Game Boy/Advance/Emulators

This section will deal with emulators that you can get running on your handheld and shall be focused on emulation on the Gameboy Advance and DS. For actual emulation of the GBA and DS, check Emulation.

= NES =


 * PocketNES - This is probably the most well known and highly regarded NES emu for the GBA and with good reason. No FDS support, the lack of a few (relatively unused) mappers and the unusual scaling mode (affects text in some RPGS but is better overall) are probably the biggest detractors. This modded version is produced by dwedit and has cheats and a few more mappers and tricks.
 * HVCA/(formerly) Famicom Advanced - In the land of GBA code nes emulators pocketnes is king, lets just say this is a major threat to that position. FDS support (with diskrom.sys file) and in some respects a nicer scaling mode as well as more mappers than pocketnes makes for a damn fine emulator.

Usage section
The two best emulators for the NES are regarded as pocketnes and HVCA

Pocketnes usage
Regardless of what version of pocketnes you choose the same building methods should apply.

EZClient features a basic builder (replace the pocketnes file in the sysbin directory to update pocketnes) but the usual method involves using a builder, most are windows only but linux and dos variations exist.

The suggested builder is called PocketNES Menu Maker and is available from the pocketnes homepage. Extract the file and open the exe, it will look something like this



Click on options and choose the location of the files you need (the first three are essential), add roms to the directory (you may have to restart the program) you selected and hit make. Burn the output rom as usual.

HVCA usage
HVCA is slightly more complicated to use when compared to pocketnes but the advantages may soon become apparent. Note to use FDS titles the Famicom's disksys.rom file is required. NSF files are also supported with the newest versions. It is advised you use HVCA as a standalone emulator.


 * Visit the homepage and click on the word AGB.


 * Download "hvca-v1.0-bin.lzh"


 * lzh is a type of compression, read this article for some suggestions for a decompressor or a simple search should bring one up.


 * In the hvca directory create a subdirectory called "ADD".


 * Add the nes, fds files and nsf files you wish to use into the newer made "ADD" folder. remember the FDS roms require the bios to run. This tends to be entitled diskrom.sys and there are several versions available.


 * The .CFG files (located in the folder CFG) are essentially patches to enable certain roms to work. Add the ones necessary for your rom(s).


 * there is a batch file called merge.bat, run this and select the options required. When it is finished add this to your cart in the usual manner.

= Other Systems =

Gameboy Advance
Until a decent section is up and running GBAfan is a good place to get infomation on emulators (and remakes of games) for the Gameboy Advance.

If you are just after a quick list of devices emulated well on GBA hardware there is a good PC engine emulator (with superCD support on the EZFlash III, Sega master system and Game gear emulators, a gameboy original/mono and recently a Colour version was made,NES emulators and a Sierra AGI emulator. (see GBAfan for links, you will also see a SNES emulator which does indeed have games that are playable with it but the GBA is not that fast so do not expect much from it.

A few other good pages:

Quirky's GBA Remakes

Flubba's homepage

=WIP remake= The section above is complex and not much can be obtained using it so it is currently undergoing a rewrite to use a series of tables and link articles for usage into them. Here is a very early stage example of a redesign:

What follows is a colour coded table that intends to give you information Click on the name of the console/device/system/program you are interested in for an article containing discussion on the console/device/system/program, information on the methods available to run the code and usage instructions for it.