How can I transfer Game Boy Advance ROMs from my PC to my GBA console?

The usual disclaimer applies: this entry exists to help you play freeware, home-brew ROMs on your GBA, not commercial ones you've swiped from the net.

Software and a bit of old string won't cut the muster (it's not mustard - look it up!) I'm afraid - this is going to cost you real live money! I know, shocking, isn't it? What you need is a hardware kit consisting of two crucial components; the Flash Advance linker and the Flash Advance cartridge. The linker is a kind of external disk drive, a bit like a zip drive, and connects to your PC via either the parallel or USB port.

The cartridges, which at the time of writing are available in four flavours determined by their capacity, these being 64mb, 128mb, 256mb and 512mb. Obviously the more megabytes you're packing, the more games you can squeeze onto a single cartridge - not that you'll need an endless supply of them as they can be reused as many times as you like. These cartridges fit snuggly inside the linker and data is written to them using the accompanying writer software. Having transferred your games to the cartridges, they can then be removed from the linker and played in your GBA console in much the same way as any other game cartridge, except for the fact that you select the game you want to play using the cartridge's built-in menu system.

Flash Advance kits can be purchased at a number of different outlets across the globe, though Lik Sang is probably the best known.