Mobile Game Boy Adapter

Box art of the Mobile Adapter GB hardware

The Mobile Adapter GB (Japanese: モバイルアダプタGB) is a peripheral for the Game Boy Color, released on January 27, 2001 which allows players to connect to compatible Japanese phones. It was never released outside of Japan. The peripheral was part of a service known as "Mobile System GB" (モバイルシステムGB) in which compatible games would use the Mobile Adapter GB for wireless play across the nation via the now defunct "gameboy.datacenter.ne.jp" server, that was hosted by Nintendo Network Service Development. KDDI Corporation was the internet service provider of the network. The peripheral was a collaboration between Nintendo and Mobile21; a company that was jointly owned between Nintendo and Konami.

The package was bundled with the original Mobile Adapter GB itself, which was a blue cable that could be used to connect to Japanese cell-phones. Included with the Mobile Adapter GB is the "Mobile Trainer" (Japanese: モバイルトレーナー) cartridge, that only boots up when the Mobile Adapter GB is connected to a compatible Japanse phone. A special edition of the Mobile Adapter GB came packaged with Mobile Golf, which was a spin-off to the Mario Golf series used to test the Mobile Adapter GB. After the Mobile Adapter GB's release, different colored cables were sold separately which allows the player to connect to different types of phones, one of which was announced but never released.

The Mobile Adapter GB was first released with a recommended retail price of ¥5800, before a price cut to ¥3800 from July 19, 2001.^[1] Despite its promises, the service was not much of a commercial success and closed down in December 14, 2002 probably due to its high price, and the very few number of games that supported it. The closure of the Mobile System GB service makes it impossible for players to link to the server, however, it is still possible to link with friends provided that a peer-to-peer network is used.

Cables

In addition to the blue Mobile Adapter GB cable, three other cables were announced. All of which were sold separately, apart from the green adapter, which was never released. They all allowed the player to connect to different types of phones.

• Blue: This is the original cable packaged with the Mobile System GB. It allows the player to connect to a digital cell phone terminal PDC. The cable allowed for a maximum exchange rate of 9600bps.
• Yellow: This cable allows the player to connect to a cdmaone portable telephone with a maximum exchange rate of 14.4kbps.
• Red: This cable allows the player to connect to a DDI Pocket Telephone with a maximum exchange rate of 36.6kbps.
• Green: This cable was going to support PHS devices from Astel and NTT DoCoMo, but the cable was ultimately never released.

List of compatible software

Below is a list of all known Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance software which supported the Mobile System GB.^[2][3]

• Mobile Trainer (GBC) (Japanese:モバイルトレーナー) (MissingLink/Nintendo)
• Pokémon Crystal (GBC) (Japanese: ポケットモンスター　クリスタルバージョン) (Game Freak/Nintendo) - defunct as of 14 December 2002.
• Napoleon (GBA) (Japanese: ナポレオン) (Genki/Nintendo) - defunct as of 14 December 2002.
• Mobile Golf (GBC) (Japanese: モバイルゴルフ) (Camelot Software Planning/Nintendo) - defunct as of 14 December 2002.
• Game Boy Wars 3 (GBC) (Japanese: ゲームボーイウォーズ３) (Hudson Soft/Nintendo)
• Mail de Cute (GBC) (Japanese: メールでキュート) Mobile21/Konami
• Hello Kitty: Happy House (GBC) (Japanese: ハローキティのハッピーハウス) (MTO)
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) (Japanese: マリオカートアドバンス, Mario Kart Advance)
• Horse Racing Creating Derby^[4] (GBA) (Japanese: 馬穴大作戦)^{[5] [6]} - cancelled.
• beatmaniaGB Net Jam (GBC) (Japanese: beatmaniaGB ネットジャム) - cancelled.
• Japan GT Championship (GBA) (Japanese: 全日本GT選手権) (Vision Works/Kemco)
• Silent Hill: Play Novel (GBA) (Japanese: プレイノベル サイレントヒル) (Konami)
• Daisenryaku for Game Boy Advance (GBA) (Japanese: 大戦略　For　ゲームボーイアドバンス) (SystemSoft Alpha/MediaKite)
• Doraemon: Midori no Wakusei Doki Doki Daikyuushuutsu! (GBA) (Japanese: ドラえもん　緑の惑星ドキドキ大脱出！) (Mobile21/Epoch)
• Monster Guardians (GBA) (Japanese: モンスターガーディアンズ) (Mobile21/Konami)
• Net de Get Minigames @100 (GBC) (Japanese: ネットでゲット ミニゲーム@100) (Mobile21/Konami)
• Zero Tours (GBA) (Japanese: ゼロ・ツアーズ) (Amedio/Media Rings)
• Sutakomi: Star Communicator (GBA) (Japanese: スタコミ Star★Communicator) (Konami)
• Kinniku Banzuke ~Kongou-Kun no Daibouken~ (GBA) (Japanese: 筋肉番付～金剛くんの大冒険～) (KCE Studios/Konami)
• Morita Shogi Advance (GBA) (Japanese: 森田将棋あどばんす) (Yuki Enterprise/Hudson Soft)
• EX Monopoly (GBA) (Japanese: ＥＸモノポリー) (Mobile21/Takara)
• Exciting Bass (GBA) (Japanese: エキサイティング　バス) (Konami)
• JGTO Golf Master Mobile (GBA) (Japanese: JGTO公認　GOLF MASTER　モバイル) (Konami)
• Mobile Pro Baseball (GBA) (Japanese: モバイルプロ野球: 監督の采配) (Mobile21/Konami)

Mobile Trainer

The Mobile Trainer cartridge

Mobile Trainer (Japanese: モバイルトレーナー) is a cartridge which comes packaged with the Mobile Adapter GB itself, developed by MissingLink, the parent company of Denyusha.^[7] Prior to its release it was previously given the tentative name "Mobile Starter Cartridge" (Japanese: モバイルスターターカートリッジ).^[8] When the player boots up the cartridge, a connection screen checks whether the Mobile Adapter GB is connected. The software will progress past the loading screen only once connected to a Japanese phone. The cartridge offered an e-mail system in which users could exchange text messages between each other. Another feature of the Mobile Trainer cartridge was access to the Mobile System GB homepage, which published featured articles around different compatible titles. It would publish information about updates to the Pokémon News Machine and data from the Mobile Stadium.

The cartridge served as a general guide to the Mobile System GB, which included a help menu about how to use the service and a glossary of key terms. Under a mobile settings menu, the player was able to alter their registration details, and confirm their remaining balance.

Within the coding of the Mobile Trainer cartridge exist graphics for Pokémon such as Pikachu, Porygon2 and Tyranitar. The purposes of these graphics are currently unknown. It may be of note that Tyranitar uses an art style which more closely resembles its artwork from the early development of Gold and Silver.

Pokémon Mobile System GB

Main article: Pokémon Mobile System GB

The most well-received division of the service was perhaps the Pokémon Mobile System GB service used in the Japanese version Pokémon Crystal up to when the whole Mobile System GB service went defunct in December 14, 2002. When the player successfully connects Pokémon Crystal to the Mobile Adapter GB and a Japanese cell-phone, the "Mobile System GB" logo is shown, and two options are added to the start-up menu including "Mobile" (モバイル), and "Mobile Stadium" (モバイルスタジアム), this grants the player access to the Battle Tower, Mobile Stadium, and the services within the Pokémon Communication Center.^[9]

Some of the available services included national "PokéCom" link trades available through the main Pokémon Communication Center building (akin to the GTS) and wireless Battle Tower battles for a small price on the player's phone in which the player could possibly be accepted as a "room leader" if they battled well enough.

The services relied heavily on the data the player would input into the "Mobile" option. The "Mobile" option brought the player to the Card Folder (a pre-cursor to the Pal Pad and easy chat system), in which the player could input profile information and share their phone numbers with a number of friends. This data would be used for purposes such as Battle Tower data, and the Pokémon News Machine, which was a service updated monthly that would broadcast news and compile the data of other players across Japan. As well as broadcasting news, the Pokémon News Machine also served as an interface in which the player could play minigames and participate in quizzes.

The most influential event was held in April and May 2001, and allowed the player to obtain a GS Ball to capture Celebi at the Ilex Forest shrine after giving it to Kurt for inspection. The event involved the player obtaining 16 badges, before successfully completing the "Chieko Dice" minigame three times in a row and successfully answering the "ten card quiz" via the Pokémon News Machine.^[10][11]

Another use of the Card Folder allowed for up to 10 minute battles and trades with contacts via the second floor of any Pokémon Center. The battles could be saved on Pokémon Crystal, to later be uploaded to the Mobile Stadium.

Mobile Stadium

The Mobile Stadium (Japanese: モバイルスタジアム) is an interface which allows players to upload videos of timed battles with friends on to Japanese versions of Pokémon Stadium 2 via the Transfer Pak. In Pokémon Crystal, the "Mobile Stadium" appears on the start-up menu after connecting with the Mobile Adapter GB at least once. When the player uploaded a video on to Pokémon Stadium 2, it can then be played back through a mode of the same name in full 3D on Pokémon Stadium 2. A similar function is fulfilled by the Vs. Recorder in Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver.

The aforementioned video is a battle from the third match of a national cup tournament that was hosted in 2000, uploaded on to Pokémon Stadium 2's Mobile Stadium mode:

Trivia

• The Mobile Adapter GB was not the first Game Boy peripheral offering online play. From as early as March 6, 1998 Hudson Soft's GB Kiss Link Modem allowed players to access downloadable content from the Internet and send messages between friends, through a number of compatible games which had built in infrared ports, such as Nectaris GB, the Japanese versions of Robopon for the Game Boy Color, as well as the GB Kiss Minigames cartridge which came packaged with the GB Kiss Link Modem. It was available through mail order.

References

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.