10 best Game Boy Advance (GBA) emulators for Android

The Game Boy Advance is one of the most popular mobile console games of all time. Android smartphones make up such a large portion of the market that it's almost inevitable that Android owners are interested in playing their favorite old GBA games on their phones. The maturity of the Android platform means that there are now some good Android GBA emulators worth using.

1. VGBAnext

VGBAnext is not only one of the best GBA emulators for Android but also an emulator for Game Boy Color, Game Boy, NES, Famicon, DiskSystem and VS System.

However, the real reason to install VGBAnext is because of the plethora of additional hardware for GBA that it offers. This app simulates tilt sensors and even light guns! In addition, there are a variety of skin customization options to better suit your personal taste.

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Additionally, VGBAnext supports modern gamepads as well as older ones, like the Nyko PlayPad and the PS3 Sixaxis game controller. Save states can be shared between users, and there's even wireless multiplayer over WiFi. You also get a neat "Rewind" feature that lets you go back 16 seconds to quickly retry that difficult part. Finally, one of the weirder features of VGBAnext is the ability to record game background music or sound effects and use them as ringtones!

2. Pizza Boy

Pizza Boy is one of the newest Gameboy Advance emulators and is considered by many to be one of the most accurate GBA emulators for Android. It consistently scores very well in simulation accuracy tests.

In fact, enthusiasts tested Pizza Boy's accuracy against other emulators and it scored top marks. In addition to great performance, Pizza Boy also uses a number of advanced features, such as saving files and configuration data back to Google Drive, displaying box art for ROMs, local and network multiplayer, and simulating cartridge features, such as gyroscope and rumble. Furthermore, there are customizable skins that really make Pizza Boy stand out among the competition.

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Since Pizza Boy is one of the new emulators on this list, it is still under very active development. Free Pizza Boy version available; However, many of the features that make the emulator so good are only available in the paid version. Both versions support compressed ROM files. The same developer created the Pizza Boy emulator for the Game Boy Color, which is equally impressive.

3. RetroArch

RetroArch is the epitome of the emulator world, specifically because it's not exactly an emulator. Instead, it's best described as a single, unified application for organizing your games and emulators. The game and its corresponding emulator are launched from within RetroArch, so you don't have to mess around with separate apps.

The user interface is compatible with a variety of platforms (including Android) and supports a surprising number of systems (including Gameboy Advance).

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RetroArch is a very convenient way to play games from several consoles; however, a considerable amount of configuration is required. For example, you will need to download individual "cores" for each system you want to emulate. There are multiple cores to choose from for each system. For the Gameboy Advance, VBA-M and mGBA are generally considered great options.

4. John GBAC

John GBAC is the successor to two separate apps: John GBA and John GBC, both of which are still available for download on the Google Play Store. However, both are not actively developed.

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Like previous applications, the appeal of John GBAC is its simplicity. It lacks some advanced features, but the basics are still there. Gamepad support, compatibility with compressed ROM files and even file uploads to Dropbox (a separate app called John Datasync is needed to support this) are all available. If you are looking for a simple emulator for Gameboy Advance then John GBAC is a good choice. Furthermore, John GBAC is completely free to use. However, if you want to remove ads, you will need to spend some money.

5. Nostalgia.GBA

Nostalgia has a number of emulators available, and the Gameboy Advance variant of Nostalgia is another option to try. The user interface here is nothing remarkable but is rich in functionality. Since the user interface is the same across all Nostalgia emulator lines, you can know what you're doing. If you can get past the lackluster aesthetics, you'll find a GBA emulator worth checking out. Nostalgia.GBA is based on mGBA, one of the most popular and accurate open source Gameboy Advance emulators available.

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In addition to accuracy, Nostalgia.GBA also allows users to share save states across multiple devices. From within the app, you can send save states via Bluetooth, email, Skype, etc. Nostalgia.GBA also supports Bluetooth gamepads and ROM files in both .GBA and .ZIP formats. Additionally, users can perform cheats and even enable the "Rewind" feature to retry parts of the game until they "git gud". The free "Lite" version of Nostalgia.GBA is identical to the paid "Pro" version, only with additional ads.

6. My Boy!

My Boy! is one of the most famous Gameboy Advance emulators on this list. It has achieved this popularity due to its excellent performance, accuracy, and features. My Boy! boasts high efficiency, ensuring better battery life when using the app. Additionally, My Boy! features BIOS emulation, meaning games are emulated with extreme accuracy. This application can also simulate various features of the cartridge, such as gyroscope, rumble, and solar sensor.

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Additionally, My Boy! includes a number of other useful features, such as local and network multiplayer, fast forward and slow motion, as well as file sync saving via Google Drive. Free version available; however, it is ad-supported and lacks some features found in the paid version. One last thing to note: My Boy! Haven't received any major updates in years. Therefore, if you are looking for performance improvements or additional features, you can try another option.

7. GBA.emu

GBA.emu is an extremely solid, feature-rich option created by Robert Broglia, the developer behind one of the most popular SNES emulators of all time. Based on VBA-M, GBA.emu focuses on low audio/video latency. It achieves this by providing quality BIOS emulation, meaning the game runs with high precision.

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Focusing on performance, GBA.emu uses a very minimalist user interface. Additionally, since the emulator focuses on performance, you won't find any fancy extras. GBA.emu offers gamepad support, cheat codes, and customizable on-screen controls.

8. Lemuroid

If you plan on running more than just Gameboy Advance on your Android device, you'll want to try Lemuroid, an all-in-one emulation solution that runs games from a large number of consoles (including Gameboy Advance), spanning from the Atari 2600 to newer game consoles, like the Nintendo 3DS. Lemuroid also supports game controllers, customizes touch controls for size and position on the screen, and syncs files saved to the cloud. There's also local multiplayer support through the use of multiple controllers on one device and compatibility with compressed ROMs. Best of all, Lemuroid is 100% free and has no ads.

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Like Retroarch, Lemuroid is based on the open source Libretro. However, the big difference between them is ease of use. Lemuroid is ready to use right away: Just install the app, scan the ROM and start playing. Retroarch, on the other hand, requires you to mess around a bit to get things to work. If you want to skip the configuration and jump straight into the game, Lemuroid is what you are after.

9. John G.B.A

A reasonably accurate GBA emulator with lots of extra features, John GBA is a great choice for those who want things simple. It has built-in cheats and various options to improve visibility. Particularly useful is Dropbox support, which allows you to sync your saved data and configurations with the cloud. You can then retrieve that data and continue playing on another Android device.

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The default virtual gamepad layout isn't pretty, but there are customization options that allow you to change the size and position of the buttons on the screen. There is also support for Bluetooth gamepads. There's really no reason to use John GBA when its successor, John GBAC is already available, but John GBA is still included in this list, as it is compatible with devices from Android 4.1 and up. before. To run John GBAC, you need at least Android 6.0.

10. VinaBoy Advance

As one of the more basic Gameboy Advance emulators on the Google Play Store, VinaBoy Advance does what it promises. You won't find any advanced features here: No rewind, save state switching between devices, and no editing. However, what you get is a simple and easy to use GBA emulator that opens .GBA, .7z and .ZIP GBA ROM files.

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VinaBoy Advance has a big advantage over its competitors: it's completely free. There are no annoying ads and no features hidden behind paywalls. Of course, you don't get even some of the basic features that appear in other emulators. Also, be aware that the last important update of VinaBoy Advance was in 2018. Even so, the app is still compatible with Android 4.0, so if you have an older device, the power consumption is low. , VinaBoy Advance might be worth installing.

David Pac

Update 07 September 2023