Web vendors who sell third-party Game Boy development products like flash linkers and carts tend to come and go like the wind. Simply write the software to a CompactFlash card, insert it into the $60 SuperCard, and plug the entire apparatus into your GBA. Another interesting alternative for GBA gameplay is the SuperCard, which uses standard CompactFlash memory media. Available sizes and prices are similar to the EFA-Linker.
Other USB devices, like the EZ-Flash II, shown in Figure 4-37, do feature an external writer. 256 Mb and 512 Mb versions are available for around $80 and $130 each. They use a USB cable, which plugs into a mini-USB port on the flash cart itself, then attaches to an open USB port on your computer, eliminating the need for a large external writing device. Such devices include GBA X-ROM, EFA-Linker, and EZFlash Advance.
Nowadays, the Flash Advance Pro Linker has been replaced by USB devices that are faster and smaller. But the device worked flawlessly (if you didn’t mind giving up your printer port to connect it, or the slow-as-molasses write speed). No manufacturer’s name or information could be found on the box or manual. The software, FA Writer, was included on an unmarked 3.5 inch floppy disk. A few years ago, the most popular flash linker was called the Flash Advance Pro Linker, which was a bulky device that ran on six AA batteries and plugged into a computer’s printer port.
