I just received my x5 mini yesterday very easy to setup I love it. I can really see the difference from running my roms from an emulator device vs the mini running them as they were intended definitely makes them look & feel right. It would have been nice to have a reset button on the drive itself but powering the system down is no big deal. Not cheap but definitely worth the cost in my opinion.
Thanks for sharing this. This made me pull the trigger to go out and buy it. I never had a GBA, only played emulators and to able to finally play all my favorite games (even sega games) the way they should have been played is going to be amazing.
To update on this comment. I have received my Everdrive X5 mini and have been playing around with it for a bit. Power consumption: I have the IPS v2 LCD and USB-C battery mods for my GBA and get a runtime of about 3 to 4 evenings of playtime. Save Games: I use GBAOS-v1.15, when you save GBA ingame, and start a new game; the save file will be dumped as .fla. This file is transferable to pc/other emulators, and supports being renamed to .sav (VisualBoyAdvance) meaning you can trade pokemon with other emulators/savegames if you want, and then put the file back on your GBA as (don't forget to rename to .fla). Save States: Using the following emulators (renamed to gb.gba, gbc.gba, nes.gba, gg.gba respectively, this way you don't have to create a rom package but can just use roms from the folders): goombacolor_2019_5_4 (twice), supports L+R menu, including save/load state for GB and GBC games. pocketnes_2013_07_01, supports L+R menu, including save/load state SMSAdvance25Bin, supports L+R menu, including save/load state Other emulation: There is some sort of option to emulate snes games, but this really doesn't work properly. Emulation of Sega MegaDrive/Genesis is not possible, gamegear and mastersystem is possible (both use the same smsadvance)
I got this for my GBA SP. It's a must have if your trying to save time & money. This is totally worth having anda custom shell and new screen goes a long way into converting your GBA into something personal
Just modded gameboy sp that I bought in mid 2002. Added wireless charging and an ips screen. Yes you can add wireless charging on an sp. I was 18 when I got this thing. I’m now 38. Crazy to see how time flies.
I’ve got this too and use on my GameCube gameboy. I’ve also purchased a GameCube gc loader so I can save my gameboy run disc and my extensive collection. Plus this with the GCHD Mk ii and mclassic is pure heaven! Paper Mario is going up!
@@amanpretbasuita2725 No I only have this one and the original Gameboy one.. I have the SNES one coming soon so I might do a vid on that when it gets here!
Dude. Not only are you easy to the eyes and your voice is great, you do a public service for gamers like very few others. Just watched your everdrive gb x7 and now this one and am now an instant fan. Liked and subscribed
@@RetroBreak I am undecided between the everdrive GB X7 (have a gameboy) or the X5 mini (also have a GBA). they are both so expensive. Sad that the x5 mini doesnt have a button to return to the menu. I feel like waiting for the inevitable x7 mini for the gba. I'm also a mac user so it was refreshing to see your tutorial on how to setup these cartridges using mac os!
Thanks for making this video! I watched your other one for the Gameboy Color/Gameboy one ages ago when i first got that, and now i just bought the GBA one and this video was helpful and good :)
I just bought one! I have been wanting to play gb, gbc, and nes games on the gameboy micro since forever! Nice well layer out video! You have a new sub!
Thanks for this awesome video, I just modded the GBA that I bought back in 2001 with an IPS screen this week and was wondering why DKC looked so washed out! Just ordered an Everdrive, hopefully there’s more romhacks for DKC 2 and 3, going to look into that later today :-)
Thanks! :) Yeah I think it really fits well and breaks up the intro from the content well too. You should definitely get an Everdrive if you don't have one, there's so many cool home-brew games out there :D
@@unstableturtleduck Not quite. There's also tons of hacks out there that use the pokecrystal disassembly. These are modified to the extent that a simple one time patch just wouldn't work outside of vanilla. This is more significant than you'd think, because one of the main draws of a flashcart is to play romhacks like Crystal Clear on real hardware. The best route for a lot of games will probably always be the most expensive, with a flashcart for both GB/GBC and GBA.
@@unstableturtleduck from what I understand, because some rom hacks changes a lot of code that that patch would break, it’s better to buy a separate GB/C and GBA flashcart
Maybe Krikkz will be able to make another Everdrive in the future that combines both systems native support. Fitting it all in a single cartridge's physical space would be challenging if not impossible though.
The gba has a little button on it that gb cartridges press when inserted while gba cartridges dont press this button. Thats how the system changes between gba and gb mode. So even if the cartridge had something on it that allows the button to be pressed or not, you could only boot into either gba mode or gb mode. So thats why this uses an emulator for gb games
Also, just FYI to those wondering. I ordered an Everdrive direct from Krikzz on the 27th of last month (last Thursday) expecting to wait over a month for it to arrive due to the conflict in Ukraine. Turns out he must have bulk shipped a bunch to the US because I got notification today that it is out for delivery. So shipping times to the US are now very very short and in many cases, faster than some domestic aftermarket parts companies.
Just for anyone considering ordering one who is located in the U.K. I can add that I ordered a Everdrive GBA mini direct from Krikzz on the 7th of July. Received "order dispatched" notification on the 10th, and had the package through my letterbox on the 25th.
Do you know how to place the emulators into the _emu_ file on the newest firmware? I placed Goomba. GBA, Pocketnes. GBA and SMSAdvance. GBA into the folder but it says the emulator is not found whenever I try to load a game? Nevermind I saw your other comment explaining it better than it did in the Read me file. Get the emulators needed then change the name to the corresponding file type with (.gba) at the end. gbc.gba nes.gba gg.gba sms.gba
Hi @RetroBreak, I just received my everdrive X5 mini the other day and followed your video to a T and everything went smashingly. I had first started playing some GBA titles and it was like I was reliving 2005 all over again. The games looked great, ran well, and had no issues loading. I did seem to have a problem (and continue to have a problem) regarding my GBC titles however. After I figured the everdrive was functioning properly, I started an intense session of Wario Land 3 (one of the best GBC titles in my opinion) and ended off on a good note. When I came back to start another session however, the everdrive did not load the save file for the game. I did check the SD card and there was a .SRM file created for Wario Land 3 and then I double checked the ROM itself to see if it was set to read SRAM files and it was.. For some reason though it is not loading and I was wondering if you had any other tips or tricks? Thanks again though for creating this video as well as I thoroughly enjoy your homebrew reviews! Update: Turns out the only step I was missing was to hit both L and R and exit Goomba Color through the menu system for the file to actually save. Keep up the good work!
I’m having the same issue but I can’t find a remedy. I’ll save the game with the I game save state I’ll use the save state in the menu and I press L and R to exit which just resets the game so then I shut off the gba but when I go back there’s no load save state option even tho I’m able to delete the SRAM save it won’t load and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong
I’m looking into getting this or finding a modder to make me a custom cart for Pokémon ROM hacks, could you tell me if Radical Red or Emerald Kaizo or Blue Kaizo all play and save properly? I’ve heard Radical Red can crash just viewing the Pokémon summary page, hopefully you’ve tried these games out on their already and they work id love to start playing on original console
There's some confusing information about saving issues. I hope you can share you experiences with making saves in GB/GBC games. Have you had any issues saving games like Link's Awakening DX, either using a regular save or a save state? But in any case, the maker of the GB emulator Goomba Color, username Dwedit, makes the following statement in her forums: _"With the Everdrive, there's only 24K of storage available for storing save files. This emulator was designed to run on flash cartridges which provide a full 64K of storage. 8K is reserved for holding the active save file to allow power off at any time, leaving 56K for game save storage. But the everdrive only provides 32K of save memory, so 8K is reserved for holding the active save file, leaving a meager 24K of storage. The emulator does not access the SD card at all, so it can't make use of the immense storage space available."_ I have no idea what she's talking about. The official information for the Everdrive x5 Mini says that it has "1Mbit SRAM (128KByte) save memory", but Dwedit seems to say that it provides only 32Kbytes of save memory. And I don't understand what she means by the emulator not accessing the SD card. Can't the emulator make any kind of saves on the SD card? Are all of the Goomba saves stored in the SRAM of the Everdrive? It doesn't make any sense.
MY GBA is broken so I was wondering if this works in a DS lite's GBA slot? Edit: Nevermind, I saw the same question in the comments. Looks like it's compatible. Thanks.
I jus got mine in the mail yesterday it took 18 days I like it better than the Ez flash omega that always sees like a fat boy ina buffet always power hungry My battery barely lasted over a hour used to be 2hrs "barely" The everdrive is definitely worth it My only complaint is that i have to change the .sav filr extensions into .fla but thats manageable If only i could stretch the borders on gameboy games like game gear ...
Trying out the GBC Emulator recommended here, it may have simply been a problem I had with installing it, but whenever I try to boot up a game on it I get significant graphical corruptions.
I bought a while ago a GB everdrive X3 instead of the GBA everdrive, because I wasn't sure the emulation was as good as the native hardware. Would you consider the GB\GBC emulation to be flawless ?
I love my GBA EverDrive. Wish I found your video when I was switching from an EZ Flash to the EverDrive. Had a hard time figuring out that the .sav needs to be .srm .fla or .eep depending on what the real cart used to store saves.
I feel like you've missed a critical step around setting up the emulators because I followed your instructions exactly and cannot get them to work. I downloaded the goomba, nes and sms emulators from the links you supplied and placed them in the location you showed. I also added all my ROMs in a folder structure similar to your own. However, I cannot launch any of the titles other than the GBA games. I have tried launching the ROMs directly, and I have tried launching the emulator but that then says that it has not detected any ROMs. What could I have missed?
OK so the step that was missed here is to rename the various emulators (goomba.gba > gb.gba & gbc.gba; pocketnew.gba > new.gba; smsadvance > sms.gba & gg.gba). Then place those renamed emulators .gba files in the emu folder under GBASYS. Once you do that, all the .gb, .gbc, .nes etc ROMs will work. I'm sure some people are going to reply with "well duh!" comments but it's not that obvious if this is the first time you've done anything like this.
@@RetroBreak I have both, and have been using them. I like the build on the Everdrive better than the Flash, but the Flash allows you to switch between games without resetting the unit. However, the Flash consumes battery life faster. The Flash is also nice because you can purchase a variety of shell colors (if available) and swap them out easily. Also the Flash comes with a build that fits nicely in a DS lite. Can't go wrong with either, but if I had to select just one, I would choose the Flash Omega.
I just got mine today, and I was wondering if there is an alternative OS for the GBA x5? I don't like the color palette and how you are not able to have boxart.
Hello. QUESTION Does this gba x5 emulate the e-reader?... In other words, we can activate the secret levels of super Mario advance 4 that required them
BTW great video. Just got my Everdrive a few weeks ago. I watched a video that showed how to converet gameboy and gameboy color roms into one GBA rom that can play on the GBA using the everdrive. This process bypasses the need to emulate gameboy and gameboy color roms, however it is not allowing me to save my game. Most gameboy games lack a save feature but a few such as Super Mario Land 2 and Link's Awakening do have a save feature. I was wondering how I could solve this problem. Is it possible to convert multiple GB and GBC files into a GBA file and save the game?
Cool I didn’t even know that was possible! No idea about the save files sorry. Do you think it plays a lot better that way than using the Gameboy emulator? I’ve been playing games using the emulator and they save fine
@@RetroBreak I have not tested too many gameboy games as far as comparing emulation vs conversation to gba. Tetris seems to run the same on emulation and conversion. Kirby's dreamland has some lag if played through emulation on the gba sp using the everdrive but if you convert the file to a gba file it runs as if its on a normal gameboy, no lag. So I guess it depends on the game. The gameboy games that you can buy on ebay that are installed on gba carts seem to run as a gba game, no emulation. Some of these games have the ability to save if it was something that was original apart of the game, such as metroid 2. NES games on the gba seem to always use emulation, I don't think conversion is possible for this. Something else I have noticed is the total file size needs to be under 15 mb if you want to convert the gameboy games to gba. You're not as restricted with this if you use emulation.
I guess saving is possible but requires to play around with the settings, most game boy games don't really need you to save but there are a few that benefit from save such as rpgs and metal gear solid.
you can actually use a DS flash card on a DS fat or DS lite and rip your own GBA games to the sd card on the DS flash card. way cheaper than a clone system used to have a clone system and they suck for the price
Hello, hopefully you are still answering questions regarding the Everdrive. I recently got one and it has been working well with original GBA games, however I have run into some problems with trying to run Pokemon Ultra Violet (a FireRed ROM hack). First it loaded a stock version of FireRed, I started from scratch with a fresh ROM of FireRed and patched it as per direction, and now it just freezes when loading on the GBA loading screen. Any recommendations? *I patched the ROM using the Wine comparability program on a Linux Mint OS, not sure if that boogered it up
Hey not sure what would be causing the problem, try looking for a linux IPS patcher that you can natively instead? Or see if you can get the one called “multi patch” to work, that’s what I used, but it might be mac only? hope you find a way of fixing it!
Does it have save states for gba? I ordered one about 9 days ago from Poland lol, also you seem a bit young to be a gameboy/gba enthusiast , you look more like the DS generation
Hi, no save states for GBA games, it just loads them up like they would play normally and there’s no way to access the Everdrive again without switching the console on and off. The emulated games (GB/C, NES, GG and MS do support save states though) and I did grow up with the original Gameboy and GBA, maybe I’m older than you think so I’ll take that as a compliment 😆
Maybe I’m missing something, but I have the entire thing set up, but my save files on GBA games don’t retain. Like if I’m playing Super Mario World and I save my game, I go back and nothing is there. I even go on the root to where the save file itself is, but it doesn’t transfer to the game when I tell it to. Is there a solution?
Can you load a save file into the ever drive and duplicate the save because I want to give my Ruby save file to my friend but I don’t want him to lose it
I can't the gbc emulator to work. I tried changing the .gbc. GBA and moving the emulator to different folders blah. edit nvm i was adding the gbc.gba to the end of the whole file name....
for some reason only the GBA games work. whenever I try and play a GB,NES or GG game it keeps saying emulator not found. I downloaded all the emulators and dropped them on the ROOT but its still not working
Okay... so if I have a rom and I have 2 modded GBAs... can I play against another opponent? Or is that impossible.... I'd really like to throw down on some techmobowl roms with some friends. If there is a way to do this... please help!
Hi, i just bought everdrive GBA mini, and also followed your steps to set different game consoles like GB,GBC, GBA,etc. but i run the pokemon Pikachu, and saved it. after the console was turned off, and i run it again. the saved game disappeared. i am just wondering how i can save gbc game on GBA console. do i need to download something else to help save gbc game? thanks.
would it be possible to get the rom for a game on your pc, start playing it there, and then move the save file/state for that game from your pc into the everdrive?
@@RetroBreak I've gotten the EverDrive GBA X5 Mini in my DS Lite, have downloaded the GBASYS folder and placed it onto the FAT32 formatted 16GB SD card... same with the emulators "goomba.gba," "pocketnes.gba" and "smsadvance.gba" in the same folder. I have several Nintendo DS game ROMs (.nds files )in a "DS Games" folder and I cannot get them to run. I've tried renaming them to gb.gba, nes.gba and sms.gba. Still nothing. Am I missing an emulator for DS games? The GameBoy ROMs (.gb files) run fine although the image size is SMALL inside the bottom/lower screen (wish I could fix that), but I cannot get these DS games to load. Can you help me with a step by step with anything obvious I'm doing wrong, a link to a necessary download to play these little beauties from the flashcart instead of all the cartridges?
@@houseroundfile the Everdrive GBA X5 is for gameboy advance games and not Nintendo DS games. No way to play DS roms using this everdrive. You would need something like the R4i RTS.
I bought one of these for my analogue pocket. Do I need to download the emulators with the analogue pocket? They are already built in the analogue pocket. Sorry I’m a complete noob with this stuff
Does anyone know if the Everdrive GBA is compatible with Gamecube games like Pokemon Box Ruby Sapphire or Sonic Adventure 2 Battle? I am looking for a cartridge that is able to transfer Pokemon and Chao to the Gamecube and back.
Hey thank you for this video. I'm a little slower then most and I like how detail oriented you are. Question: where do I put patches? The game hack folder? I really want to play Boktai but it never starts. 😭😭😭
I’ve been wondering the exact same thing. I’m almost yelling it as I watch this like formatting and filling through the game boy is the easy stuff but where do you find the games?!?!
I just did a bunch more googling and you have to go to websites that you download what’s called ROMs. The ROMs are the names of the digitize games. Idk why none of these reviews include any of that part in their reviews hahahah. Seems like a pinnacle bit of knowledge.
It doesn’t, there’s actually a physical switch inside the console which switches it from GBA to GB mode, as it’s a GBA sized cart there’s no way for it to switch to GB mode so it had to use an emulator. Also the GB Micro doesn’t include any of the GB system parts at all so that’s the only way you can play GB games on the micro :)
This might be a silly question, but I’m new to the everdrive scene. How does it handle gba games and saves? Does it operate as if I had an original game inserted? I understand GB/GBC is emulation.
Not a silly question :) yeah it just treats GBA games exactly as if a regular GBA game was plugged in, so you’ll only be able to save when you could normally in the game. You can download safe files and backup your saves to the Everdrive, but there’s no save states for GBA games. Only for GB/C as they run in the emulator mode
@@RetroBreak Thank you for the reply and confirmation! Great video. You really covered so many questions I had about this. I’m excited to get one and play my games on it. I hope the save transfer is as easy as you made it look ha
@@RetroBreak What do you mean by save states? I guess I'm fine with just the in game saving mechanism but what am I missing out on with save states? Is that just when you can save the game whenever you want like mid cut scene?
Hola..PREGUNTA ¿este gba x5 emula el e-reader?... Rd decir podemos activar los niveles secretos del súper Mario avance 4 que requerían un e-reader y las tarjetas de este aparato?????
