BGB homepage

privacy policy

Back links

www.fantasyanime.com - "This is by far the best Game Boy emulator around"

www.nacionarcade.net - highly rated

www.so-s.com (japanese) - listed as "cool" emulator

www.emunova.net (french) - "nice, easy to use emulator with supports link emulation to allow 2 player over network."

The Emulator Zone - BGB is currently rated second.

PCGames24 (german) - "The best gameboy emulator. simple to use. all expected but no unnecessary features."

AEP emulation (german) - rated 5 out of 5, "very good emulator with perfect suppport for modern and old games"

gameboy demospotting - recommends BGB

nemoprod - GB emulator of choice.

danish site - GB emulator of choice.

Screenshots

Features

• emulation of the GameBoy, GameBoy Color, and Super Gameboy
• accurate emulation of the hardware, based on research with lots of test roms, useful for debugging/rom development. some highlights:
  • clock exact timing of LCD behavior/state changes
  • realistic initial ram values - random but with specific bit patterns, and simulated values left by bootroms (for example "nibbler (pd)" depends on this)
  • accurate emulation of LCD register writes during scanline (prehistorik man, demotronic demo)
  • emulation of inaccessible VRAM and OAM as on real hardware
  • 10 sprites per line limit
  • clock exact emulation of sprites causing mode 3 to take longer
  • correct memory access timing (access happening at the last/second to last clock of an opcode)
  • accurate emulation of the differences between DMG and GBC, including timing differences, differences in hardware behavior, initial state, etc.
  • can run a GBC rom as on a DMG, and a DMG rom as on a GBC
• powerful debugger:
  • disassembler
  • assembler (change code and ability to save modified rom)
  • breakpoints
  • break on access
  • conditional breakpoints
  • singlestepping/tracing/animating/step out/step over
  • vram viewer: BG map, tiles, OAM, palette.
  • IO registers viewer
  • break on exceptions (accessing inaccessible VRAM, read unitialized RAM, echo ram access, access locked external ram, disable lcd outside vblank)
  • ability to modify all registers and state at any time
  • joypad window allows simulating button presses at any time while debugging
• SGB multiplayer with up to 4 gamepads
• graphics output: GDI (DIB), DirectDraw, Direct3D, OpenGL, null output
• sound output: waveout, directsound and disk writer supported. support for writing the 4 channels to separate wav files
• runs almost all roms perfectly, compatibility comparable with the best GB/C emulators
• Accurate/high quality sound emulation, bandlimited rectangular wave synthesis for perfectly smooth sound
• accurate video emulation including "high color" graphics, correct sprite/background priorities, 10 sprites/line limit, and mid-scanline register changes.
• This emulator is fast.
• Joystick/Gamepad support, everything mappable to every button
• some user interface keys are configurable and can be mapped to joystick/gamepad buttons
• MBC3 Real Time Clock emulation. RTC is saved/loaded in the .sav file, compatible with VBA
• support for the gameboy camera rom
• Auto delay/frameskip, emulation runs at 100% real speed and full 60 fps
• GameGenie and GameShark cheat, load/save cheats (auto and manual), "cheat searcher", easy creation of new cheat codes
• save/load state with quick (zsnes style) keys.
• Load from ZIP and GZIP files
• support for optional border bitmap and pseudo and real fullscreen modes.
• limited TCP/IP game link support

Download

bgb.zip 346 kb

GBC Clear Purple border bitmap (thanks Charlie Finch)

GBA SP border (Charlie Finch)

classic GB border bitmap

borders "RPG" and "simple swirly" submitted by vorpal8 (Kevin Hansen). he also suggests a color scheme: 31.31.31, 9.12.31, 17.4.0, 0.0.0

the "Mental Respirator" demo by Phantasy

download and use at your own risk. i'm not responsible for any damage caused by thes files.
If you have a cool border bitmap or color scheme (also better lcd green scheme) you can send me email.

http://gameboy.modermodemet.se/en/demos - demos (freeware roms with music and cool graphic effects)

http://www.pdroms.com/ - more freeware roms

documentation

MBC2 save format specification

I mirror a local copy of the Pan Docs because the no$gmb website on which it was originally hosted is no longer up.

Pan Docs, html version

Pan Docs, text version

version history

1.3.1 - fixed: a DMG rom with GBC bootrom would show a white background instead of colorized palette. fixed: header checksum suggestion showed only one hex digit. fixed: menu->reset did not correctly reset emulation.

1.3 - added direct3D and OpenGL output, giving accelerated graphics on windows vista/7. greatly improved emulation accuracy based on lots of test roms/research, also fixing a number of remaining rom compatibility problems. added VBA compatible RTC loading/saving (in the .sav file). added support for the GBC bootrom. fixed lots of bugs. improved debugger functionality. redone cheat searcher. various performance improvements. various gameplay experience related improvements.

1.12 - Fixed bug in graphics introduced in 1.1, affecting legend of zelda oracle of ages/seasons, and alfred chicken. Added separate settings for DMG and GBC border bitmaps. various fixes.

1.11 - fixed problem with saving color schemes. show ram values in cheat searcher. analog joystick can be used with mbc7. cpu registers can be changed in debugger. various fixes.

1.1 - rewritten graphics output to allow 24 bits accurate color reproduction. added support for directdraw pageflipped fullscreen mode (can be faster on old pc's). added support for loading the DMG bootrom (available elsewhere). some emulation accuracy fixes. pop 'n music GB (all versions) now work. added support for "POV hat" (fixed a possible cause for gamepads/joysticks d-pad to not work properly with BGB).

1.03 - Emulating hardware behavior for "gin & tonic trick" in the "mental respirator" demo by Phantasy. Fixed the "on blt2: action not supported" problem which happens on some videocards - if it still happens for you, please contact me. Added 24 bpp directdraw support. Made joypad wizard better support "broken" controllers with things like flickering buttons (must press button for 0.5 secs). Added optional screen on startup to tell the user what to do. Added "cpu idle" wait for vblank routine - if it's not smooth on your pc, disable "reduce cpu usage". Added support for up to 32 joypad buttons.

1.02 fixed a bug in the emulation core which may have broken roms. added japanese documentation (thanks, translator). show error if trying to add duplicate cheat code. allow saving disassembler output to text file.

1.01 - fixed "Cannot change Visible in OnShow or OnHide" bug. fixed bugs related to gamegenie cheats and cheats GUI. fixed problems/bug with window/fullscreen behavior.

1.0

• added debugger
• added cheat searcher
• added optional directdraw and directsound support.
• greatly improved accuracy/compatibility/rom support, fixed many known problem roms.
• added "GBC + initial SGB border" support, allowing a number of GBC roms to show a border.
• added experimental support for sub-scanline timing graphics, "demotronic demo" works perfectly.
• new, more accurate, extendable, save state format. Old states are automatically converted/resaved by default.
• made bgb faster by optimizing/rewriting parts
• added support for 4 gamepads.
• redone joypad config, easy to use GUI
• new GBC LCD colors, more like the real GBC
• lots of minor changes

0.9 - Color schemes can be edited. Increased precision of frequencies in sound code (alone in the dark intro interference effect). Centralized/wrapped sound output (waveout, disk writer) code. Fixed AV if showing registers w/o rom loaded.

0.88 - fixed: save file name gets corrupted if loading a rom causes a warning, making load/save impossible. added: you can now change the current save name, by changing the save dir in the options, without reloading the rom.

0.87c - fixed: the info screen still showed my old email address...

0.87b - fixed: linkspeed was not initialized, causing problems when not linked, such as breaking alleyway

0.87 - added experimental TCP game link support.

0.86 - added support for japanese pokemon crystal. fixed: accessing a word on address $ffff caused AccessViolation. fixed saving of joystick buttons config. Redone code which searches GB screen rectangle in border bitmap.

0.85 - emulation of 2 joypads for SGB multiplayer. fixed memory leak when loading a rom fails. added support for gzipped roms. fixed some bugs in zip header code, bgb is less likely to hang on corrupt zips. new time synchronization code. sound bugfixes and accuracy improvements. Added option to use GB colors in SGB mode.

0.84 - Fixed pokemon crystal (HDMA behavior guesswork). Option for generating high quality anti aliased rectangular waves (CH1 and CH2).

0.83 - fixed some sound bugs introduced in 0.82. CH4 anti aliasing, especially CH4 high pitch tones sound better. Fixed a resize problem in wine.

0.82 - fixed "magical drop" and "miahamm soccer shootout". fixed "little mermaid ii pinball frenzy", speculation about HDMA behavior. rewritten sound code, improved sound. CH4 (noise) is more like real gb now. implemented anti emulator detection.

0.81 - redone STAT/timing/interrupts core, more accurate now (?), fixed *many* known problem roms. implemented DI+HALT hardware bug now, needed to fix smurfs/thunderbirds again (thanks no$gmb history text). "little mermaid ii pinball frenzy" graphics will be broken until i have exact HDMA timing. added "no visible window" mode (doubleclick in bgb window to toggle). GB screen can now be off-center in the border bitmap. SGB border can now overlap main screen in 16 bits gfx mode (alfred chicken). minor fixes/changes.

0.8 - Added SGB support. renamed "snapshot" to "state" to prevent confusion with "screenshot". changed I/O register behavior, it should be more like the real hardware, i might break something. fixed bugs. added options.

0.71b - i removed the hide taskbar code for fullscreen, i think its not needed. added support for "the smurfs" and "pocket puyo sun" (i didn't HALT if ints disabled)

0.71 - Added support for HuC1 and HuC3. Improved control panel GUI. The 4 sound channels can be enabled/disabled independently. Colors of background, window and sprites can be set. Improved full screen support. Bugfixes. Changed DMA behavior, "little mermaid II pinball frenzy" and "le mans 24h" both have correct GFX. fixed nintendo logo screen (ishido)

0.7 - improved compatibility, a number of problems fixed; tested: "legend of zerd", "magical chase", "elmo in grouchland", "faceball 2000" (framerate), "dragon slayer" (music). Emulation speed can be adjusted. added "delay" option so bgb doesnt have to use 100% cpu. emulation of absence of external ram (reads $ff). more cleanup.

0.66b - Saving zero length .sav files problem is fixed. save-filenames were truncated at first dot, fixed. problem with pressing U+D or L+R key simultaneously is fixed. Fixed problem of "Mr. do!" hanging at hi-scores screen.

0.66 - You can drag & drop files to the BGB window. BGB can start with no rom loaded - you don't get the load rom dialog.

0.65b - i did the changes from 0.64 to 0.65 again... this time i did yet another gfx engine, i didnt like 0.65 being 5 fps slower on my pc.

0.65 - Support for bilinear filter. removed the vram viewer; i didn't use it, and it was not stable. Fixed problems with "Mr. Do!". fix in gfx engine: dirty statusbar-split in "fortress of fear". small sound fix (broken in 0.64)

0.64 - minor update+bugfix. based on diagnose roms. Fixed speed of envelope sweep, it is now 1/64 sec per unit as in reality. sound registers now behave more like on real gb. OAM is now zero filled on reset, sprites were flipped incorrectly.

0.63 - minor update. Fixed (reversed) sound stereo. Added option for GBC "LCD colors", similar to the "real colors" option in no$gmb. Joystick buttons up to #16 can now be used. Fixed problem with puzzle road.

0.62 - Added support for joystick/gamepad. Added support for rumble carts. Cleaned up the LCD/STAT/interrupts code; a few rom problems solved, runs pinball deluxe/fantasies. Fixed sound volume rounding, better sound. Fixed the in 0.61 introduced sound problem with Cannon Fodder.

0.61 - Added support for zip files. Added 16 bits gfx engine for old GB (faster if window is big/maximized).

0.6 - Added GameShark support. Fixed many bugs. Great sound improvements (also fixed a bug which messed up the sound in GBC mode). Sprite priority as on real gb.

0.52 - Added a setting which automaticly switches between the faster 8 bits gfx and the 16 bits gfx when needed. Changed window behavior again, it should be correct by now (alfred's adventure). WAV writer didn't work if soundcard disabled... minor fixes. Fixed problem with Hook.

0.51 - fixed problems, even more roms supported, check out the screenshots page. Added "Tiles viewer". Fixed a problem with the filename of the wav-writer.

0.5 - Added hicolor GBC graphics engine. Added background priority support. Added MBC3 timer emulation. Problems solved, more roms run correctly. Wait-loop detection, some games run faster. Maximum frameskip option. BackGround map vram viewer. Minor changes.

0.4 - Added GBC support. Fixed bug in auto-frameskip code, it is now smoother. Minor change in video engine, "the addams family" and "starfight" now run.

0.32 - Added icon. Fixed serial transfer; Mortal Kombat and Alleyway now run. CPU optimized with assembler. Emulated behavior of window (startrek briefing screen). minor changes.

0.31 - Added support for MBC5 (games like warioland 2). Added gamegenie on/off key. Changed behavior of select snapshot window.

0.3 - First released version

email.

also check out beware ircd, freeware IRC server for windows.