Game boy wireless link- does it work for all games?

Cafe Society
#1

Lately I’ve been hearing that Nintendo developed a wireless ‘link cable’. This sounds fascinating. I saw a television ad for it, but it comes bundled wtih a new set of Pokemon games. This left me wondering-

Does this wireless link (stupidly) only work for those games? Or is it just like a link cable, only wireless?

Also, how is the signal transmitted? One thing that concerns me is the issue of interference if people are playing a multiplayer game- I get enough packet loss from my wireless router to make playing online games a hassle, I can only imagine the problem is proportionally the same with the gameboy’s version (potentially).

How would 4 player games work with a wireless link?

#2

While I can’t answer all of your questions, I’ll do my best with the ones I know.

Right now the Pokemon games are the only ones that support the wireless cable. I think F-Zero GP Legend might, but I don’t know. More games that support it are obviously in the pipe.

I believe the signal is IR wireless that fools the GBA into thinking it’s working like a link cable. To process the signal and make sure there are no drops, games have to support the wireless link.

I’d imagine four player games would work about the same.

Bu I do know Majesco is working on a wireless link that supposedly will work for all games. I don’t now when it will be read.

#3

Its kind of a drag that system isn’t backwards compatible, but I guess the very nature of wireless technology requires the multiplayer games to have some sort of read-ahead/buffer in place to smooth out potential interruptions.

#4

Right you are. The current crops of games wouldn’t know what to do in the event of a lost packet. However, with the upcoming Nintendo DS (which I played at E3, woo!) will have wireless support for all games.

Anyways, back to the GBA wireless adapter. It will also work with the already released Mario Golf. And contrary to what a previous poster said, it will not use IR, but RF instead. I don’t think you’ll have as many problems with getting the wireless to work as you’ve had with your routers, it is a Nintendo product after all; the Wave Bird (a RF controller for GameCube) works brilliantly in my room full of interference.

#5

RF!

Dammit, I always get those two confused.

Thanks for the correction.

#6

Haha, don’t worry about it man. There’s plenty of shit that confuses me too.