Back up, restore and flash cartridges
Dump Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges, restore saves and write ROMs to flash carts, all through a GBA and a GB-Link. Nothing to install on the GBA: the page sends it the program it needs.
Choose the kind of cartridge above to get started.
Set up
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1
Connect the GB-Link
Plug the GB-Link into this computer and into the GBA's link port, then click Connect at the top.
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2
Load the homebrew
Turn the GBA on without a cartridge, then send the homebrew. The GBA switches to Game Boy Color mode and shows the Cart Doctor menu.
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3
Insert the cartridge
Insert a GB or GBC cartridge, then read it. The GBA's screen shows the cartridge's title once it's in. You can swap cartridges at any time.
The GBA resets when I insert a cartridge
Some cartridges have a voltage supervisor that resets the GBA. Insert the cartridge slowly, or cover pin 30 (/RESET, the third pin from the right) with a small piece of kapton tape.
Cartridge
ROM
The game itself, as a .gb or .gbc file.
Save
The save memory, as a .sav file.
Every dump reads the cartridge first, so it always matches the cartridge that's in.
The file must be exactly the size of the cartridge's save memory.
For flash carts written through the cartridge's write pin (/WR), which is most current ones. Carts written through the AUDIO pin can't be written from a GBA.
Writing to an erased cart takes about 3.5 minutes per MB. Parts that already hold the right data are skipped, so writing the same ROM again takes about a minute per MB and finishing a cancelled write is quick. Everything written is read back and checked.
Set up
-
1
Connect the GB-Link
Plug the GB-Link into this computer and into the GBA's link port, then click Connect at the top.
-
2
Load the dumper
Turn the GBA on without a cartridge (or hold START + SELECT at the Game Boy logo if one is in), then send the dumper.
-
3
Insert the cartridge
Insert a GBA cartridge, then read it. The dumper's screen shows the cartridge as soon as it's in. The BIOS can be dumped without one.
The GBA resets when I insert a cartridge
Some cartridges have a voltage supervisor that resets the GBA. Insert the cartridge slowly, or cover pin 30 (/RESET, the third pin from the right) with a small piece of kapton tape.
Cartridge
ROM
The game itself, as a .gba file.
Save
The save memory, as a .sav file.
BIOS
The GBA's own BIOS. No cartridge needed.
A ROM dump takes about 1.5 minutes per 4 MB of game data; padding and erased space take almost no time. Saves and the BIOS take seconds. ROMs are saved at their own size: on a flash cart, that's the file that was written to it.
Restore a save
The file must be exactly the size of the cartridge's save memory: 512 B or 8 KB EEPROM, 32 KB SRAM, or 64 KB or 128 KB flash.
Erase the save
Fills the save memory with zeros.
For repro ("bootleg") carts and flash carts.
Writing takes about 2 minutes per 4 MB. Parts that already hold the right data are skipped, so writing the same ROM again, or finishing a cancelled write, is quick. Everything written is read back and checked.