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In what appears to be an impossible feat, GBAtemp member @XProger has managed to get the the original 1996 PlayStation and PC classic, Tomb Raider running on the Game Boy Advance.

OpenLara is open-source project that can function as a replacement engine for Tomb Raider (1996) and is available for a number of platforms (including but not limited to the 3DO, Raspberry Pi, Xbox and more).

Lead engine developer @XProger has gone a step further and managed to scale the project down to run under the GBA's 16.78MHz arm CPU at a frame rate that appears to hover around the 16fps mark - an outstanding display of technical wizardry.

In what @XProger describes as an alpha version, OpenLara for the GBA currently only offers 3 levels of the game and excludes original FMV sequences, however the developer has expressed their intent to continue work on the GBA port by improving performance, trimming cutscenes down and more. The author goes on to state that they expect the complete package will be able to fit within a 256Mbit ROM.

Hi guys, I'm the lead developer of OpenLara engine.
More than year ago I released a tech demo, back then I was not sure that the GBA is capable for such game. But over time I improved my ARM skills, found new ways to optimize rendering and logic. The result is what I can honestly call an alpha version. There are many further improvements in the plan, as well as optimization of content and video to fit the entire Tomb Rader game in a 32 MB cartridge, but so far only 3 levels are available.

Check out the video of OpenLara in action on the GBA above and follow the links below for further information and to support the dev.

OpenLara Github page
OpenLara discussion thread (GBAtemp)

 

[x65943]

From what I read, the minimum for a cpu is 8-bit
Apparently, even atari 2600 used 8-bit processor

1, 2 and 4 bit CPUs all exist, but I will concede they certainly weren't used to play vidya

 

[GammaPhonic]

This is amazing!! What's he going to do next? Get Cyberpunk running on a base PS4?

 

[lordelan]

This can't be real! People would have killed for that back then.

 

[sarkwalvein]

This is amazing!! What's he going to do next? Get Cyberpunk running on a base PS4?

That would be beyond witchcraft.

 

[Deleted member 323844]

Can't wait for crysis on game and watch

I ran Crysis once in an Atom Z3735G, which is pretty damn low. Even Windows on that was borderline usable.

 

[Jayro]

Flashed it to a 16MB GBA repro cart.
0/10, would not boot up.

 

[Zetman]

Never seen a gba game with this graphics. Seems strange to me but ok....
Are we sure that it is an original gba without hardware improvements?

Tomb raider for gba was a complete shit

 

[Spider_Man]

Pc version or taking the already existing open lara that is limited and ported it over.?

 

[pustal]

Incredible work. This is insane! Is the GBA port compilable from the code on the Github page?

 

[regnad]

well the game and watch has technically 1 bit graphics (1 color) the gameboy uses 2bit graphics (4 colors). as for processing, i think 2 bit cpus exists but idk.

So you’re saying with a little tinkering we can get Tomb Raider running on an original Game And Watch?!!?!?

 

[smf]

This can't be real! People would have killed for that back then.

I don't know, the game boy advance came out in 2001.

I'm not sure if people would have killed for a 1996 game, it's kinda cool but it doesn't look great. It would likely have been panned if released commercially. The games that did come out aren't great either though.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I don't know, the game boy advance came out in 2001.

I'm not sure if people would have killed for a 1996 game, it's kinda cool but it doesn't look great. It would likely have been panned if released commercially. The games that did come out aren't great either though.

Yes they would.
People were amazed to be able to play Final Fantasy 6 in their GBAs.
I remember it quite well, I was there (TM).
If they saw Tomb Raider running like this on the GBA... they would have literally killed to get it.

 

[BitMasterPlus]

Damn, hacking and emulation continues to evolve impressively to this day!

 

[raxadian]

Was this done back in 2019?

 

[pedro702]

GBA temp is late there was already a tomb riader 3d portable version of this factor released long ago on the nokia ngage xD

 

[dh3lix-pooch]

Holy cow - that is absolute amazing.

 

[DaFixer]

Wow that looks fantastic.

 

[MaxiBash]

I own the MS-DOS version and only played a little bit of the game. Even compared to other official 3D GBA games, this looks seriously impressive!

 

[emmanu888]

All i can say is this is just pure witchcraft just like the 3DO port of OpenLara.

The GBA didn't even have the hardware for 3D graphics, it was all done through software rendering which makes this port even more impressive.

 

[Deleted member 534570]

Fuck me, this looks good!