Welcome back to Save State, where nostalgia is a powerful drug. I got a massive urge to replay Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, but a lot of my hardware to play Game Boy Advance games was either missing in action or missing components (what good is a Gameboy Player for a GameCube if you can’t find any of the GameCube’s cables?). Ultimately using this as an excuse to tinker with some new device, I discovered that Epilogue’s GB Operator was in stock and snagged one to experiment with and replay one of my favorite games from childhood.

When the GB Operator arrived, I was actually surprised by how tiny it was. My original cartridge dumper I had been using for years was considerably larger, though I know there are a lot more options now than when I originally wanted to back up my game cartridge collection. This little device is a clear plastic shell that allows you to see the PCB and cartridge slot from most angles, with a rubber base on the bottom to keep it from sliding around on your desk. Many gaming devices nowadays are garish or have glaring RGB lighting, but I find the more minimalist approach of a translucent shell to be much more appealing as I age.

Setup was easy: I just connected it via a USB cable, downloaded Epilogue’s Playback software, and popped a cartridge into the GB Operator’s slot. My copy of Tactics Ogre was immediately recognized and even verified as an authentic cartridge, a feature I didn’t know this device and software had. Playing a game on the Operator emulates that title using Epilogue’s software, which updates the save on the cartridge while you play. Assuming I still had the cables for my Gamecube, I believe I would be able to play Tactics Ogre on my computer for a while, eject the cartridge, and then go play the game on the living room television without missing a beat.

The Playback software recognized my 8BitDo Ultimate 2 controller immediately even though it was set to D-Input mode, even recognizing the extra buttons on the controller too. Yes, it’s that same controller I reviewed almost a year ago now, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it worked without any fuss at all since some emulators can be kind of goofy when it comes to controls using the older D-Input protocol. Using Playback to dump the cartridge and store the save file on my PC was similarly quick and painless as well.

While you do need Epilogue’s Playback software to dump your cartridges and save files, if for some reason you don’t like it, you can use whatever emulator you want on your computer and then use Playback to upload that save to your cartridge too. It’s not just a one-way process with the saves, so if you want to use the GB Operator as just a ROM or save dumper, that’s absolutely something you can do. I bought this device to actually play some games though, and I found that Playback had enough features that I didn’t need to look anywhere else, but it’s nice to have the options available for those who are interested in doing more involved activities than playing Tactics Ogre and siding with Rictor this time.

I suppose a quick review of a GB Operator is also a quick review of Epilogue’s software design too, and Playback has actually made some strides in recent months. Retro achievements and cheats support is built right into the user interface, and there are a variety of emulator cores you can use with mGBA being the default. Other basic features like rewind, fast forward, and save states have been added over the last few months, which are great little features for save scumming level ups in Fire Emblem or shiny hunting in Pokémon FireRed. Apparently, if you wanted to get incredibly silly with it, you could connect multiple GB Operators at once and run multiple instances of the Playback software off one controller to shiny hunt Pokémon, but that sounds… expensive, so I stuck to replaying Sigma Star Saga and both Golden Sun games instead.

What surprised me the most was just how seamless the experience really was. I connected the device, popped in a cartridge, opened the software, and I was off to the races. Seeing that the Playback software had all of the features I felt were necessary was super nice, and the ability to copy save files from my childhood games and go use those in other emulators, then copy back to my own personal, physical cartridges was a nice experience as well. The GB Operator doesn’t have a lot of pomp and circumstance, but it does its job extremely well for the $50 I shelled out to get it.

The authenticity testing on the GB Operator definitely seems to work, by the way. I discovered that my beloved copy of Yggdra Union, which was purchased from a Gamestop when I was fresh out of high school, is apparently a bootleg! The good news is that I still have Yggdra Union for the PSP, but this GBA counterfeit stopped being able to hold a save file right before I beat it again in 2020 and now I know why. Unscrewing the cartridge to check the board revealed what I was dreading: strange, black blobs all over the board, the surefire sign of a counterfeit cartridge. Sometimes, Gamestop hurts you in ways you don’t feel until much later in life.

So, out of roughly 45 cartridges, I was able to dump 44 of them, and copy the save files of around 40, since the older Pokemon titles were a touch on the rough side. Flaws with the ROM on my copy of Yggdra Union prevented it from being dumped, but I could still play it just fine, though the save file needed to be stored on my computer since the cart can no longer hold one. I didn’t play through the entirety of it to see if there were further problems because the GBA port is a lot more painful than the PSP or new HD ports, but I did find it pretty useful that the GB Operator can still let you play cartridges that can’t hold saves, something I wouldn’t have been able to do if I played these games on my Gamecube or a GBA.

So… that’s it, roughly: I bought a new gadget, I got to replay a game I enjoyed a lot as a kid, and I thought the novelty of the device might make for a decent column. If there’s any one complaint I have about the GB Operator, it’s that it has no dust cover over the cartridge slot and I can already see dust on the inside of the clear plastic shell. To get around this I just leave a cartridge plugged in at all times now, which makes for a nice, fancy desk decoration with my copy of Pokemon FireRed. Epilogue’s next device for Super Nintendo cartridges seems to be releasing with a cartridge slot cover similar to what the SNES had, so that should be much less of an issue on their SN Operator whenever it releases.

Oh, and by the way, their customer service is great too. I had an issue with my initial GB Operator where it wouldn’t read Gameboy and Gameboy Color carts if they were fully plugged in, and the exchange process was quick and relatively painless to boot.

That being said, I think it’s safe to bring this entry of Save State to a close. Remember, if your weebles wobble but don’t fall down, see a doctor immediately- especially if it lasts for longer than six hours. See you in two weeks!