Difference between revisions of "MGBA"
(A more balanced take on mGBA, where it's better than VBA and where it sucks) |
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[https://twitter.com/mgba_emu Twitter Account] | [https://twitter.com/mgba_emu Twitter Account] | ||
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| + | ==Important Features== | ||
| + | Overall, either mGBA or VBA-M have each their pros and cons. Even though VBA-M has the edge when it comes to performance, graphical options, debugging features, and ease of use, mGBA is playing catch up while justifying itself with a focus on accuracy, portability, and unemulated features or tweaks that weren't the focus of VBA-M. Despite the lack of options and the lack of a hardware renderer, mGBA is still already usable, with most games playable at full speed, yet it isn't, for the time being, the ideal option. | ||
| + | |||
| + | This emulator aims to be easier to port and maintain than its older counterpart, VBA (or VBA-M). It's present as a Retroarch core. Notable features over other GBA emulators include: | ||
| + | |||
| + | * Only GBA emulator thus far to load the NES Classic series due to a peculiar DRM system Nintendo implemented for those (which display "Game Pack Error" and crash on start-up for all other GBA emulators) | ||
| + | * Local link cable support (up to 4 players) | ||
| + | * Functional Solar Sensor (Boktai series) emulation. Other emulators would need the ROM image to be modified, and the fix isn't very ideal. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Also says it has also functional tilt emulation (WarioWare Twisted, Yoshi's Universal Gravity), but this claim hasn't been tested yet as key mapping for motion controls are nowhere to be found thus making playing these games impossible as it stands. Take with a grain of salt. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Emulator's authors claim they're working on adding more features like: | ||
| + | * GC/GBA connectivity (with Dolphin), being worked on atm | ||
| + | * e-Reader emulation (incomplete in other emulators with no active development as of now) | ||
| + | * TAS and romhacking oriented options | ||
| + | |||
| + | Some other perks mGBA offers over VBA-M are: | ||
| + | * Zoom up to 6x | ||
| + | * Basic save state support with rewinding, and a fast forward option (TAB key) | ||
| + | * Very basic cheat code support (AR, GS, CB), no search options | ||
| + | * Real-time clock support (used in Pokémon games), with the option to synch it to system time or set it to an arbitrary value. | ||
| + | * Can patch games at runtime with translation/romhack patches in IPS, UPS (tsukyomi) and BPS (beat) format, as well as loading ROMs from ZIP and 7ZIP archives. VBA only supports IPS patches and zip archives. | ||
| + | * Option to force specific savetypes and sensors | ||
[[Category:Emulators]] | [[Category:Emulators]] | ||
Revision as of 23:12, 16 April 2015
| |
| Current version: | 0.2.0 |
|---|---|
| Active: | Active |
| OS: | Windows, OS X |
| Authors: | Jeffrey Pfau (endrift) |
| Official website: | mGBA |
| Source code: | GitHub |
mGBA is an open source emulator of the Game Boy Advance. The goals are speed and accuracy.
Downloads
Links
0.2.0 Release Notes and Feature list
Important Features
Overall, either mGBA or VBA-M have each their pros and cons. Even though VBA-M has the edge when it comes to performance, graphical options, debugging features, and ease of use, mGBA is playing catch up while justifying itself with a focus on accuracy, portability, and unemulated features or tweaks that weren't the focus of VBA-M. Despite the lack of options and the lack of a hardware renderer, mGBA is still already usable, with most games playable at full speed, yet it isn't, for the time being, the ideal option.
This emulator aims to be easier to port and maintain than its older counterpart, VBA (or VBA-M). It's present as a Retroarch core. Notable features over other GBA emulators include:
- Only GBA emulator thus far to load the NES Classic series due to a peculiar DRM system Nintendo implemented for those (which display "Game Pack Error" and crash on start-up for all other GBA emulators)
- Local link cable support (up to 4 players)
- Functional Solar Sensor (Boktai series) emulation. Other emulators would need the ROM image to be modified, and the fix isn't very ideal.
Also says it has also functional tilt emulation (WarioWare Twisted, Yoshi's Universal Gravity), but this claim hasn't been tested yet as key mapping for motion controls are nowhere to be found thus making playing these games impossible as it stands. Take with a grain of salt.
Emulator's authors claim they're working on adding more features like:
- GC/GBA connectivity (with Dolphin), being worked on atm
- e-Reader emulation (incomplete in other emulators with no active development as of now)
- TAS and romhacking oriented options
Some other perks mGBA offers over VBA-M are:
- Zoom up to 6x
- Basic save state support with rewinding, and a fast forward option (TAB key)
- Very basic cheat code support (AR, GS, CB), no search options
- Real-time clock support (used in Pokémon games), with the option to synch it to system time or set it to an arbitrary value.
- Can patch games at runtime with translation/romhack patches in IPS, UPS (tsukyomi) and BPS (beat) format, as well as loading ROMs from ZIP and 7ZIP archives. VBA only supports IPS patches and zip archives.
- Option to force specific savetypes and sensors
