Wave Race - Four-Player 800cc National Series Circuit (Game Boy Player Capture)

This is a capture of me and three friends playing through the 800cc National Series Circuit mode in Wave Race for the Game Boy. This is not an emulator. This footage was captured directly from the GameCube using the Game Boy Player with progressive scan mode enabled (you'll need the GameCube's component cables to do this and your model of GameCube must support component out as well). I'm player one (Mike), Bait is player two, Keet is player three, and Dawn is player four.

While I was visiting Keet in Florida I also managed to record some new four-player Wave Race footage, this time in 60 fps.

Keet’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KeetAndBait

Even though the Game Boy Advance supported four-player gaming by simply daisy chaining link cables, the original Game Boy only supported it through the Four Player Adapter accessory, which acted as a central hub for connecting three additional link cables and systems. Also, each Game Boy needed its own copy of the same game, unlike several Game Boy Advance games, such as the Super Mario Advance series, which allowed for single-cartridge play. As you can imagine, four-player gaming on the Game Boy wasn't too practical.

I've had a Four Player Adapter for my Game Boy since the late '90s, but I only first put it to use in late 2013 when I recorded my initial multiplayer Wave Race footage. Even back in the ’90s when everyone had a Game Boy, it was difficult to find three or more people with copies of the same game and all the hardware needed for multiplayer. So at best, I only got to experience two-player Tetris as a kid.

Wave Race was one of the notable four-player games on the Game Boy along with F-1 Race (F-1 Race was actually bundled with the Four Player Adapter). The multiplayer isn't a separate mode, but is simply the main game with players replacing the AI racers (similar to Super Off Road or RC Pro Am II on the NES).

In this video we played through the 800cc National Series Circuit mode. The racing wasn’t too competitive here since Keet, Bait and Dawn had never played this game before, plus Keet and Bait had difficulty seeing the unlit screens on the original-model Game Boy Advance systems. Also, Keet’s game froze on the last race, so he started controlling Dawn’s watercraft. Nonetheless, I wanted to show off the multiplayer mode. Normally I would record the system’s boot-up screen, but the HD PVR 2 has trouble doing that, especially with the scan conversion. So once I activated progressive scan mode and started recording, I simply hit the reset button.

If you're familiar with all this hardware, you might be wondering how I managed to connect a Four Player Adapter to the Game Boy Player when the adapter has a fat plug on the end that only fits an original model Game Boy (like the GBA, the Game Boy Player only supports the smaller Game Boy Pocket/Color link cable, and of course, the GBA link cable).

Well, it turns out that Nintendo sold a special adapter only in Japan called a Henkan Connector, which downsizes the original Game Boy link cable to fit a Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance. It looks like this:

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SlAYqTUUVtg/UWSg89Y9III/AAAAAAAAAHo/OvbcKMrulu8/s640/henkan.jpg

When it's connected to the Four Player Adapter, it shrinks down the plug, like so:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3cPURO1EGeg/UWSglSZxLXI/AAAAAAAAAHg/TsaIiwr9NIQ/s640/DSC00034.JPG

So thanks to that obscure little adapter I ordered from Japan around 2013, I was able to record some four-player Game Boy footage - in progressive scan mode.

Recorded with the Hauppauge HD PVR 2 and the GameCube's component cables at 60 frames per second. I'm using a standard GameCube controller on the Game Boy Player. Bait and Keet are using original-model Game Boy Advances, and Dawn is using a Game Boy Advance SP, which have all been connected to the Game Boy Player with the official Game Boy Four Player Adapter, a Henkan Connector, and third party link cables.