Changes

[[File:942953-database_hardware_gameboy01.jpg|thumb|The Game Boy handheld console.]]The '''[[wikipedia:Game Boy|Game Boy]] ''' is an 8-bit, fourth-generation handheld console released by Nintendo in 1989. The original model has It had a monochrome displaythat could show only two colors, black and white (though the white was more green). A revision called Nintendo re-released the console as the '''Game Boy Pocket was released ''' in 1996, offering with a more compact body and a better screen. In Japan, A front light was added to a special edition of Game Boy the Pocket, in Japan called the '''Game Boy Light''', added a front light to the screen. This feature would not that wouldn't be seen in Nintendo handhelds outside of Japan until the Game Boy Advance SP.

Many Game Boy Nintendo released a peripheral for the [[Super Nintendo emulators offer at least some of the special features of the |Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] called [[wikipedia:Super Game Boy|Super Game Boy]]in 1994, which was modelled like a special cartridge but included its own cartridge slot for Game Boy games, as well as the SNES released in 1994hardware needed to translate the games. It allows playback of original Many Game Boy games with emulators offer at least some of the special features it included, such as added borders, colorization, custom button mappings and other features. A Japan-exclusive revision called the Super Game Boy 2 would fix CPU timing (allowing It was possible to re-introduce link cable support, but without the original SGB had the ability to link, but there was no ext. external port, as games well as errors in the CPU, it would not be feasible to the end user; these issues would desync anyways) and new borderslater be corrected in the Japan-exclusive Super Game Boy 2.

The Game Boy's successor, the [[wikipedia:Game Boy Color|Game Boy Color]] (GBC), was released in 1998. It features a was named such from its color screen, bigger but it also had larger memory and a double-clocked CPU clocked at double the speed of the original. Otherwise, the The hardware similarities allow cross-compatibility between the two platforms and they are often treated as one. The follow up console was They would both by succeeded by the backwards-compatible [[Game_Boy_Advance_emulatorsGame Boy Advance emulators|Game Boy Advance]].

There is Because of how relatively easy popular 8-bit consoles are to emulate, tons of Game Boy emulatorsexist. See for example on For a list of open-source projects, see [https://github.com/search?o=desc&q=gameboy+emulator&s=updated&type=Repositories&utf8=%E2%9C%93 this GitHubquery].{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|style="text-align:center;"|BGB|style="text-align:center;"|Windows|style="text-align:center;"|[http://bgb.bircd.org/#downloads 1.5.5]|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|[[Gambatte]]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/gambatte/files/gambatte/r571/ r571]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|[[BizHawk]]|style="text-align:center;"|Windows|style="text-align:center;"|[http://tasvideos.org/BizHawk/ReleaseHistory.html {{BizHawkVer}}]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[[GBE+]]|style="text-align:center;"|Windows, Linux, OS X (untested)|style="text-align:center;"|[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5aZT1MLfWJsdXAzZXV0dURiNUE/view SVN 30.5.2016]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[[higan]]|style="text-align:center;"|Windows, Linux, OS X|style="text-align:center;"|[http://byuu.org/emulation/higan/ {{higanVer}}]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[[MAME]]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|[http://www.mamedev.org/release.html {{MAMEVer}}]|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[[mGBA]]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|[https://endrift.com/mgba/downloads.html {{MGBAVer}}]|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[https://github.com/LIJI32/SameBoy SameBoy]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|[https://github.com/LIJI32/SameBoy/releases 0.8]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[[VisualBoy Advance|Visual Boy Advance-M (VBA-M)]]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|[http://www.emucr.com/search/label/VisualBoyAdvance-M/ SVN]|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✗*|style<ref group=N name="textone>A VBA-align:center;"M libretro core does exist, but it only emulates GBA.</ref> ||✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[http://hhug.me/ hhugboy]|style="text-align:center;"|Windows|style="text-align:center;"|[https://github.com/tzlion/hhugboy/releases/tag/v1.2.1 1.2.1]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[https://github.com/drhelius/Gearboy Gearboy]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|[https://github.com/drhelius/Gearboy/releases 2.3.1]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|KiGB|style="text-align:center;"|Windows, Linux, OS X|style="text-align:center;"|[http://kigb.emuunlim.com/kigb_win.zip 2.05]|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[[TGB Dual]]|style="text-align:center;"|Windows, Linux**<ref group=N name=two>As an SDL port (and the [[libretro]] core is based on this version).</ref>|style="text-align:center;"|[https://github.com/libertyernie/tgbdual_L/releases "L" v1.2]|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✓**<ref group=N name=two /> |style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|GiiBiiAdvance|style="text-align:center;"|Windows, Linux|style="text-align:center;"|[https://github.com/AntonioND/giibiiadvance/releases 0.2.0]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[[Gambatte]]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/gambatte/files/gambatte/r571/ r571]|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|[[mGBA]]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|[https://endrift.com/mgba/downloads.html {{MGBAVer}}]|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|GBC.emu|style="text-align:center;"|Android|style="text-align:center;"|1.5.19|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|My OldBoy!|style="text-align:center;"|Android|style="text-align:center;"|1.0.3|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|John GBC|style="text-align:center;"|Android|style="text-align:center;"|3.50|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|GambatteDroid|style="text-align:center;"|Android|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|GBA.emu|style="text-align:center;"|Android|style="text-align:center;"|1.5.19|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[[mGBA]]|style="text-align:center;"|[[Wii]], [[Nintendo 3DS]], PSVita|style="text-align:center;"|[https://endrift.com/mgba/downloads.html {{MGBAVer}}]|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[http://gbatemp.net/threads/gameyob-a-gameboy-emulator-for-ds.343407/ GameYob DS]|style="text-align:center;"|[[Nintendo DS]]|style="text-align:center;"|[http://www.emucr.com/search/label/GameYob Git]|style="text-align:center;"|✓ <small>(NiFi)</small> |style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|[https://gbatemp.net/threads/gameyob-3ds-gb-c-emu.372523/ GameYob 3DS]|style="text-align:center;"|[[Nintendo 3DS]]|style="text-align:center;"|[https://github.com/Steveice10/GameYob/releases v1.0.8]|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|[[Visual_Boy_Advance_-M|Visual Boy Advance-M (VBA-M)]]|style="text-align:center;"|[[Wii]], [[Gamecube]]|style="text-align:center;"|r1231|style="text-align:center;"|✓|style="text-align:center;"|✓ <small>(as VBA-Next)</small> |style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|[http://filetrip.net/psp-downloads/homebrew/download-masterboy-210-f28308.html MasterBoy]|style="text-align:center;"|[[PlayStation Portable]]|style="text-align:center;"|2.10|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|[http://filetrip.net/psp-downloads/homebrew/download-gemp-homers-rin-33-final-f27565.html GeMP]|style="text-align:center;"|[[PlayStation Portable]]|style="text-align:center;"|3.3 Final|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|[http://dl.qj.net/psp/emulators/rin-v132-gameboy-emulator/gameboy-color-emulator.html RIN]|style="text-align:center;"|[[PlayStation Portable]]|style="text-align:center;"|1.32|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|Virtual Console|style="text-align:center;"|Nintendo 3DS|style="text-align:center;"|8.10|style="text-align:center;"|✓ <small>(pokemon Pokemon only)</small> |style="text-align:center;"|✗|style="text-align:center;"|✓

<nowiki>*</nowiki> '' A VBA-M libretro core does exist, but it only emulates GBA.''<br /><nowiki>**<references group=N /nowiki> ''As an SDL port (libretro core is based on this version)''

* ;[http://bgb.bircd.org/ BGB] is a :A closed -source emulator. It has for Windows (and Wine) with excellent Game Boy and Game Boy Color accuracy, as well as near flawless link support. It has a wealth of options for color palettes and even enabling Super Gameboy colors and borders, though it doesn't emulate all of its functions. It also has an advanced debugger.* ;[[Gambatte]] is probably :Probably the most accurate open-source Game Boy Color emulator. It has a good range of options and features, though not quite as much as some other emulators. It's open source, but there is no activity lately.* [[mGBA]] recently added GB/C support. It's still in development, but it's already on the level of many other emulators.* [[GB Enhanced|GBE+]] is a recently rewritten emulator that can load custom tiles in games, including colorized tiles for Game Boy games. It also supports [[#Game Boy Features|obscure accessories]] that other emulators don't emulate.* [[Visual_Boy_Advance_-M|Visual Boy Advance-M (VBA-M)]] has solid GB/C emulation not been as well as GBA. It was very popular, but now is far behind [[mGBA]]active lately.* ;[[TGB Dual]] is an :An ancient emulator that supports link cable emulation. It also supports [[Netplaynetplay]], though but it requires a VPN. The libretro port supports local multiplayer using player 2's controls.* ;[http://kigb.emuunlim.com/ KiGB] is an :An old and obsolete emulator which boasted of its accuracy but was proven to be full of game-specific hacks.<ref>https://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba/issues/238</ref><ref>http://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/Test_ROMs#Emulators_running_on_desktop_computers</ref><ref>http://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/KiGB</ref> It has a wide selection of features, but there other emulators have caught up and are emulators which do already doing much better now.* ;[https://github.com/AntonioND/giibiiadvance GiiBiiAdvance] pioneered :Pioneered full GB Camera emulation, including webcam support. OtherwiseAside from that, it's an unfinished emulator with the basics set up, but it's its promising future currently on hiatus. It has very accurate timing. ====Backwards-compatible GBA emulators====;[[mGBA]]:Primarily emulates the [[Game Boy Advance emulators|Game Boy Advance]] but it also includes GB/C support much like the original system. It's still in development, but it's already on the level of many other emulators.;[[GBE+]]:A recently rewritten emulator that has a large effort in preserving the functions of [[#Game Boy Features|obscure accessories]] that other emulators don't focus on. It can also load custom tiles in games, including colorized tiles for original Game Boy titles.;[[VisualBoy Advance#VBA-M|VisualBoy Advance -M <small>(VBA-M)</small>]]:Used to be the go-to for Game Boy Advance emulation and even included solid GB/C emulation. It's now behind [[mGBA]] on both fronts.

* ;[[higan]] is :Because it started out as an SNES emulator (its original name was bsnes), it was the only emulator one that properly emulates emulated all of the Super Game Boy's features, such as utilizing the SPC sound chip, due to having a separate SNES coreutilization. Older version Versions of bsnes at and before 0.73 used the Gambatte core for its Super Game Boy functionality, but later Byuu eventually made his own Game Boy core, which has ended up having pretty good accuracy. The last version of bsnes to use Gambatte as its SGB core is version 0.73.* ;[[BizHawk]] uses :Uses a modified Gambatte core. It provides speedrunning tools.* ;[[MAME]] has :Has solid Game Boy emulationthrough its <code>gameboy</code> driver despite the sound being imperfect, albeit with as well as slightly worse GBC compatibilitythrough its <code>gbcolor</code> driver (where both the graphics and sound are imperfect). HoweverDespite its setbacks, it features aims to feature compatibility with obscure mappers, which that other emulators usually ignore, like Wisdom Tree games or MMM01 multicarts. It Accuracy was made much more accurate a while ago due to improved upon with contributions by Judge_.* ;[[Mednafen]] uses cores originally :Its Game Boy Advance core is forked from an old version of [[VisualBoy Advance]] for the GB and GBC, as well as for the GBA.

==IssuesEmulation issues==[[File:Gbc over saturation2.png|thumb|right|350px|Comparison of saturation levels in VBA-M and Gambatte.]]

Emulators tend to oversaturate the colors that would have been seen on the GBC[[File:Gbc over saturation2.png|thumb|right|350px|Comparison of saturation levels in VBA-M and Gambatte.]]The Game Boy Color's screenis understaturated. This can Game developers often work around this by using brighter colors knowing it'll be fixed compensated for on hardware. This does not translate well in emulation, because standard LCD screens don't account for this sort of issue. Many emulators attempt to combat this issue with emulator-specific options or that adjust accordingly; if not directly, then [[Shaders_and_Filters#Image_Adjustment|shadersshader functionality]]may be implemented.<br clear=all>  ==Game Boy Features==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|style="text-align:center;"|[[mGBA]]|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-platform|style="text-align:center;"|Dev builds post 0.6.0|style="text-align:center;"|✓

|style="text-align:center;"|GiiBiiAdvance|style="text-align:center;"|Windows|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|BGB|style="text-align:center;"|Windows|style="text-align:center;"|?|style="text-align:center;"|✗

|style="text-align:center;"|Hashcam|style="text-align:center;"|Windows|style="text-align:center;"|[http://www.darkfader.net/gbc]|style="text-align:center;"|✗

Two Game Boy Color games featured a built-in tilt sensor: Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble and Command Master. These games cannot be played without support for this feature. While VBA and KiGB have a "Motion Sensor" option to map four directional keys to emulate the cartridge tilting, BGB can emulate the tilting features with the use of the mouse.

There are [[Wikipediawikipedia:Game Boy accessories#Game Boy|a few accessories that the Game Boy and Game Boy Color]] had.