Topic: Gameboy advance SP won't run Pokémon crystal

I finally got pokémon crystal.
Of course I played it, and had fun.
But then I had to go eat, and left the game on.
Not a good idea...
When I came back, it had the " This game is designed for the Gameboy Colour."
The problem is that, I am using a GBA SP.
Does anyone know if I can get past it, or get my save back?

The game is German, and the battery has been changed. I am using an ASG-101 model GBA SP.

I can't find a reason right away.
For it to even display the error screen suggests that the GBC/GBA switching function of the SP is still working correctly.
Do you mean the game's battery, or the GBA SP's battery?
Only thing I can of is the SP's battery running low or irregularly messing up the RAM so the game thinks it's on original GB hardware. (I don't think GBC games are capable of directly checking which console they are on after boot. The console ID is something they can normally only check when they boot and must keep it stored in RAM while running. Maybe a programmer could check for certain hardware discrepancies to detect the hardware but I don't think Crystal does. I think it just does the usual at-boot detection.)

@KingMike
Well... not sure. The cartridge has tape inside, so I'm quite sure it was replaced.
The console has a third-party battery cover plate. But the battery seems original. I'm no professional though.
Also, the console is charging. It was, when I was playing too.

Going to leave it on for the night, as I am optimistic about getting the save back. That means it will not do anything... I think. If anyone knows any way to restore the save, help will be appreciated.
Also, could the problem just be the console/Game being old? Maybe it's just worn out? Or I just bought another broken gen-2 game?

Are you sure it's not a bootleg/counterfeit copy?

@the_shpydar
Ummm how could I make sure?
It would be nice to at least check...

@Lasercat2000
Check online for some pictures of authentic carts. Sometimes it's easy to tell — label differences or minor differences with the cart itself are easily noticeable. That would be at least a good place to start.

The original is turquoise coloured if I recall correctly, and had glitter in its transparent casing.

I can confirm from hundreds of hours of personal experience, that Crystal works completely fine with the SP. I have no idea how this could have happened.

@the_shpydar
I checked, and it seems fine.
The text is correct, label is right, and so on.
Everything should be correct.
Of course, it doesn't look the same as an English version, but it looks identical to every German one I found.

The only thing i can think is that if/when the battery was replaced, whoever replaced it screwed something up internally (scratched the board, etc). The main reason i think it might be counterfeit is the "Only plays on Game Boy Colour" screen you got. That would be a potential sign — if it is counterfeit — that whoever made it did a poor job (which is not uncommon with counterfeit Pokemon games). Usually the biggest sign of a counterfeit (beyond a sketchy label or cartridge-shell) is problems with game-saves.

Of course, it may just be that it's an official copy, that it was damaged or not stored well over the years, and it's just finally gone kaput.

Maybe you could compare the board itself to an original one. Not sure if it was the same during the GBC era, but most GBA bootlegs are easily identified due to having the wrong internals.

As Pokemon Crystal was a fairly advanced game, it would have a fairly complex looking board with a lot of tiny labels all over the place (though it would be even easier to tell if you are familiar with what a real GB/GBC game board looks like).
Bootlegs are usually comparatively simple looking.
@the_shpydar I think the game detects what console it is on as it boots up. It stores it into the console's temporary RAM (which gets cleared when the console is turned off). I know because I've been playing Gold and Crystal recently on emulator for documenting purposes and had to mess with that for some screenshotting purposes. I've heard of the game crashing (most though the famous "Vietnamese Crystal" bootleg translation) and the game soft-resetting, which causes an issue if the console RAM is corrupted since the console ID is only correct when the GB(C)'s internal boot ROM sets it (the boot ROM, which prints the Nintendo logo and checks if the cart is official as well as setting the palette for GB games on GBC, only runs when the console is turned on and then disables itself for as long as the console remains turned on. I wonder if that is the reason the GB line was missing a soft Reset button.)

One of the easiest way to see if a GB, GBC and GBA cartridge is authentic is too see the sticker on the cartridge itself. The original ones have a number or combination of number and letter imprinted on the sticker.
The number is engraved on the sticker it is not printed.
The other method is to check the circuit board.
I am a little maniacal with the authenticity of my cartridges and I have read and read and tested MANY cartridges too se if they are real.

At least with Crystal the case should be semi-transparent (I think that was consistent with all language variants?) so it should be a little easier to tell if it looks legit without opening it.
All GBC-required (aside from maybe a few special-colored games I'm forgetting?) games used clear cases to distinguish them from GB or backwards-compatible GBC games.