Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter

October 23, 2024

From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.

The Wireless Adapter for the GBA and GBA SP

The Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter (Japanese: ゲームボーイアドバンス専用ワイヤレスアダプタ Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter) is a Game Boy Advance accessory that attaches to the Game Link Cable port of any GBA-compatible device where the Game Link Cable would normally go. Much like the GBA-GCN cable, it is held in place by tabs that click into the small slots on top.

The adapter was included with Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen when they were initially released, though it was removed when the games made it to Player's Choice status. It is fully compatible with both, as well as with Pokémon Emerald and numerous other GBA games. It replaces the GBA's Game Link Cable in most aspects, allowing communication between two GBA systems without the cumbersome wires that were previously required.

The GBA Wireless Adapter was not as successful as it could have been due to the limited library of titles which supported it. As its use was restricted to games that specifically acknowledged it, and not to any game that was able to link to others with the normal Game Link Cable, communication between Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald and Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire requires a Game Link Cable. Due to its release late in the life of the GBA, most of the system's library could not support it. As the wireless communications of the Wireless Adapter and those of the Nintendo DS are on different frequencies, one cannot use the wireless functionality of GBA games when played on a DS.

As the Game Boy micro has a different type of Game Link Cable port, it cannot use the standard GBA Wireless Adapter. A variation of the adapter compatible with the Game Boy micro was released, though it was available only through Nintendo.