Difference between revisions of "GBA Glossary"

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A

Adaptor/Adapter

A piece of hardware that allows another piece of hardware to be used in a device that did not originally support it and/or its interface. Popular examples are the M3 Adapter or the Supercard - adapters that allow the GBA or NDS to access external memory cards.

Alpha

A term given to software very early in development, before it becomes a beta form (See Beta).

B

Bad ROM/dump

A ROM (See ROM) that has been dumped (See Dump) incorrectly, which may cause it to produce errors during execution or may stop it from working entirely. 'Bad Dumps' almost always require the original cartridge to be dumped again properly to produce a good ROM (See Good ROM).

Backup

A loose term used to describe a ROM that has been extracted from the original cartridge/disc into a single data file on a personal computer for personal use or archival, or the method for doing so. This can be done using various methods depending on what system the cartridge/disc is for. Also known as "dumping".

Beta

A software that is incomplete, in development or not in its final form. Beta software may contain many known bugs (See Bug).

Bug

An accidental mistake made in the programming of a piece of software (i.e. a video game), that may cause undesired operation or produce errors or worse. A bug can often be fixed or resolved by applying a patch (see Patch).

C

Cartridge

A plastic casing containing variable content, for example, a PCB containing a game held on ROM, including a backup EEPROM/battery to hold the game save. Here, this term is commonly used to describe a GBA game pak, an NDS game card or any other device used to slot into the expansion slots of a handheld, even flash kit adapters.

Clean Dump

A ROM dump (commonly referring to NDS ROMs), that has not been modified from its original form on the cartridge.

Crack

An unofficial patch (See Patch) released by an individual or group which is meant to be applied to a piece of software to remove certain restrictions, features or anti-piracy (See 'Piracy') techniques, for example, a time restriction on an official demo piece of software.

Crash

A unexpected fault (bug (See Bug)) in a software that will cause it to halt immediately. A crashed piece of software can not be recovered and must be re-started.

D

Demo

A trial version of a software or game usually released by the developers of the software for promotional purposes. Demo software almost always has restrictions such as a time limit, lack of features or the inability to perform certain functions.

Dump

Synonym of ROM (See ROM). The term "dumping" is a method of backing up an original cartridge to a PC. (See Backup).

E

EEPROM

Acronym for "Electronically erasable programmable read-only memory". A common type of memory used in GBA game paks and flash kits to store save game data.

EFA-Linker

"EFA" is an acronym of "Extreme Flash Advance". The EFA-Linker is a great little GBA flash kit, that featured a mini-USB socket directly on the cartridge. This avoided the need for external flashing hardware and allowed for brilliant write speeds.

Emulator

A program for the computer that allows ROMs to be played on the computer. It "emulates" a system.

e-Reader

An expansion device for the GBA. Playing card sized cards were released in packs that contained "dot codes" that could be swiped and then played on the GBA. Packs included Classic NES games, Animal Crossing, Pokemon Colosseum, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3, Megaman Battle Network 3 and 4, and Megaman Zero 3. Pokemon cards also had dot codes on them that either had stat information or a mini game on them. Nintendo quietly let the e-Reader die as they continued to promise more cards like the highly anticipated Game and Watch cards but never did.

EWin

The Ewin flash is another flash kit for the GBA, made by the people at 51GBA. Renowned for its great build quality and cheap price, this kit won over many. The team behind the Ewin are currently working on new NDS projects.

EZF

See EZ-Flash.

EZ-Flash

The team behind the EZF kits created some of the very first commercial GBA flash kits. Their good quality and excellent support coming from Borden and his team, gave the company a great reputation. Their EZF-Advance (aka. EZFA) GBA kit, was perhaps the most popular GBA flash kit.

F

Firmware

The code that a device runs from. A device which allows for firmware upgrades means that a new version of the device doesn't need to be bought to get new features.

Flash Memory

Storage space that is stored on a chip instead of a disk that must be read like a harddrive. Contains no moving parts. Can be used either as internal memory like the DS, or can be used as a portable storage device like thumb drives or SD cards.

G

G6

A GBA Flashcart that uses internal memory. The G6-Flash is made by the same company as the M3 Adapter (GBAlpha), the G6 website can be found here. The G6 was redesigned as the new G6 Lite, which boasts many improvements.

Game Boy

1989. Nintendo's first big handheld (their first handheld being the Game and Watch).

Game Boy Advance

2001. The third version of the Game Boy line. Featured a wider screen, more colors, and L and R shoulder pad buttons.

Game Boy Advance SP

2003. An upgrade to the GBA. Featured a design similar to the first Game Boys and could fold in half. Featured a backlit screen.

Game Boy Color

1998. The second version of the Game Boy line. Featured a color display screen.

Game Boy Light

1997. Had a green back glow light that could be turned on. Only available in Japan.

Game Boy Micro

2005. An even smaller GBA. Featured an even brighter backlit screen, a smaller screen, and changable face plates. The smallest Game Boy so far. Was also the first Game Boy not backwards compatible.

Game Boy Pocket

1996. A smaller version of the original Gameboy. Had true a true black-and-white display instead of the black-and-green display of the original.

GB

See Game Boy.

GBA

See Game Boy Advance.

GBA SP

See Game Boy Advance SP.

GBC

See Game Boy Color.

GBM

See Game Boy Micro.

Good ROM/dump

this term was originally used for ROMs that were validated by the GoodTools. But we sometimes also use this term for ROMs that are in the scene release lists if their CRC matches.

GoodTools

Cowering's GoodTools are a set of command-line applications that will let you validate and rename your rom collections. They cover nearly every console and system, and list not only commercial roms but also homebrew games and applications.

Goomba

GameBoy Mono emulator for Gameboy Advance. You can use original GB and GBC cartridges with your GBA, but before this emulator came out there was no way to boot GB/C games from flashcarts (except with a certain tool, the GB bridge, compatible with a certain type of GBA flashcart...). It is also useful if you want to play GB games on your DS.

GoombaColor

the GameBoy Color version of Goomba.

GUI

Acronym for "Graphical User Interface". Basically means there is more than text on the screen.

H

Hack

Modification of a file or a system. For example, a 'ROM hack' means a 'modified ROM'.

Homebrew

A game developed by hobby programmers.

I

J

K

L

LAN

Acronym for "Local Area Network". Connects a small, local areas together.

LCD

Acronym for "Liquid Crystal Display". Uses a small amount of power making it suitable for battery powered devices.

Li-On

See Lithium-Ion.

Lithium-Ion

A commonly used battery for electronics. It usually comes as a flat rectangle. It doesn't suffer from the memory effect.

M

Micro SD

An even smaller version of the SD card. About half the size of a mini SD and about a quarter of the size of a normal SD card. Can hold just as much data as a normal SD card.

Mini SD

A smaller version of the SD card. About half the size of a normal SD card. Can hold just as much data as a normal SD card.

N

NFO

NFO, an abbreviation of "info". "NFO" files are ASCII (See ASCII) text files with the filename extension ".nfo". These are commonly found alongside pirate (See Piracy) software releases by individuals or groups. They contain information about the release and other useful and sometimes useless information.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

The Nintendo Wii and DS use Nintendo Wifi connection to connect to the internet. It is mainly used for online multiplayer and web browsing.

No$GBA

A popular GBA and NDS emulator. Has some unique functions like the ability to emulate the same game multiple times (for multiplayer) and build-in light sensor (for the Boktai games).

O

P

Patch

When a large program is released that has a bug, a patch is usually released instead of having the user download the whole program again. The patch is then applied to the existing data and fixes the bug.

Piracy

The act of illegally acquiring copyrighted materials, by downloading it from the internet without permission of the author.

Pirate

One who engages in piracy.

Q

R

Release Group

A group that releases ROMs on the internet. A group is given credit to a ROM when they release it.

ROM

Acronym of "Read-only memory". A ROM is a piece of flash memory that contains permanently stored data that cannot be added to, modified or removed. The term ROM is also used to describe a ROM from, for example a game cartridge that has been extracted and backed up to a single file on a PC. This method of extraction can also be referred to as "dumping" and the end file is commonly called a "dump".

S

Save Type

GBA and NDS cartridges can use different types of chips to store data (game saves). There are 3 types of memory chips used: SRAM, EEPROM, and Flash. Also, some games have no save chip, because they don't need to store data.

SRAM

Acronym for "Static random access memory". A common type of memory used in GBA game paks and flash kits to store save game data.

Supercard

Probably the most famous adapter. Exists in various versions (CF, SD, MiniSD...). NDS compatibility is nearly perfect while GBA compatibility isn't, due to the low-quality memory chip used for loading GBA ROMs.

T

Trim

"Trimming" means to remove "dummy data" from a ROM file in order to decrease the file size. Contrary to how the majority of people think it works. It simply does not compress the ROM in any way. It's just a method of removing dummy (garbage/filler) data from the file which can be anything from a few KB to a few MB.

U

V

W

X

X-ROM

A GBA based flash kit sold only through EasyBuy2000. For its cheap price, it offered good value for money, but it simply arrived too late in the GBA's life for it to take off. Slow write speeds also put off some potential buyers. [GBAtemp Trivia: The X-ROM 512Mbit kit was the first flash kit we ever reviewed!]

Y

Z