Additionally, this will reduce the usable life of the cart itself.Īnother issue, this one affecting both GB and GBA carts, is that the hardware typically only uses SRAM. While this does not offer an risk of permanent damage to the console itself, this does make the cart use significantly more battery than it would otherwise. One such example is that most bootleg Game Boy and Game Boy Color carts are built using parts designed for 3.3v systems and are then overdriven at 5v for use with the system. Bootleg carts are built down to a price and to get them as cheap as possible, most use salvaged memory components or parts that otherwise are not suitable for this kind of use. Typically, hardware from insideGadgets or RetroStage or the like are designed to emulate OEM in hardware functionality and compatibility, however, most bootlegs work a little bit differently. It’s worth noting that most of the carts listed here can be underclocked on consoles that are capable of such. For a more comprehensive list of known carts, please see flashcartdb from insideGadgets. Even with a flash cart, you cannot run Game Boy Color games on an original Game Boy but a Game Boy flash cart will run Game Boy Color games on a Game Boy Color or original Game Boy games. Game Boy Advance carts will only run on Game Boy Advance models and will only run Game Boy Advance Games. Game Boy (Color) carts run on all models that can play original Game Boy games (so except the Game Boy Micro) and are used to run both Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. There are three different styles of flash cart for Game Boy consoles, both for Game Boy (Color) and Game Boy Advance. There are still some compatibility issues or other reliability concerns for some hardware. Some carts will need to be reflashed any time you want to switch games (see cart readers) but others just take a memory card full of games to play. A flash cart can be cheaper than these and can play more than one game. There are still quite a few games that are very desirable and very rare which makes them very pricey.

One such advantage is that you do not have to track down a specific title. There are many advantages to using a flash cart for a Game Boy.

Original gameboy flash cart