Homebrew GBARunner2

[Rellzym]

You know there is GBARunner3, right?
I read some of this thread and im sure people know that.
Its actually really, REALLY good.
I found it on the DS Homebrew Discord were updated builds are posted. (From time to time. Most of the team are now working on the DS-Pico)

Yeah, I tried it too, it went white screen and that's it, I read somewhere that it was made to be used with twilight menu and I think my flashcard don't work with it, mine is an old as heck sdhc with ttmenu, I honestly thing it is a mangled version of another r4, I used to follow retrogamefan releases back in the day and I knew exactly "what it was" now I don't remember anything

 

[Nakamichi]

Yeah, I tried it too, it went white screen and that's it, I read somewhere that it was made to be used with twilight menu and I think my flashcard don't work with it, mine is an old as heck sdhc with ttmenu, I honestly thing it is a mangled version of another r4, I used to follow retrogamefan releases back in the day and I knew exactly "what it was" now I don't remember anything

i used mine with twilight menu.
it works amazingly well.
any game i threw at it, it just ran flawlessly, even mother 3.

 

[Rellzym]

i used mine with twilight menu.
it works amazingly well.
any game i threw at it, it just ran flawlessly, even mother 3.

Installed twilight menu and discovered that my gba bios was wrongly named and in the wrong folder, yet, even with all being correct, gbarunner2 and 3 freeze after bios screen, except games that doesn't need the bios (found out that pokemon fire red, leaf green and mystery dungeon doesn't need it to run), tried using ARM7 and 9 versions from inside the select menu on twilight and nothing worked, clearly the bios is being read but something else is crashing

 

[Nakamichi]

Installed twilight menu and discovered that my gba bios was wrongly named and in the wrong folder, yet, even with all being correct, gbarunner2 and 3 freeze after bios screen, except games that doesn't need the bios (found out that pokemon fire red, leaf green and mystery dungeon doesn't need it to run), tried using ARM7 and 9 versions from inside the select menu on twilight and nothing worked, clearly the bios is being read but something else is crashing

if it were all correct it wouldnt freeze.

 

[Rellzym]

if it were all correct it wouldnt freeze.

Would you mind sharing screenshots of your folder setup? It would be very helpful

 

[Nakamichi]

Would you mind sharing screenshots of your folder setup? It would be very helpful

here, i made this for you
Link:

that should be better than a few screenshots.

EDIT: uuuuurgh, it embeds that, makes it so hard to read.
here, lets try again:
pastebin DOT com/tWN0TMfV

 

[Rellzym]

here, i made this for you
Link:

that should be better than a few screenshots.

EDIT: uuuuurgh, it embeds that, makes it so hard to read.
here, lets try again:
pastebin DOT com/tWN0TMfV

Thanks I'll try it out

 

[RocketRobz]

Installed twilight menu and discovered that my gba bios was wrongly named and in the wrong folder, yet, even with all being correct, gbarunner2 and 3 freeze after bios screen, except games that doesn't need the bios (found out that pokemon fire red, leaf green and mystery dungeon doesn't need it to run), tried using ARM7 and 9 versions from inside the select menu on twilight and nothing worked, clearly the bios is being read but something else is crashing

if it were all correct it wouldnt freeze.

It depends on which games we're tested, because it's possible some of them are not compatible (even with the BIOS added).

 

[Peeteris]

i used mine with twilight menu.
it works amazingly well.
any game i threw at it, it just ran flawlessly, even mother 3.

Try Sonic Advance 3, and you'll see thqt GBARunner 3 isn't as great as you make it to be.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

Try Sonic Advance 3, and you'll see thqt GBARunner 3 isn't as greqt as you make it to be.

No one's trying to claim it's perfect. It's not even released yet
The point is that the hicode branch kinda just works with most games with very little fuss, and that's cool.

 

[Space_Goddess_Samus_Aran]

Many Pokemon Romhacks dont run with it. one hack shows me an incompatibility warning. is there a way to fix it? (tried it on a DSPico and TwilightMenu. tried GBARunner 2 and 3

 

[Dias9K]

https://github.com/Gericom/GBARunner3

How to compile GBARunner3:

- Install the latest version of DevKitPRO from their official repo: https://github.com/devkitPro/installer/releases
- Clone GBARunner3 repo with submodules in your workspace:
`git clone --recursive https://github.com/Gericom/GBARunner3.git`
- Run `make` inside the `/code` folder, you should get `GBARunner3.nds` inside `/code/bootstrap`.
NOTE: Currently only Windows is able to compile, Linux/macOS users may get a fix in the future.

To run it, you need:
- `TwilightMenu++ 26.1.1` or higher already installed in your SD card/flashcard.
- Move your previously compiled `GBARunner3.nds` inside `/_nds/TWiLightMenu/emulators` folder in your SD card.
- Get (on your own) retail GBA bios, rename it as `bios.bin` and put it inside the `/_gba` folder in your SD card.
- Get the configs folder from the repository you cloned, copy it inside of the `/_gba` folder, it should be `/_gba/configs`.
- Write `GBARUNNER3_TEST = 1` text line under the `[SRLOADER]` section in `/_nds/TWiLightMenu/settings.ini`
- If you're using a flashcard, compatibility has been fixed, so will be able to run this as well.

You can check the current status on the compatibility list here (contributors are welcome):

https://github.com/Gericom/GBARunner3

How to compile GBARunner3:

- Install the latest version of DevKitPRO from their official repo: https://github.com/devkitPro/installer/releases
- Clone GBARunner3 repo with submodules in your workspace:
`git clone --recursive https://github.com/Gericom/GBARunner3.git`
- Run `make` inside the `/code` folder, you should get `GBARunner3.nds` inside `/code/bootstrap`.
NOTE: Currently only Windows is able to compile, Linux/macOS users may get a fix in the future.

To run it, you need:
- `TwilightMenu++ 26.1.1` or higher already installed in your SD card/flashcard.
- Move your previously compiled `GBARunner3.nds` inside `/_nds/TWiLightMenu/emulators` folder in your SD card.
- Get (on your own) retail GBA bios, rename it as `bios.bin` and put it inside the `/_gba` folder in your SD card.
- Get the configs folder from the repository you cloned, copy it inside of the `/_gba` folder, it should be `/_gba/configs`.
- Write `GBARUNNER3_TEST = 1` text line under the `[SRLOADER]` section in `/_nds/TWiLightMenu/settings.ini`
- If you're using a flashcard, compatibility has been fixed, so will be able to run this as well.

You can check the current status on the compatibility list here (contributors are welcome):

So, I think I finally managed to get Mother 3 translated into English to work. Before, I was having several crashes during the dino dialogues and also when waking up with your character using GBARunner2. I tried compiling GBARunner3 according to these instructions, but I couldn't generate the .nds file.

However, I had already followed these steps to install GBARunner3 (https://sanrax.github.io/flashcart-guides/tutorials/emulators/#__tabbed_2) which also wasn't working properly, but I kind of mixed up the git config files (I'm not sure if that's what solved it, but that's what I did). Starting the ROM with the English patch, with the frontend .nds I'm able to play just fine.
it's very important to start the game through the frontend, because if I run the .gba file directly from TwilightMenu I still get crashes in the game.

I would like to thank all the contributors, I really wanted to play Mother 3 on my DSi and I finally will be able to!

I'm not sure if I can post the ROM I'm using here on the forum, as well as a .zip of my GBARunner files, but I'd be happy to help if possible.

 

[Mougrim]

any game i threw at it, it just ran flawlessly, even mother 3.

Yeah, I've tried GBARunner3 with frontend today and it was really good. Maybe I'll try to set it up as default on my DSi.

Post automatically merged: May 1, 2026

I'm not sure if I can post the ROM I'm using here on the forum, as well as a .zip of my GBARunner files, but I'd be happy to help if possible.

Rom - don't do it, it's I believe, against rules, besides, everyone know where to get it.

 

[DSoryu]

So, I think I finally managed to get Mother 3 translated into English to work. Before, I was having several crashes during the dino dialogues and also when waking up with your character using GBARunner2. I tried compiling GBARunner3 according to these instructions, but I couldn't generate the .nds file.

However, I had already followed these steps to install GBARunner3 (https://sanrax.github.io/flashcart-guides/tutorials/emulators/#__tabbed_2) which also wasn't working properly, but I kind of mixed up the git config files (I'm not sure if that's what solved it, but that's what I did). Starting the ROM with the English patch, with the frontend .nds I'm able to play just fine.
it's very important to start the game through the frontend, because if I run the .gba file directly from TwilightMenu I still get crashes in the game.

I would like to thank all the contributors, I really wanted to play Mother 3 on my DSi and I finally will be able to!

I'm not sure if I can post the ROM I'm using here on the forum, as well as a .zip of my GBARunner files, but I'd be happy to help if possible.

If the game still fails in TwilightMenu++ then you're doing something wrong, it should also work fine.

 

[Luzbelito990]

Hey guys, how are you? I was actually using GBArunner3 but then I wanted to use the GBArunner2 frontend to see if the games worked but these two titles don't appear in my folder

I finished Final Fantasy 3 on DS (I didn't like the job system much) and wanted to continue with the following titles but in their GBA versions

My problem is with Final Fantasy 4 and 6 In the case of 4, the screen freezes on white when I select new game and it doesn't progress, although the initial cinematic plays fine

In FF6 everything seems perfect, but as soon as a fight starts, small black bars flicker horizontally during the battle, but then in the open world, cutscenes, and menus everything looks fine

I should clarify that I added audio and color palette patches to these two games, so I'm going to try playing the vanilla versions and, in the case of the fourth game, a saved game from an emulator to see if it works

The problem is that I wanted to try the games on GBArunner2 but they don't appear. Only Final Fantasy Tactics Advance shows up Anyway, any advice is welcome, and I'll update if I solve the problem


I have the frontend and The Bios file btw

Post automatically merged: Aug 23, 2026

Hey guys, how are you? I was actually using GBArunner3 but then I wanted to use the GBArunner2 frontend to see if the games worked but these two titles don't appear in my folder

I finished Final Fantasy 3 on DS (I didn't like the job system much) and wanted to continue with the following titles but in their GBA versions

My problem is with Final Fantasy 4 and 6 In the case of 4, the screen freezes on white when I select new game and it doesn't progress, although the initial cinematic plays fine

In FF6 everything seems perfect, but as soon as a fight starts, small black bars flicker horizontally during the battle, but then in the open world, cutscenes, and menus everything looks fine

I should clarify that I added audio and color palette patches to these two games, so I'm going to try playing the vanilla versions and, in the case of the fourth game, a saved game from an emulator to see if it works

The problem is that I wanted to try the games on GBArunner2 but they don't appear. Only Final Fantasy Tactics Advance shows up Anyway, any advice is welcome, and I'll update if I solve the problem


I have the frontend and The Bios file btw

Hello again, update :

Regarding Final Fantasy 4 using a vanilla version without hacks the game started up and plays great without any lag, freezing or graphical glitches

With Final Fantasy 6 everything remains the same whether with ROM hacks or the vanilla game. Although everything runs well it still has graphical glitches during battles so I suppose it's acceptable and I'll have to get used to it

btw Final Fantasy 5 works great with or without patches which is fantastic since I wanted to play these three games with audio patches to make them sound like the Super Nintendo games But I'm not complaining, sorry for the inconvenience And if anyone happens to have any advice for FF6, I'd appreciate it as well

 

[Luzbelito990]

Hey guys, how are you? I was actually using GBArunner3 but then I wanted to use the GBArunner2 frontend to see if the games worked but these two titles don't appear in my folder

I finished Final Fantasy 3 on DS (I didn't like the job system much) and wanted to continue with the following titles but in their GBA versions

My problem is with Final Fantasy 4 and 6 In the case of 4, the screen freezes on white when I select new game and it doesn't progress, although the initial cinematic plays fine

In FF6 everything seems perfect, but as soon as a fight starts, small black bars flicker horizontally during the battle, but then in the open world, cutscenes, and menus everything looks fine

I should clarify that I added audio and color palette patches to these two games, so I'm going to try playing the vanilla versions and, in the case of the fourth game, a saved game from an emulator to see if it works

The problem is that I wanted to try the games on GBArunner2 but they don't appear. Only Final Fantasy Tactics Advance shows up Anyway, any advice is welcome, and I'll update if I solve the problem


I have the frontend and The Bios file btw

Post automatically merged: Aug 23, 2026

Hello again, update :

Regarding Final Fantasy 4 using a vanilla version without hacks the game started up and plays great without any lag, freezing or graphical glitches

With Final Fantasy 6 everything remains the same whether with ROM hacks or the vanilla game. Although everything runs well it still has graphical glitches during battles so I suppose it's acceptable and I'll have to get used to it

btw Final Fantasy 5 works great with or without patches which is fantastic since I wanted to play these three games with audio patches to make them sound like the Super Nintendo games But I'm not complaining, sorry for the inconvenience And if anyone happens to have any advice for FF6, I'd appreciate it as well

New Uptade 2 :

Hi everyone, I'm leaving this message as a little help if anyone ever has the same problems I had

As I posted above, I've been having problems with the Final Fantasy games for GBA, specifically 4, 5, and 6 And when I tried to test them in GBA Runner 2, they didn't appear either, so I'm leaving this short step-by-step guide.

1. It turns out that GBA Runner 2 can't display more than 60 ROMs per folder, so the first thing to do if you have a lot of ROMs like I do is simply create a new folder and divide your game collection so they can all appear without problems

2. My main problem was with Final Fantasy 4 and 6

In the case of GBA Runner 4, I wanted to play it with audio and color palette patches, and GBA Runner 3 wouldn't let me get it to work. But GBA Runner 2 did start the game with the patches installed, so that's great!

The only problem with Final Fantasy 6 was an annoying graphical glitch that caused small horizontal black bars to flicker during battles, but then in the menus or while walking around everything was perfect.

3. To fix that glitch, all I did was open the game and go to the GBA Runner 2 settings menu by pressing the touch screen and then pressing the R trigger

Once there, I disabled the DS's i-cache and just like that the glitch disappeared; I suppose that was causing the error

I hope this helps someone in the future, and I'm sorry for bothering anyone on the forum, but I'm glad it exists. I learned a lot from all the comments and advice here. Cheers!