Well, DrewWorks has pulled it out of the bag, and in record time too! I wrote about Drew's mission to create a cable that connected the GBA to the Nintendo Switch for Pokémon battling and trading at the beginning of this month. And now, on the very last day of September, he's announced that the RetroSync cable will be releasing this December, and the progress he's made is astounding.
When I covered the original concept that Drew was working on, it was still rough around the edges. Drew admitted that there was still 'plenty of work ahead', but he didn't say that he would be ploughing on and getting all of that work done in less than a month! I thought we would be waiting till the middle of next year and beyond before we saw this thing finished!
Trading Pokémon between an original GBA and a Switch 2 😎😲
— Drewworks (@ahenley17) September 3, 2026
My GBA-to-Switch trade adapter is working!
Still plenty of work ahead, but seeing a real GBA communicate and trade with the Switch is pretty incredible.#Pokemon #GBA #Switch2 pic.twitter.com/W09ELMBCM3
What was a lot of cables and a board with soldered parts on is now a slick-looking GBA adapter that you can attach a USB-C cable to for plugging into your Switch. As you can see from the featured image for this article and the images in the X post below, it works with both the GBA and the GBA SP and connects to both the OG Switch and the Switch 2.
RetroSync is coming worldwide in early December! 🎉
— Drewworks (@ahenley17) September 30, 2026
Connect your original Game Boy Advance to compatible Pokémon games on Nintendo Switch and use supported wireless features like trading and battling.
Product details + FAQ:https://t.co/2ttxrMIUS7#GBA #Pokemon #Switch pic.twitter.com/yHlqwqzRHZ
Currently, RetroSync works with compatible versions of Pokémon FireRed, Pokémon LeafGreen, and Pokémon Emerald. Drew states that it 'supports firmware updates for future improvements and expanded compatibility,' but it's plug-and-play and doesn't need any setup to use. Currently, RetroSync supports 'joining only' for the following game modes:
- Trading
- Single Battles
- Double Battles
- Multi Battles
- Berry Crush
- Pokémon Jump
- Dodrio Berry Picking
And here's the best bit - the whole thing only costs £39! It's launching early December, but you can join the interest list to get notified exactly when it goes on sale!
