Changes

{{Infobox console

|logo = Game_Boy.png

|image = Game-boy-color.png

|type = [[:Category:Handheld consoles|Handheld game console]]

|generation = [[:Category:Fourth-generation video game consoles|Fourth generation]]

|discontinued = 2003

|predecessor = [[Game & Watch]]

|emulated = {{✓}}

}}

The '''[[wikipedia:Game Boy|Game Boy]]''' (GB) and '''[[wikipedia:Game Boy Color|Game Boy Color]]''' (GBC) are 8-bit, fourth-generation handheld consoles released by Nintendo on July 31, 1989 and November 18, 1998 respectively and retailed for {{Inflation|USD|89.95|1998}}. The Game Boy has a Sharp LR35902 core CPU at 4.19 MHz. It had a monochrome display that could only show four shades of grey, albeit with a olive green tinge on the original. The Game Boy Color uses the same LR35902 core as the original; while it is clocked at 8.38 MHz, it can be underclocked to 4.19 MHz for backwards-compatibility purposes. It was named such from its color screen, but it also had a larger memory size and a faster CPU. The hardware similarities allow cross-compatibility between the two platforms and they are often treated as one. They would both be succeeded by the backward-compatible [[Game Boy Advance emulators|Game Boy Advance]].

===PC / x86===

! Name

! Platform(s)

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}

| [https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<br/>[https://sourceforge.net/projects/gambatte/files/gambatte {{GambatteVer}}]

|-

|[[Mesen|Mesen]]

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}

|<abbr title="Latest development version">git artifacts</abbr><ref group=N>[https://nightly.link/mamedev/mame/workflows/ci-windows/master CI-Windows] [https://nightly.link/mamedev/mame/workflows/ci-linux/master CI-Linux] [https://nightly.link/mamedev/mame/workflows/ci-macos/master CI-Macos]</ref></br>[http://www.mamedev.org/release.html {{MAMEVer}}]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]

|-

| [[Gearboy]]

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Web}}

| [https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<br/>[https://github.com/drhelius/Gearboy/releases {{GearboyVer}}]

|-

| [https://gbcc.dev GBCC]

| GameRoy

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|Web}}

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|-

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}

| [https://mgba.io/builds/1/ Dev builds]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<ref group=N>[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/12x3fsm/mgba_0102_released/jhigow4/ endrift's comment about libretro core]</ref><br/>[https://mgba.io/downloads.html {{MGBAVer}}]

|-

| [[VisualBoy Advance#VBA-M|VBA-M]]

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}

| [https://github.com/tzlion/hhugboy/releases {{hhugboyVer}}]

|-

|[[SkyEmu]]

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Web}}

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|-

|PyBoy

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|-

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}

| [http://byuu.org/emulation/higan {{higanVer}}]<br />[https://github.com/libretro/higan libretro core]

|[[KiGB]]

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|DOS}}

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|-

|[[TGB Dual]]

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}<ref group=N name=two>On Linux as an SDL port (and the [[libretro]] core is based on this version).</ref>

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|-

| align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}

| [https://github.com/aappleby/MetroBoy/releases {{MetroBoyVer}}]

|-

|hdmg

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|}

===Mobile / ARM===

! Name

! Platform(s)

|align=left|{{Icon|Android|iOS}}

|[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<br/>[https://github.com/huhao1987/mGBA_Android 0.3]

|-

|[[SkyEmu]]

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|}

===Consoles===

! Name

! Platform(s)

! [[Recommended emulators|Recommended]]

|-

| align=left|{{Icon|Switch}}

| N/A

|-

|[[VisualBoy_Advance#VBA-M|<abbr title="Modified port of VBA-M. With it you can play GBA/Game Boy Color/Game Boy games on your Wii/GameCube.">VBA GX</abbr>]]

| [https://github.com/dborth/vbagx#nightly-builds nightly-builds]

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

| align=left|{{Icon|Wii|WiiU|NX}}<br>{{Icon|PSV|3DS}}

| [https://endrift.com/mgba/downloads.html {{MGBAVer}}]<br/>[https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms libretro core]<br/>[https://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba/releases git]

|-

|GBEmu

|{{?}} ||{{?}} ||? ||{{X}} ||{{✓}} ||{{X}}

|}

===Firmware===

! Name

! Platform(s)

|-

|}

<references group=N />

===Comparison===

====Game Boy-only emulators====

;[[BGB]]:A closed-source emulator for Windows (and [[Wine]]) with solid Game Boy and Game Boy Color accuracy, as well as near flawless link support. It has a wealth of options for color palettes. Most used for its advanced debugger.

;[http://hhug.me/?tags=hhugboy hhugboy]:A Windows-only Game Boy/Color emulator based on GEST with a focus on bootleg and unlicensed games. It is capable of detecting and correctly emulating the mapper on a number of games that are otherwise broken on other emulators, but some ROMs require manually selecting the mapper on the Unlicensed Compatibility Mode menu. Besides the usual raw dumps, it also supports the footered [http://hhug.me/gbx GBX] ROM format, which correctly informs the emulator which mapper to run regardless of what the internal headers say.

;[[TGB Dual]]:An ancient emulator that supports link cable emulation. It also supports [[netplay]], but it requires a VPN. The libretro port supports local multiplayer using player 2's controls.

;[[KiGB]]:An old and obsolete emulator which boasted 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 other emulators have caught up and are already doing much better.

;Ironboy:A very recent and promising emulator written in Rust for WebAssembly which is focus only on the original Game Boy (DMG) to [https://github.com/Chiplis/IronBoy#ironboy achieve the highest degree of accuracy]. Unfortunately, it only supports monochrome Game Boy games.

;binjgb:A GB + GBC emulator for both desktop and WebAssembly, developed by Ben "binji" Smith since 2016. Most famously used by McDonald's in 2023 to publish ''Grimace's Birthday'' [https://grimacesbirthday.com/ as a browser game].

* [https://www.androidauthority.com/best-game-boy-emulators-for-android-368530/ 10 best Game Boy Advanced, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy emulators for Android] (SEPTEMBER 2, 2018. Includes some emulators not found in above charts. Reviews may be subjective.)

;[[GBE+]]:An emulator that has a large effort in preserving the functions of a multitude 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.

==Enhancements==

|- style="font-weight:bold;"

! colspan=2 | Name

! Nintendo Switch Online (Hiyoko)

|-

| colspan=10 | For emulation of 2D systems, the resolution can only be upscaled, making the pixels more apparent.

|-

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| [[Shaders_and_filters|Filters]]

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| {{Y}}

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| [[Shader_Presets|Shader Chain]]

| {{N}}

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| {{Y}}[https://sameboy.github.io/features/#debugging *]

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| {{N}}

|}

<references group=N3/>

==Hardware features and accessories==

|- style="font-weight:bold;"

! colspan=2 | Name

! Nintendo Switch Online (Hiyoko)

|-

| {{✓}}

| {{~}}<ref group=N name=Libretro>Not available on Libretro core.</ref>

| {{?}}

|-

| {{✓}}

| {{✓}}

| {{?}}

|-

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<references group=N />