GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable

Transcription

Unity is usually a good thing. Usually. There’s synergy between the PSP and the PS3, between the DS and Wii (though not that much outside of Pokemon Battle Revolution), between the XBox 360 and the possibly fifteen Zunes left out in the wild. But here’s where it blossomed: A hunk of wire that connected your GBA or GBASP to a controller port on your Cube. Because of the volatile memory capacity of the GBA, it was possible to use this functionality to download games and applications to the device, and by the end of the sixth console generation a total of fifty-eight games would eventually make use of this connectivity. Animal Crossing just elevated it to a whole new level, with an entire island that could be visited on the Cube, and then maintained on the GBA. This concept of a personal screen proved appealing, as certain games like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles used it as a way for players to manage their own inventories and menus in the context of a multiplayer console RPG, a concept that hadn’t been breached since... well, since Secret of Mana back on the Super NES. Pac-Man Vs., a four-player interpretation of the arcade classic (featuring vocal work by Charles Martinet, the same guy who’s done Mario’s voice since the mid-90’s), allows the Pac-Man player to play a familiar maze on the GBA’s screen, while the 3 human-controlled ghosts on the actual television hunt him down. And, of course, what mention of this link cable would be complete without the TINGLE TUNER. That’s right, take control of everyone’s favorite awkward fey-ish creature and CARPETBOMB HYRULE. WITH LOVE. Of course, the data connection works two ways. The Able Sisters in Animal Crossing are willing to issue you a design application, downloadable to the GBA, that lets you take your ability to make patterns to wherever your muse may be hiding, and then upload those back into your game. Similarly, the Pokemon titles of its generation used the link cable extensively, culminating in Pokemon Box, a monster-management tool for the 3rd generation games. This title was offered only through the real-life Pokemon Center in New York City and through the website of same; used copies currently sell for upwards of $120. (And don’t I wish I had one.) There’s kind of a high barrier to entry - you need the cable, two systems, and appropriate software - but the concept proved successful, so much so that Nintendo’s building an entire system around it.