Hello hello! Okay, so I’m a brand new user here, so I have basically no idea what I’m doing, hahaha. But I’ve been looking up FE romhacks for a while, and I’ve decided I might as well just jump in and start playing them.
Only thing is, being a total noob, I don’t know how to play them hahaha! I’m not even well-versed in the world of emulating and such (I regrettably played Binding Blade on KBH Games, which is apparently frowned upon), so I figured it can’t hurt too much to just sorta… jump in here and ask what’s a guy to do?
Thanks for reading y’all, apologies for the ignorance, LMAO.
Most GBA games us .ups files, which can be applied to a clean rom via a program like NUPS, but there are also online patchers too. Look at romhacking.net for both. You can get the ups files here of course. As for the roms of the base games, that is a strictly off-limits subject both here and pretty much everywhere so I can’t really help you I’m afraid.
As for emulators, mGBA’s a good choice for pc and wii, and you can install agb firm on a modded 3ds. It’s a tiny bit complicated but it’s miles ahead of any other means of playing gba games on the 3ds. There are probably more options but those are the ones I know.
You have a ROM. This is the game “file”. Most romhacks now are of Sacred Stones’ American release. Legally, we cannot supply you with a ROM, and the site assumes in good faith that you have acquired the game legally and ripped the ROM file from your own copy.
You download the patch for the game you want, and apply it to the matching ROM, the application usually makes an altered copy of your ROM. There are several applications to do this, but my favourite is a site called Rom Patcher JS by Marc Robledo.
You now have a patched ROM. Now you figure out how to play it. You can either use an emulator for your PC, phone or console, of which there are many (you can look them up, for best results choose the most accurate for your device) or you can use a flashcart (and/or SD card) to play it on original hardware or an emulator-based gaming device eg. the Miyoo Mini.
Perfectly fair, and I ain’t asking anyone to anyway hahaha. I just don’t know how any of this works, so I figured I’d seek out some insight.
Your whole reply is really good by the way, making me think. So, dumb question. I have a Nintendo Online subscription on my Switch that includes the GBA games. Does that count? Next dumb question: How does one know if an emulator is, y’know, good and safe, without any viruses and such?
I feel like a dumb n00b askin g studd that everyone else on here already knows, hahaha! But ah well, gotta learn this stuff somehow!
If you mean “is that an emulator”: Technically, yes. Nintendo is using an in-house emulator to allow you to play the GBA games. But practically, they’re not going to let you play ROMhacks on the Switch unless your console is modded to allow that, like how we get the 3DS playing GBA ROMhacks.
If you mean “is this a ROM for legal purposes”: no, it’s part of a streaming service, taken away when your streaming rights run out. You’d have to, legally, buy and retain proof of purchase of the original GBA game in its entirety. Of course, some people find and share ROMs illegally over the internet… but you must understand that as a site we disavow that because it is illegal. Not that you can usually tell if the ROM someone has was obtained illegally or by ripping their own copy… again, we assume in good faith that any ROMs you have are your own, acquired legally.
Generally, you can look for an emulator that has a good reputation and has been updated relatively recently, and go to their official site or github. “Best emulator for (console), (preferred medium)” is a common search.
For PC users and GBA, for example, mGBA and VBA-M are generally considered the best currently, with mGBA winning out. I use Robert Broglia’s emulators on my Android phone, personally, but for proper testing I own a GBA SP and an Everdrive x5 mini.
True, we were all n00bs once. Don’t ever feel ashamed of asking questions. <3