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Shonumi

@Shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

34 followers 4 following 67 posts

Video game historian and preservationist. Author of the GBE+ emulator. [bridged from mastodon.social/@Shonumi on the fediverse by fed.brid.gy ]

Posts Replies Media

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

Lemme sneak one more in here. PSXSPX Specifications: 32-41 hours I have to say, I don't think anyone has produced as much documentation for emulation as much as Martin Korth (nocash).

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

I'm a huge nerd for technical documentation. Here's a list of some of the larger game hardware docs and their expected read times (according to Firefox) if you read them start to finish. Pan Docs (original): 2 hours WSMan rev.7: 2 hours Virtual Boy - Sacred Tech Scroll: 3-4 hours Yet Another […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2026

Adding together the current AI bubble, inflation (possibly stagflation), the US housing market, and tariffs... Well, the next recession will probably make 2007 look like a birthday party.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2026

To further elaborate on how bad things are, logistics is usually a pretty good indicator of the overall economy. If you're selling something physical, chances are it's gotta go by plane, train, or truck. Less demand from companies means less demand from ordinary people means a weakening economy […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2026

Talked to several coworkers today about the slowdown in the US transportation industry (logistics). Despite my programming credentials, my day job is moving boxes. We've seen a dramatic decrease in customer shipments recently. Diesel prices are likely the culprit. Shipping surcharges are insane […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026

[mental health] Had a pretty bad case of dysphoria yesterday, worst I've felt in years. Still happening to be honest. It probably came up because this is finally the year I took concrete steps to change how I want to live my life. But there's still a lot left to do, and the more I do to become […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

Seems like the unreleased GBA game "The Nutty Professor" is no longer lost media. Someone has been found, dumped, and preserved the cartridge. Appears it was uploaded to Archive.org very recently! archive.org/details/the-nutty-profe… #GBA #LostMedia #GameBoy

The Nutty Professor (USA) gba : Ubisoft : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Lost to time, this obscure, unreleased Nutty Professor game for the Game Boy Advance has finally been uncovered. Long considered myth by collectors, no retail...

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

Seriously debating if I should jump in on Maplestory Classic... The original was my jam back all the way back in 2003. I was even part of the beta (you got a cool in-game bandana for it). Maplestory is also where I first started using my psuedonym "Shonumi". I had many old friends and made a […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

These are just my initial reactions, however. I want to go over the exact details of the EU KIDS Act sometime soon to get a clearer idea of what's going on. I doubt I would be directly affected by the law if it passes, but I'm certain it would have some implications for some members of the REON […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

Maybe a lot of folks don't realize this, but video game consoles have had some sort of online/remote connectivity since at least 1979. Very little of the early stuff (pre 2000) has been researched and documented. Emulating the network hardware and servers offers the best chance at making sure […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

I've been following the Stop Killing Games movement for a while. Ross Scott dropped a new video detailing the proposed "EU KIDS Act". Haven't watched it yet, but apparently the EU is considering a ban on private servers? Like, wait, what? That would be a major blow for video game preservation […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/09/2026

Pretty sure I just got a scam email for one of my github repos. You know, the kind where you pay real money for fake stars on a repo so you can farm engagement. They claimed that 23 stars was kinda low for this repo of mine, saying "Usually that's a 'nobody's seen it' problem". The repo in […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

Maybe that's just Reddit being Reddit, but it's still irksome to have to wade through that kinda stuff in some of my favorite niches.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

Anyone else getting sick of these "Hey everyone, I built a [insert_program_here]" posts popping up online? You know, the kind where the person didn't really build anything themselves but just had an LLM "assist" them through the whole process?

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/06/2026

My next book *WILL NOT* be published via Amazon KDP. There's a dozen other little problems I've had with the previously. I am working on a new book too, btw.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/06/2026

Like it's easy to fix, but it's just not something I'd wish they'd come to me *much* sooner. Like if I had to have dealt with this a month after release, no biggie. But coming now some 349 days later... I'm going to deal with this mess later. I have to play some Halo first then go to work (in […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/06/2026

Like it's not the end of the world. Just change the title by adding a word or too ("Unofficial Guide" or something). But seriously, out there for almost a year, and *now* it's a problem? Couldn't you all have flagged that *before* it was published and sold? And the kicker is that there are […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/06/2026

💀 Got this email from Amazon KDP today 💀 F

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/06/2026

Nothing is more mysterious than the Agatsuma TV Tuner. Technically a massive GBA cart, but marketed as a DS accessory. Its game code according to the ROM header is "DTV0", which is totally unconventional for GBA software. It did have a more conventional game code when it was first marketed […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/06/2026

Additionally, according to some lists of GBA game codes online, AGB-ZMDP is supposedly a multi-language version of the Nintendo MP3 Player, but it doesn't actually exist afaik. Doesn't make sense to have a language selection screen or something like that since there's very little text used for […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/06/2026

Recently, I was looking at some of the 4-letter game codes for GBA carts with special hardware and noticed something. AGB-ZMAJ = Play-Yan AGB-ZMBJ = Play-Yan Micro AGB-ZMDE = Nintendo MP3 Player It looks like Nintendo skipped whatever AGB-ZMCx would have been. Quite possibly a variant of the […]

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Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/05/2026

Yeah, just completed the GBA version. I'm not particularly picky about a lot of the GBA's ports, so I liked the overall experience.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/05/2026

Despite being the author of a GBA emulator, I don't really play a lot of GBA games these days. Mostly due to lack of time. However, recently beat Breath of Fire 1 last night. Had a lot of fun, and I'm a sucker for classic JRPGs. Might start up something new tonight (maybe Yggdra Union?)

The ending shot of Breath of Fire 1 on the GBA showing a portrait of Nina and Ryu together.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/04/2026

Here's an article from coremaze about dumping the firmware from the ME2 handheld. It's a fairly obscure gaming device from 2008 with some interesting internet connectivity. The author does an amazing job walking through the whole reverse-engineering process. So cool seeing stuff like this […]

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Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/04/2026

There's a lot going on today. A new Mario movie comes out in theaters... The US is finally launching another mission to the moon... Everyone is pulling horrible pranks on each other... But ain't none of that stuff important because GBE+ just hit 1.10! […]

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Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/03/2026

So GBE+ 1.10 releases in about 48 hours, give or take. Been trying to audit all the peripherals and add-ons it emulates before then. Make sure everything actually works. Like, taking a step back, it's actually kinda insane all the stuff GBE+ emulates now. Toy robots, sonar devices, sewing […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/02/2026

Another fun fact is that the Advance Movie Adapter automatically reads files from a FAT-12 (and supposedly FAT-16) filesystem. While files can become fragmented, the adapter automatically handles all of this, so the GBA can just read a continuous block of memory from the device. Last week I […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/02/2026

The Advance Movie Adapter is a special GBA cartridge that allowed users to play videos from SmartMedia cards. It's kind of like the GBA Video Cartridges by Majesco, except it arguably has better compression and quality. Been messing around with improving […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A screenshot of the Advance Movie Adapter for the GBA showing an error message when playing on the GB Player.

It says "AdvanceMovie does not support GAMEBOY PLAYER" in both English & Japanese.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/01/2026

Not exactly a fan of RGB, but I'm not complaining with the state of PC hardware as it is.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/01/2026

Pulled the trigger on this. Bad time to buy during the RAMpocalypse (even for DDR4), but 32GB under $100 USD was too tempting. Thank goodness I had a bunch of gift cards sitting around. Didn't want to risk my old pair of 8GB sticks going bad with current […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A box of Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro RAM, 32GB DDR4

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/01/2026

Heh, I totally misspelled it "Bayer Didget" as "Bayer Digit" all over the codebase in GBE+ 😂 I'll fix it tomorrow lmao

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/01/2026

Starting off 2026 hot by emulating more exotic DS hardware. This time it's the Bayer Didget Glucose Meter, essentially a copy+paste job of the earlier Glucoboy on the GBA. Didn't take much to get it up and running in GBE+. You can now generate in-game […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A screen from "Knock'em Downs: World's Fair" indicating a successful connection with the Bayer Digit. The screen reads as follows:

"Bayer Digit Connected

The DIDGET has been detected, attempting to download information. DO NOT turn off the power or remove the DIDGET.

PRESS B TO CONTINUE!"

The rewards redemption screen from "Knock'em Downs: World's Fair". The player's character redeems points acquired from the glucose meter for in-game currency in the form of tickets. Here the user specifies the exact amount of tickets to redeem on the DS' lower screen.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/01/2026

Forgot to post this earlier, but I've got another article up. This time it's the end of year discussion on the State of Emulation, specially how far along we are to emulating every piece of hardware for the Nintendo DS. A solid 50% of the peripherals listed are supported already in existing […]

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Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/12/2025

Crap! It's still alive... and it got away. Look buddy, don't expect a good time when I start gaming tonight.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/12/2025

Great... Spider just died and fell inside my computer (my rig has ventilation on top). Gotta open up the case and remove it before it melts on the back of my GPU.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/12/2025

This blog post by Clara Nguyễn was a huge help too! blog.claranguyen.me/post/2020/12/29… I found a few more interesting tidbits on how the Wave Scanner sends data. Publishing that as part of Dan Docs soon-ish, along with another Edge of Emulation article […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/12/2025

Over the weekend, I added support for the Wave Scanner for Mega Man Starforce 1. Very similar to the Wantame Card Scanner, but it did have some surprises. The core emulation logic is done, just need to work on GUI and .ini config stuff. The device sends […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Successfully transferring level data via the Wave Scanner for War Rock.

The effects of the level data transfer from the Wave Scanner. This enhances the players stats such as HP (+410 here) and other effects in battle such as a shield and the ability to launch more attacks.

Once the level data is transferred, the character automatically transforms via the Starforce Transformation in battle, or something. I have not played any of the Starforce games actually...

In addition to transforming, players can boost their attacks by swiping and scanning physical cards that match any of those on-screen. I have not compiled a long enough list of barcodes, so War Rock simply explains in a message here that the swiped card has no effect on any currently available attacks.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/11/2025

New article about the Wantame Card Scanner is live: shonumi.github.io/articles/art39.ht… This one details the inner workings of a Nintendo DS barcode scanner. It was used for a game called Wantame Doko Demo Style. It's one of the rare DS peripherals that send data as microphone input […]

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Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2025

For most of September, I worked on emulating a card scanner for the DS. It's used for a game called Wantame Music Channel: Doko Demo Style. You basically get to dress up 3D puppies and have them dance in rhythm games. The scanner itself connects via the DS' […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A 3D dog from the game Wantame Music Channel: Doko Demo Style.

She is wearing a strawberry cake dress, holding her paws out as a meter on the side of the screen fills up.

A 3D dog from the game Wantame Music Channel: Doko Demo Style.

She is wearing a gothic lolita dress and headdress, twirling around as a meter on the side of the screen fills up.

A 3D dog from the game Wantame Music Channel: Doko Demo Style.

She is wearing a fancy idol dress and a penguin-shaped hat. She bashfully looks down, embarrassed by the player's extreme lack of fashion sensibility.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/08/2025

Well, Japan Post (among others) is temporarily suspending the acceptance of any US-bound package worth over $100 USD. www.post.japanpost.jp/int/informati… Kind of a gut punch. It took years for JP's shipping to the US to adequately recover from COVID. This is […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/08/2025

@thevideogamelibrary.org No worries! Keep up the great work 👍

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/07/2025

This is particularly worrisome since some international shipping options simply never recovered from the effects of COVID. If you're a researcher in the US like I am, there's about a month to get anything you need before the tariffs apply, so plan accordingly. I'm just glad that I've already […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/07/2025

Seems the US is ending *ALL* de minimis tariff exemptions in August. Previously it was suspended for China and HK only; soon it will end for all countries. This effectively puts a tax on all imports for both new or used items. This could be devastating for video game preservation projects in […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/07/2025

Yo, did Stop Killing Games just reach the 1M signatures?! Tell me I'm not tripping right now and this is real. This is great news for video game preservation in that case! eci.ec.europa.eu/045/public/#/scree…

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/06/2025

@tharo Yup! There's a bit about TEAM POKéMé and Breakpoint 2005 in the introduction, along with some early homebrew games later on (PokéSnake, PokéMaze, SOKOmini and more). I still play the SHizZLE demo in GBE+ from time to time. I'm actually a big fan of 8-bit and 16-bit demos ever since I […]

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Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2025

@thevglibrary Huge fan of the Video Game Library. Just thought I'd ping about this!

Reposted by Shonumi

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2025

I'm pleased to announce the release of my new book, "Nintendo's Lost Handheld: The Pokémon Mini" Dive into Nintendo's long forgotten handheld, explore its fascinating history, take a tour of the hardware's capabilities, and browse it's full library of games! […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Cover of "Nintendo's Lost Handheld: The Pokémon Mini" featuring a cartoon vector recreation of the handheld and its cartridge.

Preview of the introduction of the book.

Beginning of the chapter focusing on the Pokemon Mini's hardware, starting with the CPU.

Lead-in page for one of the Pokemon Mini's games, Pokemon Pinball mini, featuring data such as launch dates, supported hardware features, number of players, developer, and Game ID.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2025

I'm pleased to announce the release of my new book, "Nintendo's Lost Handheld: The Pokémon Mini" Dive into Nintendo's long forgotten handheld, explore its fascinating history, take a tour of the hardware's capabilities, and browse it's full library of games! […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Cover of "Nintendo's Lost Handheld: The Pokémon Mini" featuring a cartoon vector recreation of the handheld and its cartridge.

Preview of the introduction of the book.

Beginning of the chapter focusing on the Pokemon Mini's hardware, starting with the CPU.

Lead-in page for one of the Pokemon Mini's games, Pokemon Pinball mini, featuring data such as launch dates, supported hardware features, number of players, developer, and Game ID.

Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/06/2025

So, after a brutal marathon of edits and revisions, my new book about the Pokemon Mini is set to be published soon. Once Amazon signs off on a quality check, it's good to go! The process takes 72 hours max tho. I just hope the print quality is consistent. Amazon seems to be slacking. Barnes and […]

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Shonumi @shonumi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/06/2025

Final piece of evidence: No European magazine seems to have coverage of Pokemon Tetris. If the game did launch at the same time as the Pokemon Mini, it would have been reviewed along with the 4 other games (Party Mini, Puzzle Collection, Zany Card, and Pinball Mini). Instead issues like Game […]

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Original post on mastodon.social