Thanks for the tip

[@satanizlas]

this is a great feature! i wish i knew about it before playing a laggy Mother 3 on mGBA but mGBA still has its uses: it allows you to play Warioware Twisted (the best Warioware) using the console's gyroscope! (and Yoshi's Topsy-Turvy too)

[@satanizlas]

update: open_agb is awesome! it puts the save files in a folder, so i can put my saves for games i played on mGBA in it, to play them natively now! no more laggy Mother 3! all of my progress in Rhythm Tengoku!

[@Master0fHyrule]

We have the same GBA handheld. :)

[@Yoshiinite]

I recently learned i can play Mother 3 on my 3DS, so i'm very excited to try doing that, last time i played Mother 3 i did it on my old phone, so i couldn't hit the little music notes in the battles for a lot of the game.

[@pipopoke]

Some games work well with the dark filter: When I replayed Golden Sun on my DS I was horrified at how the intro scene (where it's raining) looks without the naturally darker GBA screen.

[@Funem]

I have the Ambassador games as I got the 3DS on day one, they transferred over to the New 3DS when I upgraded and selected to transfer the contents from the old to the New 3DS. The selection of games is pretty good, they could have just given a bunch of average games, but credit to them, they didn’t.

[@pizzagroom6221]

I brought my ambassador 3ds to school back in 2012, I must have left it somewhere, and then someone must have taken it. I'm really not too sad that I lost it, as I owned most of the NES and GBA games they released anyway, but I'm mostly just glad that I had got to finally play though Metroid Fusion.

[@StrangeDad]

Someday, when I'm older and have lots of free time, I'll do all these mods and tricks Jon jag talked about.

[@Wobble2007]

I highly recommend Kuru Kur Kururin, it's the GBA's equivalent of the Gameboy's Tetris, the Japan only sequel, Kururin Paradise, has just had it's 100% complete English translation released and it's every bit as brilliant as the first game.