Back in the days Datel of Action Replay fame developed and released a device for the Nintendo 64 called Game Booster, a device which would allow you to run Gameboy games on the Nintendo 64, similar to the
official Super Gameboy in for the Super Nintendo.
It seems that EMS in Hong Kong sub-licensed the Game Booster and rebranded it as the GB Hunter. This device is basicly the NTSC variant of the Game Booster as it's only available with
NTSC video mode, while the Game Booster is PAL only.
The outer shell may be slightly different from the Game Booster, the GB Hunter doesn't fit very well in the N64 cartridge slot, but the device works exactly as the Game Booster except
that the game built-in to the Gamebooster, Rebound, isn't available. If the GB Hunter is booted without a GB game inserted, you're presented with the following.
To be able to boot the GB Hunter you need to insert an original N64 game into the backside of the GB Hunter. The game has to have a "6102" CIC chip, which the most used CIC. But games
such as Diddy Kong Racing, 1080 Snowboarding, NBS Courtside, Zelda and other first party (and Rareware) can't be used, as these games makes use of other CIC types.
The most annoying thing about the GB Hunter/Game Booster is that it has no sound. I think I read somewhere that Datel had huge problems emulating the GB sound, and to avoid delaying the
project even further, they decided to leave out sound emulation and insert this horrible tune which can be heard in the video below.
The GB Hunter/Game Booster is only capable of playing regular licensed GB games, meaning no Gameboy Color games, no pirate multicarts (that I've tested) or unlicensed carts such as games from
Wisdom Tree (Christian Themed games) and Sachen games (of Taiwan).
One very cool feature though is that the GB Hunter/Game Booster is capable of displaying "Super Gameboy" backgrounds and color settings, such as the one shown in the Rockman 5 game shown in the video.
Also built-in is a color menu, so you can alter the color palette, a trainer feature which I've never tried and a cheat menu for Action Replay codes.
Final word has to be that the GB Hunter/Game Booster is a horrible piece of junk to be honest, the tune that replaced the actual game sounds is so friggin horrible it'll drive you insane
if you do not mute it right away. Also, playing games without the actual music and sounds just isn't the same experience.
A fully working Gameboy (and Color) emulator was released for the N64, by Intelligent Systems, but it was sadly only available to developers back in the day and cost a fortune. You should
be able to find one today fairly cheap, so good luck oh and stay clear of the GB Hunter! :-)
Thanks for reading! :-)
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