Skip to content

Game Boy Advance


gba


The Game Boy Advance is a 32 bit handheld video game console released by Nintendo in 2001.


Emulator Rom Folder Extension BIOS Controller Config
lr-mgba gba .7z .gba .zip gba_bios.bin (optional) gb_bios.bin (optional) gbc_bios.bin (optional) sgb_bios.bin (optional) /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg
lr-vba-next gba .7z .gba .zip gba_bios.bin (optional) /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg
lr-gpsp gba .7z .gba .zip gba_bios.bin /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg
gpSP gba .gba .zip gba_bios.bin /opt/retropie/emulators/gpsp/gpsp.cfg

Emulators: lr-mgba, lr-vba-next, lr-gpsp, gpSP

lr-mgba is a modern emulator that aims to be fast and accurate, supports local cable games, external BIOS, Super Game Boy palette and border, and many other features. It also emulates Game Boy and Game Boy Color. This is the advised emulator for the RPi3B/RPi3B+.

lr-vba-next is a faster yet less accurate emulator possibly useful for those on a RPi2B: it is not available on the RPi0 or RPi1.

lr-gpsp is the default emulator for the RPi0 and RPi1: expect inaccurate emulation. It runs most games full speed on the RPi0, but doesn't run all games full speed, and some games may not even be playable.

gpSP is advised for general full speed emulation on the RPi1 and for problematic titles on the RPi0. It may require manual controller reconfiguration, but outside of that has a user-friendly Select+Start exit combination and a Select+R combination to access the built-in menu enabled by default.

Netplay

Sadly, netplay is not supported on link cable games.

ROMS

Accepted File Extensions: .7z .gba .zip

Place your Game Boy Advance ROMS in

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba

BIOS

Only lr-gpsp and gpSP require the gba_bios.bin.

Additional BIOS are used by lr-mgba and are optional.

In order for a BIOS to be used in emulators where they are optional, the "Use bios if available" core option must be set to "On". See Setting Core Options.

Place BIOS in

/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS

Recognized Name No-Intro Name CRC32 MD5
gba_bios.bin [BIOS] Game Boy Advance (World).gba 81977335 a860e8c0b6d573d191e4ec7db1b1e4f6
gb_bios.bin [BIOS] Nintendo Game Boy Boot ROM (World) (Rev 1).gb 59C8598E 32FBBD84168D3482956EB3C5051637F5
gbc_bios.bin [BIOS] Nintendo Game Boy Color Boot ROM (World).gbc 41884E46 DBFCE9DB9DEAA2567F6A84FDE55F9680
sgb_bios.bin SGB-CPU (World) (Enhancement Chip).bin EC8A83B9 D574D4F9C12F305074798F54C091A8B4

Controls

There are two ways to configure your Game Boy Advance controls depending on the emulator.

lr-mgba, lr-vba-next, lr-gpsp

lr-mgba, lr-vba-next, lr-gpsp utilise Retroarch configurations

Add custom retroarch controls to the retroarch.cfg file in

/opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg
For more information on custom RetroArch controls see: RetroArch Configuration

nintendo_gameboyadvance_diagram

gpSP

To configure your controls for gpSP, once you are in a game you can press F10 to access the menu

if you want your settings to be saved you need to select quit from the F10 menu instead of pressing esc on the keyboard

For Gamepad: Navigate to configure gamepad input and modify the controls to fit your preferences.

Example Gamepad Controls

D-pad up: asix Y-
D-pad down: asix Y+
D-pad left: asix X-
D-pad right: asix X+
A: Button 1
B: Button 2
Left Trigger: Button 5
Right Trigger: Button 6
Start: Button 3
Select: Button 4

Menu Hotkey: yes  (this means if you hold select+right trigger it will open the menu- but it is mapped to whichever buttons you configure for select and right trigger above)
For Keyboard: Navigate to configure keyboard input and modify the controls to fit your preferences.

Example Keyboard Controls

D-pad up: Up
D-pad down: Down
D-pad left: Left
D-pad right: Right
A: Z
B: X
Left Trigger: A
Right Trigger: S
Start: Return
Select: Backspace

Video Tutorial:

Back to top