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Game Boy Advance emulators

4,165 bytes added, 16:48, 18 November 2020
updating info & added instructions for mGBA.
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Operating SystemPlatform(s)
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|GB/GBC
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
!colspan="11"|PC/x86
|-
|[[mGBA]]
|Multi-platformalign=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
|[https://mgba.io/downloads.html {{MGBAVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}<ref group=N name=medusa>Experimental separate build under the name of [[mGBA#medusa|medusa]].</ref> ||{{✓}} ||{{}} <ref group=N name=ereader>Latest development build only</ref> ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[higan]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux|macOS, Linux}}
|[http://byuu.org/emulation/higan/ {{higanVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[VisualBoy Advance#VBA-M|VBA-M]]
|Multi-platformalign=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
|[https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m/releases {{VBAMVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|iDeaS
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux}}
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20150311100053/http://ciacin.site90.com/ideas.php 1.0.4.0]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|[[GBE+]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux, |macOS (untested)}}
|[https://github.com/shonumi/gbe-plus {{GBEVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|[https://fms.komkon.org/VGBA/ VGBA]|Multi-platformalign=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}|[https://fms.komkon.org/VGBA/ 5.9{{VGBAVer}}]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|[[MAME]]
|Multi-platformalign=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
|[http://www.mamedev.org/release.html {{MAMEVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|Meteor
|align=left|{{Icon|Linux}}
|[https://github.com/blastrock/meteor 1.4.2]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|NanoboyAdvance
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux}}|[https://github.com/fleroviifleroviux/nanoboyadvance NanoboyAdvance Git]|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|[[No$|No$GBA]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, [[Intel CPUs|DOS]]}}
|[http://problemkaputt.de/gba.htm {{No$GBAVer}}]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|FatGBA
|N/A
|[https://github.com/bentokun/FatGBA Git]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|BoyCottAdvance
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux|macOS, Linux}}
|[http://boycottadvance.emuunlim.org/Downloads.htm 0.2.8]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|PlayBoy Advance
|align=left|{{Icon|macOS}}
|[https://www.zophar.net/macintosh/gba/playboy-advance.html 1.0]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
|-
!colspan="11"|Mobile/ ARM
|-
|[[mGBA]]
|Multi-platformalign=left|{{Icon|Android|iOS|Linux|Pandora}}
|[https://mgba.io/downloads.html {{MGBAVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}<ref group=N name=medusa /> ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[http://www.explusalpha.com/ GBA.emu]<br/><small>(VBA-M r1097 based)</small>
|[[Android emulatorsalign=left|{{Icon|Android]]}}|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.explusalpha.GbaEmu 1.5.3443]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/software/content/VBA8_1.php VBA8]
|Windows Phone 8/8.1align=left|{{Icon|W8P}}
|[https://www.appx4fun.com/xap/15223/ 2.27]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://forums.windowscentral.com/app-spotlight/252987-trio-nintendo-emulators-vba8-vgbc8-snes8x.html VBA10]
|Windows 10/Mobilealign=left|{{Icon|W10P}}
|[https://forum.xda-developers.com/windows-10-mobile/windows-10-mobile-apps-and-games/app-vba10-emulator-t3588704 1.22]<br/>[https://emulator.games/emulators/gameboy-advance/vba10/ Alt]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[gpSP]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Pandora}}
|[http://repo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=package.gpsp.notaz 0.9.2.8]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[VisualBoy Advance#VBA-M|VBA-M]]
|Multi-platformalign=left|{{Icon|Android|iOS|Linux|Pandora}}
|[https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m v2.0.1]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|[https://sites.google.com/site/fastemulator/ My Boy!]
|[[Android emulatorsalign=left|{{Icon|Android]]}}
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fastemulator.gba 1.8.0]
|{{✓}}<ref group=N name=myoldboy>Separate paid app called My OldBoy!.</ref> ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|GBA4iOS
|align=left|{{Icon|iOS}}
|[https://iemulators.com/gba4ios v2.1]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
|-
!colspan="11"|Consoles
|-
|[[mGBA]]
|[[Wii emulatorsalign=left|{{Icon|Wii]], [[Nintendo Switch emulators|Nintendo Switch]], [[Nintendo 3DS emulators}}<br>{{Icon|Nintendo 3DS]], [[PlayStation Vita emulators|PlayStation Vita]]PSV}}|[https://s3.amazonawsmgba.com/mgbaio/mGBA-nightly-latest-wiidownloads.7z Githtml {{MGBAVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.php?title=Enhanced_mGBA emGBA]
|align=left|{{Icon|GCN|Wii}}
|[https://files.extremscorner.org/gamecube/apps/mgba/latest Git]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|[[gpSP#PSP_version|TempGBA4PSP]]
|[[PlayStation Portable emulatorsalign=left|PlayStation Portable]]{{Icon|PSP}}
|[http://www.mediafire.com/download/41ny5xrwxizalx4/TempGBA4PSP-26750221.zip 26750221]
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[VisualBoy Advance#VBA-GX|VBA GX]]
|[[Wii emulatorsalign=left|{{Icon|GCN|Wii]], [[GameCube emulators|GameCube]]}}|[https://gbatempgithub.netcom/threadsdborth/new-vba-gx-fork-2-3-0.371284vbagx/ releases 2.34.20]|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}<ref group=N>As VBA-Next.</ref> ||{{}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|[[gpSP]]
|[[PlayStation Portable emulatorsalign=left|PlayStation Portable]]{{Icon|PSP}}
|0.9
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
|-
|[[Virtual Console]]
|[[Wii U emulatorsalign=left|{{Icon|Wii U]], [[Nintendo 3DS emulators|Nintendo 3DS]]WiiU}}
|8.10
|{{✓}} <small>(Nintendo 3DS only)<small> ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} <small>(Wii U only)<small> ||{{✓}} <small>(Pokemon only)</small> ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
===Comparisons===
;[[mGBA]]:Aims for accuracy, speed, and features. For its accuracy, it's gradually becoming the best at that. It's actively developed and has features VBA-M lacks such as a Tilt Sensor, and more recently Game Boy Camera support.
;[[VisualBoy Advance|Visual Boy Advance (VBA)]]:The original GBA emulator. Discovered to have an <abbr title="Arbitrary Code Execution">ACE </abbr> vulnerability detailed below.
:;[[VisualBoy Advance#VBA-M|Visual Boy Advance-M (VBA-M)]]:A fork with additional improvements. It is behind in terms of accuracy and performance compared to mGBA.
::;VBA-Next:A [[RetroArch]] fork from an older revision of VBA-M with added speedhacks and tweaks, making it useful for lower-end devices. A bit less accurate in some respects, but fixes a few games such as Advance Wars 2.
===Oversaturation===
[[File:1406913527173-1-.png|400px|thumb|right|'''Left:''' The default game.<br/>'''Right:''' The "Gameboy Colors" mode on [[VisualBoy Advance#VBA-M|VBA-M]].]]
The screen on the original Game Boy Advance is not backlit and can be hard to see in some conditions. To compensate, game developers often used oversaturated colors by default so that the result would look normal on hardware. On standard computer screens, saturation is not an issue so this can look jarring and undesirable for gameplay. Some games made after 2003 may have also taken the Game Boy Advance SP <abbr title="AGS-001">model </abbr> into account since its screen is was actually <abbr title="A newer model, AGS-101, was released in 2005 that was actually backlit">frontlit</abbr>. For everything else though, emudevs have given some solutions:
====No$GBAEmulator Options===='''No$GBA:''' Under "Emulation Options", select "GBA Mode". There are four modes.
;* '''GBA (no backlight):''' Strong desaturation;* '''GBA SP (backlight):''' Strong desaturation;* '''Nintendo DS in GBA mode:''' Some desaturation;* '''VGA Mode (poppy bright):''' No desaturation
====VBA-M===='''mGBA:''<small' Under Tools >Only applies to Windows.</smallSettings >Shaders, you will find three customizable '''Desaturation''' parameters.
'''VBA-M:''' (nightly only): Under Options > GameboyGame Boy Advance, you will find the options:option, '''LCD Filter'''.
;"Real Colors"'''higan:No desaturation;''' Under Settings > Video Filter, you will find the "Gameboy ColorsColor Emulation":Strong desaturationcheckbox.
====higan====Under Settings > Video Filter, you will find the "Color Emulation" checkbox. ;* '''Color Emulation off:''' No desaturation;* '''Color Emulation on:''' Gamma correction and adjusted color range.
====Shaders====
There is also <code>nds-color.cg</code><ref>https://github.com/libretro/common-shaders/blob/master/handheld/shaders/color/nds-color.cg</ref> and <code>psp-color.cg</code><ref>https://github.com/libretro/common-shaders/blob/master/handheld/shaders/color/psp-color.cg</ref>, which simulates the color profiles of the original Nintendo DS frontlit screen and the PSP-1000/PSP-2000 backlit screen, respectively.
 
===Horrible Sound Quality===
As a handheld rushed to the market (because of the WonderSwan Color competition), the Game Boy Advance had some cut corners. The sound hardware was affected the hardest: while it could play Game Boy Color sound in addition to samples and sequenced music like what would be heard on the SNES, the actual sound playback quality is awful compared to the actual higher quality sound samples stored internally in the ROM.
 
There were [https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/881/ tools] made to extract the internal high quality music (as midi files plus a sound font, to be played on foobar2000), however interest remains limited in implementing its playback in real time on emulators. It's worth noting it exists as a very experimental feature on [[mGBA]] (nightly versions) under Enhancements as "XQ GBA Audio", but very buggy and still limited to games using the standard sound engine, the so-called "Sappy" engine, which is still a big part of the GBA's software library.
 
===High Resolution Affine Transformation Graphical Effects===
Similar to the scaling effects used on the Super NES known commonly as "Mode 7" graphics, the Game Boy Advance has affine transformation effects for some backgrounds and individual sprites that can be done in hardware. Due to the GBA's lower resolution, some detail may be lost.
 
The [[mGBA]] emulator added an Enhancements menu where you can change the resolution of those graphical effects, for a smoother effect. The graphical render engine will need to be OpenGL for those to take effect. It won't work on games where those effects are done in software instead of the hardware scaling features (like the 3D environment in Asterix & Obelix XXL)
===Save formats===
==Connectivity==
There are five different kinds of connectivity, support varying by game:*Single Pak*Multi Pak*Wireless*GameCube*Nintendo DSPurple end in GBA means player 1, while a grey end in GBA means P2, P3, or P4. Daisy chaining up to three cables will set up the additional P3 and P4 by connecting the purple end to a purple mid section.<ref>https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/downloads/agblink.pdf</ref>{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"|-! scope="col"|Name! scope="col"|Platform(s)! scope="col"|Supported Version! scope="col"|Single Pak! scope="col"|Multi Pak! scope="col"|Wireless! scope="col"|GameCube! scope="col"|Nintendo DS|-!colspan="8"|PC / x86|-|[[mGBA]]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}|[https://mgba.io/downloads.html {{MGBAVer}}]|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}|-|[[VisualBoy Advance#VBA-M|VBA-M]]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}||[https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m/releases {{VBAMVer}}]|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}|-|[[No$|No$GBA]]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|DOS}}||[http://problemkaputt.de/gba.htm {{No$GBAVer}}]|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}|-|[[DeSmuME]]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}|[https://ci.appveyor.com/project/zeromus/desmume {{DeSmuMEVer}}]|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}|}===GBA Mutli Pak Link Multiplayer (1~4GBA)===
;VBA-M: This doesn't work with old VBA versions.
:Just disable "Pause when Inactive", configure all four Joypads each with their own button layout, enable "Link, Enable GBA Link". Now open VBA-M again as many times needed for each player, and have them each use their separate Joypad configuration. Each player will have a separate SRAM save file.
;VBA Link + e-Reader:Useful if you want to use the Pokémon Battle-eCards. Downloads and instructions reside [http://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?42433-RELEASE-VBA-LINK-E-READER here].
;mGBA:Select "New multiplayer window" from the menu. As you load your ROMs into each window, "Player [X] of [Y]" will appear across the title bar. This can be done for up to four players. However, multiple instances of the same ROM will share a save file.
;No$GBA:No information about how Set the number of Emulated Gameboys in the Emulation setting to get it working at this time, but the functionality also works with DS emulationbe 2 or more, and that's how users can check out the incomplete multiplayer Wi-Fi implementationLink Gamepaks Options to Gamepak in all GBAs.
===GBA Wireless Multiplayer===
The [[Wikipedia:Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter|wireless adapter]] has the ability to connect five players <ref>https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/downloads/agbwireless_trilingual.pdf</ref> to each other and includes its own software to download a subset of another player's game that runs when no cartridge is inserted. ''Pokémon Fire Red'' and ''Leaf Green'' came bundled with this accessory but it can also work with ''Pokémon Emerald'' and the ''Classic NES Series''.
No emulator has currently implemented this add-on. The only project whose developers put this on its roadmap is [[mGBA]].
===GameCube Connectivity===
The Game Boy Advance can also connect to the GameCube. <ref>https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/downloads/agbgcncable.pdf</ref> e-Reader functionality with GC games isn't emulated as of yet, but [[Dolphin]] supports connectivity through rudimentary joybus emulation made in parallel with VBA-M. Because this emulator has fallen behind, the Dolphin team is currently rewriting the feature from scratch to better interface with more accurate emulators. They showcased early higan support in a video, but nothing has been released as of yet.
====Dolphin/VBA-M====
* VBA '''doesn't''' emulate this feature, and its "Motion Control" option (with keys mapped to each tilt direction) covers the GBC title Kirby Tilt'n Tumble.
* mGBA supposedly includes this feature but key remapping for tilt sensors is not present in the latest builds.
* My Boy! uses the device's accelerometer to emulate this feature. You can change the sensitivity under Settings -> Input -> Cartridge Features -> "Motion sensitivity" menu.
 
====ROM Patches====
Fixes applied directly to the ROM (with the Lunar IPS utility, or at runtime using mGBA or VBA-M and naming them the same as the ROM in the same directory) by various scene release groups to make it compatible with any emulator/flashcard. D-Pad controls substituting motion controls don't work as well here as they tilt it "too much" at times to be very playable.
* '''Figurine Add-on:''' Legendz: Isle Of Trials, Legendz: Sign Of Necromu, Plaston Gate ([http://www.advanscene.com/html/Releases/dbreleases.php?id=1020 Fix]), Plaston Gate DX ([http://www.advanscene.com/html/Releases/dbreleases.php?id=2006 Fix]). The add-on is essentially Skylanders before it became popular.
===Glucoboy===An obscure medical peripheral designed to monitor a child's blood glucose levels [[mGBA]] (dev channel only) and reward them for keeping tabs on their condition. No known emulator supports this so far, especially given [[GBE+]] partially support the niche nature of this accessory. Not to mention that [https://assemblergames.com/threads/glucoboyadd-on used for-gameboy-is-this-the-rarest-game-accessory-for-gameboy-advance.41853/page-2 Bayer Healthcare destroyed all unsold stock] making it hard to findLegendz series.
===BattleChip Gate===
An peripheral device by Capcom and Takara compatible with ''Mega Man Battle Network 4'' (Japanese edition). It can be connected to the Game Boy Advance and allow the player to transmit real-life toy Battle Chips to the NetNavis in the game. It's also compatible with toy Advanced PETs and ''Rockman.EXE 4.5 Real Operation''. It can also unlock minigames in ''Mega Man Zero 3''.
[[mGBA]] (dev channel only) and [[GBE+]] partially support this add-on. ===Glucoboy===* '''Glucoboy:''' An obscure medical peripheral designed to monitor a child's blood glucose levels and reward them for keeping tabs on their condition. No known emulator supports this so far, especially given the niche nature of this accessory. Not to mention that [https://assemblergames.com/threads/glucoboy-for-gameboy-is-this-the-rarest-game-accessory-for-gameboy-advance.41853/page-2 Bayer Healthcare destroyed all unsold stock] making it hard to find.
==References==
[[Category:Consoles]]
[[Category:Nintendo consoles]]
[[[[Category:Sixth-generation video game consoles]]
[[Category:Game Boy Advance emulators|*]]
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