Application:VBA

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VisualBoyAdvance

VisualBoyAdvance (commonly abbreviated as VBA) is an emulator of the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo.

Credit

Ported by Will Dietz Jan 2010.
Thanks to #webos-internals for their feedback throughout testing!

License

All source is under the GPLv2 license. The original source code is available here
And the latest VBA for webOS source is available on git here

Lots of work has gone into making this a great game for you to enjoy! If you like it please consider donating

Screenshots/Videos

No Screenshots Yet!(fbcat doesn't grab opengles apps apparently?)

YouTube Videos of VBA(1.0.1):
Mario Kart Advance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdCZs3SU_Nc
Metroid Fusion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nZKduqLcC8
Zelda DX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE8SbBLbqHI
Pokemon Crystal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-312zgBPpyI
Super Mario Land 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ9s_57jGTM

Controls

To select a rom, just tap on it in the rom selector.
Note that if you have more roms than fit on the screen, simply scroll to them.

These are the current controls (while playing):
WASD --Up/left/down/right.
K --B
L--A
Q--L
P--R
enter--start
space--select
@--turbo
orange+s (minus)--toggle displaying emulation speed orange+L (quote)--change scaling filter
orange+@ (zero)--change orientation
. (period)--snapshot
t -- start/select/a/b all at once
* (orange+z/asterisk *orange+y for german qwertz Pre) --toggle sound for speed (particularly GBA)

Feature Requests/TODO

Here's a list of feature requests I'm aware of and/or things I plan to do.

  • Use type:game instead of upstart launcher.
  • ALSA instead of pulseaudio
  • Add ability to customize controls
  • Add on-screen controls
    • Portrait: controls can go off the screen (below, move image up)
    • Landscape: if you can resolve the alpha blending performance issues, make that happen!
  • Zip rom support
  • "Go back to rom chooser" menu
  • save state support
  • Create /save folder for .sav files (battery-backed RAM save info), instead of placing .sav in the /roms folder
  • More Scaling options, particularly 1:1 (no scaling)
  • Better performance on GBA!!
    • See iphone/GP2X ports and their ARM optimizations! (dynarec?)

Known issues

  • Poor performance in GBA. Try disabling sound (press '*'/orange+z)
  • Audio doesn't seem to be fully disabled (you won't hear anything, but Pulseaudio is still doing a little work)
  • Occasionally crashes when minimized
  • Notifications always appear as if in landscape

Changelog

  • 1.0.3 Added toggle for displaying emulation speed to help compatability reports
  • 1.0.2 Small metadata fix.
  • 1.0.1 Small performance boost, public release!
  • 1.0.0 Initial release (testing feed). Reimplemented rendering engine, rom selector.


Compatibility List

This is a list of games and how well they run. PLEASE include a version number (on rom selector) when adding entries! To see the emulation speed percentage, hit orange+s while playing (as of 1.0.3).

Gameboy/Gameboy Color

All GB/GBC Games should be compatible (99,9%) at 100% Speed, please just report those NOT working.

Title Works Version Notes
Legend of Zelda Oracle of Ages YES 1.0.0
Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons YES 1.0.0
Zelda DX YES 1.0.0
Bugs Bunny and Lolla Bunny: Operation Carrots YES 1.0.3
The Lion King: SImba's Mighty Adventure YES 1.0.3

Gameboy Advance

Title Speed VBA Version Notes
Sound No Sound
Advance Wars 48% 68% 1.0.3 Very Playable without Sound!
Fire Emblem 60% 80-100% 1.0.3 Extremely Playable without Sound! Very playable if you disable music in options.
F-Zero - GP Legend 43% 55% 1.0.3
Harvest Moon - Friends of Mineral Town 60% 95% 1.0.3
Iridion II 43% 57% 1.0.3
Kuru Kuru Kururin 40% 65% 1.0.3
Mario & Luigi - Superstar Saga 65-70% 80-100% 1.0.3 Menu 100% with Sound ;), ingame mostly fullspeed without.
Mario Kart - Super Circuit 44% 64% 1.0.3 Time Trial without Sound is almost Fullspeed (95%)!
Metal Slug Advance 48% 68% 1.0.3
Metroid Fusion 68% 92% 1.0.3
Mortal Kombat Advance 50% 70% 1.0.3 Playable without sound
Ninja Five-0 57% 90% 1.0.3 Runs very good without Sound
PocketNES - NES Emulator 60% 80% 1.0.3
Pokemon - Fire Red 47% 64% 1.0.3 A little slow to actually play, but bearable I guess
Pokemon - Leaf Green 46% 63% 1.0.3 Error Loading Savegame, but still works.
Rayman Advance 53% 75% 1.0.3 Without sound very playable!
R-Type 3 70% 90-100% 1.0.3
SMA2 - Super Mario World 45% 62% 1.0.3
SMA3 - Yoshi's Island 43% 58% 1.0.3
SMA4 - Mario Bros. 3 51% 72% 1.0.3 Takes a bit time to Load.
Sonic Advance 1 60% 85% 1.0.3
Sonic Advance 2 55% 80% 1.0.3
Sonic Advance 3 49% 72% 1.0.3 to slow for sonic
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts 48% 69% 1.0.3
V-Rally 3 37% 48% 1.0.3
Wario Land 4 60% 85% 1.0.3
Wario Ware Inc. 60% 70-80% 1.0.3
Zelda - A Link to the Past 45% 62% 1.0.3 Slow but Playable!
Zelda - The Minish Cap 50% 85% 1.0.3
Zooo 55% 90% 1.0.3