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Visual Boy Advance GX | |
General | |
---|---|
Author(s) | Tantric |
Contributor(s) | Carl Kenner |
Type | Handheld emulator |
Version | 2.3.9 |
Links | |
Download | |
Discussion | |
Source | |
Downloadable via the Homebrew Browser | |
Peripherals |
Visual Boy Advance GX is a Game Boy Advance / Game Boy emulator for the Wii based on VBA-M. The GUI is powered by libwiigui.
- 4Wii Channel
- 5Loading Games
- 7Editing Palettes
- 8Controls
- 10Changelog
Features
- Wiimote, Nunchuk, Classic, and Gamecube controller support
- Rotation sensors, Solar sensors, and Rumble support
- Optional special Wii controls built-in for some games
- Editable 14-colour palettes for monochrome Gameboy games
- SRAM and State saving
- IPS/UPS patch support
- Custom controller configurations
- SD, USB, DVD, SMB, Zip, and 7z support
- Compatiblity based on VBA-M r927
- MEM2 ROM Storage for fast access
- Auto frame skip for those core heavy games
- Turbo speed, video zooming, widescreen, and unfiltered video options
Notes from the Developer
I have Visual Boy Advance, I drag the Emerald file into the emulator as I always do, but all it says is 'Loaded battery' or 'loading battery' or something and all i get is a white screen and those words.It workks instantly with my other games.do i just have to wait for it to load?: can someone explain simply hao i can resolve this? Visual Boy Advance has long since become Open Source. This spawned several variants so we will try to list as many as we can here.
- Speed could still use some improvement. If anyone can make the code more efficient, knows PPC assembly, or can make it faster in any way, let me know.
Installation
- If you are using the Homebrew Channel just copy the apps directory from the archive to the root of your SD card. If you are using another loader use the executables/vbagx_wii.dol.
- ROMs & saves files should be stored in /vbagx/roms and /vbagx/saves on the root of your SD card or USB flash drive. You can copy the vbagx directory from the archive to your support drive. Your ROMs must be in '.gb', '.gbc' or '.gba' format. To be clear, there will be 2 'vbagx' folders. One in your apps folder, and one on the SD root.
- Launch the emulator using your Loader.
Wii Channel
wilsoff and MrNick666 were gracious enough to create an official Wii Channel. You can find it on the Downloads page.Prerequisites
Installation
|
Loading Games
From DVD
- ROMs can be burned to a DVD-/+R (4.7GB max size & ISO 9660 file format).
From Network (using SMB)
Using the emulator via network requires that your Wii is configured for your wireless network, and that you've set up a file share. You must provide a username, password, share name, and IP address to log in to the file server (in settings.xml). This XML file is created for you upon first loading the emulator and entering/exiting Preferences. Here's an example snippet for your XML configuration file:
Also be sure to mirror the required directory structure within your share folder, or change the LoadFolder and SaveFolder values in the XML file. See the tinysmb page for additional information and troubleshooting.
Language Patches (IPS/UPS)
IPS files must be placed in the same folder as the ROM you are loading, and named identically to the ROM name, except with a IPS extension. They will be loaded automatically upon loading the game.
Patches can be used to colourise a monochrome gameboy game, or to translate a game into your language, or to stop the game from needing special hardware. Search the internet for patches. Many games have been translated by fans. They can be in IPS or UPS format. You don't need to patch anything yourself. Just put the IPS or UPS file in the /vbagx/roms folder along with the rom itself. The patch must have the same name as the rom. Patches can not be put inside the ZIP file. If a rom is zipped, you might need to check inside the zip for the actual rom filename.
You must not use patched versions of Boktai roms! (Except for the translation patch for Boktai 3, which is highly recommended). The patches are for old emulators that don't support the solar sensor. VBA GX and NO$GBA support the solar sensor natively, and the patch will stop them from working.
You must also not use patched versions of WarioWare Twisted, Kirby's Tilt n Tumble, or Yoshi's Universal Gravitation (Topsy Turvy). The original roms are fully supported, and the patch will stop them from working.
Editing Palettes
Games for Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Color, and Super Gameboy, are already in colour, and changing palettes for these games will have no effect. Unfortunately, some Super Gameboy games are programmed in greyscale and that can't be changed yet.
Monochrome games for the original Gameboy had four shades of grey. But with VBA-Wii you can define your own colour palettes for these games.
VBA Wii comes with palettes for these games: Alleyway, Baseball, Duck Tales, Kid Icarus, Magnetic Soccer, Malibu Beach Volleyball, Marble Madness, Metroid 2 (not DX), Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Mr. Do!, The Simpsons: Bart and the Beanstalk, Super Mario Land, Tennis, Tetris, and TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan
Other games will use a default palette of green background, white status bar, red sprites and blue sprites. This palette makes palette editing easier, but isn't all that suitable for most games. You should usually either edit the palette for these games, or switch to black and white mode. Or you can edit the default palette by manually editing the 'sd:appsvbagxpalette.xml' file.
To switch between black and white and palette mode, start a game, go to the HOME menu, choose 'Game Settings', choose 'Video', and click on 'Colorize Mono GB'. The game 'Megaman 1' will always be in black and white, to prevent flashing.
To edit the palette for the current game, go to the HOME menu, choose 'Game Settings', choose 'Video', and click on 'Choose Palette' to go to the Palette Editor.
After editing the palette, the palette might appear screwed up in the game until the game changes palettes. To fix that, you might need to save the game and then start the game again, or you might need to press start to pause or go to the menu, then press start again, or you might need to try moving your sprite to the far left side of the screen.
Palette Editor
The colours are divided into 4 columns, which are arranged by brightness.
The first column is the background. The bottom 'background' colour is used for both the background tiles, and also for parts of the screen not covered by background tiles or any sprites. Sometimes the background can go in front of some sprites, and in those cases the bottom background colour is transparent.
The second column is the 'window'. Usually that means the status bar and HUD, but it's sometimes used for other things, for example in Mortal Kombat 1, the entire game screen except the status bar is the window. VBA Wii is the only Gameboy emulator that lets you change the window colours, in other emulators the window uses the background colours.
The third column, 'OBJ', is for sprites that use palette 0. Sprites only have 3 colours, because one is always transparent. Games can choose which three of the four brightness levels will be used (that's why there are two sprite palettes). In the editor it's assumed that the first three brightness levels will be chosen. When the game chooses different brightness levels, some of those colours will be brightened or darkened in-game. Black is assumed to be 10% brightness, while dark grey is assumed to be 40% brightness. That means half the time, the colour you choose for OBJ 2 will appear 4 times darker in-game, so you might need to make it very bright. Other colours also will appear at different brightnesses, but not by a factor of 4.
The fourth column 'SPR', is for sprites that use palette 1. It has the same issues as specified above. VBA on other platforms uses the same colours for both palette 0 and palette 1, but VBA Wii lets you change them separately. Palette 1 is often used for some monsters, or for when your character takes damage, or for making collectible items flash.
Clicking on any colour will pop up a colour editor window. You change a colour by choosing how much red, green, and blue are mixed together. You can only go up or down 8 at a time. It is in hexadecimal, which means it goes up to F instead of up to 9. F means 15.
- red+green+blue = white
- red+green = yellow
- two parts red, one part green = orange
- dark orange is brown, especially if you mix in a bit of blue
- red+blue = magenta (pinkish purple)
- two parts blue, one part red = purple
- two parts red, one part blue = hot pink
- green+blue = cyan (bright blue/green)
- two parts blue, one part green = light blue
- To make a colour paler, mix in a little bit of all the other colours
Clicking on the 'load / save' button will save the palette changes. Unless you are worried about a power failure, this is unnecessary, since they are saved automatically when you close. This button will have more features in the next version.
The palette will be saved whenever you close the editor window.
As mentioned above, after editing the palette, the palette might appear screwed up in the game until the game changes palettes. To fix that, you might need to save the game and then start the game again, or you might need to press start to pause or go to the menu, then press start again, or you might need to try moving your sprite to the far left side of the screen.
palette.xml
Once the emulator has created the palette.xml file (by playing a mono game), you can edit it manually to change the palettes. This might be quicker and easier than editing inside the emulator. It also lets you edit the default palette to something more suitable. And it lets you set some games to play in Black and White mode.
You can, and should, share your palette.xml with other users if you have made palettes for other games.
Game names in the palette.xml file are based on the ROM's internal name, not the filename. That means you only have to set the palette once even if you have several files for different regions. It also means you can use other people's xml files without worrying what they named their ROMs. If you need to know the game's internal name, you can check in VBA-M on the PC, or some websites will tell you, or you can just start editing the palette in the emulator and then it will be added to the XML file for you.
When 'use' is set to '1' that means that game will be in palette mode. When 'use' is set to '0', that means that game will always be in black and white mode.
Colours are specified in hexadecimal, in the format: 0xRRGGBB. FF is the brightest, 80 is half brightness, 00 is black. VBA-Wii only uses 15-bit colour, so the last digit will be rounded down to either 8 or 0. But if palette support is ported to other platforms, then they might not be rounded on those platforms.
Controls
In Menu
+ | Action | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
/ or | / | / | / or or | / or | Move through the Menu |
/ or | / | / | / or | / or | Page up / page down |
Select menu item, change setting | |||||
Swap between list box and buttons | |||||
Exit (main menu), return to game (game menu) |
Keyboard and mouse don't work in the menu yet, only in-game.
In Game (by default)
The controls can be changed in 'Controller Configuration' menu.
+ | Action | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
or | or | or | GBA DPad | |
A | ||||
B | ||||
L | ||||
R | ||||
SELECT | ||||
START | ||||
Left | Emulator menu | |||
Right | + | + | Right | Turbo Mode |
Up/Down | Up/Down | Zoom In/Out |
Match Wii Controls
Special Wii controls exist for many games. See link for more details.
Changelog
2.4.0 - April 13, 2019
- Fixed crash when used as wiiflow plugin
- Fixed crash on launch when using network shares
- Fixed issues with on-screen keyboard
- Updated Korean translation
2.3.9 - January 25, 2019
- Added ability to load external fonts and activated Japanese/Korean translations. Simply put the ko.ttf or jp.ttf in the app directory
- Added ability to customize background music. Simply put a bg_music.ogg in the app directory
- Added ability to change preview image source with + button (thanks Zalo!)
- Fixed issue with resetting motion controls
- Fixed issue with Mode 0 graphics transparency
2.3.8 - January 4, 2019
- Restored changes lost from 2.3.0 core upgrade (GameCube virtual memory, optimizations from dancinninjac, GB color palettes, rotation/tilt for Wario Ware Twisted, in-game rumble)
- Improved WiiFlow integration
- Fixed controllers with no analog sticks
- Added Wii U GamePad support (thanks Fix94!)
2.3.7 - August 28, 2018
- Allow loader to pass two arguments instead of three (libertyernie)
- don't reset settings when going back to an older version
- Fix a few potential crashes caused by the GUI
- ther minor fixes/improvements
- Compiled with latest libOGC/devkitPPC
2.3.6 - December 11, 2016
- Restored Wiiflow mode plugin by fix94
- Restored fix filebrowser window overlapping
- Change all files End Of Line to windows mode
- Remove update check for updates
2.3.5 - December 10, 2016
- Hide saving dialog that pops up briefly when returning from a game
2.3.4 - September 15, 2016
- Added the delete save file (SRAM / Snapshot) option
- Changed the box colors for the SRAM and Snapshots files to match the color scheme of the emu GUI
- Change the 'Power off Wii' exit option to completely turn off the wii, ignoring the WC24 settings
- Updated settings file name in order to have it's own settings file name
- Added an option to switch between screenshots, covers, or artwork images,with their respective named folders at the device's root. You can set which one to show, by going to Settings > Menu > Preview Image. The .PNG image file needs to have the same name as the ROM (e.g.: Mother 3.png)
- Removed sound from GUI (thanks to Askot)
- Added option to switch between the Green or Monochrome GB color screen. You can set which one to show by going to Settings > Emulation > GB Screen Palette
2.3.3 - June 25, 2016
- Fixed the GC pad Down input on the File browser window
- Added Koston's green gb color screen
- Added the Screenshot Button
- Increased and Centered the Screenshot image and reduce game list width
- Added a background for the preview image
- Added the WiiuPro Controller icon on the controller settings
- Fix DSI error / Bug from Emulator Main Menu
2.3.2 - March 4, 2015
- libertyernie
- Wii U: if widescreen is enabled in the Wii U setting, VBA GX will use a 16:9 aspect ratio, except while playing a game with fixed pixel mode turned on
- There are now three options for border in the emulation settings menu (see 'Super Game Boy borders' section for details)
- PNG borders now supported for GBA games
- Video mode 'PAL (50Hz)' renamed to 'PAL (576i)'
- Video mode 'PAL (60Hz)' renamed to 'European RGB (480i)'
- 240p support added (NTSC and European RGB modes)
- All video modes now use a width of 704 for the best pixel aspect ratio
2.3.1b - November 8, 2014
- Glitch
- Added FIX94's libwupc for WiiU Pro Controllers
- Added tueidj's vWii Widescreen Fix
2.3.1 - October 14, 2014
- libertyernie
- Super Game Boy border support
- Borders can be loaded from (and are automatically saved to) PNG files
- Any border loaded from the game itself will override the custom PNG border
- Custom palette support from 2.2.8 restored
- Option added to select Game Boy hardware (GB/SGB/GBC/auto)
- Fixed pixel ratio mode added
- Overrides zoom and aspect ratio settings
- To squish the picture so it appears correctly on a 16:9 TV, you can open the settings.xml file and add 10 to the gbFixed/gbaFixed value. However, setting your TV to 4:3 mode will yield a better picture.
- Real-time clock fixes for GB/GBC games, including Pokémon G/S/C
- RTC data in save file stored as little-endian
- Option added for UTC offset in the main menu (only required if you use the same SRAM on other, time-zone-aware platforms)
- New option for selecting 'sharp' or 'soft' filtering settings
- 'Sharp' was the default for 480p, 'soft' was the default for 480i
2.3.0 - September 10, 2014
- libertyernie
- VBA-M core updated to r1231
- Tiled rendering used for GBA games (new VBA-M feature, originally from RetroArch) - provides a major speed boost!
- Changes from cebolleto's version
- Screenshots can be displayed for each game on the menu
- Nicer 7-Zip support
- When you leave a folder, the folder you just left will be selected
- New options available:
- Disable the ' Auto' string being appended to save files
- Disable frameskip entirely on GBA
- Keyboard fixed (from libwiigui r56)
- GUI prompt is now purple instead of green (button colors more intuitive)
- Goomba and Goomba Color ROM support:
- Any Game Boy ROM stored within a Goomba ROM can be loaded 'natively' in the Game Boy (Color) emulator (or the Goomba ROM can be loaded as GBA)
- Game Boy SRAM stored within Goomba SRAM is loaded and saved correctly
2.2.8 - July 29, 2012
- Fixed lag with GameCube controllers
2.2.7 - July 7, 2012
- Fixed PAL support
2.2.6 - July 6, 2012
- Support for newer Wiimotes
- Fixed missing audio channel bug (eg: in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)
- Improved controller behavior - allow two directions to be pressed simultaneously
- Compiled with devkitPPC r26 and libogc 1.8.11
2.2.5 - May 15, 2011
- Added Turkish translation
2.2.4 - March 23, 2011
- Fixed browser regressions with stability and speed
2.2.3 - March 19, 2011
- Improved USB and controller compatibility (recompiled with latest libogc)
- Enabled SMB on GameCube (thanks Extrems!)
- Added Catalan translation
- Translation updates
2.2.2 - October 7, 2010
- Fixed 'blank listing' issue for SMB
- Improved USB compatibility and speed
- Added Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese translations
- Channel updated (improved USB compatibility)
- Other minor changes
2.2.1 - August 14, 2010
- IOS 202 support removed
- USB 2.0 support via IOS 58 added - requires that IOS58 be pre-installed
- DVD support via AHBPROT - requires latest HBC
2.2.0 - July 22, 2010
- Fixed broken auto-update
2.1.9 - July 20, 2010
- Reverted USB2 changes
2.1.8 - July 14, 2010
- Ability to use both USB ports (requires updated IOS 202 - WARNING: older versions of IOS 202 are NO LONGER supported)
- Hide non-ROM files
- Other minor improvements
2.1.7 - June 20, 2010
- USB improvements
- GameCube improvements - audio, SD Gecko, show thumbnails for saves
- Other minor changes
2.1.6 - May 19, 2010
- DVD support fixed
- Fixed some potential hangs when returning to menu
- Video/audio code changes
- Fixed scrolling text bug
- Other minor changes
2.1.5 - April 9, 2010
![Visual Visual](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125497889/994589636.png)
- Fix auto-save bug
2.1.4 - April 9, 2010
- Fixed issue with saves (GBA) and snapshots (GB)
- Most 3rd party controllers should work now (you're welcome!)
- Translation updates (German and Dutch)
- Other minor changes
2.1.3 - March 30, 2010
- Fixed ROM allocation. Should solve some unexplained crashes
- Numerous performance optimizations (thanks dancinninja!)
- DVD / USB 2.0 support via IOS 202. DVDx support has been dropped. It is highly recommended to install IOS 202 via the included installer
- Multi-language support (only French translation is fully complete)
- Thank you to everyone who submitted translations
- SMB improvements/bug fixes
- Minor video & input performance optimizations
- Disabling rumble now also disables in-game rumbling
- Fixed saving of GB screen position adjustment
2.1.2 - December 23, 2009
- Numerous core optimizations (thanks dancinninjac!)
- File browser now scrolls down to the last game when returning to browser
- Auto update for those using USB now works
- Fixed scrollbar up/down buttons
- Minor optimizations
2.1.1 - December 7, 2009
- Save state corruption issues fixed
2.1.0 - December 2, 2009
- Fixed SMB (for real this time!)
2.0.9 - November 30, 2009
- Fixed SMB
- Added separate horizontal/vertical zoom options, and separate GB/GBA ones
- Improved scrolling timing - the more you scroll, the fast it goes
- Fixed reset button on Wii console - now you can reset multiple times
- APU optimization (dancinninjac)
- Minor code optimizations
- Reduce memory fragmentation - fixes out of memory crashes
2.0.8 - October 7, 2009
- Revamped filebrowser and file I/O
- Fixed MBC2 saving/loading
- Fixed some GB-Z80 instructions
- DVD loading in GameCube should work now (untested and unsupported)
- Many, many other bug fixes
2.0.7 - September 16, 2009
- Text rendering corrections
- SMB improvements
- Built with latest libraries
- Video mode switching now works properly
- Other minor bugfixes and cleanup
2.0.6 - July 22, 2009
- Fixed 'No game saves found.' message when there are actually saves.
- Fixed shift key on keyboard
- Text scrolling works again
- Change default prompt window selection to 'Cancel' button
2.0.5 - July 9, 2009
- Faster SMB/USB browsing
- Last browsed folder is now remembered
- Fixed controller mapping reset button
- Fixed no sound on GameCube version
- Directory names are no longer altered
- Preferences now only saved on exit
- Fixed on-screen keyboard glitches
- SRAM auto-saved on power-off from within a game
- Prevent 7z lockups, better 7z error messages
2.0.4 - June 30, 2009
- Fixed auto-update
- Increased file browser listing to 10 entries, decreased font size
- Added text scrolling on file browser
- Added reset button for controller mappings
- Settings are now loaded from USB when loading the app from USB on HBC
- Fixed menu crashes caused by ogg player bugs
- Fixed memory card saving verification bug
- Fixed game savebrowser bugs
- Miscellaneous code cleanup/corrections
2.0.3 - May 30, 2009
- Fixed SD/USB corruption bug
- SMB works again
- GUI bugs fixed, GUI behavioral improvements
- GB Palette editing
- More built-in palettes
- Palettes now fade to white correctly instead of getting brighter
- Can now turn off palette colorizing
- Workaround for palette issue on Mega Man I GB - palette disabled
- Star Wars, TMNT, Lord Of The Rings, Castlevania Wii Controls
- Fix for WarioWare startup - Nunchuk C button or Wii Remote B button will now make calibration easy by locking the gyroscope.
- Fixed issues with constant rumbling
2.0.2 - May 26, 2009
- Improved stability
- Fixed broken SDHC from HBC 1.0.2 update
- Fixed issues with returning to menu from in-game
- Add option to disable rumble
- Auto-determines if HBC is present - returns to Wii menu otherwise
- Unfiltered mode fixed
- Miscellaneous bugfixes
2.0.1 - April 30, 2009
- Multiple state saves now working
- Built with more stable libogc/libfat
- Fixed settings saving glitches
- Fixed Mortal Kombat GameCube controller bug
- Fixed Zelda DX palette bug
- Fixed Harry Potter 1-3 keyboard bug
2.0.0 - April 27, 2009
- New GX-based menu, with a completely redesigned layout. Has Wiimote IR support, sounds, graphics, animation effects, and more
- Thanks to the3seashells for designing some top-notch artwork, to Peter de Man for composing the music, and a special thanks to shagkur for fixing libogc bugs that would have otherwise prevented the release
- Onscreen keyboard for changing save/load folders and network settings
- Menu configuration options (configurable exit button, wiimote orientation, volumes)
- New save manager, allowing multiple saves and save browsing. Shows screenshots for Snapshot saves, and save dates/times
- Added video shifting option
- Added video mode selection (recommended to leave on Automatic)
- ROM filenames are now displayed shortened by removing unnecessary characters from name
- USB Mouse support (buttons only)
- Keyboard shift key bug fixed
- Built-in 14 colour palettes for some monochrome gameboy games (Magnetic Soccer, Malibu Beach Volleyball, Marble Madness, Metroid 2, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Mr. Do!)
- Rumble works in GBC games designed for rumble cartridges but shipped without rumble cartridges, such as Disney's Tarzan for GBC
- Improved Mortal Kombat Wii Controls
- Mortal Kombat games now have many extra characters to choose
- Wii Controls for more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games
- Improved Lego Star Wars controls
- Boktai menu now tells you when there can't be sun because it is night
- Zelda cheat button removed
- Minor bug fixes
1.0.9 - April 7, 2009
- Gamecube controller should no longer rumble constantly
1.0.8 - April 6, 2009
- 'Match Wii Game' controls option! Games that have a Wii equivalent can be played using the controls for that Wii game. For example all Zelda games can be played with Twilight Princess controls.
- Rotation/Tilt sensor games all work
- Solar sensors (Boktai 1/2/3)
- Rumble (except for games that rely on Gameboy Player)
- Keyboard
- PAL support, finally!
- New scaling options, choose how much stretching you want
- Colourised games now partially work but still have distortion
- 'Corvette' no longer has a screwed up palette (but still crashes)
- Triggers net reconnection on SMB failure
- Source code refactored, and project file added
1.0.7 - January 27, 2009
- Updated to VBA-M r847
- Corrected sound interpolation
- Faster SD/USB - new read-ahead cache
- Removed trigger of back to menu for Classic Controller right joystick
- Fixed a bug with reading files < 2048 bytes
- Fixed GBA games on GameCube
- Fixed homebrew GBA games on GameCube
- Fixed some memory leaks, buffer overflows, etc
- Code cleanup, other general bugfixes
1.0.6 - December 24, 2008
- Fixed save state saving bug
- Fixed unstable SD card access
- Proper SD/USB hotswap (Wii only)
- Auto-update feature (Wii only)
- Rewritten SMB access - speed boost, NTLM now supported (Wii only)
- Improved file access code
- Resetting preferences now resets controls
- Minor bug fixes
1.0.5 - November 19, 2008
- SDHC works now
- Frameskipping tweaks
- Fixed snapshot loading issue
- Full widescreen support
- Changed scaling
- Zooming fixed (thanks eke-eke!)
- PAL timing changes - EURGB60 mode forced
- Wii - Added console/remote power button support
- Wii - Added reset button support (resets game)
- Wii - Settings file is now named settings.xml and is stored in the same folder as the DOL (eg: /apps/vbagx/settings.xml)
- GameCube - Added DVD motor off option
- GameCube - Fixed GBA loading issue
1.0.4 - October 28, 2008
- Complete port of VBA-M - now uses blaarg's new audio core, latest GB core
- Frameskipping improvements
- Sound processing improved - L-R channel reversal corrected, skipping fixed
- Saving problems fixed, game compatibility improved
- IPS/UPS/PPF patch support
- SD/USB hot-swapping!
- SDHC support
- Zoom setting saved
- Widescreen correction option
- GameCube support is back, including Qoob support!
1.0.3 - October 15, 2008
- New timing / frameskip algorithm - should (hopefully) work 100% better!
- Performance improvements - video threading, PPC core partly activated
- Video zooming option
- Unfiltered video option
- 7z support
- Loading progress bars added
1.0.2 - October 6, 2008
- New core! The core is now a custom combination of VBA-M and VBA 1.72
- Added DVD, SMB, ZIP, GameCube MC support
- Faster USB/SD speeds
- Screen alignment and flickering problems fixed
- 128K save support added
- Better emulation speeds. Should now be nearly full speed all the time for most games.
- Turbo speed feature. Mapped to right C-stick (classic controller & Gamecube controller), and A+B for wiimote
- Controller mapping preferences bug fixed. Your preferences will reset automatically to correct any problems in your preferences file
- Many other tweaks behind the scenes
1.0.1 - September 18, 2008
- GBA games now run at full speed
- Menu improvements, with spiffy new background - thanks brakken!
- Fixed L/R buttons - they work now
1.0.0 - September 16, 2008
- Now compiles with devkitpro r15
- One makefile to make all versions
- Complete rewrite based on code from SNES9x GX
- Now has a menu! ROM selector, preferences, controller mapping, etc
- Wiimote, Nunchuk, and Classic controller support
- Button mapping for all controller types
- Full support for SD and USB
- Load/save preference selector. ROMs, saves, and preferences are saved/loaded according to these
- 'Auto' settings for save/load - attempts to automatically determine your load/save device(s) - SD, USB
- Preferences are loaded and saved in XML format. You can open VBAGX.xml edit all settings, including some not available within the program
Retrieved from 'https://wiibrew.org/w/index.php?title=Visual_Boy_Advance_GX&oldid=107610'
As the first major handheld console and a gem of the Nintendo brand, Gameboy pushed out some incredibly cool and classic video games, such as Super Mario, Mega Man, Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon, which are just a few major series that made the transition to this platform (or even started there).
Tim did a great articleClassic Handheld Consoles: Emulate 7 Retro Portables With These Top EmulatorsClassic Handheld Consoles: Emulate 7 Retro Portables With These Top EmulatorsIn the late 80's, video gaming was gaining in popularity with the release of highly successful consoles from companies like Nintendo, Atari and Sega. Once technology had improved (and shrunk considerably) portable games consoles were...Read More last year reviewing some of the best emulators for handheld consoles, but of that group I think that VisualBoyAdvance really shines. It’s on par with other great Nintendo emulators, like ZSNESEmulating & Playing Classic SNES Games On The PC With ZSNESEmulating & Playing Classic SNES Games On The PC With ZSNESIn my opinion, the Super Nintendo was the greatest gaming console that ever existed. Boasting titles like Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, EarthBound, Final Fantasy III, Super...Read More (for the SNES) and NestopiaEmulating & Playing Classic NES Games On Your Computer With NestopiaEmulating & Playing Classic NES Games On Your Computer With NestopiaOh, the NES. As an '89 baby, there wasn't a larger part of my childhood than this gaming console. Before school, after school, and on weekends you would find me attached to this thing. With...Read More (for the NES). That being said, I feel that this emulator deserves its own post outlining specific features and usage, and that’s what I’m here to give you!
VisualBoyAdvance
Version 1.7.2 of VBA (as I’ll abbreviate it from here on) is available as a binary for Windows. It works on all modern versions of the OS, 32 or 64-bit. Translations, documentation, SDL configurators, and more goodies are all available for download on the official website.
The archived download is less than 600 KB in size. Simply extract the files to a folder of your choice. VBA is completely portable and will work just fine from a flash drive.
Configuring VisualBoyAdvance
Configuring VBA isn’t nearly as hard as setting up your preferences are for most other emulators. All configurable options can be accessed through menus underneath the Options menu header.
In the above screenshot, you can see an example of what I mean with the Video options. Here, you can turn in vertical sync or use an aspect zoom. You can see that I’ve got it set to double the original window size.
The Emulator options also have a few important things you can tweak.
In this menu, you’re able to associate certain filenames with the emulator and set default ROM directories. I’d recommend leaving the Synchronize option checked for the best experience. Near the bottom of this menu, you can select the format of in-game screenshots.
VBA also supports filters! Nothing like scanlines or fuzz to really make your emulation experience more nostalgic.
Loading ROMs
VBA has a fairly unique way of handling ROMs. VBA actually supports the original Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance games. As VisualBoyAdvance, this version originally was coded to support only Gameboy Advance games. Support for Gameboy and Gameboy Color is still built into the emulator, though.
It’s very simple and straightforward. Select Open… for Gameboy Advance ROMs and Open Gameboy… for original Gameboy and Gameboy Color ROMs.
Saving States
Saving your state is very simple with VBA.
Each game is allocated up to 10 slots. You can save to these slots by the shown hotkeys or by accessing this menu. Saving to your oldest slot will obviously overwrite your oldest save file.
Now what are you waiting on? The Gameboy brought us some of the coolest games in our palm and the Gameboy Advance is one of the most underappreciated handhelds ever (in my opinion). Let me know what you think of these consoles and the VisualBoyAdvance emulator in the comments!
Explore more about: Emulation, Retro Gaming.
- I waste hours of my life in front of a pc playing pokemon on Visual Boy, I could save anywhere. Ohh the memories...
- VBA has been out for a LONG time, but it still is the best gba emulator out there!
- Great article. I used to play this ALL the time at school. I just wanted to point out that it IS illegal to download Nintendo roms from the internet to play, unless you already own a hard copy of it. You probably won't get caught, but just wanted to let you know.here is a better explanation: http://www.examiner.com/article/the-legal-emulator-how-to-play-games-for-free-without-breaking-the-law
- Love Game Boy games, even with emulation.
- GBA, what an old friend of mine... :3
- WOW - really, VBA? that one is old news... you now emulate gameboy, gameboy color, gameboy advance, and the DS, as well NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, just about everything ever SEGA, psx/ps1, and ps2 - and with bluetooth, and usb being what it is you can pretty much turn a strong i7 gaming machine into a universal console for everything but xbox/xbox360, and ps3 (as of Dec 2012) xbox emulation rather failed due a majority of games simultaneously being released on PC, the 360 and ps3 are too new to have been reverse engineered to this degree - current computers arent yet strong enough to handle an OS, several background apps and the emulated console/game... But to anyone interested in this, do your homework, there are alot of open licence home made (homebrew) titles for virtually every system. your favorite search engine should lead the way to any consoles emulator!
- VBA has been around for a long time. I used it since I was still in primary school:)
I think it's most people's first encounter with emulator. - I dunno about the others but for me NO$GBA has been the go-to application for playing GBA games and even some NDS games.
- OMG!!! You put me back to the 2002-2004, when I used to play SNES and GBA on my computer. In my case with a Barbie joystick, because it was cheaper and Serial Plug instead of USB.I love the Way saving and loading several times the Status, just to end the games... <3
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