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GBA

mGBA

Modern and accurate Game Boy Advance emulator. Also supports Game Boy and Game Boy Color. State backups, rewinding, emulated Link cable.

Very easy10 minNo BIOS required
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In this guide

mGBA is the go-to Game Boy Advance emulator: accurate, lightweight, and it also handles Game Boy and Game Boy Color. Nothing to configure to get started.

1. Installation

  1. Download it from the project's official site (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android).
  2. Open your game: no system file is needed.

The GBA BIOS remains optional: mGBA works perfectly without it. Providing it gives you the original boot animation and hardware-accurate behavior on a few titles — it makes no difference to performance.

2. Supported formats

.gba, .gb, .gbc, and .zip archives — mGBA can read directly from a zip, unlike many others.

3. Features worth knowing

  • Save states — 9 slots, with a visual preview.
  • Rewind — go back a few seconds.
  • Emulated link cable — multiple instances can communicate, for Pokémon trades for example.
  • Sensors — emulated gyroscope and solar sensor, essential for Boktai or WarioWare Twisted.

4. Recommended settings

  • Video filter: none if you like sharp pixels, or an LCD filter to recreate the look of the original screen.
  • Enable Skip BIOS Intro to jump straight into the game.