With the release of vba this emulator is now officially discontinued!

Many many thanks to everyone that helped!


I ported the gameboy advance emulator gdkGBA (originally made by gdkchan) to the nintendo switch! (Works on all versions as far as I know)

To set up I strongly recommend putting the original gba_bios.bin in sd:/switch/gba_bios.bin!
After that put the roms into sd:/switch/roms/ and start the homebrew.

As soon as retroarch gets updated for 5.0 this will instantly become obsolete!

source (you need the sdl2-libraries from the devkit-pro pacman to build this)

Known issues:
Sound is a bit weird (it seems like sometimes the wrong instruments play)
Some games seem to crash the switch after a while. (mostly fixed in v8)
Sometimes the switch likes to crash even in games that normally run pretty stable :/ (fixed in v8 I think)
Some games have graphical glitches/don't work at all
Saving doesn't work on some games. If that happens please don't hesitate to tell me and for now you can set (buggy) savestates using plus+r and load them using plus+l.

Please update to the latest version before reporting Problems!

Game compatibility list

UPDATE:
Sound now much better now! Many thanks to @renhei for the fix!
UPDATE2:
Changed rompath from sd:/switch/roms to sd:/switch/roms/gba in order to avoid confusion with the gbc emulator. Also double joycons now work in unattached mode!
UPDATE3:
Merged gdkchans changes to the ppu. Some games that had problems with artifacts on screen (I tried harvest moon) now look much better! However this is apparently causing trouble in some games so I also attached v2.
UPDATE4:
Added proper in-gaming-saving support! The old buggy savestate-feature is now read-only (so that you can move your progress to the new save-files). I recommend removing the old .savegame-file after making sure the new, better in-game-saving works correctly in order to make sure that you don't accidentally load it
Many thanks to @gdkchan for fixing some underlying issues with the in-game-saves of this emulator!
Also I added support for the original gba_bios.bin:
If you want to use it (which I strongly recommend since the open-source-one that's bundled is causing trouble with some games) put it into sd:/switch/gba_bios.bin
UPDATE5:
In game saving should now actually work in most games! Many thanks to @gdkchan for explaining to me how the gba handles saves!
UPDATE6:
Recompiled everything with latest libnx. Hopefully fewer crashes now.
UPDATE7:
Savestate feature is back. Please only use if the savegames fail as it is known to sometimes cause issues!
UPDATE8:
Updated libnx (again) and made a few small fixes. If you're experiencing fewer/more crashes please don't hesitate to tell me
UPDATE8.5 (Experimental only):
Pushed the new graphics-fixes from @gdkchan. Please only use them if you're experiencing graphical glitches since they introduce a large slowdown in some games.
UPDATE8.6 (Experimental only):
Pushed @gdkchans new fixes+optimisations. The experimental version should now run a bit faster!
UPDATE9:
Saving should now be more reliable again (makes the save-feature work as it did in v7 again).

 

[OkazakiTheOtaku]

Hi! Where should I put the bios file and where do I get this file? Thank you.

We're not allowed to tell you how to get the BIOS file, as per GBATemp's rule on copyrighted material. But when you get it, it goes in SD:/switch/

 

[ManguitoZ]

We're not allowed to tell you how to get the BIOS file, as per GBATemp's rule on copyrighted material. But when you get it, it goes in SD:/switch/

Thanks.

 

[jakibaki]

UPDATE7:
As the savegame-feature is not as stable as I'd hoped yet I readded the savestate feature (in addition to the savegame-feature).
Please only use savestates if the in-game-saves don't work since they are known to cause some issues.

 

[willhack]

Thanks for all the great work. Was wondering if the sounds has improve since update 1? I know it got alot better but it was still laggy at some point

 

[l30np_]

keep getting "failed to open dir"
got the roms saved in switch/roms/gba
(attached screenshot may help)

Thanks for helping me out :3



Update: tried every version of it, still the same.
maybe it´s the data format of the roms ? (.zip´s instead of .gba´s)

 

[jsan]

Minish Cup playable for me as well in v6, sound it's a bit chopy though. Thanks to @jakibaki for the good work!

 

[KuraudoSutoraifu]

First of all, thanks for the amazing work @jakibaki. I was pretty bummed out to find out RetroArch wasn't working on 5.0 (yet), so this is just awesome!
I do have one request and I know this probably isn't very high on the list of priorities, but I'd love to be able to turn off screen smoothing.

 

[Madman55]

So OP, I made this account just to pitch an idea to you. Could you possibly add a way to get back to rom select menu besides hitting home and relaunching the app? Maybe by hitting the Minus button and the L trigger. Would make things a bit smoother down the road for testing games. I'm in the process of testing lots of games and making a small list of what works for the people who want. Keep up the awesome work!

 

[RichKK]

keep getting "failed to open dir"
got the roms saved in switch/roms/gba

Thanks for helping me out :3



Update: tried every version of it, still the same.
maybe it´s the data format of the roms ? (.zip´s instead of .gba´s)

This is the correct folder you need, and my files are .gba format and all show up and run.

 

[Nyannurs]

This is the correct folder you need, and my files are .gba format and all show up and run.

i had the same issue. this fixed it, thanks

 

[Madman55]

Spent some time whipping this up. Anyone that wants to add details for games is welcome too I'm still working my way through this list so any help is welcomed )

If you could list any of these issues in a reply I will update the list so OP knows what issues are more serious across the emulator.

Odd Glitches/ Visual Bugs
Framerate drops
High number of crashes
Hanging screens (Game freezes on certain screens of game)
If in-game save works or if only savestate works

--------------------GAME LIST------------------------

Pokemon Ruby‎------Working, Minimum crashes, Saves
Pokemon Sapphire------Working, Minimum crashes, Saves
Pokemon Emerald------Working, Minimum crashes, Saves
Pokemon Fire Red------Working, Minimum crashes, Saves
Pokemon Leaf Green------Working, Minimum crashes, Saves
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Red Rescue Team
Super Mario Advance
Super Mario Advance 2 - Super Mario World------NOT WORKING, Game hangs on first loading screen
Super Mario Advance 3 - Yoshi's Island
Super Mario Advance 4 - Super Mario Bros 3------NOT WORKING, Game hangs on first loading screen
Classic Nes - Super Mario Bros.
Mario And Luigi Superstar Saga
Mario Kart - Super Circuit
Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania - Circle of the Moon
Castlevania - Harmony of Dissonance
Kirby - Nightmare in Dreamland------Working, Minimum crashes, Saves
Kirby And The Amazing Mirror------Working, Minimum crashes, Some framerate drops, Saves
Metroid - Fusion------Working,crashes sometimes, Some texture glitches, Saves
Metroid - Zero Mission
The Legend of Zelda - The Minish Cap
The Legend Of Zelda - A Link To The Past
Final Fantasy I & II - Dawn of Souls
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy IV Advance
Final Fantasy V Advance
Final Fantasy VI Advance
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones
Golden Sun
Golden Sun 2 - The Lost Age
Harvest Moon - Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon - More Friends of Mineral Town
Advance Wars
Advance Wars 2 - Black Hole Rising
Dragon Ball - Advanced Adventure
Dragon Ball Z - The Legacy Of Goku
Dragon Ball Z - The Legacy of Goku II
Dragon Ball Z - Buu's Fury
DragonBall Z - Supersonic Warriors------Working, Minimum crashes, Very few framerate drops, Saves
Dragon Ball GT - Transformation
MegaMan Zero
MegaMan Zero 4
MegaMan Battle Network
MegaMan Battle Network 6 - Cybeast Gregar
Yu-Gi-Oh! Ultimate Masters 2006
Yu-Gi-Oh! - The Eternal Duelist Soul
Yu-Gi-Oh! - The Sacred Cards
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Duel Academy
Sonic Advance
Sonic Advance 2
Sonic Advance 3
Kingdom Hearts - Chain of Memories
Sword of Mana
Metal Slug Advance
Mother 3 (J)
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Wario Land 4 (E)------Working, Minimum crashes, Some framerate drops, Saves
Grand Theft Auto Advance
Naruto Ninja Council 2
Crash Bandicoot - The Huge Adventure

 

[Nyannurs]

Spent some time whipping this up. Anyone that wants to add details for games is welcome too I'm still working my way through this list so any help is welcomed )

kirby & the amazing mirror has sound issues and framerate dips

 

[Madman55]

kirby & the amazing mirror has sound issues and framerate dips

Sound seems to be a emulator based issue from what I understand. Framerate drops is good to know though, I'll edit the list! Does the game save naturally or is it reliant on the save states? Does it crash more often then other games?

 

[Nyannurs]

Sound seems to be a emulator based issue from what I understand. Framerate drops is good to know though, I'll edit the list! Does the game save naturally or is it reliant on the save states? Does it crash more often then other games?

havent experienced crashes or anything, but i only played for like 5 minutes. the game relies on autosaves, so i cant really tell if it saves correctly or not

 

[xXxSwagnemitexXx]

The game play is great, but the sound needs some work, although when the sound is good, its really nice.

 

[Madman55]

havent experienced crashes or anything, but i only played for like 5 minutes. the game relies on autosaves, so i cant really tell if it saves correctly or not

Good to know If you try any other games let us know!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The game play is great, but the sound needs some work, although when the sound is good, its really nice.

Audio has improved over the days, OP is still hammering out the kinks. What games have you tried?

 

[xXxSwagnemitexXx]

Good to know If you try any other games let us know!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Audio has improved over the days, OP is still hammering out the kinks. What games have you tried?

i have tried kirby nightmare in dream land, kirby and the amazing mirror and zelda the minish cap (couldn't select a save file so i couldn't play that one)

 

[Madman55]

i have tried kirby nightmare in dream land, kirby and the amazing mirror and zelda the minish cap (couldn't select a save file so i couldn't play that one)

Did Nightmare in Dreamland play okay? Besides sound, any lag or crashes? Odd visual problems?

 

[xXxSwagnemitexXx]

Did Nightmare in Dreamland play okay? Besides sound, any lag or crashes? Odd visual problems?

it was all good except the glitchy music

 

[SimonMKWii]

Hi! Where should I put the bios file and where do I get this file? Thank you.

If you have a GBA, a softmodded Wii and a GBA-link cable, you can use this application to dump your BIOS:
https://github.com/FIX94/gba-link-cable-dumper
You can also dump your games with it!