Gameshark / Action Replay GBA V3 Tooling

This repository contains useful tooling to interact with Gameshark / Action Replay cheating devices manufactured by Datel in the early 2000s for Nintendo's Gameboy Advance.

Repository Organization

This repository contains the following tools:

• usbtool.c: C program allowing to interact with the Action Replay / Gameshark cheating device over USB. Since the drivers shipped with the original PC utility only support 32-bit Windows operating systems, I simply made my own. Use this tool to:
  • Download code database from cheating device to computer (-c)
  • Upload code database from computer to cheating device (-C)
  • Download save game from game plugged into cheating device to computer (-s)
  • Upload save game from computer to game plugged into cheating device (-S)
  • Download cheating device firmware to computer (-f)
  • Read RAM contents of game currently plugged into cheating device (-m)
  • Read ROM contents of game currently plugged into cheating device (-r)
• arcrypt.py: Python script to encrypt and decrypt Action Replay / Gameshark cheat codes. Use this document to translate decrypted codes to meaningful operations.
• convert_code_db.py: Python script to convert cheat codes downloaded by usbtool -c to JSON. Also supports backwards conversion from JSON to cheat codes blob for flashing with usbtool -C.
• patch_ar_switch.py: Python script to patch an Action Replay / Gameshark firmware such that it does not lock up with the "Please move the switch to the right" message in an emulator.

Trivia

The Action Replay / Gameshark cheating device is an instance of a cartridge making use of the Debugging and Communication System (DACS) of the Gameboy Advance hardware as described by Martin Korth. The DACS was presumably introduced by Nintendo to offer developers a hardware debugger for games.