So yeah, I took apart some Game Boy peripherals, namely the Zok Zok Heroes Full Changer, the GB Mobile Adapter (CGB-005PD/PDC version/blue) as well as the DOL-11 Game Cube to Game Boy Advance link cable. So yeah, expect some future updates on these 🙂 I already drew schematics for the Full Changer as well as DOL-11. Didn’t find the muse to do CGB-005PD, yet.
I also finished the hardware for testing the MBCs, now I just need a decent software implementation for parsing some custom language to describe the data flow and I’m ready to test it. I plan to test MBC3 first to confirm pin-out/one missing pin I suspect is RAM_ENABLE, then move on to MBC30 to confirm its pin-out as well as several pins I’m not 100% sure of. The more exotic MBCs will have to be dealt with after that. I foresee some software changes along the way, so I do the easy ones first so software will hopefully be stabilized by the time I get to the more complex MBCs.
I also ordered a bunch of TAMA5 resp TAMA6. I’m somewhat hopeful though that the mask ROM can be read through the GEC, as the first RB of the game contains a bunch of calls to read and write some data. However, these could all be for the RTC :-/ Speaking of mask ROMs, the Full Changer has a MCU with custom mask ROM too, but I only have two of those and don’t feel like shelling out a lot of money to get more. Not sure how to extract the mask ROM anyway, as the only option open to me seems ghetto acid + USB cam style for now — or very expensive laboratory for which I’d have to ship the ICs halfway around the world.
Anyway, I guess this counts as an update 🙂
Hello, this is WONDERFUL. I was looking a long time for some info on weird GB peripherals, and there is somebody who does something with them! I hope i can get in contact with you, because i would love to chat with someone who has the same passion as I. Great work, and good luck!