What’s the Best Game Boy Advance Emulator Out There
- The Game Boy Advance is renowned for its extensive game library and portability, contributing to its enduring popularity beyond just Pokémon titles.
- Emulators allow players to enjoy GBA games on various devices, with top recommendations including Visual Boy Advance for PC, My Boy! for Android, and Delta for iOS.
- While emulators are legal, it's crucial to obtain games legally to comply with copyright laws.
The Game Boy Advance (GBA) is one of the most beloved Nintendo consoles of all time. The GBA is known for its expansive and memorable library of games, portability, and relative affordability.
If you’re looking to relive the nostalgia of playing Pokémon games, you’ve probably heard of emulators. Emulators are applications that can help you run retro games on the device of your choosing. For the GBA, there are many emulators available. Fortunately, we’re here to help you choose the best GBA emulator.
The Best GameBoy Advance Emulators
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the best GBA emulators available:
↪ Best GBA Emulator for PC platforms: Visual Boy Advance
Visual Boy Advance (VBA) was first released in 2001 and has come a long way since then. Currently, VBA supports all GBA games and can run them nearly perfectly. It offers many features like controller support, cheat codes, online and local multiplayer on supported games, speed hacks, and save states. It’s also very user-friendly, so you can have it running in no time.
VBA is available on all platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. However, since it’s only available on mobile platforms via RetroArch, it’s best to skip the mobile version. VBA is completely free and open-source. Its requirements are quite lenient, so you can run it on just about anything, including that old laptop you have from 2008.
↪ Best GBA Emulator for Android: My Boy!
While most emulators are free, there are a few exceptions. My Boy! for Android phones is one such case. While you may be put off by the fact that it’s a paid app, you won’t find a better GBA emulator on Android. Yes, some may come close, but none can compare to My Boy!’s feature-rich settings, built-in cheat libraries, stable speed hacks, and multiple save states.
Trust us; My Boy! is well worth its $4.99 price tag, and it notably surpasses setting up RetroArch. With My Boy!, you can just load up the game and relax. Oh, did we mention that it supports multiplayer too? Get your buds to download it as well and face off in epic Pokémon battles!
↪ Best GBA Emulator for iOS: Delta
For jailbreaking enthusiasts, Delta is a familiar name. For most of you, it’s the best thing to have happened since Apple decided to allow emulators on the App Store. Delta has been around for quite a while and has evolved in shape and form several times. It is an all-in-one emulator that supports multiple consoles, including the GBA.
Delta is free to download on the App Store and is open-source as well. However, you will need iOS 14 to run it on your iOS device. That said, there’s nothing better than Delta on iOS with its user-friendly interface, save state support, speed hacks, controller support, and more. Unfortunately, online multiplayer is not supported, although local multiplayer on the same device is.
In conclusion, while emulators themselves are legal, obtaining games legally is important. Make sure to stay on the right side of the law and boot up some good ol’ Pokémon!
