VIsoly Flash Advance Linker Review Get your Linker from Divineo

256M Ready To Go Set

Price Maker System Where To Buy
180 USD Visoly Gameboy Advance (Expres Shipping!)

One of the accessories for Gameboy Advance that everyone has been chatting about is Visoly's Flash Advance Linkers. I decided to order one of these and take it for a test drive.

What it is:

The Flash Advance Linker enables you to transfer files from your computer to a flash card and then use the files with your Gameboy Advance. These files could be anything from roms to emulators to game saves. The linker plugs into your computer via the printer port. Once the linker is plugged in to your computer it then routes the data and saves it to your Flash Card. Once it is done all you have to do is pop it in your Gameboy Advance and use it. The time of the whole process depends on how much stuff you are sending over to the card. If you are sending all 256 Megabits over it usually takes around 5-6 minutes. The software to transfer your stuff to the flash card is also required but I will get into that later. A new and improved version of the linker is out which now connects to your computer with USB. This versions only difference is the amount of speed it takes in order to transfer files to the flash card.

What it comes with:

I must point out that the package didn't come with much. It came with the linker, a small set of instructions, a linker cable, and of course the actual flash card which was in a very spiffy metal case. The linker requires power sources that can either be 6 AAA batteries or a 9V power supply that was not included. When I first used the linker I didn't have any AA batteries laying around so I had to unplug my phone to use the power adapter from it. The package also lacks the software needed to transfer your files to the flash card and forces you to download it from their official site or other places like GBA Emu.

Features:

The features of the flash advance linker are very simple but yet kind of complicated at the same time.. You can play Gameboy Advance roms from your computer on your Gameboy Advance. If you want to play regular Gameboy / Gameboy Color games with the flash card you have to dis out an aditional 40 dollars for a special adapter. The roms play exactly like normal retail games, no difference at all. One of the great features of the 256-mbit card is that it allows multiple games on the same cartridge. How many games you can fit on one cartridge depends on the size of the game. Normally GBA commercial games range from 32 mbits to 128 mbits. Very few games are 128 mbits though, this means the 256-mbit flash card can hold on average 3-4 games. When you turn on your Gameboy Advance with multiple games in the flash card it prompts you with a menu of what game you want to play.The flash card is also rewriteable alowing you to delete and rewrite it as many times as you want. This kit is also the thing you want to get if you are interested in developing games or software for GBA. There are many great GBA tutorials on how to dev your own GBA games out there, you may find a few at Hangar-Evelen. On top of developing your own games and playing roms on your GBA you can also send game saves to and from your flash card to your computer. This means if you are stuck on a game or just want to brag to your friends on how great of a gamer you are you have the saves to prove it. There are also countless homebrew games made by individuals out for GBA that you can only use with the flash cards which will add an extra joy of excitement to this wonderful accesory.

Pocket NES:

There are multiple emulators out for Gameboy Advance. The biggest one out at the moment is Pocket NES. This emulator is truly amazing and mindblowing! It plays NES games at as far as I could tell full speed. The only game with noticeable lag was Kirby's Adventure, but even with the bit of lag it was very playable. The emulator also has extremely nice features such as link play and save state options. This emulator alone is reason enough to pick up the set.

Ease Of Use:

As far as sending roms and games to your GBA, it's simple. The software that you can download from Visoly's official site can't make it easier. It is not all easy though. Backing up saves is a huge pain in the ass. The instructions offer no help on how to do it either. The program I prefer for managing my save files is DadyCool's LittleWriter which can be found at GBA Emu. Little Writer makes it easier for you to back up saves. Let me try to explain this without being too complicated. The roms and emulators mostly save in SRAM slots inside the flash card. These slots are labeled names like "1A" or "2b". In order to back up your save you have to find out which slot the save is in and how big the size of the save is. Finding out what slot the save is in is simple. You can easily find it out by pressing a button at the menu on you GBA where you choose your game. Finding the size is a little more difficult. First you have to make a save file from the rom you want to back up. This can be done with any GBA emulator for the PC, I recommend Visualboy Advance. After you have made a save file you need to download a program which checks the save size. This program can be found at GBA Emu. After you have all of this info you just enter it in the option in Little Writer and it backs up your save. A more detailed explanation on how to back up your save file can be found at GBA Emu.

Ups and Downs:

Ups:
- Play GBA roms on your GBA.
- Turn your GBA into a portable NES.
- Develop your own games.
- Have multiple games without carrying around all of those cartridges.
- No installation required.

Downs:
- No power adapter comes with it.
- No software comes with it.
- Instruction booklet doesn't go into much detail.
- Need to buy an extra adapter to play GB / GBC games with it.

Score:

Category Score
(Out of 10) Comments
Originality 9.0 Visoly made this product for the GBA first. Similar products exist for other cartridge based systems.
Ease Of Use 7.0 Everything is easy except for saving games, but once you get the hang of this it's nothing.
What you get for your money. 8.0 They really should have included a power adapter and a better instruction booklet
Fun Factor 10.0 There are loads of features for this. New stuff is always coming out so you will never get bored with it!
Total (Not Average) 9.0 All in all the Visoly 256mbit Ready to go set is worth the money. It is just full of very very sweet features such as save game writing, rom writing and perhaps the best feature allows you to make your GBA into a portable NES. It is very much worth the 170 USD that it costs.
Reviewer: TerrorShocked