Okay so recently I’ve been fawning endlessly (I.E. I won’t shut the fuck up) about this Wide-Boy 64 thing. I’ve been learning more and more about it as I’ve toyed with it, and I’m just going to document everything here because I can. Tech crap beneath the cut.
THE FOLLOWING ARE ALL BEING RUN THROUGH AN XRGB MINI UPSCALER WITH IDENTICAL SETTINGS. THE GAMECUBE IS OUTPUTTING VIA GBA PLAYER AT 480P, UPSCALED TO 1080P. THE WIDE-BOY 64 IS RUN THROUGH AN HDMI N64 AND OUTPUTS AT 1080P.
For better quality photos of those presented, check by clicking this statement right here.
Okay so let’s start with this: What the fuck is it?
The long answer is it’s a dev cart for the N64. Back during the late 90s and early 2000s, Intelligent Systems developed a series of carts for the N64 that were never made commercially available. These carts underwent three different iterations over their lifespan, starting with the old Gamboy, then up to the Gameboy Color, and finally, the Gameboy Advance. These carts were sold exclusively to convention organizers and runners, gameshow hosts, or magazine editors at a pricepoint of about $1400. In addition to this, the carts also had two variations per cart: one which had a slot on the front to accomodate a special cable that hooked in to an actual GB, GBA, or GBA unit to act as a controller while the Wide-Boy functioned as a capture card of sorts, transmitting your GBA’s video to your TV, and one that did not. It’s also worth noting that, as an added bonus, the Wide-Boy also has a GBA link-cable slot on the side of the cart, meaning it is possible to interact between Wide-Boys with a link cable, as excessive as that may be.
Now the big question is this: Why is this a big deal? I could get something like the Gameboy Advance Player for my Gamecube and it’d be just as good, right? Not really. For the sake of simplicity, I’ve cropped out all of the extra crap around the game feeds for both the Wide-Boy and the GBA Player. Here’s what the Wide-Boy 64 AGB screen looks like as a standard:
And now, here are some shots of the GBA Player VS the Wide-Boy 64:
GBA Player
And now, the Wide-Boy 64
Crazy, right? But let’s look at what this bad boy is capable of.
The Innards
Interestingly enough, nothing about the Wide-Boy seems to be proprietary. Even more interesting is that the internals are damn near identical to those of the GBA Player, leading me to believe that Nintendo took the Wide-Boy and readpted it for the Gamecube later on down the line after the N64 had missed its chance. At least, such would be the case for my model here: The Wide-Boy 64 AGB (The other models being the Wide-Boy CGB and Wide-Boy GB).
Moreover, it should come as no surprise that the AGB model I own operates almost exactly like a Gameboy Advance would. However, there are some interesting design quirks that I’ve come across that make this item truly unique in the way that it presents itself.
Device Operation
Much like the GBA, the Wide-Boy 64 AGB can playe Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance games. In this same fashion, several of the quirks and built-in machanics of the GBA exist in the Wide-Boy. In the case of any pre-GBC games, the usual simple color palettes or monochromatic color schemes are replaced with a very odd red/green mixture, most notable in classic Pokemon games:
However, there are a multitude of color palette selections, each containing roughly 7-10 colors each, that can be applied to these pre-GBC games. (Before you make any comment about FUCK YOU EMULATOR THAT’S A ROMHACK, let me direct you to: https://www.etsy.com/listing/231446516/pokemon-exclusive-twitch-plays-pokemon ).
The following are the color palettes and their activators. Simply input the direction and button (if applicable) when the Gameboy logo appears. Try this on any GBA too! It works!
Blue [Left on D-Pad]:
Pastel Mix [Down on D-Pad]:
Brown [Up on D-Pad]:
Green [Right on D-Pad]:
Dark Blue [Left + A]:
Orange [Down + A]:
Red [Up + A]:
Dark Green [Right + A]:
Gray [Left + B]:
Yellow [Down + B]:
Dark Brown [Up + B]:
Reverse [Right + B]:
In the case of any Gameboy Color games, such as Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon Crystal (I APOLOGIZE. I LOVE POKEMON A LOT AND THEY’RE AMAZING GAMES FOR TESTING), colors are displayed in their fullest iterations and look stellar:
However, there are some other quirks to the unit that I noticed with all games. Here are the inputs and their known quirks:
Z-Button: AKA Godlike Quality
This is crucial. The Z-Button controls game scaling and pixel clarity for some really weird reason. It has two different modes. Games boot with the pixel clarity set to a default state that I’ll call ANALOGUE.
In ANALOGUE mode, pixels are weirdly placed. You’ll noce that things feel like they have a shadow to them, especially at the bottom. This also affects the control-stick controlled zoom function the wide-boy has, creating a sort of steroscopic scattering or spreading of the pixels as it zooms in. This type of zoom function is a little more stressful on the eyes, but from afar maintains the pixels overall aspect ratio and shape.
However, pressing Z twice will engage a different mode that perfectly aligns all the pixels to their nearest pixel alignment, creating a near emulator (if not on-par) picture image that makes the Wide-Boy really live up to its full potential.I’ll call this mode DIGITAL. In DIGITAL mode, zoom scaling takes any pixels and merges them together to prevent any sort of edge distortion.
However, in doing so the picture loses proper aspect ratio and severeal elements suffer because of it. But why the fuck would you use the zoom function anyways?
The overall point here is that the Z-Button is your ticket to perfect pixels. This also makes a difference in GBA games as well as the default scaling creates that blurred, misplaced pixel feel that ANALOGUE mode has to it.
Analogue GBA + Zoom:
Digital GBA + Zoom:
L + R: Optional Screen Stretch:
L and R function as optional wide-screen for GBC and GB games. The buttons are used normally in GBA titles and don’t otherwise affect anything.
Analogue Stretch:
Digital Stretch:
(Caught Pikachu mid-blink in that last picture)
Moreover, the Wide-Boy is capable of playing both official AND reproduction game carts, as I have done with Liquid Crystal, TPP version, and many others.
Still not sold because Pokemon isn’t your thing? Then here: Let me try and give a few other classics:
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga
Mother 3 [ENGLISH CART YO]
The Big Question Though: Where Can I Get One???
That’s the tricky part. Goodluck oming across one of these, especially in the condition I got mine it. Normally any Wide-Boy runs from as low as $300 for a so-so condition Wide-Boy 64 GB or GBC, up to $600 for a good conditioned Wide-Boy GB or CGB, $1000+ for a Wide-Boy AGB, and $2000+ for the model I have. Your best bet is scouring ebay to find one if you can. D: Also look at trade forums to find one. Hope the documentation helps somewhat!