Game Boy
The Game Boy was released by Nintendo in 1989 thus kicking off the era of handheld gaming and Pokemon.
| Emulator | Rom Folder | Extension | BIOS | Controller Config |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lr-gambatte | gb | .7z .gb .zip | gb_bios.bin (optional) | /opt/retropie/configs/gb/retroarch.cfg |
| lr-tgbdual | gb | .7z .gb .zip | none | /opt/retropie/configs/gb/retroarch.cfg |
| lr-mgba | gb | .7z .gb .zip | gb_bios.bin (optional), sgb_bios.bin (optional) | /opt/retropie/configs/gb/retroarch.cfg |
Emulators: lr-gambatte, lr-tgbdual, lr-mgba
lr-gambatte is the preferred single-player emulator, while lr-tgbdual runs two instances of the same game for either two-player link cable games or parallel play on the same system. lr-gambatte supports playing link cable games over network (not to be mixed up with netplay).
lr-mgba is a modern emulator that aims to be fast and accurate, supports local cable games, external BIOS, Super Game Boy emulation, among many other features. It also emulates [[Game Boy Color]] and [[Game Boy Advance]].
ROMS
Accepted File Extensions: .7z .gb .zip
Place your Game Boy ROMs in
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gb
BIOS
lr-gambatte can load external BIOS for Game Boy (gb_bios.bin).
lr-mgba can load external BIOS for Game Boy (gb_bios.bin) and Super Game Boy (sgb_bios.bin).
Place these BIOS in
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS
The correct MD5 for gb_bios.bin is 32fbbd84168d3482956eb3c5051637f5and for sgb_bios.bin is d574d4f9c12f305074798f54c091a8b4
Controls
All the emulators utilise Retroarch configurations
Add custom retroarch controls to the retroarch.cfg file in
/opt/retropie/configs/gb/retroarch.cfg
Syncing Save Games
For games which can share save games, such as Pokemon Blue and Pokemon Red, it is possible to link one save to the other.
This procedure assumes you have one save game. If you've played both games, you'll need to delete one save, it's not possible to combine both after you've played them.
Get to the command line with F4 or SSH, change directory to the Game Boy folder, and look at the save files:
cd RetroPie/roms/gb
ls *.srm
You should see your existing save game, for example:
Pokemon Blue.srm
If you have two save files, such as:
Pokemon Blue.srm
Pokemon Red.srm
Then delete the one you don't want to keep:
rm Pokemon Red.srm
Now create an "imaginary" save for the other game by creating a symbolic link.
ln -s "Pokemon Blue.srm" "Pokemon Red.srm"
The above example takes an existing Blue save and makes an imaginary Red save.
Changing colour palette
Change the Core Option for GB Colorization to Internal and then change *Internal Palette to your preference. See Setting Core Options.
Custom Palettes
You may also add custom palettes by adding your new .pal file to
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/palettes
You can define different palettes for specific games by creating a .pal file in the "palettes" folder with "INTERNALROMNAME.pal" or "rom-name.pal". If no specific palette is found for a ROM then the default palette is used.
Two-player link cable games
Using lr-tgbdual
To play two-player link cable games with lr-tgbdual, turn on the Link cable emulation option from the Core Options and restart the game. Two synced game screens will be displayed side-by-side by default. Player one is able to control the left screen, while player two controls the right, but the screens can be switched using the Screen layout core option.
The above configuration will enable playing the same game using link cable emulation, but if two different games need to be linked, the process is a bit more involved and it involves setting up the games through the Subsystems RetroArch menu. Here's a rundown of the steps needed:
- Start a Gameboy game using lr-tgbdual (doesn't have to be one of the games linked). Make sure the Link cable emulation core option is enabled and the ROM files for the games to be linked are not zipped
- Open the RetroArch menu and then press back (mapped to the B button) to access the main menu
- Open the Subsystems menu and then choose Load 2 Player Game Boy Link *. A file browser menu will open to choose the 1st game ROM file
- Open again the Susystems menu and choose Load 2 Player Game Boy Link *. A file browser menu will open to choose the 2nd game ROM file
- Open a 3rd time the Subsystems menu and choose the Start 2 Player Game Boy Link * option. This will start restart the core with the 2 ROM files loaded side-by-side with link cable emulation enabled
Using lr-gambatte
To play two-player link cable games with lr-gambatte, two RetroPie systems in the same network are needed. Change the following Core Options to the values below (see Setting Core Options):
System 1 (Server, e.g. 192.168.0.1):
| Core Option | Value |
|---|---|
| gambatte_gb_link_mode | Network Server |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_port | 56400 |
System 2 (Client):
| Core Option | Value |
|---|---|
| gambatte_gb_link_mode | Network Client |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_port | 56400 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_1 | 1 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_2 | 9 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_3 | 2 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_4 | 1 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_5 | 6 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_6 | 8 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_7 | 0 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_8 | 0 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_9 | 0 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_10 | 0 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_11 | 0 |
| gambatte_gb_link_network_server_ip_12 | 1 |
For older versions of lr-gambatte use this config parameters:
System 1 (Server, e.g. 192.168.0.1):
| Core Option | Value |
|---|---|
| Link Mode | Network Server |
| Network Port | 56400 |
| Network Server IP Octet1 | 0 |
| Network Server IP Octet2 | 0 |
| Network Server IP Octet3 | 0 |
| Network Server IP Octet4 | 0 |
System 2 (Client):
| Core Option | Value |
|---|---|
| Link Mode | Network Client |
| Network Port | 56400 |
| Network Server IP Octet1 | 192 |
| Network Server IP Octet2 | 168 |
| Network Server IP Octet3 | 0 |
| Network Server IP Octet4 | 1 |
To begin the network game first start the game on system 1 and then join system 2.