Binary Monster by Gowin on a GBA SP?

[WhiteLionness]

Hi guys, not sure if you remember me.. I apologize for the long hiatus I took from this forum and the pirated world in general.  Long story, but a combination of stuff (getting a full-time job, some lingering health problems, some depression, etc.. strange combination, I know) has caused me to lose interest in most stuff for some time. So I sincerely apologize.  Anyway, all excuses aside, I made an interesting (?) discovery.  As we all know, most Gowin games for Gameboy have a lockout mechanism preventing it from being played on any other system other than a monochrome gameboy.  I was playing around with Binary Monster 3 (I think that's what it's called, please don't hesitate to correct me if I'm wrong), trying to get it to work on various systems, knowing there was really no chance, but then by some fluke, I was able to get it to work on my SP with the help of a Monster Brain cheat device, even though I could've sworn I tried that years ago when I first acquired the game.  Anyway, I got the game to work.. sorta.  It has a limited color palate and no sound, but kind of interesting nonetheless I guess.  This trick has no effect on the other Gowin game I own, Dino Century.

I posted some Gameplay of it, in case anyone is interested.  It's nice to be able to play it under better lighting, assuming the game hasn't been dumped yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK0E4DpJODU

[taizou]

oh that's interesting - I was able to get Beast Fighter by Sachen running on a GBA SP maybe 1/10 times using a Game Genie. Not sure what the theory is behind it though.

also, welcome back!

[Robyn]

Hey, welcome back!
My theory is that the cheat devices mask the header's logo. At least, that's what it seems to do.

[Superjustinbros]

Welcome back.

I actually have a similar problem with Magic Lamp; it will only work on a Game Boy, GB Pocket, and a GB Color. It does not go past startup on Super GB, GBA, and GBA SP.

Qiezei got his temporary copy of the English version to work on the Game Boy Player; I guess mine doesn't work on said device since it's the Chinese version. I'm still waiting for the day where we can emulate the protection of these games so they'll work on an emulator.

[Pepper-98]

Superjustinbros

Jun 23 2013, 10:13:32 PM

Welcome back.

I actually have a similar problem with Magic Lamp; it will only work on a Game Boy, GB Pocket, and a GB Color. It does not go past startup on Super GB, GBA, and GBA SP.

Qiezei got his temporary copy of the English version to work on the Game Boy Player; I guess mine doesn't work on said device since it's the Chinese version. I'm still waiting for the day where we can emulate the protection of these games so they'll work on an emulator.[/quote]I think I mentioned how I got mine working, but I'll refresh on it:

Taizou explained the Game Boy boot logos on his Neo Fuji page.  Basically, the color systems check the top-half of one of the Game Boy's boot logos needed to run the game.  The older Gowin games use "GOWIN" for a boot logo which edit the logo's top half, preventing it from booting on a GBA system.  The copies with the "HOTKID" logo (such as the English Magic Lamp and Crouching Tiger games I've recorded) only edit the lower half, hence why the logo looks rather sloppy, and is thus allowed to run on a GBA system.

If anybody can explain it better (or more clearly) they're welcome to do so, but that's the general summary of why the issue exists.

[Superjustinbros]

Ah, I see now.

[Chowdit1]

I'm kinda wondering if this was done (from Gowin) (for severely changing the header for the bootup), because if they were going to make their own system that would play their games. (Possibly calling it the "Gowin Boy" or the "HotKid Boy") Second thing, I also wonder if their games would even play on the GB Boy and the GB Boy Colour. They actually might play better, who knows?

[taizou]

Almost every other unlicensed GB developer/publisher except Makon changed the logo, I doubt they were all planning their own systems. It was just a way to avoid trademark issues with Nintendo while plugging themselves in the process. Oh and GB Boy Color compatibility with Gowin games seems to be the same as the real GBC, I guess it still checks against the Nintendo logo internally even if it isn't shown.

[Chowdit1]

taizou

Dec 22 2013, 06:05:40 PM

Almost every other unlicensed GB developer/publisher except Makon changed the logo, I doubt they were all planning their own systems. It was just a way to avoid trademark issues with Nintendo while plugging themselves in the process. Oh and GB Boy Color compatibility with Gowin games seems to be the same as the real GBC, I guess it still checks against the Nintendo logo internally even if it isn't shown.[/quote]Huh. I was asking that because even the startup programming of the GB Boy Colour is customized by the developer of the console, Kongfeng. (I think that's the company's name.) I mean, they didn't use the same bootup programming as the official GameBoy Color.