Some questions about doing save backups

[Humanoid]

Hi there,

I'm planning to backup my savegames on my PC of my good old Pokemon Gold (GBC) and Pokemon Ruby (GBA) games so I can continue playing them on emulators or simply having them saved on my PC.

However even after doing some searching I was unable to find some clear answers to my questions so I'm just going to ask them here:

1) Is there a way to backup GBC and GBA game saves with the same setup? I don't really want to order extra equipment for every different "platform" so I really would prefer an "all in one" solution.

2) What is the best way to do this? I have a Game Boy Advance and a Nintendo DS (1st Gen) at hand. I stumbled upon something called SuperCard DSTWO which supposedly gives you the possiblity to backup GBA games (by using an extra tool).

That would be pretty neat, especially if I also could backup NDS saves with it (I'm planning to buy NDS pokemon games in the near future). However I imagine that I can't use it for GBC games or is there a way to do it?

And I found some mentioning that this SuperCard only works for NDSi and above, is that true?

3) Once I have the backup of my games, will I be able to simply use them with emulators like DeSmuME or Visual Boy Advance? And can I also transfer those savesfiles back on the cartridge (with the same method I used to get them)?

Thats all for now, I hope you can answer all the questions, thanks in advance

[evandixon]

1. GBC, I have no idea about. A web search may reveal old devices to do this. GBA, you need a slot 1 flashcart and a DS lite. Look further on the web and there may be a device I don't know about that can do both.

2. Yes. the DSTWO can backup GBA games, if you're on an original DS or DS lite. For NDS pokemon games, you need unsecured or WEP Wi-Fi. Neither is really that secure. The DSTWO cannot backup GBC games at all.

The DSTWO will work on a DSi, but without accessing any DSi features. You also won't be able to backup anything on a DSi.

3. VBA, I'm not sure. I haven't played much with it. DeSmuMe, yes. Just use File -> Import/Export Backup Memory.

[BlackShark]

You can use the backed up save files on VBA. Just put them into your battery folder. They should have the right format/size to be compatible with VBA.

[Humanoid]

For NDS pokemon games, you need unsecured or WEP Wi-Fi.

What do you mean by that? Do I need the DSTWO card for that or is that feature integrated by default? And does the original DS even support Wi-Fi (or has a module integrated)?

Also a little side question here: Will I be able to play games with the DSTWO (since the tools that I need to run are .nds files I suppose so) and will they have the same performance as an original game (or at least an acceptable)?

Regarding the GB© backup module I could only find this (and only there available) -> http://www.hkems.com/product/gb/gba-tr.htm

Perhaps it even works for gba games but I read about some problems with that and I'm not sure I want to spend more than 30$ on that thing if I use it only once (not to mention the additional shipping costs from the other side of the world...).

[evandixon]

With the DSTWO, you can play .nds games, including homebrew. Homebrew will let you obtain your save file, but through the use of Wifi, not the DSTWO.

The process only works on a DS Lite (or the original), which only supports unsecured (without a password) or WEP WiFi (which is hardly secure, you probably don't have it enabled on your router).

There's also other device combinations if all you want is the save file, but the DSTWO can play backups of original games.

http://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?16601-How-to-Backup-Restore-your-retail-cartridge-save-file-(D-P-Pt-HG-SS-B-W-Nearly-any-other-DS-game)