VisualBoyAdvance
Current version: | 1.8.0-beta 3 |
---|---|
Active: | No |
OS: | Windows, Linux, OS X, BeOS, Wii, Gamecube |
Authors: | Forgotten, VBA Team |
Official website: | VBA-M.com |
Source code: | SourceForge |
VisualBoy Advance is a Game Boy/Color and Game Boy Advance emulator.
Download
VisualBoy Advance-M Dev Builds
Visual Boy Advance GX (Wii/GC only)
Versions
The original VBA emulator is ancient and has ceased development in 2004. VBA-M is a continuation of VBA, as it is regularly updated.
VBA-Next is an optimized version of an older revision of VBA-M with speedhacks and is available as a libretro core for RetroArch. There is also a libretro version of the latest VBA-M, which is slower but has less compatibility issues and regressions.
Project Pokémon made a version that adds both e-Reader and Link Cable support. While they were once available separately, this version permits the use of battle e-cards.
Using the e-Reader functionality requires a ROM of the Nintendo e-Reader. Load the ROM, then navigate to "Scan Dot Code." The emulator will ask for a dump of the e-Reader card barcode. Choose one that you had previously downloaded from your computer. (You can download the raw dumps here: http://www.get-your-rom.com/ner-nintendo-e-reader-roms Beware: the website is hard to navigate.)
For the Wii, it's better to use the VBA-Next core of RetroArch than to use VBA-GX. However, VBA-GX supports using the Wiimote as a gyrometer (required for a few GBA games), whereas VBA-Next does not.
Be sure you have "vba-over.ini" in the same folder as VBA to avoid save type issues. Current VBA-M builds come with this by default. libretro versions of VBA have this baked into the binary, but also output a different save format that needs to be converted with a tool to be used with standalone VBA.
Source Code
VBA: http://sourceforge.net/projects/vba/files/VisualBoyAdvance/