Gameshark Advance and Color Save Backup

[MechMykl]

First off, this site has been an incredible resource for helping me hunt down these answers on my own to date, but at this point I'm a little stuck. I also wanted to provide some of what I've found as resources for others like me who find it nearly impossible to find anything more than scraps about classic GameShark topics:

GameShark Advance - $40 on eBay
Hardware: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201499689968...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Firmware: v1.3
Cable: Any generic USB-B cable.
Software: Interact GameShark for GBA
Required OS: Windows XP (tried this in a virtual machine with no success)

How to Connect:

1. Install the GameShark application.
2. Plug the cable into the GameShark and turn it on.
3. Have Windows search the Program Files/Install Folder/Drivers directory for drivers.
4. Once complete, turn off the GBA and open the application.
5. Turn the GBA back on; now you can use the application to communicate.

GameShark Color - $20 on eBay + $20 Cable
Hardware: http://www.ebay.com/itm/151946179444...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Firmware: ???
Cable: http://www.ebay.com/itm/161942082867...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Software: GameShark for Gameboy Color 4.0
Required OS: Windows 98 (booting to an external flash drive worked flawlessly)

How to Connect:

1. Install the GameShark application.
2. Plug the cable into the GameShark and turn it on.
3. Now you can use the application to communicate.
4. If this doesn't work, click the ? box on the sidebar and select the 0378 radio button. Try again.

FAQ's - https://web.archive.org/web/20020124.../316449p1.html
Manual - https://web.archive.org/web/20030508..._gameshark.pdf

Both of these combinations have been fully tested as working, which should save others many hours of trial and error.

Here's where my question comes in: the GameShark Advance backs up save files on demand, while the GameShark Color pulls the saved snapshot data from the hardware's memory. Where I'm stuck, is that I now have several .gbs save files from my cartridges but they aren't recognized in any of the VBA versions I've tried. Importing as battery, importing as save state, and importing as GameShark save all don't work.

It turns out, if you boot a GameShark Advance with a GBA game, but swap out the GBA game for a GBC game before it loads the GameShark software, the Windows application will allow you to back up the cartridge, which creates a .sps file. These too did not work at all in the VBA emulator. I didn't expect this to work, but I figured it'd be worth a shot.

It's possible that this post about editing the types of save files could help, but I'm not sure - https://gbatemp.net/threads/a-gba-sa...7/#post-694180

I combed through both file types in HxD but wasn't able to discern whether these files were junk data or actual save file data. I'd appreciate anyone's help as I try to make solid backups of my old games! Here's the link - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...s_Jan27-16.zip

[dlevere]

I know nothing about emulators. But I do know that a lot of GameShark codes won't work on them.