VisualBoyAdvance

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VisualBoyAdvance
Original author(s) Julian Henry Hitchcock
Developer(s) VBA Team
Stable release 1.7.2 (Windows)
1.7.1 (Linux, BeOs)
1.7.4 (Mac) / May 25, 2004 (2004-05-25)
Preview release 1.8.0 beta 3 / October 1, 2005 (2005-10-01)
Development status Discontinued, Forked
Written in C, C++
Operating system Cross-platform
Size 1.4 MB - 1.92 MB
Available in English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish, Turkish (v.1.7 and above, for Windows only)
Type Console emulator
License GNU General Public License
Website Project home page
VisualBoyAdvance-M
Original author(s) Julian Henry Hitchcock
Developer(s) VBA-M Development Team
Stable release 1.8.0 (SVN 1228) / 15 November 2013 (2013-11-15)
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Console emulator
License GNU General Public License
Website Project home page

VisualBoyAdvance (commonly abbreviated as VBA) is a free emulator of the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance handheld game consoles[1] as well as of Super Game Boy and Super Game Boy 2.

Besides the DirectX version for the Windows platform, there is also one that is based on the free platform independent graphics library SDL. This is available for a variety of operating systems including Linux,[2] BSD, Mac OS X,[3] and BeOS. VisualBoyAdvance has also been ported to AmigaOS 4, GameCube, Wii, webOS, and Zune HD.[4]

VisualBoyAdvance-M, or simply VBA-M is an improved fork from the inactive VisualBoyAdvance project. The M in VisualBoyAdvance-M stands for Merge, due to its implementation of features from other forked versions of VisualBoyAdvance.[citation needed] Another independent version is called VBA-ReRecording, which is the preferred emulator for tool-assisted playthroughs.

History

The VisualBoyAdvance project was started by Forgotten.[5] When this person left the development of the emulator, the project was handed over to a team named VBA Team, led by Forgotten's brother. Development on the original VisualBoyAdvance stopped in 2004 with version 1.8.0 beta 3, and a number of forked versions were made by various developers in the years since then, such as VisualBoyAdvance-M.

Features

VisualBoyAdvance sports the following features:

  • Compatibility with Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance ROMs
  • Import/export feature of native saved games from and to other emulators
  • Full save state support
  • Joystick support
  • Super Game Boy and Super Game Boy 2 border and color palette support
  • Game Boy Printer emulation
  • Real-time IPS patching (used mostly to play fan translations)
  • Hacking and debugging tools, including loggers, viewers and editor
    • The SDL version also includes a Game Boy Advance debugger
  • Auto-fire support
  • Speed-up key
  • Full screen mode support
  • Screen capture support
  • Full support for GameShark for Game Boy Advance and Code Breaker Advance cheat codes (Windows version only)
  • Audio (WAV) and video (AVI) recording
    • Also allows recording in a proprietary video format only supported by VisualBoyAdvance and its forked versions
  • Graphic filters to enhance display: 2xSaI, Super 2xSaI, Super Eagle, AdvanceMAME, Pixelate, and Motion blur
  • GUI skinning support

Users

VisualBoyAdvance was the most popular Game Boy emulator for Unix platforms.[6]

VisualBoyAdvance is available on Windows based machines.

See also

References

  1. "Visual Boy Advance". The Emulator Zone. 
  2. i"VisualBoyAdvance-SDL". The Linux Game Tome. 
  3. "VisualBoyAdvance 1.7.2". Softonic. 
  4. "Visual Boy Advance GX". Google Code. 
  5. "Visual Boy Advance". NGEmu. 
  6. Kohler, Chris (2006). "Playing Classic Console Games". Retro Gaming Hacks. O'Reilly Media. p. 187. 

External links

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