GBATEK
Gameboy Advance / Nintendo DS - Technical Info - Extracted from no$gba version 2.5

 GBA Reference

Overview
GBA Technical Data
GBA Memory Map
GBA I/O Map

Hardware Programming
GBA LCD Video Controller
GBA Sound Controller
GBA Timers
GBA DMA Transfers
GBA Communication Ports
GBA Keypad Input
GBA Interrupt Control
GBA System Control

Other
GBA Cartridges
BIOS Functions
Unpredictable Things
External Connectors
 NDS Reference

Overview
DS Technical Data
DS I/O Maps
DS Memory Maps

Hardware Programming
DS Memory Control
DS Video
DS 3D Video
DS Sound
DS System and Built-in Peripherals
DS Cartridges, Encryption, Firmware
DS Xboo
DS Wireless Communications

Other
DS GBA-Mode
BIOS Functions
CPU Reference
External Connectors
 CPU Reference

General Information
CPU Overview
CPU Register Set
CPU Flags
CPU Exceptions
CPU Memory Alignments

The Instruction Sets
THUMB Instruction Set
ARM Instruction Set
Pseudos & Directives

Further Information
ARM System Control CP15
CPU Clock Cycles
CPU Versions
CPU Data Sheet

About GBATEK
About this Document


 GBA Technical Data

CPU Modes
  ARM Mode     ARM7TDMI 32bit RISC CPU, 16.78MHz, 32bit opcodes (GBA)
  THUMB Mode   ARM7TDMI 32bit RISC CPU, 16.78MHz, 16bit opcodes (GBA)
  CGB Mode     Z80/8080-style 8bit CPU, 4.2MHz or 8.4MHz  (CGB compatibility)
  DMG Mode     Z80/8080-style 8bit CPU, 4.2MHz (monochrome gameboy compatib.)
Internal Memory
  BIOS ROM     16 KBytes
  Work RAM     288 KBytes (32K in-chip + 256K on-board)
  VRAM         96 KBytes
  OAM          1 KByte (128 OBJs 3x16bit, 32 OBJ-Rotation/Scalings 4x16bit)
  Palette RAM  1 KByte (256 BG colors, 256 OBJ colors)
Video
  Display      240x160 pixels (2.9 inch TFT color LCD display)
  BG layers    4 background layers
  BG types     Tile/map based, or Bitmap based
  BG colors    256 colors, or 16 colors/16 palettes, or 32768 colors
  OBJ colors   256 colors, or 16 colors/16 palettes
  OBJ size     12 types (in range 8x8 up to 64x64 dots)
  OBJs/Screen  max. 128 OBJs of any size (up to 64x64 dots each)
  OBJs/Line    max. 128 OBJs of 8x8 dots size (under best circumstances)
  Priorities   OBJ/OBJ: 0-127, OBJ/BG: 0-3, BG/BG: 0-3
  Effects      Rotation/Scaling, alpha blending, fade-in/out, mosaic, window
  Backlight    GBA SP only (optionally by light on/off toggle button)
Sound
  Analogue     4 channel CGB compatible (3x square wave, 1x noise)
  Digital      2 DMA sound channels
  Output       Built-in speaker (mono), or headphones socket (stereo)
Controls
  Gamepad      4 Direction Keys, 6 Buttons
Communication Ports
  Serial Port  Various transfer modes, 4-Player Link, Single Game Pak play
External Memory
  GBA Game Pak max. 32MB ROM or flash ROM + max 64K SRAM
  CGB Game Pak max. 32KB ROM + 8KB SRAM (more memory requires banking)
Case Dimensions
  Size (mm)    GBA: 145x81x25 - GBA SP: 82x82x24 (closed), 155x82x24 (stretch)
Power Supply
  Battery GBA  GBA: 2x1.5V DC (AA), Life-time approx. 15 hours
  Battery SP   GBA SP: Built-in rechargeable Lithium ion battery, 3.7V 600mAh
  External     GBA: 3.3V DC 350mA - GBA SP: 5.2V DC 320mA


 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        ____._____________...___.____               _______________________
   ____/    :  CARTRIDGE  SIO   :    \____         | _____________________ |
  | L       _____________________  LED  R |        ||                     ||
  |        |                     |        |        ||   2.9" TFT SCREEN   ||
  |  _||_  |   2.9" TFT SCREEN   |    (A) |        || 240x160pix  61x40mm ||
  | |_  _| | 240x160pix  61x40mm | (B)    |        ||   WITH BACKLIGHT    ||
  |   ||   |    NO BACKLIGHT     |  ::::  |        ||                     ||
  |        |                     | SPEAKR |        ||_____________________||
  | STRT() |_____________________|  ::::  |        |  GAME BOY ADVANCE SP  |
  | SLCT()     GAME BOY ADVANCE    VOLUME |        |_______________________|
  |____  OFF-ON  BATTERY 2xAA PHONES  _==_|        |_|________|________|_|_|
       \__.##.__________________,,___/             |L    EXT1     EXT2    R|
                                   .::'            |          (*)      LEDSo
                                .::'     (OPENED)  (VOL_||_           (A)  o
   GBA SP SIDE VIEW          .::'                  |  |_  _| ,,,,,(B)      |
   (CLOSED)               .::'        (STRETCHED)  |    ||   ;SPK;         |
  ...................... _ ......................  |         '''''      ON #
  :_____________________(_).....................:  |       SLCT STRT    OFF#
  |. . . . . . . .'.'.   _|                        | CART.  ()   ()        |
  |_CARTRIDGE_:_BATT._:_|_| <-- EXT1/EXT2          |_:___________________:_|


 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     _____________________________________
    |        _____________________        |
    |       |                     |       |
    |       |    3" TFT SCREEN    |       |
    |       | 256x192pix  61x46mm |       |
    |       |      BACKLIGHT      |       |
    | ::::: |                     | ::::: |
    | ::::: |_____________________| ::::: |
   _|        _          ______   _        |_
  |L|_______| |________|      |_| |_______|R|
  |_______   _____________________   _______|
  |  PWR  | |                     | |SEL STA|
  |   _   | |    3" TFT SCREEN    | |       |
  | _| |_ | | 256x192pix  61x46mm | |   X   |
  ||_   _|| |      BACKLIGHT      | | Y   A |
  |  |_|  | |    TOUCH SCREEN     | |   B   |
  |       | |_____________________| |       |
  |_______|             NintendoDS  |_______|
  |         MIC                LEDS         |
  |_________________________________________|
       VOL        SLOT2(GBA)     MIC/PHONES


     _____________________________________
    |        _____________________        |
    |       |                     |       |
    |       |    3" TFT SCREEN    |       |
    |  ...  | 256x192pix  61x46mm |  ...  |
    |  ...  |      BACKLIGHT      |  ...  |
    |       |       DS LITE       |       |
    |       |_____________________|       |
    |___  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____|
   L| _ |_____________MIC____________|LEDS|R
    |   _    _____________________        |
    | _| |_ |                     |   X   |
    ||_   _||    3" TFT SCREEN    | Y   A |PWR
    |  |_|  | 256x192pix  61x46mm |   B   |
    |       |      BACKLIGHT      |       |
    |       |    TOUCH SCREEN     |oSTART |
    |       |_____________________|oSELECT|
    |_____________________________________|
       VOL        SLOT2(GBA)     MIC/PHONES


The separate CPU modes cannot be operated simultaneously. Switching is allowed between ARM and THUMB modes only (that are the two GBA modes).
This manual does not describe CGB and DMG modes, both are completely different than GBA modes, and both cannot be accessed from inside of GBA modes anyways.

Gameboy Player
An GBA Adapter for the Gamecube console; allowing to play GBA games on a television set.
GBA Gameboy Player

GBA SP Notes
Deluxe version of the original GBA. With backlight, new folded laptop-style case, and built-in rechargeable battery. Appears to be 100% compatible with GBA, there seems to be no way to detect SPs by software.

Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) Notes
New handheld with two screens, backwards compatible with GBA games, it is NOT backwards compatible with older 8bit games (mono/color gameboys) though..
Also, the DS has no link port, so that GBA games will thus work only in single player mode, link-port accessoires like printers cannot be used, and most unfortunately multiboot won't work (trying to press Select+Start at powerup will just lock up the DS).

iQue Notes
iQue is a brand name used by Nintendo in China, iQue GBA and iQue DS are essentially same as Nintendo GBA and Nintendo DS.
The iQue DS contains a larger firmware chip (the charset additionally contains about 6700 simplified chinese characters), the bootmenu still allows to select (only) six languages (japanese has been replaced by chinese). The iQue DS can play normal international NDS games, plus chinese dedicated games. The latter ones won't work on normal NDS consoles (that, reportedly simply due to a firmware-version check contained in chinese dedicated games, aside from that check, the games should be fully compatible with NDS consoles).


 GBA Memory Map

General Internal Memory
  00000000-00003FFF   BIOS - System ROM         (16 KBytes)
  00004000-01FFFFFF   Not used
  02000000-0203FFFF   WRAM - On-board Work RAM  (256 KBytes) 2 Wait
  02040000-02FFFFFF   Not used
  03000000-03007FFF   WRAM - In-chip Work RAM   (32 KBytes)
  03008000-03FFFFFF   Not used
  04000000-040003FE   I/O Registers
  04000400-04FFFFFF   Not used
Internal Display Memory
  05000000-050003FF   BG/OBJ Palette RAM        (1 Kbyte)
  05000400-05FFFFFF   Not used
  06000000-06017FFF   VRAM - Video RAM          (96 KBytes)
  06018000-06FFFFFF   Not used
  07000000-070003FF   OAM - OBJ Attributes      (1 Kbyte)
  07000400-07FFFFFF   Not used
External Memory (Game Pak)
  08000000-09FFFFFF   Game Pak ROM/FlashROM (max 32MB) - Wait State 0
  0A000000-0BFFFFFF   Game Pak ROM/FlashROM (max 32MB) - Wait State 1
  0C000000-0DFFFFFF   Game Pak ROM/FlashROM (max 32MB) - Wait State 2
  0E000000-0E00FFFF   Game Pak SRAM    (max 64 KBytes) - 8bit Bus width
  0E010000-0FFFFFFF   Not used
Unused Memory Area
  10000000-FFFFFFFF   Not used (upper 4bits of address bus unused)

Default WRAM Usage
By default, the 256 bytes at 03007F00h-03007FFFh in Work RAM are reserved for Interrupt vector, Interrupt Stack, and BIOS Call Stack. The remaining WRAM is free for whatever use (including User Stack, which is initially located at 03007F00h).

Address Bus Width and CPU Read/Write Access Widths
Shows the Bus-Width, supported read and write widths, and the clock cycles for 8/16/32bit accesses.
  Region        Bus   Read      Write     Cycles
  BIOS ROM      32    8/16/32   -         1/1/1
  Work RAM 32K  32    8/16/32   8/16/32   1/1/1
  I/O           32    8/16/32   8/16/32   1/1/1
  OAM           32    8/16/32   16/32     1/1/1 *
  Work RAM 256K 16    8/16/32   8/16/32   3/3/6 **
  Palette RAM   16    8/16/32   16/32     1/1/2 *
  VRAM          16    8/16/32   16/32     1/1/2 *
  GamePak ROM   16    8/16/32   -         5/5/8 **/***
  GamePak Flash 16    8/16/32   16/32     5/5/8 **/***
  GamePak SRAM  8     8         8         5     **
Timing Notes:
  *   Plus 1 cycle if GBA accesses video memory at the same time.
  **  Default waitstate settings, see System Control chapter.
  *** Separate timings for sequential, and non-sequential accesses.
  One cycle equals approx. 59.59ns (ie. 16.78MHz clock).
All memory (except GamePak SRAM) can be accessed by 16bit and 32bit DMA.

GamePak Memory
Only DMA3 (and the CPU of course) may access GamePak ROM. GamePak SRAM can be accessed by the CPU only - restricted to bytewise 8bit transfers. The SRAM region is supposed for as external FLASH backup memory, or for battery-backed SRAM.
For details about configuration of GamePak Waitstates, see:
GBA System Control

VRAM, OAM, and Palette RAM Access
These memory regions can be accessed during H-Blank or V-Blank only (unless display is disabled by Forced Blank bit in DISPCNT register).
There is an additional restriction for OAM memory: Accesses during H-Blank are allowed only if 'H-Blank Interval Free' in DISPCNT is set (which'd reduce number of display-able OBJs though).
The CPU appears to be able to access VRAM/OAM/Palette at any time, a waitstate (one clock cycle) being inserted automatically in case that the display controller was accessing memory simultaneously. (Ie. unlike as in old 8bit gameboy, the data will not get lost.)

CPU Mode Performance
Note that the GamePak ROM bus is limited to 16bits, thus executing ARM instructions (32bit opcodes) from inside of GamePak ROM would result in a not so good performance. So, it'd be more recommended to use THUMB instruction (16bit opcodes) which'd allow each opcode to be read at once.
(ARM instructions can be used at best performance by copying code from GamePak ROM into internal Work RAM)

Data Format
Even though the ARM CPU itself would allow to select between Little-Endian and Big-Endian format by using an external circuit, in the GBA no such circuit exists, and the data format is always Little-Endian. That is, when accessing 16bit or 32bit data in memory, the least significant bits are stored in the first byte (smallest address), and the most significant bits in the last byte. (Ie. same as for 80x86 and Z80 CPUs.)


 GBA I/O Map

LCD I/O Registers
  4000000h  2    R/W  DISPCNT   LCD Control
  4000002h  2    R/W  -         Undocumented - Green Swap
  4000004h  2    R/W  DISPSTAT  General LCD Status (STAT,LYC)
  4000006h  2    R    VCOUNT    Vertical Counter (LY)
  4000008h  2    R/W  BG0CNT    BG0 Control
  400000Ah  2    R/W  BG1CNT    BG1 Control
  400000Ch  2    R/W  BG2CNT    BG2 Control
  400000Eh  2    R/W  BG3CNT    BG3 Control
  4000010h  2    W    BG0HOFS   BG0 X-Offset
  4000012h  2    W    BG0VOFS   BG0 Y-Offset
  4000014h  2    W    BG1HOFS   BG1 X-Offset
  4000016h  2    W    BG1VOFS   BG1 Y-Offset
  4000018h  2    W    BG2HOFS   BG2 X-Offset
  400001Ah  2    W    BG2VOFS   BG2 Y-Offset
  400001Ch  2    W    BG3HOFS   BG3 X-Offset
  400001Eh  2    W    BG3VOFS   BG3 Y-Offset
  4000020h  2    W    BG2PA     BG2 Rotation/Scaling Parameter A (dx)
  4000022h  2    W    BG2PB     BG2 Rotation/Scaling Parameter B (dmx)
  4000024h  2    W    BG2PC     BG2 Rotation/Scaling Parameter C (dy)
  4000026h  2    W    BG2PD     BG2 Rotation/Scaling Parameter D (dmy)
  4000028h  4    W    BG2X      BG2 Reference Point X-Coordinate
  400002Ch  4    W    BG2Y      BG2 Reference Point Y-Coordinate
  4000030h  2    W    BG3PA     BG3 Rotation/Scaling Parameter A (dx)
  4000032h  2    W    BG3PB     BG3 Rotation/Scaling Parameter B (dmx)
  4000034h  2    W    BG3PC     BG3 Rotation/Scaling Parameter C (dy)
  4000036h  2    W    BG3PD     BG3 Rotation/Scaling Parameter D (dmy)
  4000038h  4    W    BG3X      BG3 Reference Point X-Coordinate
  400003Ch  4    W    BG3Y      BG3 Reference Point Y-Coordinate
  4000040h  2    W    WIN0H     Window 0 Horizontal Dimensions
  4000042h  2    W    WIN1H     Window 1 Horizontal Dimensions
  4000044h  2    W    WIN0V     Window 0 Vertical Dimensions
  4000046h  2    W    WIN1V     Window 1 Vertical Dimensions
  4000048h  2    R/W  WININ     Inside of Window 0 and 1
  400004Ah  2    R/W  WINOUT    Inside of OBJ Window & Outside of Windows
  400004Ch  2    W    MOSAIC    Mosaic Size
  400004Eh       -    -         Not used
  4000050h  2    R/W  BLDCNT    Color Special Effects Selection
  4000052h  2    W    BLDALPHA  Alpha Blending Coefficients
  4000054h  2    W    BLDY      Brightness (Fade-In/Out) Coefficient
  4000056h       -    -         Not used
Sound Registers
  4000060h  2  R/W  SOUND1CNT_L Channel 1 Sweep register       (NR10)
  4000062h  2  R/W  SOUND1CNT_H Channel 1 Duty/Length/Envelope (NR11, NR12)
  4000064h  2  R/W  SOUND1CNT_X Channel 1 Frequency/Control    (NR13, NR14)
  4000066h     -    -           Not used
  4000068h  2  R/W  SOUND2CNT_L Channel 2 Duty/Length/Envelope (NR21, NR22)
  400006Ah     -    -           Not used
  400006Ch  2  R/W  SOUND2CNT_H Channel 2 Frequency/Control    (NR23, NR24)
  400006Eh     -    -           Not used
  4000070h  2  R/W  SOUND3CNT_L Channel 3 Stop/Wave RAM select (NR30)
  4000072h  2  R/W  SOUND3CNT_H Channel 3 Length/Volume        (NR31, NR32)
  4000074h  2  R/W  SOUND3CNT_X Channel 3 Frequency/Control    (NR33, NR34)
  4000076h     -    -           Not used
  4000078h  2  R/W  SOUND4CNT_L Channel 4 Length/Envelope      (NR41, NR42)
  400007Ah     -    -           Not used
  400007Ch  2  R/W  SOUND4CNT_H Channel 4 Frequency/Control    (NR43, NR44)
  400007Eh     -    -           Not used
  4000080h  2  R/W  SOUNDCNT_L  Control Stereo/Volume/Enable   (NR50, NR51)
  4000082h  2  R/W  SOUNDCNT_H  Control Mixing/DMA Control
  4000084h  2  R/W  SOUNDCNT_X  Control Sound on/off           (NR52)
  4000086h     -    -           Not used
  4000088h  2  BIOS SOUNDBIAS   Sound PWM Control
  400008Ah  ..   -    -         Not used
  4000090h 2x10h R/W  WAVE_RAM  Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (2 banks!!)
  40000A0h  4    W    FIFO_A    Channel A FIFO, Data 0-3
  40000A4h  4    W    FIFO_B    Channel B FIFO, Data 0-3
  40000A8h       -    -         Not used
DMA Transfer Channels
  40000B0h  4    W    DMA0SAD   DMA 0 Source Address
  40000B4h  4    W    DMA0DAD   DMA 0 Destination Address
  40000B8h  2    W    DMA0CNT_L DMA 0 Word Count
  40000BAh  2    R/W  DMA0CNT_H DMA 0 Control
  40000BCh  4    W    DMA1SAD   DMA 1 Source Address
  40000C0h  4    W    DMA1DAD   DMA 1 Destination Address
  40000C4h  2    W    DMA1CNT_L DMA 1 Word Count
  40000C6h  2    R/W  DMA1CNT_H DMA 1 Control
  40000C8h  4    W    DMA2SAD   DMA 2 Source Address
  40000CCh  4    W    DMA2DAD   DMA 2 Destination Address
  40000D0h  2    W    DMA2CNT_L DMA 2 Word Count
  40000D2h  2    R/W  DMA2CNT_H DMA 2 Control
  40000D4h  4    W    DMA3SAD   DMA 3 Source Address
  40000D8h  4    W    DMA3DAD   DMA 3 Destination Address
  40000DCh  2    W    DMA3CNT_L DMA 3 Word Count
  40000DEh  2    R/W  DMA3CNT_H DMA 3 Control
  40000E0h       -    -         Not used
Timer Registers
  4000100h  2    R/W  TM0CNT_L  Timer 0 Counter/Reload
  4000102h  2    R/W  TM0CNT_H  Timer 0 Control
  4000104h  2    R/W  TM1CNT_L  Timer 1 Counter/Reload
  4000106h  2    R/W  TM1CNT_H  Timer 1 Control
  4000108h  2    R/W  TM2CNT_L  Timer 2 Counter/Reload
  400010Ah  2    R/W  TM2CNT_H  Timer 2 Control
  400010Ch  2    R/W  TM3CNT_L  Timer 3 Counter/Reload
  400010Eh  2    R/W  TM3CNT_H  Timer 3 Control
  4000110h       -    -         Not used
Serial Communication (1)
  4000120h  4    R/W  SIODATA32 SIO Data (Normal-32bit Mode) (shared with below!)
  4000120h  2    R/W  SIOMULTI0 SIO Data 0 (Parent)    (Multi-Player Mode)
  4000122h  2    R/W  SIOMULTI1 SIO Data 1 (1st Child) (Multi-Player Mode)
  4000124h  2    R/W  SIOMULTI2 SIO Data 2 (2nd Child) (Multi-Player Mode)
  4000126h  2    R/W  SIOMULTI3 SIO Data 3 (3rd Child) (Multi-Player Mode)
  4000128h  2    R/W  SIOCNT    SIO Control Register
  400012Ah  2    R/W  SIOMLT_SEND SIO Data (Local of Multi-Player) (shared below)
  400012Ah  2    R/W  SIODATA8  SIO Data (Normal-8bit and UART Mode)
  400012Ch       -    -         Not used
Keypad Input
  4000130h  2    R    KEYINPUT  Key Status
  4000132h  2    R/W  KEYCNT    Key Interrupt Control
Serial Communication (2)
  4000134h  2    R/W  RCNT      SIO Mode Select/General Purpose Data
  4000136h  -    -    IR        Ancient - Infrared Register (Prototypes only)
  4000138h       -    -         Not used
  4000140h  2    R/W  JOYCNT    SIO JOY Bus Control
  4000142h       -    -         Not used
  4000150h  4    R/W  JOY_RECV  SIO JOY Bus Receive Data
  4000154h  4    R/W  JOY_TRANS SIO JOY Bus Transmit Data
  4000158h  2    R/?  JOYSTAT   SIO JOY Bus Receive Status
  400015Ah       -    -         Not used
Interrupt, Waitstate, and Power-Down Control
  4000200h  2    R/W  IE        Interrupt Enable Register
  4000202h  2    R/W  IF        Interrupt Request Flags / IRQ Acknowledge
  4000204h  2    R/W  WAITCNT   Game Pak Waitstate Control
  4000206h       -    -         Not used
  4000208h  2    R/W  IME       Interrupt Master Enable Register
  400020Ah       -    -         Not used
  4000300h  1    R/W  POSTFLG   Undocumented - Post Boot Flag
  4000301h  1    W    HALTCNT   Undocumented - Power Down Control
  4000302h       -    -         Not used
  4000410h  ?    ?    ?         Undocumented - Purpose Unknown / Bug ??? 0FFh
  4000411h       -    -         Not used
  4000800h  4    R/W  ?         Undocumented - Internal Memory Control (R/W)
  4000804h       -    -         Not used
  4xx0800h  4    R/W  ?         Mirrors of 4000800h (repeated each 64K)

All further addresses at 4XXXXXXh are unused and do not contain mirrors of the I/O area, with the only exception that 4000800h is repeated each 64K (ie. mirrored at 4010800h, 4020800h, etc.)


 GBA LCD Video Controller

Registers
LCD I/O Display Control
LCD I/O Interrupts and Status
LCD I/O BG Control
LCD I/O BG Scrolling
LCD I/O BG Rotation/Scaling
LCD I/O Window Feature
LCD I/O Mosaic Function
LCD I/O Color Special Effects

VRAM
LCD VRAM Overview
LCD VRAM Character Data
LCD VRAM BG Screen Data Format (BG Map)
LCD VRAM Bitmap BG Modes

Sprites
LCD OBJ - Overview
LCD OBJ - OAM Attributes
LCD OBJ - OAM Rotation/Scaling Parameters
LCD OBJ - VRAM Character (Tile) Mapping

Other
LCD Color Palettes
LCD Dimensions and Timings


 LCD I/O Display Control

4000000h - DISPCNT - LCD Control (Read/Write)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-2   BG Mode                (0-5=Video Mode 0-5, 6-7=Prohibited)
  3     Reserved / CGB Mode    (0=GBA, 1=CGB; can be set only by BIOS opcodes)
  4     Display Frame Select   (0-1=Frame 0-1) (for BG Modes 4,5 only)
  5     H-Blank Interval Free  (1=Allow access to OAM during H-Blank)
  6     OBJ Character VRAM Mapping (0=Two dimensional, 1=One dimensional)
  7     Forced Blank           (1=Allow FAST access to VRAM,Palette,OAM)
  8     Screen Display BG0  (0=Off, 1=On)
  9     Screen Display BG1  (0=Off, 1=On)
  10    Screen Display BG2  (0=Off, 1=On)
  11    Screen Display BG3  (0=Off, 1=On)
  12    Screen Display OBJ  (0=Off, 1=On)
  13    Window 0 Display Flag   (0=Off, 1=On)
  14    Window 1 Display Flag   (0=Off, 1=On)
  15    OBJ Window Display Flag (0=Off, 1=On)

The table summarizes the facilities of the separate BG modes (video modes).
  Mode  Rot/Scal Layers Size               Tiles Colors       Features
  0     No       0123   256x256..512x515   1024  16/16..256/1 SFMABP
  1     Mixed    012-   (BG0,BG1 as above Mode 0, BG2 as below Mode 2)
  2     Yes      --23   128x128..1024x1024 256   256/1        S-MABP
  3     Yes      --2-   240x160            1     32768        --MABP
  4     Yes      --2-   240x160            2     256/1        --MABP
  5     Yes      --2-   160x128            2     32768        --MABP
Features: S)crolling, F)lip, M)osaic, A)lphaBlending, B)rightness, P)riority.

BG Modes 0-2 are Tile/Map-based. BG Modes 3-5 are Bitmap-based, in these modes 1 or 2 Frames (ie. bitmaps, or 'full screen tiles') exists, if two frames exist, either one can be displayed, and the other one can be redrawn in background.

Blanking Bits
Setting Forced Blank (Bit 7) causes the video controller to display white lines, and all VRAM, Palette RAM, and OAM may be accessed.
"When the internal HV synchronous counter cancels a forced blank during a display period, the display begins from the beginning, following the display of two vertical lines." What ?
Setting H-Blank Interval Free (Bit 5) allows to access OAM during H-Blank time - using this feature reduces the number of sprites that can be displayed per line.

Display Enable Bits
By default, BG0-3 and OBJ Display Flags (Bit 8-12) are used to enable/disable BGs and OBJ. When enabling Window 0 and/or 1 (Bit 13-14), color special effects may be used, and BG0-3 and OBJ are controlled by the window(s).

Frame Selection
In BG Modes 4 and 5 (Bitmap modes), either one of the two bitmaps/frames may be displayed (Bit 4), allowing the user to update the other (invisible) frame in background. In BG Mode 3, only one frame exists.
In BG Modes 0-2 (Tile/Map based modes), a similar effect may be gained by altering the base address(es) of BG Map and/or BG Character data.

4000002h - Undocumented - Green Swap (R/W)
Normally, red green blue intensities for a group of two pixels is output as BGRbgr (uppercase for left pixel at even xloc, lowercase for right pixel at odd xloc). When the Green Swap bit is set, each pixel group is output as BgRbGr (ie. green intensity of each two pixels exchanged).
  Bit   Expl.
  0     Green Swap  (0=Normal, 1=Swap)
  1-15  Not used
This feature appears to be applied to the final picture (ie. after mixing the separate BG and OBJ layers). Eventually intended for other display types (with other pin-outs). With normal GBA hardware it is just producing an interesting dirt effect.
The NDS DISPCNT registers are 32bit (4000000h..4000003h), so Green Swap doesn't exist in NDS mode, however, the NDS does support Green Swap in GBA mode.


 LCD I/O Interrupts and Status

4000004h - DISPSTAT - General LCD Status (Read/Write)
Display status and Interrupt control. The H-Blank conditions are generated once per scanline, including for the 'hidden' scanlines during V-Blank.
  Bit   Expl.
  0     V-Blank flag   (Read only) (1=VBlank) (set in line 160..226; not 227)
  1     H-Blank flag   (Read only) (1=HBlank) (toggled in all lines, 0..227)
  2     V-Counter flag (Read only) (1=Match)  (set in selected line)
  3     V-Blank IRQ Enable         (1=Enable)
  4     H-Blank IRQ Enable         (1=Enable)
  5     V-Counter IRQ Enable       (1=Enable)
  6-7   Not used
  8-15  V-Count Setting (LYC)      (0..227)
The V-Count-Setting value is much the same as LYC of older gameboys, when its value is identical to the content of the VCOUNT register then the V-Counter flag is set (Bit 2), and (if enabled in Bit 5) an interrupt is requested.
Although the drawing time is only 960 cycles (240*4), the H-Blank flag is "0" for a total of 1006 cycles.

4000006h - VCOUNT - Vertical Counter (Read only)
Indicates the currently drawn scanline, values in range from 160..227 indicate 'hidden' scanlines within VBlank area.
  Bit   Expl.
  0-7   Current scanline (LY)      (0..227)
  8-15  Not Used
Note: This is much the same than the 'LY' register of older gameboys.


 LCD I/O BG Control

4000008h - BG0CNT - BG0 Control (R/W) (BG Modes 0,1 only)
400000Ah - BG1CNT - BG1 Control (R/W) (BG Modes 0,1 only)
400000Ch - BG2CNT - BG2 Control (R/W) (BG Modes 0,1,2 only)
400000Eh - BG3CNT - BG3 Control (R/W) (BG Modes 0,2 only)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-1   BG Priority           (0-3, 0=Highest)
  2-3   Character Base Block  (0-3, in units of 16 KBytes) (=BG Tile Data)
  4-5   Not used (must be zero)
  6     Mosaic                (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  7     Colors/Palettes       (0=16/16, 1=256/1)
  8-12  Screen Base Block     (0-31, in units of 2 KBytes) (=BG Map Data)
  13    Display Area Overflow (0=Transparent, 1=Wraparound; BG2CNT/BG3CNT only)
  14-15 Screen Size (0-3)
Internal Screen Size (dots) and size of BG Map (bytes):
  Value  Text Mode      Rotation/Scaling Mode
  0      256x256 (2K)   128x128   (256 bytes)
  1      512x256 (4K)   256x256   (1K)
  2      256x512 (4K)   512x512   (4K)
  3      512x512 (8K)   1024x1024 (16K)
In case that some or all BGs are set to same priority then BG0 is having the highest, and BG3 the lowest priority.

In 'Text Modes', the screen size is organized as follows: The screen consists of one or more 256x256 pixel (32x32 tiles) areas. When Size=0: only 1 area (SC0), when Size=1 or Size=2: two areas (SC0,SC1 either horizontally or vertically arranged next to each other), when Size=3: four areas (SC0,SC1 in upper row, SC2,SC3 in lower row). Whereas SC0 is defined by the normal BG Map base address (Bit 8-12 of BG#CNT), SC1 uses same address +2K, SC2 address +4K, SC3 address +6K. When the screen is scrolled it'll always wraparound.

In 'Rotation/Scaling Modes', the screen size is organized as follows, only one area (SC0) of variable size 128x128..1024x1024 pixels (16x16..128x128 tiles) exists. When the screen is rotated/scaled (or scrolled?) so that the LCD viewport reaches outside of the background/screen area, then BG may be either displayed as transparent or wraparound (Bit 13 of BG#CNT).


 LCD I/O BG Scrolling

4000010h - BG0HOFS - BG0 X-Offset (W)
4000012h - BG0VOFS - BG0 Y-Offset (W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-8   Offset (0-511)
  9-15  Not used
Specifies the coordinate of the upperleft first visible dot of BG0 background layer, ie. used to scroll the BG0 area.

4000014h - BG1HOFS - BG1 X-Offset (W)
4000016h - BG1VOFS - BG1 Y-Offset (W)
Same as above BG0HOFS and BG0VOFS for BG1 respectively.

4000018h - BG2HOFS - BG2 X-Offset (W)
400001Ah - BG2VOFS - BG2 Y-Offset (W)
Same as above BG0HOFS and BG0VOFS for BG2 respectively.

400001Ch - BG3HOFS - BG3 X-Offset (W)
400001Eh - BG3VOFS - BG3 Y-Offset (W)
Same as above BG0HOFS and BG0VOFS for BG3 respectively.

The above BG scrolling registers are exclusively used in Text modes, ie. for all layers in BG Mode 0, and for the first two layers in BG mode 1.
In other BG modes (Rotation/Scaling and Bitmap modes) above registers are ignored. Instead, the screen may be scrolled by modifying the BG Rotation/Scaling Reference Point registers.


 LCD I/O BG Rotation/Scaling

4000028h - BG2X_L - BG2 Reference Point X-Coordinate, lower 16 bit (W)
400002Ah - BG2X_H - BG2 Reference Point X-Coordinate, upper 12 bit (W)
400002Ch - BG2Y_L - BG2 Reference Point Y-Coordinate, lower 16 bit (W)
400002Eh - BG2Y_H - BG2 Reference Point Y-Coordinate, upper 12 bit (W)
These registers are replacing the BG scrolling registers which are used for Text mode, ie. the X/Y coordinates specify the source position from inside of the BG Map/Bitmap of the pixel to be displayed at upper left of the GBA display. The normal BG scrolling registers are ignored in Rotation/Scaling and Bitmap modes.
  Bit   Expl.
  0-7   Fractional portion (8 bits)
  8-26  Integer portion    (19 bits)
  27    Sign               (1 bit)
  28-31 Not used
Because values are shifted left by eight, fractional portions may be specified in steps of 1/256 pixels (this would be relevant only if the screen is actually rotated or scaled). Normal signed 32bit values may be written to above registers (the most significant bits will be ignored and the value will be cut-down to 28bits, but this is no actual problem because signed values have set all MSBs to the same value).

Internal Reference Point Registers
The above reference points are automatically copied to internal registers during each vblank, specifying the origin for the first scanline. The internal registers are then incremented by dmx and dmy after each scanline.
Caution: Writing to a reference point register by software outside of the Vblank period does immediately copy the new value to the corresponding internal register, that means: in the current frame, the new value specifies the origin of the <current> scanline (instead of the topmost scanline).

4000020h - BG2PA - BG2 Rotation/Scaling Parameter A (alias dx) (W)
4000022h - BG2PB - BG2 Rotation/Scaling Parameter B (alias dmx) (W)
4000024h - BG2PC - BG2 Rotation/Scaling Parameter C (alias dy) (W)
4000026h - BG2PD - BG2 Rotation/Scaling Parameter D (alias dmy) (W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-7   Fractional portion (8 bits)
  8-14  Integer portion    (7 bits)
  15    Sign               (1 bit)
See below for details.

400003Xh - BG3X_L/H, BG3Y_L/H, BG3PA-D - BG3 Rotation/Scaling Parameters
Same as above BG2 Reference Point, and Rotation/Scaling Parameters, for BG3 respectively.

dx (PA) and dy (PC)
When transforming a horizontal line, dx and dy specify the resulting gradient and magnification for that line. For example:
Horizontal line, length=100, dx=1, and dy=1. The resulting line would be drawn at 45 degrees, f(y)=1/1*x. Note that this would involve that line is magnified, the new length is SQR(100^2+100^2)=141.42. Yup, exactly - that's the old a^2 + b^2 = c^2 formula.

dmx (PB) and dmy (PD)
These values define the resulting gradient and magnification for transformation of vertical lines. However, when rotating a square area (which is surrounded by horizontal and vertical lines), then the desired result should be usually a rotated <square> area (ie. not a parallelogram, for example).
Thus, dmx and dmy must be defined in direct relationship to dx and dy, taking the example above, we'd have to set dmx=-1, and dmy=1, f(x)=-1/1*y.

Area Overflow
In result of rotation/scaling it may often happen that areas outside of the actual BG area become moved into the LCD viewport. Depending of the Area Overflow bit (BG2CNT and BG3CNT, Bit 13) these areas may be either displayed (by wrapping the BG area), or may be displayed transparent.
This works only in BG modes 1 and 2. The area overflow is ignored in Bitmap modes (BG modes 3-5), the outside of the Bitmaps is always transparent.

--- more details and confusing or helpful formulas ---

The following parameters are required for Rotation/Scaling
  Rotation Center X and Y Coordinates (x0,y0)
  Rotation Angle                      (alpha)
  Magnification X and Y Values        (xMag,yMag)
The display is rotated by 'alpha' degrees around the center.
The displayed picture is magnified by 'xMag' along x-Axis (Y=y0) and 'yMag' along y-Axis (X=x0).

Calculating Rotation/Scaling Parameters A-D
  A = Cos (alpha) / xMag    ;distance moved in direction x, same line
  B = Sin (alpha) / xMag    ;distance moved in direction x, next line
  C = Sin (alpha) / yMag    ;distance moved in direction y, same line
  D = Cos (alpha) / yMag    ;distance moved in direction y, next line

Calculating the position of a rotated/scaled dot
Using the following expressions,
  x0,y0    Rotation Center
  x1,y1    Old Position of a pixel (before rotation/scaling)
  x2,y2    New position of above pixel (after rotation scaling)
  A,B,C,D  BG2PA-BG2PD Parameters (as calculated above)
the following formula can be used to calculate x2,y2:
  x2 = A(x1-x0) + B(y1-y0) + x0
  y2 = C(x1-x0) + D(y1-y0) + y0


 LCD I/O Window Feature

The Window Feature may be used to split the screen into four regions. The BG0-3,OBJ layers and Color Special Effects can be separately enabled or disabled in each of these regions.

The DISPCNT Register
DISPCNT Bits 13-15 are used to enable Window 0, Window 1, and/or OBJ Window regions, if any of these regions is enabled then the "Outside of Windows" region is automatically enabled, too.
DISPCNT Bits 8-12 are kept used as master enable bits for the BG0-3,OBJ layers, a layer is displayed only if both DISPCNT and WININ/OUT enable bits are set.

4000040h - WIN0H - Window 0 Horizontal Dimensions (W)
4000042h - WIN1H - Window 1 Horizontal Dimensions (W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-7   X2, Rightmost coordinate of window, plus 1
  8-15  X1, Leftmost coordinate of window
Garbage values of X2>240 or X1>X2 are interpreted as X2=240.

4000044h - WIN0V - Window 0 Vertical Dimensions (W)
4000046h - WIN1V - Window 1 Vertical Dimensions (W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-7   Y2, Bottom-most coordinate of window, plus 1
  8-15  Y1, Top-most coordinate of window
Garbage values of Y2>160 or Y1>Y2 are interpreted as Y2=160.

4000048h - WININ - Control of Inside of Window(s) (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-3   Window 0 BG0-BG3 Enable Bits     (0=No Display, 1=Display)
  4     Window 0 OBJ Enable Bit          (0=No Display, 1=Display)
  5     Window 0 Color Special Effect    (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  6-7   Not used
  8-11  Window 1 BG0-BG3 Enable Bits     (0=No Display, 1=Display)
  12    Window 1 OBJ Enable Bit          (0=No Display, 1=Display)
  13    Window 1 Color Special Effect    (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  14-15 Not used

400004Ah - WINOUT - Control of Outside of Windows & Inside of OBJ Window (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-3   Outside BG0-BG3 Enable Bits      (0=No Display, 1=Display)
  4     Outside OBJ Enable Bit           (0=No Display, 1=Display)
  5     Outside Color Special Effect     (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  6-7   Not used
  8-11  OBJ Window BG0-BG3 Enable Bits   (0=No Display, 1=Display)
  12    OBJ Window OBJ Enable Bit        (0=No Display, 1=Display)
  13    OBJ Window Color Special Effect  (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  14-15 Not used

The OBJ Window
The dimension of the OBJ Window is specified by OBJs which are having the "OBJ Mode" attribute being set to "OBJ Window". Any non-transparent dots of any such OBJs are marked as OBJ Window area. The OBJ itself is not displayed.
The color, palette, and display priority of these OBJs are ignored. Both DISPCNT Bits 12 and 15 must be set when defining OBJ Window region(s).

Window Priority
In case that more than one window is enabled, and that these windows do overlap, Window 0 is having highest priority, Window 1 medium, and Obj Window lowest priority. Outside of Window is having zero priority, it is used for all dots which are not inside of any window region.


 LCD I/O Mosaic Function

400004Ch - MOSAIC - Mosaic Size (W)
The Mosaic function can be separately enabled/disabled for BG0-BG3 by BG0CNT-BG3CNT Registers, as well as for each OBJ0-127 by OBJ attributes in OAM memory. Also, setting all of the bits below to zero effectively disables the mosaic function.
  Bit   Expl.
  0-3   BG Mosaic H-Size  (minus 1)
  4-7   BG Mosaic V-Size  (minus 1)
  8-11  OBJ Mosaic H-Size (minus 1)
  12-15 OBJ Mosaic V-Size (minus 1)
Example: When setting H-Size to 5, then pixels 0-5 of each display row are colorized as pixel 0, pixels 6-11 as pixel 6, pixels 12-17 as pixel 12, and so on.

Normally, a 'mosaic-pixel' is colorized by the color of the upperleft covered pixel. In many cases it might be more desireful to use the color of the pixel in the center of the covered area - this effect may be gained by scrolling the background (or by adjusting the OBJ position, as far as upper/left rows/columns of OBJ are transparent).


 LCD I/O Color Special Effects

Two types of Special Effects are supported: Alpha Blending (Semi-Transparency) allows to combine colors of two selected surfaces. Brightness Increase/Decrease adjust the brightness of the selected surface.

4000050h - BLDCNT - Color Special Effects Selection (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0     BG0 1st Target Pixel (Background 0)
  1     BG1 1st Target Pixel (Background 1)
  2     BG2 1st Target Pixel (Background 2)
  3     BG3 1st Target Pixel (Background 3)
  4     OBJ 1st Target Pixel (Top-most OBJ pixel)
  5     BD  1st Target Pixel (Backdrop)
  6-7   Color Special Effect (0-3, see below)
         0 = None                (Special effects disabled)
         1 = Alpha Blending      (1st+2nd Target mixed)
         2 = Brightness Increase (1st Target becomes whiter)
         3 = Brightness Decrease (1st Target becomes blacker)
  8     BG0 2nd Target Pixel (Background 0)
  9     BG1 2nd Target Pixel (Background 1)
  10    BG2 2nd Target Pixel (Background 2)
  11    BG3 2nd Target Pixel (Background 3)
  12    OBJ 2nd Target Pixel (Top-most OBJ pixel)
  13    BD  2nd Target Pixel (Backdrop)
  14-15 Not used
Selects the 1st Target layer(s) for special effects. For Alpha Blending/Semi-Transparency, it does also select the 2nd Target layer(s), which should have next lower display priority as the 1st Target.
However, any combinations are possible, including that all layers may be selected as both 1st+2nd target, in that case the top-most pixel will be used as 1st target, and the next lower pixel as 2nd target.

4000052h - BLDALPHA - Alpha Blending Coefficients (W)
Used for Color Special Effects Mode 1, and for Semi-Transparent OBJs.
  Bit   Expl.
  0-4   EVA Coefficient (1st Target) (0..16 = 0/16..16/16, 17..31=16/16)
  5-7   Not used
  8-12  EVB Coefficient (2nd Target) (0..16 = 0/16..16/16, 17..31=16/16)
  13-15 Not used
For this effect, the top-most non-transparent pixel must be selected as 1st Target, and the next-lower non-transparent pixel must be selected as 2nd Target, if so - and only if so, then color intensities of 1st and 2nd Target are mixed together by using the parameters in BLDALPHA register, for each pixel each R, G, B intensities are calculated separately:
  I = MIN ( 31, I1st*EVA + I2nd*EVB )
Otherwise - for example, if only one target exists, or if a non-transparent non-2nd-target pixel is moved between the two targets, or if 2nd target has higher display priority than 1st target - then only the top-most pixel is displayed (at normal intensity, regardless of BLDALPHA).

4000054h - BLDY - Brightness (Fade-In/Out) Coefficient (W)
Used for Color Special Effects Modes 2 and 3.
  Bit   Expl.
  0-4   EVY Coefficient (Brightness) (0..16 = 0/16..16/16, 17..31=16/16)
  5-15  Not used
For each pixel each R, G, B intensities are calculated separately:
  I = I1st + (31-I1st)*EVY   ;For Brightness Increase
  I = I1st - (I1st)*EVY      ;For Brightness Decrease
The color intensities of any selected 1st target surface(s) are increased or decreased by using the parameter in BLDY register.

Semi-Transparent OBJs
OBJs that are defined as 'Semi-Transparent' in OAM memory are always selected as 1st Target (regardless of BLDCNT Bit 4), and are always using Alpha Blending mode (regardless of BLDCNT Bit 6-7).
The BLDCNT register may be used to perform Brightness effects on the OBJ (and/or other BG/BD layers). However, if a semi-transparent OBJ pixel does overlap a 2nd target pixel, then semi-transparency becomes priority, and the brightness effect will not take place (neither on 1st, nor 2nd target).

The OBJ Layer
Before special effects are applied, the display controller computes the OBJ priority ordering, and isolates the top-most OBJ pixel. In result, only the top-most OBJ pixel is recursed at the time when processing special effects. Ie. alpha blending and semi-transparency can be used for OBJ-to-BG or BG-to-OBJ , but not for OBJ-to-OBJ.


 LCD VRAM Overview

The GBA contains 96 Kbytes VRAM built-in, located at address 06000000-06017FFF, depending on the BG Mode used as follows:

BG Mode 0,1,2 (Tile/Map based Modes)
  06000000-0600FFFF  64 KBytes shared for BG Map and Tiles
  06010000-06017FFF  32 KBytes OBJ Tiles
The shared 64K area can be split into BG Map area(s), and BG Tiles area(s), the respective addresses for Map and Tile areas are set up by BG0CNT-BG3CNT registers. The Map address may be specified in units of 2K (steps of 800h), the Tile address in units of 16K (steps of 4000h).

BG Mode 0,1 (Tile/Map based Text mode)
The tiles may have 4bit or 8bit color depth, minimum map size is 32x32 tiles, maximum is 64x64 tiles, up to 1024 tiles can be used per map.
  Item        Depth     Required Memory
  One Tile    4bit      20h bytes
  One Tile    8bit      40h bytes
  1024 Tiles  4bit      8000h (32K)
  1024 Tiles  8bit      10000h (64K) - excluding some bytes for BG map
  BG Map      32x32     800h (2K)
  BG Map      64x64     2000h (8K)

BG Mode 1,2 (Tile/Map based Rotation/Scaling mode)
The tiles may have 8bit color depth only, minimum map size is 16x16 tiles, maximum is 128x128 tiles, up to 256 tiles can be used per map.
  Item        Depth     Required Memory
  One Tile    8bit      40h bytes
  256  Tiles  8bit      4000h (16K)
  BG Map      16x16     100h bytes
  BG Map      128x128   4000h (16K)

BG Mode 3 (Bitmap based Mode for still images)
  06000000-06013FFF  80 KBytes Frame 0 buffer (only 75K actually used)
  06014000-06017FFF  16 KBytes OBJ Tiles

BG Mode 4,5 (Bitmap based Modes)
  06000000-06009FFF  40 KBytes Frame 0 buffer (only 37.5K used in Mode 4)
  0600A000-06013FFF  40 KBytes Frame 1 buffer (only 37.5K used in Mode 4)
  06014000-06017FFF  16 KBytes OBJ Tiles

Note
Additionally to the above VRAM, the GBA also contains 1 KByte Palette RAM (at 05000000h) and 1 KByte OAM (at 07000000h) which are both used by the display controller as well.


 LCD VRAM Character Data

Each character (tile) consists of 8x8 dots (64 dots in total). The color depth may be either 4bit or 8bit (see BG0CNT-BG3CNT).

4bit depth (16 colors, 16 palettes)
Each tile occupies 32 bytes of memory, the first 4 bytes for the topmost row of the tile, and so on. Each byte representing two dots, the lower 4 bits define the color for the left (!) dot, the upper 4 bits the color for the right dot.

8bit depth (256 colors, 1 palette)
Each tile occupies 64 bytes of memory, the first 8 bytes for the topmost row of the tile, and so on. Each byte selects the palette entry for each dot.


 LCD VRAM BG Screen Data Format (BG Map)

The display background consists of 8x8 dot tiles, the arrangement of these tiles is specified by the BG Screen Data (BG Map). The separate entries in this map are as follows:

Text BG Screen (2 bytes per entry)
Specifies the tile number and attributes. Note that BG tile numbers are always specified in steps of 1 (unlike OBJ tile numbers which are using steps of two in 256 color/1 palette mode).
  Bit   Expl.
  0-9   Tile Number     (0-1023) (a bit less in 256 color mode, because
                           there'd be otherwise no room for the bg map)
  10    Horizontal Flip (0=Normal, 1=Mirrored)
  11    Vertical Flip   (0=Normal, 1=Mirrored)
  12-15 Palette Number  (0-15)    (Not used in 256 color/1 palette mode)
A Text BG Map always consists of 32x32 entries (256x256 pixels), 400h entries = 800h bytes. However, depending on the BG Size, one, two, or four of these Maps may be used together, allowing to create backgrounds of 256x256, 512x256, 256x512, or 512x512 pixels, if so, the first map (SC0) is located at base+0, the next map (SC1) at base+800h, and so on.

Rotation/Scaling BG Screen (1 byte per entry)
In this mode, only 256 tiles can be used. There are no x/y-flip attributes, the color depth is always 256 colors/1 palette.
  Bit   Expl.
  0-7   Tile Number     (0-255)
The dimensions of Rotation/Scaling BG Maps depend on the BG size. For size 0-3 that are: 16x16 tiles (128x128 pixels), 32x32 tiles (256x256 pixels), 64x64 tiles (512x512 pixels), or 128x128 tiles (1024x1024 pixels).

The size and VRAM base address of the separate BG maps for BG0-3 are set up by BG0CNT-BG3CNT registers.


 LCD VRAM Bitmap BG Modes

In BG Modes 3-5 the background is defined in form of a bitmap (unlike as for Tile/Map based BG modes). Bitmaps are implemented as BG2, with Rotation/Scaling support. As bitmap modes are occupying 80KBytes of BG memory, only 16KBytes of VRAM can be used for OBJ tiles.

BG Mode 3 - 240x160 pixels, 32768 colors
Two bytes are associated to each pixel, directly defining one of the 32768 colors (without using palette data, and thus not supporting a 'transparent' BG color).
  Bit   Expl.
  0-4   Red Intensity   (0-31)
  5-9   Green Intensity (0-31)
  10-14 Blue Intensity  (0-31)
  15    Not used
The first 480 bytes define the topmost line, the next 480 the next line, and so on. The background occupies 75 KBytes (06000000-06012BFF), most of the 80 Kbytes BG area, not allowing to redraw an invisible second frame in background, so this mode is mostly recommended for still images only.

BG Mode 4 - 240x160 pixels, 256 colors (out of 32768 colors)
One byte is associated to each pixel, selecting one of the 256 palette entries. Color 0 (backdrop) is transparent, and OBJs may be displayed behind the bitmap.
The first 240 bytes define the topmost line, the next 240 the next line, and so on. The background occupies 37.5 KBytes, allowing two frames to be used (06000000-060095FF for Frame 0, and 0600A000-060135FF for Frame 1).

BG Mode 5 - 160x128 pixels, 32768 colors
Colors are defined as for Mode 3 (see above), but horizontal and vertical size are cut down to 160x128 pixels only - smaller than the physical dimensions of the LCD screen.
The background occupies exactly 40 KBytes, so that BG VRAM may be split into two frames (06000000-06009FFF for Frame 0, and 0600A000-06013FFF for Frame 1).

In BG modes 4,5, one Frame may be displayed (selected by DISPCNT Bit 4), the other Frame is invisible and may be redrawn in background.


 LCD OBJ - Overview

General
Objects (OBJs) are moveable sprites. Up to 128 OBJs (of any size, up to 64x64 dots each) can be displayed per screen, and under best circumstances up to 128 OBJs (of small 8x8 dots size) can be displayed per horizontal display line.

Maximum Number of Sprites per Line
The total available OBJ rendering cycles per line are
  1210  (=304*4-6)   If "H-Blank Interval Free" bit in DISPCNT register is 0
  954   (=240*4-6)   If "H-Blank Interval Free" bit in DISPCNT register is 1
The required rendering cycles are (depending on horizontal OBJ size)
  Cycles per <n> Pixels    OBJ Type              OBJ Type Screen Pixel Range
  n*1 cycles               Normal OBJs           8..64 pixels
  10+n*2 cycles            Rotation/Scaling OBJs 8..64 pixels   (area clipped)
  10+n*2 cycles            Rotation/Scaling OBJs 16..128 pixels (double size)
Caution:
The maximum number of OBJs per line is also affected by undisplayed (offscreen) OBJs which are having higher priority than displayed OBJs.
To avoid this, move displayed OBJs to the begin of OAM memory (ie. OBJ0 has highest priority, OBJ127 lowest).
Otherwise (in case that the program logic expects OBJs at fixed positions in OAM) at least take care to set the OBJ size of undisplayed OBJs to 8x8 with Rotation/Scaling disabled (this reduces the overload).
Does the above also apply for VERTICALLY OFFSCREEN (or VERTICALLY not on CURRENT LINE) sprites ?

VRAM - Character Data
OBJs are always combined of one or more 8x8 pixel Tiles (much like BG Tiles in BG Modes 0-2). However, OBJ Tiles are stored in a separate area in VRAM: 06010000-06017FFF (32 KBytes) in BG Mode 0-2, or 06014000-06017FFF (16 KBytes) in BG Mode 3-5.
Depending on the size of the above area (16K or 32K), and on the OBJ color depth (4bit or 8bit), 256-1024 8x8 dots OBJ Tiles can be defined.

OAM - Object Attribute Memory
This memory area contains Attributes which specify position, size, color depth, etc. appearance for each of the 128 OBJs. Additionally, it contains 32 OBJ Rotation/Scaling Parameter groups. OAM is located at 07000000-070003FF (sized 1 KByte).


 LCD OBJ - OAM Attributes

OBJ Attributes
There are 128 entries in OAM for each OBJ0-OBJ127. Each entry consists of 6 bytes (three 16bit Attributes). Attributes for OBJ0 are located at 07000000, for OBJ1 at 07000008, OBJ2 at 07000010, and so on.

As you can see, there are blank spaces at 07000006, 0700000E, 07000016, etc. - these 16bit values are used for OBJ Rotation/Scaling (as described in the next chapter) - they are not directly related to the separate OBJs.

OBJ Attribute 0 (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-7   Y-Coordinate           (0-255)
  8     Rotation/Scaling Flag  (0=Off, 1=On)
  When Rotation/Scaling used (Attribute 0, bit 8 set):
    9     Double-Size Flag     (0=Normal, 1=Double)
  When Rotation/Scaling not used (Attribute 0, bit 8 cleared):
    9     OBJ Disable          (0=Normal, 1=Not displayed)
  10-11 OBJ Mode  (0=Normal, 1=Semi-Transparent, 2=OBJ Window, 3=Prohibited)
  12    OBJ Mosaic             (0=Off, 1=On)
  13    Colors/Palettes        (0=16/16, 1=256/1)
  14-15 OBJ Shape              (0=Square,1=Horizontal,2=Vertical,3=Prohibited)
Caution: A very large OBJ (of 128 pixels vertically, ie. a 64 pixels OBJ in a Double Size area) located at Y>128 will be treated as at Y>-128, the OBJ is then displayed parts offscreen at the TOP of the display, it is then NOT displayed at the bottom.

OBJ Attribute 1 (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-8   X-Coordinate           (0-511)
  When Rotation/Scaling used (Attribute 0, bit 8 set):
    9-13  Rotation/Scaling Parameter Selection (0-31)
          (Selects one of the 32 Rotation/Scaling Parameters that
          can be defined in OAM, for details read next chapter.)
  When Rotation/Scaling not used (Attribute 0, bit 8 cleared):
    9-11  Not used
    12    Horizontal Flip      (0=Normal, 1=Mirrored)
    13    Vertical Flip        (0=Normal, 1=Mirrored)
  14-15 OBJ Size               (0..3, depends on OBJ Shape, see Attr 0)
          Size  Square   Horizontal  Vertical
          0     8x8      16x8        8x16
          1     16x16    32x8        8x32
          2     32x32    32x16       16x32
          3     64x64    64x32       32x64

OBJ Attribute 2 (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-9   Character Name          (0-1023=Tile Number)
  10-11 Priority relative to BG (0-3; 0=Highest)
  12-15 Palette Number   (0-15) (Not used in 256 color/1 palette mode)

Notes:

OBJ Mode
The OBJ Mode may be Normal, Semi-Transparent, or OBJ Window.
Semi-Transparent means that the OBJ is used as 'Alpha Blending 1st Target' (regardless of BLDCNT register, for details see chapter about Color Special Effects).
OBJ Window means that the OBJ is not displayed, instead, dots with non-zero color are used as mask for the OBJ Window, see DISPCNT and WINOUT for details.

OBJ Tile Number
There are two situations which may divide the amount of available tiles by two (by four if both situations apply):

1. When using the 256 Colors/1 Palette mode, only each second tile may be used, the lower bit of the tile number should be zero (in 2-dimensional mapping mode, the bit is completely ignored).

2. When using BG Mode 3-5 (Bitmap Modes), only tile numbers 512-1023 may be used. That is because lower 16K of OBJ memory are used for BG. Attempts to use tiles 0-511 are ignored (not displayed).

Priority
In case that the 'Priority relative to BG' is the same than the priority of one of the background layers, then the OBJ becomes higher priority and is displayed on top of that BG layer.
Caution: Take care not to mess up BG Priority and OBJ priority. For example, the following would cause garbage to be displayed:
  OBJ No. 0 with Priority relative to BG=1   ;hi OBJ prio, lo BG prio
  OBJ No. 1 with Priority relative to BG=0   ;lo OBJ prio, hi BG prio
That is, OBJ0 is always having priority above OBJ1-127, so assigning a lower BG Priority to OBJ0 than for OBJ1-127 would be a bad idea.


 LCD OBJ - OAM Rotation/Scaling Parameters

As described in the previous chapter, there are blank spaces between each of the 128 OBJ Attribute Fields in OAM memory. These 128 16bit gaps are used to store OBJ Rotation/Scaling Parameters.

Location of Rotation/Scaling Parameters in OAM
Four 16bit parameters (PA,PB,PC,PD) are required to define a complete group of Rotation/Scaling data. These are spread across OAM as such:
  1st Group - PA=07000006, PB=0700000E, PC=07000016, PD=0700001E
  2nd Group - PA=07000026, PB=0700002E, PC=07000036, PD=0700003E
  etc.
By using all blank space (128 x 16bit), up to 32 of these groups (4 x 16bit each) can be defined in OAM.

OBJ Rotation/Scaling PA,PB,PC,PD Parameters (R/W)
Each OBJ that uses Rotation/Scaling may select between any of the above 32 parameter groups. For details, refer to the previous chapter about OBJ Attributes.
The meaning of the separate PA,PB,PC,PD values is identical as for BG, for details read the chapter about BG Rotation/Scaling.

OBJ Reference Point & Rotation Center
The OBJ Reference Point is the upper left of the OBJ, ie. OBJ X/Y coordinates: X+0, Y+0.
The OBJ Rotation Center is always (or should be usually?) in the middle of the object, ie. for a 8x32 pixel OBJ, this would be at the OBJ X/Y coordinates: X+4, and Y+16.

OBJ Double-Size Bit (for OBJs that use Rotation/Scaling)
When Double-Size is zero: The sprite is rotated, and then display inside of the normal-sized (not rotated) rectangular area - the edges of the rotated sprite will become invisible if they reach outside of that area.
When Double-Size is set: The sprite is rotated, and then display inside of the double-sized (not rotated) rectangular area - this ensures that the edges of the rotated sprite remain visible even if they would reach outside of the normal-sized area. (Except that, for example, rotating a 8x32 pixel sprite by 90 degrees would still cut off parts of the sprite as the double-size area isn't large enough.)


 LCD OBJ - VRAM Character (Tile) Mapping

Each OBJ tile consists of 8x8 dots, however, bigger OBJs can be displayed by combining several 8x8 tiles. The horizontal and vertical size for each OBJ may be separately defined in OAM, possible H/V sizes are 8,16,32,64 dots - allowing 'square' OBJs to be used (such like 8x8, 16x16, etc) as well as 'rectangular' OBJs (such like 8x32, 64x16, etc.)

When displaying an OBJ that contains of more than one 8x8 tile, one of the following two mapping modes can be used. In either case, the tile number of the upperleft tile must be specified in OAM memory.

Two Dimensional Character Mapping (DISPCNT Bit 6 cleared)
This mapping mode assumes that the 1024 OBJ tiles are arranged as a matrix of 32x32 tiles / 256x256 pixels (In 256 color mode: 16x32 tiles / 128x256 pixels). Ie. the upper row of this matrix contains tiles 00h-1Fh, the next row tiles 20h-3Fh, and so on.
For example, when displaying a 16x16 pixel OBJ, with tile number set to 04h; The upper row of the OBJ will consist of tile 04h and 05h, the next row of 24h and 25h. (In 256 color mode: 04h and 06h, 24h and 26h.)

One Dimensional Character Mapping (DISPCNT Bit 6 set)
In this mode, tiles are mapped each after each other from 00h-3FFh.
Using the same example as above, the upper row of the OBJ will consist of tile 04h and 05h, the next row of tile 06h and 07h. (In 256 color mode: 04h and 06h, 08h and 0Ah.)


 LCD Color Palettes

Color Palette RAM
BG and OBJ palettes are using separate memory regions:
  05000000-050001FF - BG Palette RAM (512 bytes, 256 colors)
  05000200-050003FF - OBJ Palette RAM (512 bytes, 256 colors)
Each BG and OBJ palette RAM may be either split into 16 palettes with 16 colors each, or may be used as a single palette with 256 colors.
Note that some OBJs may access palette RAM in 16 color mode, while other OBJs may use 256 color mode at the same time. Same for BG0-BG3 layers.

Transparent Colors
Color 0 of all BG and OBJ palettes is transparent. Even though palettes are described as 16 (256) color palettes, only 15 (255) colors are actually visible.

Backdrop Color
Color 0 of BG Palette 0 is used as backdrop color. This color is displayed if an area of the screen is not covered by any non-transparent BG or OBJ dots.

Color Definitions
Each color occupies two bytes (same as for 32768 color BG modes):
  Bit   Expl.
  0-4   Red Intensity   (0-31)
  5-9   Green Intensity (0-31)
  10-14 Blue Intensity  (0-31)
  15    Not used

Intensities
Under normal circumstances (light source/viewing angle), the intensities 0-14 are practically all black, and only intensities 15-31 are resulting in visible medium..bright colors.

Note: The intensity problem appears in the 8bit CGB "compatibility" mode either. The original CGB display produced the opposite effect: Intensities 0-14 resulted in dark..medium colors, and intensities 15-31 resulted in bright colors. Any "medium" colors of CGB games will appear invisible/black on GBA hardware, and only very bright colors will be visible.


 LCD Dimensions and Timings

Horizontal Dimensions
The drawing time for each dot is 4 CPU cycles.
  Visible     240 dots,  57.221 us,    960 cycles - 78% of h-time
  H-Blanking   68 dots,  16.212 us,    272 cycles - 22% of h-time
  Total       308 dots,  73.433 us,   1232 cycles - ca. 13.620 kHz
VRAM and Palette RAM may be accessed during H-Blanking. OAM can accessed only if "H-Blank Interval Free" bit in DISPCNT register is set.

Vertical Dimensions
  Visible (*) 160 lines, 11.749 ms, 197120 cycles - 70% of v-time
  V-Blanking   68 lines,  4.994 ms,  83776 cycles - 30% of v-time
  Total       228 lines, 16.743 ms, 280896 cycles - ca. 59.737 Hz
All VRAM, OAM, and Palette RAM may be accessed during V-Blanking.
Note that no H-Blank interrupts are generated within V-Blank period.

System Clock
The system clock is 16.78MHz (16*1024*1024 Hz), one cycle is thus approx. 59.59ns.

(*) Even though vertical screen size is 160 lines, the upper 8 lines are not <really> visible, these lines are covered by a shadow when holding the GBA orientated towards a light source, the lines are effectively black - and should not be used to display important information.


 GBA Sound Controller

The GBA supplies four 'analogue' sound channels for Tone and Noise (mostly compatible to CGB sound), as well as two 'digital' sound channels (which can be used to replay 8bit DMA sample data).

GBA Sound Channel 1 - Tone & Sweep
GBA Sound Channel 2 - Tone
GBA Sound Channel 3 - Wave Output
GBA Sound Channel 4 - Noise
GBA Sound Channel A and B - DMA Sound

GBA Sound Control Registers
GBA Comparison of CGB and GBA Sound

The GBA includes only a single (mono) speaker built-in, each channel may be output to either left and/or right channels by using the external line-out connector (for stereo headphones, etc).


 GBA Sound Channel 1 - Tone & Sweep

4000060h - SOUND1CNT_L (NR10) - Channel 1 Sweep register (R/W)
  Bit        Expl.
  0-2   R/W  Number of sweep shift      (n=0-7)
  3     R/W  Sweep Frequency Direction  (0=Increase, 1=Decrease)
  4-6   R/W  Sweep Time; units of 7.8ms (0-7, min=7.8ms, max=54.7ms)
  7-15  -    Not used
Sweep is disabled by setting Sweep Time to zero, if so, the direction bit should be set.
The change of frequency (NR13,NR14) at each shift is calculated by the following formula where X(0) is initial freq & X(t-1) is last freq:
  X(t) = X(t-1) +/- X(t-1)/2^n

4000062h - SOUND1CNT_H (NR11, NR12) - Channel 1 Duty/Len/Envelope (R/W)
  Bit        Expl.
  0-5   W    Sound length; units of (64-n)/256s  (0-63)
  6-7   R/W  Wave Pattern Duty                   (0-3, see below)
  8-10  R/W  Envelope Step-Time; units of n/64s  (1-7, 0=No Envelope)
  11    R/W  Envelope Direction                  (0=Decrease, 1=Increase)
  12-15 R/W  Initial Volume of envelope          (1-15, 0=No Sound)
Wave Duty:
  0: 12.5% ( -_______-_______-_______ )
  1: 25%   ( --______--______--______ )
  2: 50%   ( ----____----____----____ ) (normal)
  3: 75%   ( ------__------__------__ )
The Length value is used only if Bit 6 in NR14 is set.

4000064h - SOUND1CNT_X (NR13, NR14) - Channel 1 Frequency/Control (R/W)
  Bit        Expl.
  0-10  W    Frequency; 131072/(2048-n)Hz  (0-2047)
  11-13 -    Not used
  14    R/W  Length Flag  (1=Stop output when length in NR11 expires)
  15    W    Initial      (1=Restart Sound)
  16-31 -    Not used


 GBA Sound Channel 2 - Tone

This sound channel works exactly as channel 1, except that it doesn't have a Tone Envelope/Sweep Register.

4000068h - SOUND2CNT_L (NR21, NR22) - Channel 2 Duty/Length/Envelope (R/W)
400006Ah - Not used
400006Ch - SOUND2CNT_H (NR23, NR24) - Channel 2 Frequency/Control (R/W)
For details, refer to channel 1 description.


 GBA Sound Channel 3 - Wave Output

This channel can be used to output digital sound, the length of the sample buffer (Wave RAM) can be either 32 or 64 digits (4bit samples). This sound channel can be also used to output normal tones when initializing the Wave RAM by a square wave. This channel doesn't have a volume envelope register.

4000070h - SOUND3CNT_L (NR30) - Channel 3 Stop/Wave RAM select (R/W)
  Bit        Expl.
  0-4   -    Not used
  5     R/W  Wave RAM Dimension   (0=One bank/32 digits, 1=Two banks/64 digits)
  6     R/W  Wave RAM Bank Number (0-1, see below)
  7     R/W  Sound Channel 3 Off  (0=Stop, 1=Playback)
  8-15  -    Not used
The currently selected Bank Number (Bit 6) will be played back, while reading/writing to/from wave RAM will address the other (not selected) bank. When dimension is set to two banks, output will start by replaying the currently selected bank.

4000072h - SOUND3CNT_H (NR31, NR32) - Channel 3 Length/Volume (R/W)
  Bit        Expl.
  0-7   W    Sound length; units of (256-n)/256s  (0-255)
  8-12  -    Not used.
  13-14 R/W  Sound Volume  (0=Mute/Zero, 1=100%, 2=50%, 3=25%)
  15    R/W  Force Volume  (0=Use above, 1=Force 75% regardless of above)
The Length value is used only if Bit 6 in NR34 is set.

4000074h - SOUND3CNT_X (NR33, NR34) - Channel 3 Frequency/Control (R/W)
  Bit        Expl.
  0-10  W    Sample Rate; 2097152/(2048-n) Hz   (0-2047)
  11-13 -    Not used
  14    R/W  Length Flag  (1=Stop output when length in NR31 expires)
  15    W    Initial      (1=Restart Sound)
  16-31 -    Not used
The above sample rate specifies the number of wave RAM digits per second, the actual tone frequency depends on the wave RAM content, for example:
  Wave RAM, single bank 32 digits   Tone Frequency
  FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF0000000000000000  65536/(2048-n) Hz
  FFFFFFFF00000000FFFFFFFF00000000  131072/(2048-n) Hz
  FFFF0000FFFF0000FFFF0000FFFF0000  262144/(2048-n) Hz
  FF00FF00FF00FF00FF00FF00FF00FF00  524288/(2048-n) Hz
  F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0F0  1048576/(2048-n) Hz

4000090h - WAVE_RAM0_L - Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (W/R)
4000092h - WAVE_RAM0_H - Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (W/R)
4000094h - WAVE_RAM1_L - Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (W/R)
4000096h - WAVE_RAM1_H - Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (W/R)
4000098h - WAVE_RAM2_L - Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (W/R)
400009Ah - WAVE_RAM2_H - Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (W/R)
400009Ch - WAVE_RAM3_L - Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (W/R)
400009Eh - WAVE_RAM3_H - Channel 3 Wave Pattern RAM (W/R)
This area contains 16 bytes (32 x 4bits) Wave Pattern data which is output by channel 3. Data is played back ordered as follows: MSBs of 1st byte, followed by LSBs of 1st byte, followed by MSBs of 2nd byte, and so on - this results in a confusing ordering when filling Wave RAM in units of 16bit data - ie. samples would be then located in Bits 4-7, 0-3, 12-15, 8-11.

In the GBA, two Wave Patterns exists (each 32 x 4bits), either one may be played (as selected in NR30 register), the other bank may be accessed by the users. After all 32 samples have been played, output of the same bank (or other bank, as specified in NR30) will be automatically restarted.

Internally, Wave RAM is a giant shift-register, there is no pointer which is addressing the currently played digit. Instead, the entire 128 bits are shifted, and the 4 least significant bits are output.
Thus, when reading from Wave RAM, data might have changed its position. And, when writing to Wave RAM all data should be updated (it'd be no good idea to assume that old data is still located at the same position where it has been written to previously).


 GBA Sound Channel 4 - Noise

This channel is used to output white noise. This is done by randomly switching the amplitude between high and low at a given frequency. Depending on the frequency the noise will appear 'harder' or 'softer'.

It is also possible to influence the function of the random generator, so the that the output becomes more regular, resulting in a limited ability to output Tone instead of Noise.

4000078h - SOUND4CNT_L (NR41, NR42) - Channel 4 Length/Envelope (R/W)
  Bit        Expl.
  0-5   W    Sound length; units of (64-n)/256s  (0-63)
  6-7   -    Not used
  8-10  R/W  Envelope Step-Time; units of n/64s  (1-7, 0=No Envelope)
  11    R/W  Envelope Direction                  (0=Decrease, 1=Increase)
  12-15 R/W  Initial Volume of envelope          (1-15, 0=No Sound)
  16-31 -    Not used
The Length value is used only if Bit 6 in NR44 is set.

400007Ch - SOUND4CNT_H (NR43, NR44) - Channel 4 Frequency/Control (R/W)
The amplitude is randomly switched between high and low at the given frequency. A higher frequency will make the noise to appear 'softer'.
When Bit 3 is set, the output will become more regular, and some frequencies will sound more like Tone than Noise.
  Bit        Expl.
  0-2   R/W  Dividing Ratio of Frequencies (r)
  3     R/W  Counter Step/Width (0=15 bits, 1=7 bits)
  4-7   R/W  Shift Clock Frequency (s)
  8-13  -    Not used
  14    R/W  Length Flag  (1=Stop output when length in NR41 expires)
  15    W    Initial      (1=Restart Sound)
  16-31 -    Not used
Frequency = 524288 Hz / r / 2^(s+1) ;For r=0 assume r=0.5 instead

Noise Random Generator (aka Polynomial Counter)
Noise randomly switches between HIGH and LOW levels, the output levels are calculated by a shift register (X), at the selected frequency, as such:
  7bit:  X=X SHR 1, IF carry THEN Out=HIGH, X=X XOR 60h ELSE Out=LOW
  15bit: X=X SHR 1, IF carry THEN Out=HIGH, X=X XOR 6000h ELSE Out=LOW
The initial value when (re-)starting the sound is X=40h (7bit) or X=4000h (15bit). The data stream repeats after 7Fh (7bit) or 7FFFh (15bit) steps.


 GBA Sound Channel A and B - DMA Sound

The GBA contains two DMA sound channels (A and B), each allowing to replay digital sound (signed 8bit data, ie. -128..+127). Data can be transferred from INTERNAL memory (not sure if EXTERNAL memory works also ?) to FIFO by using DMA channel 1 or 2, the sample rate is generated by using one of the Timers.

40000A0h - FIFO_A_L - Sound A FIFO, Data 0 and Data 1 (W)
40000A2h - FIFO_A_H - Sound A FIFO, Data 2 and Data 3 (W)
These two registers may receive 32bit (4 bytes) of audio data (Data 0-3, Data 0 being located in least significant byte which is replayed first).
Internally, the capacity of the FIFO is 8 x 32bit (32 bytes), allowing to buffer a small amount of samples. As the name says (First In First Out), oldest data is replayed first.

40000A4h - FIFO_B_L - Sound B FIFO, Data 0 and Data 1 (W)
40000A6h - FIFO_B_H - Sound B FIFO, Data 2 and Data 3 (W)
Same as above, for Sound B.

Initializing DMA-Sound Playback
- Select Timer 0 or 1 in SOUNDCNT_H control register.
- Clear the FIFO.
- Manually write a sample byte to the FIFO.
- Initialize transfer mode for DMA 1 or 2.
- Initialize DMA Sound settings in sound control register.
- Start the timer.

DMA-Sound Playback Procedure
The pseudo-procedure below is automatically repeated.
  If Timer overflows then
    Move 8bit data from FIFO to sound circuit.
    If FIFO contains only 4 x 32bits (16 bytes) then
      Request more data per DMA
      Receive 4 x 32bit (16 bytes) per DMA
    Endif
  Endif
This playback mechanism will be repeated forever, regardless of the actual length of the sample buffer.

Synchronizing Sample Buffers
The buffer-end may be determined by counting sound Timer IRQs (each sample byte), or sound DMA IRQs (each 16th sample byte). Both methods would require a lot of CPU time (IRQ processing), and both would fail if interrupts are disabled for a longer period.
Better solutions would be to synchronize the sample rate/buffer length with V-blanks, or to use a second timer (in count up/slave mode) which produces an IRQ after the desired number of samples.

The Sample Rate
The GBA hardware does internally re-sample all sound output to 32.768kHz (default SOUNDBIAS setting). It'd thus do not make much sense to use higher DMA/Timer rates. Best re-sampling accuracy can be gained by using DMA/Timer rates of 32.768kHz, 16.384kHz, or 8.192kHz (ie. fragments of the physical output rate).


 GBA Sound Control Registers

4000080h - SOUNDCNT_L (NR50, NR51) - Channel L/R Volume/Enable (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-2   Sound 1-4 Master Volume RIGHT (0-7)
  3     Not used
  4-6   Sound 1-4 Master Volume LEFT (0-7)
  7     Not used
  8-11  Sound 1-4 Enable Flags RIGHT (each Bit 8-11, 0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  12-15 Sound 1-4 Enable Flags LEFT (each Bit 12-15, 0=Disable, 1=Enable)

4000082h - SOUNDCNT_H (GBA only) - DMA Sound Control/Mixing (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-1   Sound # 1-4 Volume   (0=25%, 1=50%, 2=100%, 3=Prohibited)
  2     DMA Sound A Volume   (0=50%, 1=100%)
  3     DMA Sound B Volume   (0=50%, 1=100%)
  4-7   Not used
  8     DMA Sound A Enable RIGHT (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  9     DMA Sound A Enable LEFT  (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  10    DMA Sound A Timer Select (0=Timer 0, 1=Timer 1)
  11    DMA Sound A Reset FIFO   (1=Reset)
  12    DMA Sound B Enable RIGHT (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  13    DMA Sound B Enable LEFT  (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  14    DMA Sound B Timer Select (0=Timer 0, 1=Timer 1)
  15    DMA Sound B Reset FIFO   (1=Reset)

4000084h - SOUNDCNT_X (NR52) - Sound on/off (R/W)
Bits 0-3 are automatically set when starting sound output, and are automatically cleared when a sound ends. (Ie. when the length expires, as far as length is enabled. The bits are NOT reset when an volume envelope ends.)
  Bit   Expl.
  0     Sound 1 ON flag (Read Only)
  1     Sound 2 ON flag (Read Only)
  2     Sound 3 ON flag (Read Only)
  3     Sound 4 ON flag (Read Only)
  4-6   Not used
  7     PSG/FIFO Master Enable (0=Disable, 1=Enable) (Read/Write)
  8-31  Not used
While Bit 7 is cleared, both PSG and FIFO sounds are disabled, and all PSG registers (4000060h..4000081h) are reset to zero (and must be re-initialized after re-enabling sound). However, registers 4000082h and 4000088h are kept read/write-able (of which, 4000082h has no function when sound is off, whilst 4000088h does work even when sound is off).

4000088h - SOUNDBIAS - Sound PWM Control (R/W, see below)
This register controls the final sound output. The default setting is 0200h, it is normally not required to change this value.
  Bit    Expl.
  0-9    Bias Level     (Default=200h, converting signed samples into unsigned)
  10-13  Not used
  14-15  Amplitude Resolution/Sampling Cycle (Default=0, see below)
  16-31  Not used
Amplitude Resolution/Sampling Cycle (0-3):
  0  9bit / 32.768kHz   (Default, best for DMA channels A,B)
  1  8bit / 65.536kHz
  2  7bit / 131.072kHz
  3  6bit / 262.144kHz  (Best for PSG channels 1-4)
For more information on this register, read the descriptions below.

400008Ch - Not used
400008Eh - Not used

Max Output Levels (with max volume settings)
Each of the two FIFOs can span the FULL output range (+/-200h).
Each of the four PSGs can span one QUARTER of the output range (+/-80h).
The current output levels of all six channels are added together by hardware.
So together, the FIFOs and PSGs, could reach THRICE the range (+/-600h).
The BIAS value is added to that signed value. With default BIAS (200h), the possible range becomes -400h..+800h, however, values that exceed the unsigned 10bit output range of 0..3FFh are clipped to MinMax(0,3FFh).

Resampling to 32.768kHz / 9bit (default)
The PSG channels 1-4 are internally generated at 262.144kHz, and DMA sound A-B could be theoretically generated at timer rates up to 16.78MHz. However, the final sound output is resampled to a rate of 32.768kHz, at 9bit depth (the above 10bit value, divided by two). If necessary, rates higher than 32.768kHz can be selected in the SOUNDBIAS register, that would result in a depth smaller than 9bit though.

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) Output 16.78MHz / 1bit
Okay, now comes the actual output. The GBA can output only two voltages (low and high), these 'bits' are output at system clock speed (16.78MHz). If using the default 32.768kHz sampling rate, then 512 bits are output per sample (512*32K=16M). Each sample value (9bit range, N=0..511), would be then output as N low bits, followed by 512-N high bits. The resulting 'noise' is smoothed down by capacitors, by the speaker, and by human hearing, so that it will effectively sound like clean D/A converted 9bit voltages at 32kHz sampling rate.

Changing the BIAS Level
Normally use 200h for clean sound output. A value of 000h might make sense during periods when no sound is output (causing the PWM circuit to output low-bits only, which is eventually reducing the power consumption, and/or preventing 32KHz noise). Note: Using the SoundBias function (SWI 19h) allows to change the level by slowly incrementing or decrementing it (without hard scratch noise).

Low Power Mode
When not using sound output, power consumption can be reduced by setting both 4000084h (PSG/FIFO) and 4000088h (BIAS) to zero.


 GBA Comparison of CGB and GBA Sound

The GBA sound controller is mostly the same than that of older monochrome gameboy and CGB. The following changes have been done:

New Sound Channels
Two new sound channels have been added that may be used to replay 8bit digital sound. Sample rate and sample data must be supplied by using a Timer and a DMA channel.

New Control Registers
The SOUNDCNT_H register controls the new DMA channels - as well as mixing with the four old channels. The SOUNDBIAS register controls the final sound output.

Sound Channel 3 Changes
The length of the Wave RAM is doubled by dividing it into two banks of 32 digits each, either one or both banks may be replayed (one after each other), for details check NR30 Bit 5-6. Optionally, the sound may be output at 75% volume, for details check NR32 Bit 7.

Changed Control Registers
NR50 is not supporting Vin signals (that's been an external sound input from cartridge).

Changed I/O Addresses
The GBAs sound register are located at 04000060-040000AE instead of at FF10-FF3F as in CGB and monochrome gameboy. However, note that there have been new blank spaces inserted between some of the separate registers - therefore it is NOT possible to port CGB software to GBA just by changing the sound base address.

Accessing I/O Registers
In some cases two of the old 8bit registers are packed into a 16bit register and may be accessed as such.


 GBA Timers

The GBA includes four incrementing 16bit timers.
Timer 0 and 1 can be used to supply the sample rate for DMA sound channel A and/or B.

4000100h - TM0CNT_L - Timer 0 Counter/Reload (R/W)
4000104h - TM1CNT_L - Timer 1 Counter/Reload (R/W)
4000108h - TM2CNT_L - Timer 2 Counter/Reload (R/W)
400010Ch - TM3CNT_L - Timer 3 Counter/Reload (R/W)
Writing to these registers initializes the <reload> value (but does not directly affect the current counter value). Reading returns the current <counter> value (or the recent/frozen counter value if the timer has been stopped).
The reload value is copied into the counter only upon following two situations: Automatically upon timer overflows, or when the timer start bit becomes changed from 0 to 1.
Note: When simultaneously changing the start bit from 0 to 1, and setting the reload value at the same time (by a single 32bit I/O operation), then the newly written reload value is recognized as new counter value.

4000102h - TM0CNT_H - Timer 0 Control (R/W)
4000106h - TM1CNT_H - Timer 1 Control (R/W)
400010Ah - TM2CNT_H - Timer 2 Control (R/W)
400010Eh - TM3CNT_H - Timer 3 Control (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-1   Prescaler Selection (0=F/1, 1=F/64, 2=F/256, 3=F/1024)
  2     Count-up Timing   (0=Normal, 1=See below)
  3-5   Not used
  6     Timer IRQ Enable  (0=Disable, 1=IRQ on Timer overflow)
  7     Timer Start/Stop  (0=Stop, 1=Operate)
  8-15  Not used
When Count-up Timing is enabled, the prescaler value is ignored, instead the time is incremented each time when the previous counter overflows. This function cannot be used for Timer 0 (as it is the first timer).
F = System Clock (16.78MHz).


 GBA DMA Transfers

Overview
The GBA includes four DMA channels, the highest priority is assigned to DMA0, followed by DMA1, DMA2, and DMA3. DMA Channels with lower priority are paused until channels with higher priority have completed.
The CPU is paused when DMA transfers are active, however, the CPU is operating during the periods when Sound/Blanking DMA transfers are paused.

Special features of the separate DMA channels
DMA0 - highest priority, best for timing critical transfers (eg. HBlank DMA).
DMA1 and DMA2 - can be used to feed digital sample data to the Sound FIFOs.
DMA3 - can be used to write to Game Pak ROM/FlashROM (but not GamePak SRAM).
Beside for that, each DMA 0-3 may be used for whatever general purposes.

40000B0h,0B2h - DMA0SAD - DMA 0 Source Address (W) (internal memory)
40000BCh,0BEh - DMA1SAD - DMA 1 Source Address (W) (any memory)
40000C8h,0CAh - DMA2SAD - DMA 2 Source Address (W) (any memory)
40000D4h,0D6h - DMA3SAD - DMA 3 Source Address (W) (any memory)
The most significant address bits are ignored, only the least significant 27 or 28 bits are used (max 07FFFFFFh internal memory, or max 0FFFFFFFh any memory - except SRAM ?!).

40000B4h,0B6h - DMA0DAD - DMA 0 Destination Address (W) (internal memory)
40000C0h,0C2h - DMA1DAD - DMA 1 Destination Address (W) (internal memory)
40000CCh,0CEh - DMA2DAD - DMA 2 Destination Address (W) (internal memory)
40000D8h,0DAh - DMA3DAD - DMA 3 Destination Address (W) (any memory)
The most significant address bits are ignored, only the least significant 27 or 28 bits are used (max. 07FFFFFFh internal memory or 0FFFFFFFh any memory - except SRAM ?!).

40000B8h - DMA0CNT_L - DMA 0 Word Count (W) (14 bit, 1..4000h)
40000C4h - DMA1CNT_L - DMA 1 Word Count (W) (14 bit, 1..4000h)
40000D0h - DMA2CNT_L - DMA 2 Word Count (W) (14 bit, 1..4000h)
40000DCh - DMA3CNT_L - DMA 3 Word Count (W) (16 bit, 1..10000h)
Specifies the number of data units to be transferred, each unit is 16bit or 32bit depending on the transfer type, a value of zero is treated as max length (ie. 4000h, or 10000h for DMA3).

40000BAh - DMA0CNT_H - DMA 0 Control (R/W)
40000C6h - DMA1CNT_H - DMA 1 Control (R/W)
40000D2h - DMA2CNT_H - DMA 2 Control (R/W)
40000DEh - DMA3CNT_H - DMA 3 Control (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-4   Not used
  5-6   Dest Addr Control  (0=Increment,1=Decrement,2=Fixed,3=Increment/Reload)
  7-8   Source Adr Control (0=Increment,1=Decrement,2=Fixed,3=Prohibited)
  9     DMA Repeat                   (0=Off, 1=On) (Must be zero if Bit 11 set)
  10    DMA Transfer Type            (0=16bit, 1=32bit)
  11    Game Pak DRQ  - DMA3 only -  (0=Normal, 1=DRQ <from> Game Pak, DMA3)
  12-13 DMA Start Timing  (0=Immediately, 1=VBlank, 2=HBlank, 3=Special)
          The 'Special' setting (Start Timing=3) depends on the DMA channel:
          DMA0=Prohibited, DMA1/DMA2=Sound FIFO, DMA3=Video Capture
  14    IRQ upon end of Word Count   (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  15    DMA Enable                   (0=Off, 1=On)
After changing the Enable bit from 0 to 1, wait 2 clock cycles before accessing any DMA related registers.

When accessing OAM (7000000h) or OBJ VRAM (6010000h) by HBlank Timing, then the "H-Blank Interval Free" bit in DISPCNT register must be set.

Source and Destination Address and Word Count Registers
The SAD, DAD, and CNT_L registers are holding the initial start addresses, and initial length. The hardware does NOT change the content of these registers during or after the transfer.
The actual transfer takes place by using internal pointer/counter registers. The initial values are copied into internal regs under the following circumstances:
Upon DMA Enable (Bit 15) changing from 0 to 1: Reloads SAD, DAD, CNT_L.
Upon Repeat: Reloads CNT_L, and optionally DAD (Increment+Reload).

DMA Repeat bit
If the Repeat bit is cleared: The Enable bit is automatically cleared after the specified number of data units has been transferred.
If the Repeat bit is set: The Enable bit remains set after the transfer, and the transfer will be restarted each time when the Start condition (eg. HBlank, Fifo) becomes true. The specified number of data units is transferred <each> time when the transfer is (re-)started. The transfer will be repeated forever, until it gets stopped by software.

Sound DMA (FIFO Timing Mode) (DMA1 and DMA2 only)
In this mode, the DMA Repeat bit must be set, and the destination address must be FIFO_A (040000A0h) or FIFO_B (040000A4h).
Upon DMA request from sound controller, 4 units of 32bits (16 bytes) are transferred (both Word Count register and DMA Transfer Type bit are ignored). The destination address will not be incremented in FIFO mode.
Keep in mind that DMA channels of higher priority may offhold sound DMA. For example, when using a 64 kHz sample rate, 16 bytes of sound DMA data are requested each 0.25ms (4 kHz), at this time another 16 bytes are still in the FIFO so that there's still 0.25ms time to satisfy the DMA request. Thus DMAs with higher priority should not be operated for longer than 0.25ms. (This problem does not arise for HBlank transfers as HBlank time is limited to 16.212us.)

Game Pak DMA
Only DMA 3 may be used to transfer data to/from Game Pak ROM or Flash ROM - it cannot access Game Pak SRAM though (as SRAM data bus is limited to 8bit units). In normal mode, DMA is requested as long until Word Count becomes zero. When setting the 'Game Pack DRQ' bit, then the cartridge must contain an external circuit which outputs a /DREQ signal. Note that there is only one pin for /DREQ and /IREQ, thus the cartridge may not supply /IREQs while using DRQ mode.

Video Capture Mode (DMA3 only)
Intended to copy a bitmap from memory (or from external hardware/camera) to VRAM. When using this transfer mode, set the repeat bit, and write the number of data units (per scanline) to the word count register. Capture works similar like HBlank DMA, however, the transfer is started when VCOUNT=2, it is then repeated each scanline, and it gets stopped when VCOUNT=162.

Transfer End
The DMA Enable flag (Bit 15) is automatically cleared upon completion of the transfer. The user may also clear this bit manually in order to stop the transfer (obviously this is possible for Sound/Blanking DMAs only, in all other cases the CPU is stopped until the transfer completes by itself).

Transfer Rate/Timing
Except for the first data unit, all units are transferred by sequential reads and writes. For n data units, the DMA transfer time is:
  2N+2(n-1)S+xI
Of which, 1N+(n-1)S are read cycles, and the other 1N+(n-1)S are write cycles, actual number of cycles depends on the waitstates and bus-width of the source and destination areas (as described in CPU Instruction Cycle Times chapter). Internal time for DMA processing is 2I (normally), or 4I (if both source and destination are in gamepak memory area).

DMA lockup when stopping while starting ???
Capture delayed, Capture Enable=AutoCleared ???


 GBA Communication Ports

The GBAs Serial Port may be used in various different communication modes. Normal mode may exchange data between two GBAs (or to transfer data from master GBA to several slave GBAs in one-way direction).
Multi-player mode may exchange data between up to four GBAs. UART mode works much like a RS232 interface. JOY Bus mode uses a standardized Nintendo protocol. And General Purpose mode allows to mis-use the 'serial' port as bi-directional 4bit parallel port.
Note: The Nintendo DS does not include a Serial Port.

SIO Normal Mode
SIO Multi-Player Mode
SIO UART Mode
SIO JOY BUS Mode
SIO General-Purpose Mode
SIO Control Registers Summary

Infrared Communication Adapters
Even though early GBA prototypes have been intended to support IR communication, this feature has been removed.
However, Nintendo is apparently considering to provide an external IR adapter (to be connected to the SIO connector, being accessed in General Purpose mode).
Also, it'd be theoretically possible to include IR ports built-in in game cartridges (as done for some older 8bit/monochrome Hudson games).


 SIO Normal Mode

This mode is used to communicate between two units.
Transfer rates of 256Kbit/s or 2Mbit/s can be selected, however, the fast 2Mbit/s is intended ONLY for special hardware expansions that are DIRECTLY connected to the GBA link port (ie. without a cable being located between the GBA and expansion hardware). In normal cases, always use 256Kbit/s transfer rate which provides stable results.
Transfer lengths of 8bit or 32bit may be used, the 8bit mode is the same as for older DMG/CGB gameboys, however, the voltages for "GBA cartridges in GBAs" are different as for "DMG/CGB cartridges in DMG/CGB/GBAs", ie. it is not possible to communicate between DMG/CGB games and GBA games.

4000134h - RCNT (R) - Mode Selection, in Normal/Multiplayer/UART modes (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-3   Undocumented (current SC,SD,SI,SO state, as for General Purpose mode)
  4-8   Not used     (Should be 0, bits are read/write-able though)
  9-13  Not used     (Always 0, read only)
  14    Not used     (Should be 0, bit is read/write-able though)
  15    Must be zero (0) for Normal/Multiplayer/UART modes

4000128h - SIOCNT - SIO Control, usage in NORMAL Mode (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0     Shift Clock (SC)        (0=External, 1=Internal)
  1     Internal Shift Clock    (0=256KHz, 1=2MHz)
  2     SI State (opponents SO) (0=Low, 1=High/None) --- (Read Only)
  3     SO during inactivity    (0=Low, 1=High) (applied ONLY when Bit7=0)
  4-6   Not used                (Read only, always 0 ?)
  7     Start Bit               (0=Inactive/Ready, 1=Start/Active)
  8-11  Not used                (R/W, should be 0)
  12    Transfer Length         (0=8bit, 1=32bit)
  13    Must be "0" for Normal Mode
  14    IRQ Enable              (0=Disable, 1=Want IRQ upon completion)
  15    Not used                (Read only, always 0)
The Start bit is automatically reset when the transfer completes, ie. when all 8 or 32 bits are transferred, at that time an IRQ may be generated.

400012Ah - SIODATA8 - SIO Normal Communication 8bit Data (R/W)
For 8bit normal mode. Contains 8bit data (only lower 8bit are used). Outgoing data should be written to this register before starting the transfer. During transfer, transmitted bits are shifted-out (MSB first), and received bits are shifted-in simultaneously. Upon transfer completion, the register contains the received 8bit value.

4000120h - SIODATA32_L - SIO Normal Communication lower 16bit data (R/W)
4000122h - SIODATA32_H - SIO Normal Communication upper 16bit data (R/W)
Same as above SIODATA8, for 32bit normal transfer mode respectively.
SIOCNT/RCNT must be set to 32bit normal mode <before> writing to SIODATA32.

Initialization
First, initialize RCNT register. Second, set mode/clock bits in SIOCNT with startbit cleared. For master: select internal clock, and (in most cases) specify 256KHz as transfer rate. For slave: select external clock, the local transfer rate selection is then ignored, as the transfer rate is supplied by the remote GBA (or other computer, which might supply custom transfer rates).
Third, set the startbit in SIOCNT with mode/clock bits unchanged.

Recommended Communication Procedure for SLAVE unit (external clock)
- Initialize data which is to be sent to master.
- Set Start flag.
- Set SO to LOW to indicate that master may start now.
- Wait for IRQ (or for Start bit to become zero). (Check timeout here!)
- Set SO to HIGH to indicate that we are not ready.
- Process received data.
- Repeat procedure if more data is to be transferred.
(or is so=high done automatically? would be fine - more stable - otherwise master may still need delay)

Recommended Communication Procedure for SLAVE unit (external clock)
- Initialize data which is to be sent to master.
- Set Start=0 and SO=0 (SO=LOW indicates that slave is (almost) ready).
- Set Start=1 and SO=1 (SO=HIGH indicates not ready, applied after transfer).
  (Expl. Old SO=LOW kept output until 1st clock bit received).
  (Expl. New SO=HIGH is automatically output at transfer completion).
- Set SO to LOW to indicate that master may start now.
- Wait for IRQ (or for Start bit to become zero). (Check timeout here!)
- Process received data.
- Repeat procedure if more data is to be transferred.

Recommended Communication Procedure for MASTER unit (internal clock)
- Initialize data which is to be sent to slave.
- Wait for SI to become LOW (slave ready). (Check timeout here!)
- Set Start flag.
- Wait for IRQ (or for Start bit to become zero).
- Process received data.
- Repeat procedure if more data is to be transferred.

Cable Protocol
During inactive transfer, the shift clock (SC) is high. The transmit (SO) and receive (SI) data lines may be manually controlled as described above.
When master sends SC=LOW, each master and slave must output the next outgoing data bit to SO. When master sends SC=HIGH, each master and slave must read out the opponents data bit from SI. This is repeated for each of the 8 or 32 bits, and when completed SC will be kept high again.

Transfer Rates
Either 256KHz or 2MHz rates can be selected for SC, so max 32KBytes (256Kbit) or 128KBytes (2Mbit) can be transferred per second. However, the software must process each 8bit or 32bit of transmitted data separately, so the actual transfer rate will be reduced by the time spent on handling each data unit.
Only 256KHz provides stable results in most cases (such like when linking between two GBAs). The 2MHz rate is intended for special expansion hardware (with very short wires) only.

Using Normal mode for One-Way Multiplayer communication
When using normal mode with multiplay-cables, data isn't exchanged between first and second GBA as usually. Instead, data is shifted from first to last GBA (the first GBA receives zero, because master SI is shortcut to GND).
This behaviour may be used for fast ONE-WAY data transfer from master to all other GBAs. For example (3 GBAs linked):
  Step         Sender      1st Recipient   2nd Recipient
  Transfer 1:  DATA #0 --> UNDEF      -->  UNDEF     -->
  Transfer 2:  DATA #1 --> DATA #0    -->  UNDEF     -->
  Transfer 3:  DATA #2 --> DATA #1    -->  DATA #0   -->
  Transfer 4:  DATA #3 --> DATA #2    -->  DATA #1   -->
The recipients should not output any own data, instead they should forward the previously received data to the next recipient during next transfer (just keep the incoming data unmodified in the data register).
Due to the delayed forwarding, 2nd recipient should ignore the first incoming data. After the last transfer, the sender must send one (or more) dummy data unit(s), so that the last data is forwarded to the 2nd (or further) recipient(s).


 SIO Multi-Player Mode

Multi-Player mode can be used to communicate between up to 4 units.

4000134h - RCNT (R) - Mode Selection, in Normal/Multiplayer/UART modes (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-3   Undocumented (current SC,SD,SI,SO state, as for General Purpose mode)
  4-8   Not used     (Should be 0, bits are read/write-able though)
  9-13  Not used     (Always 0, read only)
  14    Not used     (Should be 0, bit is read/write-able though)
  15    Must be zero (0) for Normal/Multiplayer/UART modes
Note: Even though undocumented, many Nintendo games are using Bit 0 to test current SC state in multiplay mode.

4000128h - SIOCNT - SIO Control, usage in MULTI-PLAYER Mode (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-1   Baud Rate     (0-3: 9600,38400,57600,115200 bps)
  2     SI-Terminal   (0=Parent, 1=Child)                  (Read Only)
  3     SD-Terminal   (0=Bad connection, 1=All GBAs Ready) (Read Only)
  4-5   Multi-Player ID     (0=Parent, 1-3=1st-3rd child)  (Read Only)
  6     Multi-Player Error  (0=Normal, 1=Error)            (Read Only)
  7     Start/Busy Bit      (0=Inactive, 1=Start/Busy) (Read Only for Slaves)
  8-11  Not used            (R/W, should be 0)
  12    Must be "0" for Multi-Player mode
  13    Must be "1" for Multi-Player mode
  14    IRQ Enable          (0=Disable, 1=Want IRQ upon completion)
  15    Not used            (Read only, always 0)
The ID Bits are undefined until the first transfer has completed.

400012Ah - SIOMLT_SEND - Data Send Register (R/W)
Outgoing data (16 bit) which is to be sent to the other GBAs.

4000120h - SIOMULTI0 - SIO Multi-Player Data 0 (Parent) (R/W)
4000122h - SIOMULTI1 - SIO Multi-Player Data 1 (1st child) (R/W)
4000124h - SIOMULTI2 - SIO Multi-Player Data 2 (2nd child) (R/W)
4000126h - SIOMULTI3 - SIO Multi-Player Data 3 (3rd child) (R/W)
These registers are automatically reset to FFFFh upon transfer start.
After transfer, these registers contain incoming data (16bit each) from all remote GBAs (if any / otherwise still FFFFh), as well as the local outgoing SIOMLT_SEND data.
Ie. after the transfer, all connected GBAs will contain the same values in their SIOMULTI0-3 registers.

Initialization
- Initialize RCNT Bit 14-15 and SIOCNT Bit 12-13 to select Multi-Player mode.
- Read SIOCNT Bit 3 to verify that all GBAs are in Multi-Player mode.
- Read SIOCNT Bit 2 to detect whether this is the Parent/Master unit.

Recommended Transmission Procedure
- Write outgoing data to SIODATA_SEND.
- Master must set Start bit.
- All units must process received data in SIOMULTI0-3 when transfer completed.
- After the first successful transfer, ID Bits in SIOCNT are valid.
- If more data is to be transferred, repeat procedure.
The parent unit blindly sends data regardless of whether childs have already processed old data/supplied new data. So, parent unit might be required to insert delays between each transfer, and/or perform error checking.
Also, slave units may signalize that they are not ready by temporarily switching into another communication mode (which does not output SD High, as Multi-Player mode does during inactivity).

Transfer Protocol
Beginning
- The masters SI pin is always LOW.
- When all GBAs are in Multiplayer mode (ready) SD is HIGH.
- When master starts the transfer, it sets SC=LOW, slaves receive Busy bit.
Step A
- ID Bits in master unit are set to 0.
- Master outputs Startbit (LOW), 16bit Data, Stopbit (HIGH) through SD.
- This data is written to SIOMULTI0 of all GBAs (including master).
- Master forwards LOW from its SO to 1st childs SI.
- Transfer ends if next child does not output data after certain time.
Step B
- ID Bits in 1st child unit are set to 1.
- 1st Child outputs Startbit (LOW), 16bit Data, Stopbit (HIGH) through SD.
- This data is written to SIOMULTI1 of all GBAs (including 1st child).
- 1st child forwards LOW from its SO to 2nd childs SI.
- Transfer ends if next child does not output data after certain time.
Step C
- ID Bits in 2nd child unit are set to 2.
- 2nd Child outputs Startbit (LOW), 16bit Data, Stopbit (HIGH) through SD.
- This data is written to SIOMULTI2 of all GBAs (including 2nd child).
- 2nd child forwards LOW from its SO to 3rd childs SI.
- Transfer ends if next child does not output data after certain time.
Step D
- ID Bits in 3rd child unit are set to 3.
- 3rd Child outputs Startbit (LOW), 16bit Data, Stopbit (HIGH) through SD.
- This data is written to SIOMULTI3 of all GBAs (including 3rd child).
- Transfer ends (this was the last child).
Transfer end
- Master sets SC=HIGH, all GBAs set SO=HIGH.
- The Start/Busy bits of all GBAs are automatically cleared.
- Interrupts are requested in all GBAs (as far as enabled).

Error Bit
This bit is set when a slave did not receive SI=LOW even though SC=LOW signalized a transfer (this might happen when connecting more than 4 GBAs, or when the previous child is not connected). Also, the bit is set when a Stopbit wasn't HIGH.
The error bit may be undefined during active transfer - read only after transfer completion (the transfer continues and completes as normal even if errors have occurred for some or all GBAs).
Don't know: The bit is automatically reset/initialized with each transfer, or must be manually reset?

Transmission Time
The transmission time depends on the selected Baud rate. And on the amount of Bits (16 data bits plus start/stop bits for each GBA), delays between data for each GBA, plus final timeout (if less than 4 GBAs). That is, depending on the number of connected GBAs:
  GBAs    Bits    Delays   Timeout
  1       18      None     Yes
  2       36      1        Yes
  3       54      2        Yes
  4       72      3        None
(The average Delay and Timeout periods are unknown?)
Above is not counting the additional CPU time that must be spent on initiating and processing each transfer.

Fast One-Way Transmission
Beside for the actual SIO Multiplayer mode, you can also use SIO Normal mode for fast one-way data transfer from Master unit to all Child unit(s). See chapter about SIO Normal mode for details.


 SIO UART Mode

This mode works much like a RS232 port, however, the voltages are unknown, probably 0/3V rather than +/-12V ?. SI and SO are data lines (with crossed wires), SC and SD signalize Clear to Send (with crossed wires also, which requires special cable when linking between two GBAs ?)

4000134h - RCNT (R) - Mode Selection, in Normal/Multiplayer/UART modes (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-3   Undocumented (current SC,SD,SI,SO state, as for General Purpose mode)
  4-8   Not used     (Should be 0, bits are read/write-able though)
  9-13  Not used     (Always 0, read only)
  14    Not used     (Should be 0, bit is read/write-able though)
  15    Must be zero (0) for Normal/Multiplayer/UART modes

4000128h - SCCNT_L - SIO Control, usage in UART Mode (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-1   Baud Rate  (0-3: 9600,38400,57600,115200 bps)
  2     CTS Flag   (0=Send always/blindly, 1=Send only when SC=LOW)
  3     Parity Control (0=Even, 1=Odd)
  4     Send Data Flag      (0=Not Full,  1=Full)    (Read Only)
  5     Receive Data Flag   (0=Not Empty, 1=Empty)   (Read Only)
  6     Error Flag          (0=No Error,  1=Error)   (Read Only)
  7     Data Length         (0=7bits,   1=8bits)
  8     FIFO Enable Flag    (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  9     Parity Enable Flag  (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  10    Send Enable Flag    (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  11    Receive Enable Flag (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  12    Must be "1" for UART mode
  13    Must be "1" for UART mode
  14    IRQ Enable          (0=Disable, 1=IRQ when any Bit 4/5/6 become set)
  15    Not used            (Read only, always 0)

400012Ah - SIODATA8 - usage in UART Mode (R/W)
Addresses the send/receive shift register, or (when FIFO is used) the send/receive FIFO. In either case only the lower 8bit of SIODATA8 are used, the upper 8bit are not used.
The send/receive FIFO may store up to four 8bit data units each. For example, while 1 unit is still transferred from the send shift register, it is possible to deposit another 4 units in the send FIFO, which are then automatically moved to the send shift register one after each other.

Send/Receive Enable, CTS Feedback
The receiver outputs SD=LOW (which is input as SC=LOW at the remote side) when it is ready to receive data (that is, when Receive Enable is set, and the Receive shift register (or receive FIFO) isn't full.
When CTS flag is set to always/blindly, then the sender transmits data immediately when Send Enable is set, otherwise data is transmitted only when Send Enable is set and SC is LOW.

Error Flag
The error flag is set when a bad stop bit has been received (stop bit must be 0), when a parity error has occurred (if enabled), or when new data has been completely received while the receive data register (or receive FIFO) is already full.
The error flag is automatically reset when reading from SIOCNT register.

Init & Initback
The content of the FIFO is reset when FIFO is disabled in UART mode, thus, when entering UART mode initially set FIFO=disabled.
The Send/Receive enable bits must be reset before switching from UART mode into another SIO mode!


 SIO JOY BUS Mode

This communication mode uses Nintendo's standardized JOY Bus protocol. When using this communication mode, the GBA is always operated as SLAVE!

In this mode, SI and SO pins are data lines (apparently synchronized by Start/Stop bits?), SC and SD are set to low (including during active transfer?), the transfer rate is unknown?

4000134h - RCNT (R) - Mode Selection, in JOY BUS mode (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0-3   Undocumented (current SC,SD,SI,SO state, as for General Purpose mode)
  4-8   Not used     (Should be 0, bits are read/write-able though)
  9-13  Not used     (Always 0, read only)
  14    Must be "1" for JOY BUS Mode
  15    Must be "1" for JOY BUS Mode

4000128h - SIOCNT - SIO Control, not used in JOY BUS Mode
This register is not used in JOY BUS mode.

4000140h - JOYCNT - JOY BUS Control Register (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0     Device Reset Flag     (Command FFh)          (Read/Acknowledge)
  1     Receive Complete Flag (Command 14h or 15h?)  (Read/Acknowledge)
  2     Send Complete Flag    (Command 15h or 14h?)  (Read/Acknowledge)
  3-5   Not used
  6     IRQ when receiving a Device Reset Command  (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  7-15  Not used
Bit 0-2 are working much like the bits in the IF register: Write a "1" bit to reset (acknowledge) the respective bit.
UNCLEAR: Interrupts can be requested for Send/Receive commands also?

4000150h - JOY_RECV_L - Receive Data Register low (R/W)
4000152h - JOY_RECV_H - Receive Data Register high (R/W)
4000154h - JOY_TRANS_L - Send Data Register low (R/W)
4000156h - JOY_TRANS_H - Send Data Register high (R/W)
Send/receive data registers.

4000158h - JOYSTAT - Receive Status Register (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0     Not used
  1     Receive Status Flag   (0=Remote GBA is/was receiving) (Read Only?)
  2     Not used
  3     Send Status Flag      (1=Remote GBA is/was sending)   (Read Only?)
  4-5   General Purpose Flag  (Not assigned, may be used for whatever purpose)
  6-15  Not used
Bit 1 is automatically set when writing to local JOY_TRANS.
Bit 3 is automatically reset when reading from local JOY_RECV.

Below are the four possible commands which can be received by the GBA. Note that the GBA (slave) cannot send any commands itself, all it can do is to read incoming data, and to provide 'reply' data which may (or may not) be read out by the master unit.

Command FFh - Device Reset
  Receive FFh (Command)
  Send    00h (GBA Type number LSB (or MSB?))
  Send    04h (GBA Type number MSB (or LSB?))
  Send    XXh (lower 8bits of SIOSTAT register)

Command 00h - Type/Status Data Request
  Receive 00h (Command)
  Send    00h (GBA Type number LSB (or MSB?))
  Send    04h (GBA Type number MSB (or LSB?))
  Send    XXh (lower 8bits of SIOSTAT register)

Command 15h - GBA Data Write (to GBA)
  Receive 15h (Command)
  Receive XXh (Lower 8bits of JOY_RECV_L)
  Receive XXh (Upper 8bits of JOY_RECV_L)
  Receive XXh (Lower 8bits of JOY_RECV_H)
  Receive XXh (Upper 8bits of JOY_RECV_H)
  Send    XXh (lower 8bits of SIOSTAT register)

Command 14h - GBA Data Read (from GBA)
  Receive 14h (Command)
  Send    XXh (Lower 8bits of JOY_TRANS_L)
  Send    XXh (Upper 8bits of JOY_TRANS_L)
  Send    XXh (Lower 8bits of JOY_TRANS_H)
  Send    XXh (Upper 8bits of JOY_TRANS_H)
  Send    XXh (lower 8bits of SIOSTAT register)


 SIO General-Purpose Mode

In this mode, the SIO is 'misused' as a 4bit bi-directional parallel port, each of the SI,SO,SC,SD pins may be directly controlled, each can be separately declared as input (with internal pull-up) or as output signal.

4000134h - RCNT (R) - SIO Mode, usage in GENERAL-PURPOSE Mode (R/W)
Interrupts can be requested when SI changes from HIGH to LOW, as General Purpose mode does not require a serial shift clock, this interrupt may be produced even when the GBA is in Stop (low power standby) state.
  Bit   Expl.
  0     SC Data Bit         (0=Low, 1=High)
  1     SD Data Bit         (0=Low, 1=High)
  2     SI Data Bit         (0=Low, 1=High)
  3     SO Data Bit         (0=Low, 1=High)
  4     SC Direction        (0=Input, 1=Output)
  5     SD Direction        (0=Input, 1=Output)
  6     SI Direction        (0=Input, 1=Output, but see below)
  7     SO Direction        (0=Input, 1=Output)
  8     SI Interrupt Enable (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  9-13  Not used
  14    Must be "0" for General-Purpose Mode
  15    Must be "1" for General-Purpose or JOYBUS Mode
SI should be always used as Input to avoid problems with other hardware which does not expect data to be output there.

4000128h - SIOCNT - SIO Control, not used in GENERAL-PURPOSE Mode
This register is not used in general purpose mode. That is, the separate bits of SIOCNT still exist and are read- and/or write-able in the same manner as for Normal, Multiplay, or UART mode (depending on SIOCNT Bit 12,13), but are having no effect on data being output to the link port.


 SIO Control Registers Summary

Mode Selection (by RCNT.15-14 and SIOCNT.13-12)
  R.15 R.14 S.13 S.12 Mode
  0    x    0    0    Normal 8bit
  0    x    0    1    Normal 32bit
  0    x    1    0    Multiplay 16bit
  0    x    1    1    UART (RS232)
  1    0    x    x    General Purpose
  1    1    x    x    JOY BUS

SIOCNT
  Bit    0      1    2     3      4 5 6   7     8    9      10   11
  Normal Master Rate SI/In SO/Out - - -   Start -    -      -    -
  Multi  Baud   Baud SI/In SD/In  ID# Err Start -    -      -    -
  UART   Baud   Baud CTS   Parity S R Err Bits  FIFO Parity Send Recv


 GBA Infrared Communication

Early GBA prototypes have been intended to include a built-in IR port for sending and receiving IR signals. Among others, this port could have been used to communicate with other GBAs, or older CGB models, or TV Remote Controls, etc.

[ THE INFRARED COMMUNICATION FEATURE IS -NOT- SUPPORTED ANYMORE ]
Anyways, the prototype specifications have been as shown below...

Keep in mind that the IR signal may be interrupted by whatever objects moved between sender and receiver - the IR port isn't recommended for programs that require realtime data exchange (such like action games).

4000136h - IR - Infrared Register (R/W)
  Bit   Expl.
  0     Transmission Data  (0=LED Off, 1=LED On)
  1     READ Enable        (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  2     Reception Data     (0=None, 1=Signal received) (Read only)
  3     AMP Operation      (0=Off, 1=On)
  4     IRQ Enable Flag    (0=Disable, 1=Enable)
  5-15  Not used
When IRQ is enabled, an interrupt is requested if the incoming signal was 0.119us Off (2 cycles), followed by 0.536us On (9 cycles) - minimum timing period