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Game Boy
RetroBat system gb
Games go in roms\gb
BIOS Boot ROMs and Super Game Boy files, when your library has them
Tested rows Platforms lists each emulator and whether it passed

Which emulator to use

Leave RetroBat on its default, RetroArch with the Gambatte core. Every emulator RetroBat offers for the Game Boy passed RomMBat's tests, so any of them is safe to pick, with the BIOS below.

BIOS

A sync fetches, from your RomM library, the Game Boy boot ROM gb_bios.bin, the Game Boy Color boot ROM gbc_bios.bin, four Super Game Boy files, and the other files some Game Boy emulators read. RetroBat itself lists only the first for the Game Boy. Two emulators refuse to start without some of them:

  • RetroArch's bsnes core plays a Game Boy game as a Super Game Boy, so it will not start one without SGB1.sfc.
  • BizHawk's GBHawk core needs the boot ROM for the console it plays a game as: gb_bios.bin for a Game Boy-only game, and gbc_bios.bin for one made for both the Game Boy and the Game Boy Color, which it plays in color.

Every other emulator starts without any of them. If your library lacks one, see BIOS and firmware.

Saves

A save follows you to another emulator only where the two read the same file (Changing emulator). On the Game Boy:

  • All six of RetroArch's cores and the standalone Mesen share one save.
  • The standalone mGBA and Mednafen share another.
  • BizHawk's three cores share a third.

The rest each keep their own.

Known issues

  • A game with a clock can lose its time when you change emulator, since each emulator keeps the clock its own way. On the default emulator, the clock syncs with the save.
  • A game with the Game Boy's smallest save chip, such as Final Fantasy Adventure, saved in the standalone mGBA will not start in the standalone Mednafen, which stops with "Unexpected EOF". Keep such a game on one of the two. A sync does not bring another computer's mGBA save down for such a game that runs under Mednafen here, though restoring one by hand does.
  • Under jgenesis, the save of a Game Boy Color game kept in the gb folder, such as Pokemon Silver, does not sync. Play those from the Game Boy Color system instead.
  • RetroArch's TGB Dual, DoubleCherryGB and SameBoy cores rewrite a small clock file every time you play, so each session sends a new copy of it to RomM. That is expected.