game-and-watch-retro-go VS LCD-Game-Shrinker

All u need is already on the GitHub of each thing u need. The backup thingy is the same for both Mario and Zelda. The retro go setup (and CFW to have both the stock firmware and retro go at once) have a section for Zelda at the end too

Here's a direct link to the GitHub project https://github.com/kbeckmann/game-and-watch-retro-go

I note that I am on a virtual machine with Ubuntu 22.04 and a Stlink Nucleo-F446RE. NOTE: My username on Ubuntu is ed and I have installed in the Documents folder the arm-gcc-none-eabi files. 1. !! be sure to have made a backup of your G&W with your original chip and to have done at least the first 4 steps !!. See ghidraninja's Git -> https://github.com/ghidraninja/game-and-watch-backup 2. Make a git clone of the G&W Patch and G&W Retro Go pages -> https://github.com/BrianPugh/game-and-watch-patch -> https://github.com/kbeckmann/game-and-watch-retro-go 3. It may be useful to install these dependencies: -> pip3 install -r requirements.txt -> make download_sdk

Oh it’s a bit of work, First get a game and watch, Zelda one is better because it has 4mb flash memory & Mario has one mb. Then get an stlink or jtag Open the case and connect the debug pins to run scripts to unlock it from read only to read write mode from stacksmashing git hub page. Once that is done you can install custom firmware from kbeckmans GitHub page with your gb,gbc,nes,SMS,gg Roms to the game and watch and enjoy.

I think you can search youtube for the tutorials, but don’t follow them exactly, because most of them do not quite know how to do soldering XD. If you have a hot air gun it will be much easier, but it is still doable with solder iron. I suggest you to desolder the speaker from the board and remove the board from the case before doing anything. You can test and flash the ROM without reconnecting the board to display. You can flash the ROM with a pi or st-link adapter. I’m using a st-link adapter and I suggest to do so. It is a lot more stable and faster than using pi. Here are all the useful links of software that I’ve used. Backup and Unlock the G&W, do it before any hardware mod https://github.com/ghidraninja/game-and-watch-backup Patch original game so launch retro-go with SET+Left https://github.com/BrianPugh/game-and-watch-patch Orignal Retrogo from G&W https://github.com/kbeckmann/game-and-watch-retro-go Forked version that support cover art (I’m using this) https://github.com/olderzeus/game-and-watch-retro-go Convert MAME G&W games to Retrogo, you can download G&W games from any MAME archive. And google “Game and watch artwork” for the artkworks, you should able to find a google drive sharing folder https://github.com/bzhxx/LCD-Game-Shrinker

This is how to do it

If in the end it will be still too much to run Retroarch interface see if you can adapt their port of retro-go: https://github.com/kbeckmann/game-and-watch-retro-go

FYI https://github.com/bzhxx/LCD-Game-Shrinker

I think you can search youtube for the tutorials, but don’t follow them exactly, because most of them do not quite know how to do soldering XD. If you have a hot air gun it will be much easier, but it is still doable with solder iron. I suggest you to desolder the speaker from the board and remove the board from the case before doing anything. You can test and flash the ROM without reconnecting the board to display. You can flash the ROM with a pi or st-link adapter. I’m using a st-link adapter and I suggest to do so. It is a lot more stable and faster than using pi. Here are all the useful links of software that I’ve used. Backup and Unlock the G&W, do it before any hardware mod https://github.com/ghidraninja/game-and-watch-backup Patch original game so launch retro-go with SET+Left https://github.com/BrianPugh/game-and-watch-patch Orignal Retrogo from G&W https://github.com/kbeckmann/game-and-watch-retro-go Forked version that support cover art (I’m using this) https://github.com/olderzeus/game-and-watch-retro-go Convert MAME G&W games to Retrogo, you can download G&W games from any MAME archive. And google “Game and watch artwork” for the artkworks, you should able to find a google drive sharing folder https://github.com/bzhxx/LCD-Game-Shrinker

you need to use the custom LCD-Game-Shrinker https://github.com/bzhxx/LCD-Game-Shrinker . full guide here https://gist.github.com/DNA64/16fed499d6bd4664b78b4c0a9638e4e

Learn more about LCD-Game-Shrinker on the projects GitHub page.

Best of luck,l for you project. I suggest you to have a look to the Game an watch hack that has similar limitations to run emulators. Someone made this tool to shrink the roms and make them lighter to run: https://github.com/bzhxx/LCD-Game-Shrinker