This seems like the appropriate forum.
Has anybody use them together, without using the region-unlocking disc which allows the Japanese boot disc to load? I've read from one source (there are many others, but they all refer to or quote the same, one main source) that it can be done simply by using the typical US boot disc, by purchasing a replacement from nintendo or ebay. It's my understanding that gameboy games are all region-free, but I don't know about the gameboy player hardware itself and I can't fully trust that one source since it seems more like a claim than fact from actual usage. I have a Japanese platinum gameboy player on its way to match my platinum gamecube, but I'd appreciate not having to swap between two discs every time I want to use the gameboy player and don't want to waste money purchasing a new disc from Nintendo just to test it out since I've dropped so much money in the recent months buying back all my classic games I sold in the late 90s to FuncoLand/Gamestop...none of my friends have the gameboy player for me to borrow their disc, either.
Any of y'all have some insight to help deduce this matter or correct me where I'm wrong?
I own an black US gameboy player. It does not run on the japanese gamecube because the disc is region protected. The device itself has no region encoding, but without the disc you can't really do anything with it. In the end you will either have to region mod your Gamecube (For using the japanese disc) or buy an US GBA Player disc.
Edit: I happen to own an Action Replay disc and the US GBA Player does not boot (black screeen) if you try to use it.
I can confirm this. The hardware doesn't care about the region of the game, or the region of the Gamecube it's connected to. The boot disk is where the Gameboy code resides and must be the appropriate region to boot on the Gamecube you're running.
This doesn't matter to most people, but I've always wanted to color-match my console peripherals. As I understand it, the only Gameboy Player unit available in the States was black, whereas Japan got one color for each major Gamecube variant. Bastards. :)
Luckly I happen to own an black US Gamecube that goes with it :D
Excellent, thanks! I was hoping it really was a matter of the disc region lock rather than the hardware...I'll purchase a shiny, new US boot disc then =]