Super Gameboy 2 question

So, I want to be able to play Gameboy games on my TV with a SNES. After a bit of research I decided that I should probably get a Super Gameboy 2, as it doesn't have the speed issue that the Super Gameboy has, and being lazy I'd rather get something that will work how I want it to without being modded. Besides, I like the idea of being able to mess around with GB Printer, etc on it.

So there I was, merrily surfing the net and being happy that this was looking like such an easy decision, when I stumbled across a Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Gameboy#Super_Game_Boy_2) which planted the seed of doubt in my mind. The article says of the Super Gameboy 2, "One of the flaws is the system's inability to change borders in some games that have built in borders." No citation, no elaboration. I looked around on the internet and could not find any other information regarding that particular claim. Now, if that ambiguous sentence is true, I might not want an SGB2 after all, depending on what exactly it means. If the SGB2 prevents the display of any of the borders built into any games, then I don't want it. Otherwise, I do. I don't care much about the borders that are built into the SGB2, only those which are built into games.

So what say ye all? Is the Wikipedia article accurate, and if so, which borders are the ones rendered effectively unusable?

 

I think what it is saying that the games that have borders built into them will show only the border built into the game, and you won't be able to use the ones on the SGB2 instead of the game's border.

 

I think it means what tildius said. It also seems trivial to me. The border for the game shouldn't be the end all decision.

What does this mean? Unless you own a Super Famacom, (Japan version), or slightly modify your cart or console, you can not play the SGB2 in your SNES. The SGB2 was a japan only release. It is easy to fix if you don't mind taking pliers and yanking out 2 plastic groves from your SNES. So i don't understand what you are trying to say.

 

I own an original Super GameBoy running on a SFC and to be honest the speed issue can't even be noticed. It's so minute that it's not even an issue.

 

Call me anal but I played a lot of GameBoy in my childhood and I notice the difference very well, mostly because of the music and timing for bosses et cetera.
Also it must have been considered a noticable flaw or else they wouldn't have bothered to fix it with the SGB2.

 

Well, it doesn't bother me at all. It's nothing like PAL and NTSC speed difference that consoles had back in the day. How much slower is it meant to be anyway?

 

The original SGB runs about 2% faster than a normal GB. Though I never tried to notice it and so I haven't. Plus now there is the GB Player on Gamecube.

https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Super_Game_Boy_timing

That's just one page that talks a bit about it in relation to speed runs. I agree with Yakumo. The difference is so slight it doesn't really matter much. I'm guessing PAL areas didn't get the SGB at all? Or did they and the games play much slower?

 

I actually also just use the Game Boy Player for this. I didn't mention it because if 151rby started this thread over a concerns of custom borders. The GB Player doesn't support the GB borders or SGB modes.

 

It doesn't matter much if you never played the game on a real GameBoy before, but if it's your favorite childhood game then it is noticable because of the music and some timing issues - despite the really marginal difference of 2.4%.

The PAL areas got the Super GameBoy, absolutely, and I don't think there was a difference in speed (however I only use the JPN SGB, so I can't really tell). Nobody would've enjoyed it if their GB games would be much slower all of a sudden, but I've never heard of anyone saying that. I think Nintendo used frameskipping to compensate for it.

 

Actually, Nintendo just used the Super NES's clock speed divided by 5 (thanks wikipedia).
It just happens to be 4.295 MHz instead of 4.194 MHz (thanks wikipedia again).

 

So?

 

So Nintendo didn't use frame skipping. They just used shortcuts. I thought you and others would prefer knowing this.

 

I was just saying that the European SGB doesn't run GB games slower than on the original hardware, that's all. PAL hardware always suffered from the slow 50Hz (as opposed to 60Hz in NTSC countries), but since the GameBoy had no regional differences in hardware, they had to find a way to make the SNES play GB games in the same speed as an NTSC Super GameBoy even though the video output had to be in 50Hz.

 

I have the Super Game Boy 2 and I dont have any issues with games that have buit in borders, even with the ones that changes the border during gameplay (i.e. Pokemon Trading Card Game, Beatmania GB)

The SGB2 is also fully compatible with the american SNES but requires this simple mod:
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/universal-ntsc-only-snes/

I'm uploading a demonstrative video of the SGB2 switching between borders

 

Are you sure? Space Invaders region locked the 16bit SGB mode.

In any case since it'd be impractical to software patch all GB games for full speed 50hz without glitches, I don't see any choice other than play slower or drop frames.
Unless I'm missing something...

 

My SGB2 in video:

 

i have a sgb2 and it doesn't prevent games display their built-in border. though some games display different borders when plugged into sgb and sgb2. i think the author tried to say if a game has a built-in border, sometimes you can't select the usual sgb2 borders. though that is valid for sgb too i guess.

if someone wants to see a gb game behave different in sgb and sgb2, just tell me. i have both.

 

Does American Gameboy Color Games work on that by anychance?

 

No. Well if it is GBC only it won't. If it is a black cart then it will play in GB mode. You could buy a GB player for gamecube, which will play GBC games of any region. Just make sure you get the boot disk too (unless your NGC is modded, then you could always burn a disk).

 

Oh okay i was just curious, Thank you! so games with a black colored cart with Gameboy Color on the side Only? okay i understand