Top 11 Game Boy Advance (GBA) Emulators for Android, Windows, Linux

Introduction of GBA

The Game Boy Advance is a handheld game console that was developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. The GBA is a successor of the Game Boy Color. Was first released in Japan on March 21, 2001, North America on June 11, 2001, and in China on June 8, 2004, with a different name “iOue Game Boy Advance. 

This is the sixth generation of video game consoles. It has varieties of colors and limited editions throughout its production. The colors are Arctic, Black, Orange, Fuchsia(translucent pink), Glacier (translucent blue/purple), and Indigo. Later, more additions were made and some Limited Editions were also created, two of them are the Hello Kitty edition (pink with Hello Kitty and logo on the bezel) and Mario Bros. edition (Glacier with Mario and Luigi on the bezel).

Why This Game so Popular All Over the World?

Well, the reason behind that is GBA (Gamer Boy Advance) popularity is that it is updating itself as per the demands of consumer such as, it has a better Hardware and a good quality of colors which is mentioned above, they are upgrading themselves as per the needs of users even providing limited editions color and logos of their favorite games and brands as well. If you want to play GBA games on your laptop or PC windows, even on smartphones, you need to use a GBA emulator. This article will introduce you to the top 10 best Game Boy Advance Emulators and you don’t want to miss that if you are a Games Lover.

Also Read: The ISO Zone 2022- 10 Alternatives to Download Free ROMs, Emulators

Top 5 Best GBA ( Gamer Boy Advance) Emulators List

These GBA Emulators are specifically designed in manner, so that you can easily play GBA games on PC with ease and even provide you with the best features that are mostly missing from the handheld consoles. Now, Let’s get into the list:

1. Visual Boy Advance (VBA-M) – Most Stable Gameboy Advance Emulator

The first and one of the most stable emulator windows. It is one of the oldest emulators that has been in existence for more than a decade as you know now. 

VBA is completely free to use and supports all  GB (GameBoy), GBC (GameBoy Color), and VBA (VisualBoy Advance) ROMs.

You can easily save your progress in it. Even joysticks are supported by VBA and this enhances the pleasure of playing games. 

In short, VBA is a simple, easy-to-play emulator and has all the BEST features that make it even better to play with on PC. It is completely Free, gets constant updates, and even allows you to play every GBA game on a PC/laptop. There is no need for age verification with this gaming experience.

The Pros Of Visual Boy Advance (VBA)

• It supports every Visual Boy Advance (VBA) ROM.
• It even supports Joystick
• It can save the game as per the preferences of users.
• Supports controllers and button remapping. 
• Take Screenshots and even record your gameplays.
• You can use cheat codes to make your experience fun.

The Cons of  Visual Boy Advance (VBA)

• It might not be able to run well on the really old hardware.

2. No$GBA

No$GBA or you can pronounce it as No Cash GBA is the most reliable and filled with features of the Nintendo DS/DS Lite and GameBoy Advance emulator. If you don’t want to play without your BFF well this game is here for rescue as it provides multiplayer GBA games. 

No$GBA can run any Nintendo DS and GBA ROM in existence. It’s just like Visual Boy Advance here so you can use a controller with No$GBA. 

This is a very powerful emulator that allows users to remap the keyboards as per their preferences. No$GBA is also one of the best emulators the reason it is on 2nd number in the list.

The Pros of No$GBA

• It can run both on Nintendo DS and GBA games
• Has good quality, stability, and optimization.
• It has the ability to play multiplayer GBA games.
• It also lets you decide to configure the game in any way you want.
• The emulator has great optimization.

The cons of No$GBA

• The only con is that not all NDS games will run properly.  

3. BatGBA

The third most used GBA emulator is BatGBA. This is a very lightweight GBA emulator that has very limited features that allow you to play GBA without any hiccups. The UI BatGBA is outdated as the last update it has is on 11th July 2002. 

But you can play GB(Game Boy), GBC (GameBoy Color) and GBA (GameBoy Advance) roms.

And if you want to use the emulator so to enjoy your games smoothly you need to download an original BIOS file. 

BatGBA displays are also fps while you are playing games.  

BatGBA is the simplest GBA emulator in existence.

The Pros of BatGBA

• It is a simple and easy-to-use GBA emulator.
• It has reliable performance.
• The emulator is perfect for people who want simplicity.
• It does not require a lot of knowledge.
• Runs every GBA game.

The Cons of BatGBA

• The emulator has no advanced features whatsoever.

4. mGBA

The mGBA is an emulator that has set a benchmark. It has offered the widest compatibility of games amongst others. There are so many games that won’t run on these GBA emulators.

But apart from that the ROMS, mGBA do support Game Pak, Which is similar to cartridge images. To make GAme Pak work, you need a solar sensor emulator or physical emulator that is capable of loading Paks. 

mGBA provides you with a frames limiter, which is very handy when you don’t want to burden your system. It also helps in capping the FPS fluctuation which is also the reason which hinders your experience when playing a demanding game. 

It is also available in portable form. Even when you are using the regular version, it can change itself to a portable version whenever needed. 

Recently, the Dolphin emulator(for GameCube Games) added mGBA integration. Which allows you to play multiplayer together.

In the end, I’d like to mention that you can capture the gameplay moments in GIF form. They are very less in size due to which you can easily share them on different platforms. Upload it anywhere and they might go viral making you popular in a way.

The Pros of mGBA

• It supports a huge catalog of GBA games.
• It allows you to use cheat codes
• It is simple to set up and even simpler to use.

The Cons of mGBA

• It lacks some of the advanced features.

5. Higan

Higan is the active developer that allows you to play games on different consoles along with Game Boy Advance. You can import ROM, the GBA emulator can create a copy of it in a directory called “GAme Park” But before all of that you have to create a system so that you can play GBA games. It’s selecting the console from a long list and creating a name the click on create to make your system. 

After that, select the system and then do select>Launch. It would then load the emulation engine for a GBA. 

There will be a dashboard at the bottom that will help you to set up video, audio, and controller. There is a setting to change the orientation of the screen as well. 

The Pros of mGBA

• Supports a vast majority of ROMS to emulate.
• The emulator is not difficult to set up at all.
• It offers enhanced color reproduction.

The Cons of mGBA

• The sound is a bit laggy in some games.

These are THE BEST emulators that were tested and made sure to work when you use them. 

List of 6 GBA Emulators that Work on your PC

Boycott Advance

Boycott Advance is the best, neat user interface, and has great efficiency. This is a reliable emulator and is the best option for macOS users. Boycott Advance has a very simple and easy-to-navigate UI.

It is worth noting that Boycott Advance will not be able to emulate the classic Gameboy. It supports external USB joysticks and gamepads.

It is highly optimized and supports GBA video features like scaling and rotation. In short, it is impressive. 

BizHawk

These emulators are designed for speed-runners, and will make you able to play GBA games on PC and will complete it in a very short period of time. 

You can even automate different recurring functions and key requirements. You can use the Micro tool with the assistance of full-fledged automation. There is also an editor that is involved for advanced macros. 

Save-state, slow-motions, and key-mapping are available by default, which can be accessed from the Config menu.

Mednaffe

This is based on the command-line emulator source engine of Mednaffe, this GBA emulator is all about playing it all day if you are madly in love with playing games. 

The open-source Game Boy Advance emulator supports a wide range of platforms that are capable of running games of the other consoles. 

They even provide the option of multiplying which will help you to play with your friends with the help of Netplay support on the emulator. You can host your own servers with passwords and even join your friends online.

It supports standards that include engines like GameShark, ActionReplay, and Codebreakers. You can have access to it by using the hotkeys ALT+C after the initial configuration.

KiGB

KiGB has made GBA emulation so simple that it is not possible for others to make it simpler. The overall interface has an MSDOS exterior, that keeps everything very well structured and defined. 

The FREE GBA emulator is also available on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. It is also available as a setup, and now even started offering zip, owing to it’s popular demands made by it’s fans.

KiGB even offers a custom palette in the aesthetics departments that will provide various types of colors to the user for the display menus. l

Two of the themes that are popular there are- Ocean and Win95. The latter feels much smoother and more accessible. 

And when it comes to audio, there are four different channels that are available at different frequencies. You can sure use stereo and speakers to get that realistic effect.

RetroArch

This emulator supports wide ranges of game consoles, including GBA through the cores. 

Well, Cores are the fundamental plugins that are used for the different consoles that will let you  run other games on RetroArch. 

The GBA emulators rely on the mGBA core to emulate the Game Boy games. It is the most stable core for running the games of the respective console. 

RetroArch has a wide variety of platforms, which ranges from computer OS to consoles of all kinds. They even start the browser-based GBA emulator, Where you can just select the console and load your ROM to begin playing with. 

As the name explains, it is an achievement tracking service for unlocking trophies and medals.  

RascalBoy

The Last GBA emulator for the PC is RascalBoy, for them “Nothing more and nothing less. 

Few Windows might face problems while making it run on their device. Make sure to run the compatibility test to fix those launch problems. 

But they do have some unique features to talk about. RascalBoy has audio filters like Echo, SuperBass, and VUmeter. 

you even get multiplayer, with the help of plaguin. It supports a maximum of four players to play together.

You are offered recording videos and sound alone. This feature comes in handy when you are seeking the background score of a game. 

Conclusion 

The best thing about the GBA emulators is that they all are FREE, and will let you play GBA games on PC without any issues whatsoever. 

The emulators that are mentioned on the list were made sure to be working and not just spammed you guys. The games will run smoothly without crashing. It would not be possible to test GBA emulators properly but still we made sure from our side to provide you the best.

If you face any issues with the emulators you are free to share your views and comment down below.