DS NOT to play GB/GBC games

We already knew the Nintendo DS would play Game Boy Advance games, but Nintendo never confirmed anything about the older games...

We already knew the Nintendo DS would play Game Boy Advance games, but Nintendo never confirmed anything about the older games...

Someone from the Gaming Age Forums popped the question and got this in reply:

Message(#[edited out])

Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo,

Great question! The Nintendo DS will not play older Game Boy games from the 8-bit Game Boy systems (DMG, MGB and CGB.)

The Game Boy Advance contained a Z80 processor which allowed it to play original 8-bit Game Boy games. Because of the age of the processor, and the difficulty in adding that processor to an already highly complicated architecture, the Z80 was not included in the final design of the DS.

For more information about the Nintendo DS, be sure to check out our website at www.nintendo.com.

So there we have it: the Nintendo DS will not be able to run any Game Boy (Mono) of Game Boy Color games like the GBA does.

Share on Twitter or FacebookPosted on 16-08-2004 by Dennis

Comments

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  Ow, too bad. Still, at least it can play GBA games. Someone should really e-mail Nintendo and ask if the DS will have region protection or not!<img src="images/smileys/1.gif">

  shaunj66, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  I've ehm... got a pretty big hint it won't <img src="images/smileys/4.gif">

  Dennis, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  Still annoying about lack of old GameBoy support, but I'd been guessing the worst for ahwile... First, was Datel's GBA-only player for the Cube, and then Reggie going on about an instant Library of 500 games, which means that there was no way the 500+ GBOld games could be part of. So, looks like I won't be throwing away my trusty Clear Blue GBa after all. At least it means I'll still be playing Zoktai GBA, rather than GBA SP/N: DS mode... (Which I prefer, as more light hits the sensor if its on the top)

  ganon-n-r, 30-11--0001 at 00:00