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[snapty00]

Does anyone know if there's any difference between the GBA hardware of the DS and the GBA itself?

From what I've gathered, there are some very minor differences that may actually affect games (to whatever limited extent that may be), but I could be wrong.

Anybody know or have some good evidence from their own experience?

 

[Panajev2001a]

The GBA Hardware on the DS can clock at 2x the clock-speed you see in the original GBA (IIRC the 2D Hardware Accelerated engine embedded in the GBA's ARM7 CPU ran at the same clock-speed as the rest of the CPU).

 

[cvxfreak]

I believe the GBA hardware in the DS is faster (or something) because it actually contributes to DS games, too. Don't quote me on that though.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

You guys are correct, but I'm guessing what he's getting at is that as GBC didn't work properly with a few original GB games, and PS2 has some odd effects on PS1 games, is there anything similar for playing GBA games on DS?

I haven't heard of anything like that, though.

 

[cvxfreak]

You guys are correct, but I'm guessing what he's getting at is that as GBC didn't work properly with a few original GB games, and PS2 has some odd effects on PS1 games, is there anything similar for playing GBA games on DS?

I haven't heard of anything like that, though.

Oh, that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

BTW, does anyone know anyone who modified an e-Reader to run on a DS?

 

[Shogmaster]

Some interesting things about the screens:
http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=4438&sid=709dd5891f4d82bf2ec8e1a9bd5bc534

1. Top screen subpixels are RGB not BGR

This is weird. The subpixels on the SP LCD are GBR (green,blue,red). The touch screen on the DS is still GBR, but the TOP screen is RGB.

This really doesn't affect much unless you're playing with subpixel rendered fonts or a high-colordepth engine that takes advantage of subpixels (which I've never seen in any current GB game, but has potential with the DS's faster processor.) If you're a DS developer and want to use subpixels, you'll have an extra layer of processing to use the same assets on both screens.

Here's a small demo you can run to see what I mean. The displayed text that is MUCH clearer on hardware when the subpixel order matches.

Swap the screen that the demo is running in and you'll see a marked difference...

2. The Gamma levels are way brighter on the DS

Load up the same screen on both your SP and your DS. The DS is a lot brighter and more vibrant, which is GREAT from a player's perspective. From a developer's perspective, it means that giving the player the option to change their brightness is even more important.

Hopefully, someone will discover a way to detect at runtime if you're on the DS so you can adjust the gamma automatically.

 

[Spiritreaver]

This had me wondering the other day, but does the faster clock speed fix the slowdown issues for certain games? Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis comes to mind.

 

[Panajev2001a]

This had me wondering the other day, but does the faster clock speed fix the slowdown issues for certain games? Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis comes to mind.

No, as in GBA mode I think the clock-speed of the ARM7 chip gets thottled down back to 16.7 MHz.