Homebrew Discussion mGBA builds now available

[Fgamer]

The first development builds of mGBA (known for being the most accurate GBA emulator) from mGBA developer endrift are now available:

News post: https://mgba.io/2018/09/16/mgba-for-switch/
Download: https://mgba.io/downloads.html#homebrew-1

Notes from the news post for the lazy:

• early builds available, upcoming mGBA 0.7.0 will include official Switch support
• missing some features that will be added later such as rumble + controller sensor support
  
• already taking advantage of libnx hardware acceleration via developer fixes

 

[Draxzelex]

Great times are a coming.

 

[Stoned]

I Hope Lua Support Soon.

 

[switchbricker]

Finally, perfectly accurate Mother 3....in theory. Soon.

 

[nero99]

So what can this do GAME wise that vba next can’t?

 

[jimmyj]

NICE! favorite gba emu for me

 

[radicalwookie]

Mother 3 is calling my name ..

 

[Billy Acuña]

Finally the accurate GBA emu that the Switch needed

Enviado desde mi LG-X240 mediante Tapatalk

 

[Csmrcc]

So what can this do that vba next can’t?

someone please? maybe hw acceleration in some game?

 

[Billy Acuña]

So what can this do GAME wise that vba next can’t?

Accurate GBA emulation (specially when it comes to the sound quality) and GB/SGB/GBC emulation out-of-the-box.

Enviado desde mi LG-X240 mediante Tapatalk

 

[Kioku]

Let the good times roll! Hope I can run this tonight after I fix my hardware. :o

 

[Ric-Are-Those]

Version 0.7.0 lmao

 

[Hking0036]

"upcoming controller sensor support and rumble"? Sounds like this is going to be the best way to play GBA games on an emulator again, looking forward to playing warioware twisted with joy con gyro. Maybe even IR camera support for boktai? That seems like a stretch.

 

[sirAnger]

someone please? maybe hw acceleration in some game?

Generally as time goes on emulators gain compatibility, but that requires more processing power to keep up to full speed. Certain emulators keep older versions 'frozen in time' to keep the speed for older or less powerful hardware at the sacrifice of some of the compatibility gains of newer versions of the same emulator.

VBA-Next is an example of a 'frozen in time' emulator. As such it has less compatibility but affords better speeds for most games to run on less powerful hardware. mGBA is an emulator that focuses on high compatibility, so it's generally preferred over VBA-Next on hardware that can run it.

Switch is more than powerful enough to run mGBA at full speed (even 250+% speed for fast-forward) so it is the preferred emulator.

 

[Csmrcc]

Generally as time goes on emulators gain compatibility, but that requires more processing power to keep up to full speed. Certain emulators keep older versions 'frozen in time' to keep the speed for older or less powerful hardware at the sacrifice of some of the compatibility gains of newer versions of the same emulator.

VBA-Next is an example of a 'frozen in time' emulator. As such it has less compatibility but affords better speeds for most games to run on less powerful hardware. mGBA is an emulator that focuses on high compatibility, so it's generally preferred over VBA-Next on hardware that can run it.

Switch is more than powerful enough to run mGBA at full speed (even 250+% speed for fast-forward) so it is the preferred emulator.

Thank you, I will try this one too then.

 

[Nevercholt]

First, thanks for this awesome emulator! Great job

Second, when I try to fast forward in Pokemon Fire Red there are some black vertical lines on the right side of the screen. Is this a known bug?

 

[radicalwookie]

So those of you who tried it, does it run well? Anyone tried Mother 3?

 

[Kioku]

So those of you who tried it, does it run well? Anyone tried Mother 3?

The emulator runs alright when it runs. Have had 3 consecutive crashes within a 10 minute period. One when fast forwarding, one when loading a 2nd game and one when playing around in options. Haven't tried mother 3, though.

 

[radicalwookie]

The emulator runs alright when it runs. Have had 3 consecutive crashes within a 10 minute period. One when fast forwarding, one when loading a 2nd game and one when playing around in options. Haven't tried mother 3, though.

Sounds like I'll wait a bit longer :=)

 

[Fgamer]

A bit of information on what the hardware acceleration is used for at the moment:

Mostly getting things onto the screen quickly and resizing stuff. It's slow to do that in software if the screen is big!

— mGBA (@mGBA_emu) September 17, 2018

So those of you who tried it, does it run well? Anyone tried Mother 3?

The emulation seems great but the overall package seems a bit unstable at the moment, as expected for an early development build. I got some crashes when entering and exiting the homebrew. Definitely looking forward to future stable builds though!

First, thanks for this awesome emulator! Great job

Second, when I try to fast forward in Pokemon Fire Red there are some black vertical lines on the right side of the screen. Is this a known bug?

You should thank the developer which is endrift via her website or twitter. No idea about that bug though, I'd probably wait for future builds and test it out again then.