Running classic video games on modern hardware is a common thing. Doom, for example, has been “enjoyed” on calculators, iPods, and even a Casio watch. Now, what happens when you try the other way around? That is, a relatively current title on hardware from the past. The difficulty to make it possible increases significantly, of course. However, recently one person managed to play GTA 5 on a game boy, the legendary portable console that was released in 1989.
Yes, GTA 5 It already has a presence in three different generations of video games. However, you can be sure that very few imagined it coming to the first generation of the Game Boy. Technically it seemed impossible, but Sebastian Staacks, from the YouTube channel there oughta beHe found a way to do it.
Through a complete video, the aforementioned explains how he managed to play GTA 5 on the first Game Boy. Staacks came up with a rather clever solution: create a Wi-Fi cartridge that can receive the video signal from a game running on a PlayStation console. Thus, game processing happens elsewhere, because it is clear that the Nintendo handheld does not have the technical potential for it.
It is a proposal very similar to PlayStation Remote Play, with which you can do game streaming to mobile devices and computers. In other words: Cloud Gaming.
GTA 5 breaks through old hardware
Another limitation of the Game Boy has to do with its GPU, as it was not designed to intervene directly in the process of displaying images on the screen. For this task, the PPU (Image Processing Unit), which from time to time draws images on the panel using the sprites (8×8 or 8×16 pixel images) and background tiles.
After a complex understanding technician on how the Game Boy works, and using programming, Staacks managed to capture the images of GTA 5 on the original laptop screen. Of course, in a different aspect ratio and with a frame rate of just 20 FPS – a good tribute to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, undoubtedly-. For their part, the buttons also work to control the character.
Of course, what Staacks has achieved is being applauded by the entire community. Via Twitter, he noted that already tested your cartridge in the Analogue Pocket and the results were positive; although some horizontal lines appeared that are not present on the Game Boy.