Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators

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Revision as of 19:53, 17 July 2013 by Murrigan (talk) (Added DS/Wii GBC emulators)
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The Game Boy is an 8-bit, 4th generation handheld console released by Nintendo in 1989. It had a monochrome display. Its successor, the Game Boy Color (GBC), was released in 1998. Unlike the original, it features a color screen.

Emulators

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version GB/GBC GBA Game Link Support Recommended
Gambatte Windows, Linux, OS X 0.5.0
RetroArch (Gambatte) Multi-platform 0.5.0
BGB v1.4.3
Visual Boy Advance-M (VBA-M) r1199
GameYob Nintendo DS Git ✓ (NiFi)
Visual Boy Advance GX Wii 2.2.8

Comparison

BGB has excellent Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Super Game Boy accuracy, and also near flawless link support.

Visual Boy Advance doesn't emulate the color palette of the original hardware. Instead, it uses the color palette of a GBA, making Game Boy Color games look too saturated.

GameYob (on the DS) is the best GB/GBC emulator for that platform.

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.