RevivalGate USB-C module
A small module for the EXT port that stands in for the 2001 WonderGate adapter and phone. A USB-C cable to your phone or computer carries the connection to my servers.
The original WonderGate was an adapter cabled to a DoCoMo phone, which dialled a 9600 bps call to Bandai’s servers. This module takes the adapter’s place, and your phone or computer takes the old phone’s.
The module answers every command a game sends to the adapter by itself, so games get an immediate reply however slow the phone is. Only the game’s network traffic goes over the cable. If the app isn’t running, it reports “no phone”, as the original did.
It works with any USB-C phone. An iPhone with a Lightning port needs Apple’s Lightning to USB Camera Adapter. The EXT dongle can also put a game online, but only with a computer doing the adapter’s work; this module does that itself, so a phone is enough.
Why not Bluetooth
This module started as a Bluetooth design, and that design got as far as a finished board. I dropped it because the licensing and testing a Bluetooth product needs before it can be sold are expensive, far more than a small batch of modules could cover.
The cable also lets the phone or computer power the module, so it draws next to nothing from the console’s AA cell.
I’ll likely release the Bluetooth design as open source in the near future, for anyone who wants to build their own.
See RevivalGate for which games work with my servers so far.