Hi, I have a full set of USA released Virtual Boy games, including the 2 distribution “Not For Resale” demos in my collection. I know the ROMs already exist and are easy to find on the Internet. US federal copyright law allows you to make back copies of media you own. Technically in order for backup copies to be legal, you need to make the backup copy yourself, not download them. So I’d like to do that if possible. Plus, I just think it would be fun dumping the games to ROM format and learning how that process works.

So my question is – how can I dump a Virtual Boy game I own to ROM format to back it up on my computer? Are there any known or recommended methods, and what hardware should I own in order to do this?

Thanks for any help or insight you may provide.

The easiest method I know is to use a retrode with a converter for Genesis games to VB games.

Now when I say easy..i couldn’t make the converter 🙂 But, it’s better then making your own dumper.

-Eric

please give this a read, if you haven’t already: http://www.projectvb.com/dumper.html

bigmak wrote:
The easiest method I know is to use a retrode with a converter for Genesis games to VB games.

Now when I say easy..i couldn’t make the converter 🙂 But, it’s better then making your own dumper.

-Eric

They have more info at the Retrode site: http://www.retrode.org/2010/03/user-story-1-virtual-boy-adapter/

I think that links back to DogP’s page too. You can also use the Retrode to play VB games on your computer once you build this setup. Like the SNES or Genesis, you just plug the cart in to the system, open the ROM file on your computer using an emulator and play. I lucked out and found a Retrode at a flea market, so I plan on building this converter eventually. Unfortunately they seem to be very expensive now, $100-150 on ebay from what I remember. Somewhere on the Retrode site they implied that a new batch may be on the way though.

Seems like you can either build your own VB cart connector using a bunch of pins or just sacrifice one from a busted unit.

skcin7 wrote:
Hi, I have a full set of USA released Virtual Boy games, including the 2 distribution “Not For Resale” demos in my collection. I know the ROMs already exist and are easy to find on the Internet. US federal copyright law allows you to make back copies of media you own. Technically in order for backup copies to be legal, you need to make the backup copy yourself, not download them. So I’d like to do that if possible. Plus, I just think it would be fun dumping the games to ROM format and learning how that process works.

So my question is – how can I dump a Virtual Boy game I own to ROM format to back it up on my computer? Are there any known or recommended methods, and what hardware should I own in order to do this?

Thanks for any help or insight you may provide.

Just so you know, assuming the dumps in question are bit-for-bit accurate and no copier headers are involved, there’s no technical or legal difference between backups you make or ones you download off the internet.