Gaming is not just a time killer. It’s a lifestyle. It’s one of the ways to express oneself and attain recognition. And we’re not talking about modern games only. There are also the games that have become classics due to their unique stories, engaging quests, fun characters, and visually appealing graphics. Many years ago, Nintendo made a splash in the global video game market when they released its revolutionary Entertainment System (NES) in 1985.
Many world-famous franchises like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda started exactly with this console and made their way into the 21st century, the era of sophisticated RPGs and virtual reality gaming. But they are not NES games we’re going to pay tribute to in our today’s article. There was another legendary console famed for its iconic games that remain popular these days.
The Game Boy Advance (GBA) was the representative of the six generation of video game consoles released and marketed in the early 2000s. The console was a successor to Gameboy Color, another well-like handheld. The new creation couldn’t but impress all fans of Nintendo games with a vast library of role-playing titles, platformers, and older games that appeared on Nintendo consoles of previous generations. It comes as no surprise that so many people now crave to play GBA games.
If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re one of longstanding fans of the GBA itching to reunite with Super Mario, Link, Samus Aran and other iconic character created by Nintendo. You can quickly download a GBA emulator, special program that allows running vintage console games on modern platforms, then get a couple of game ROMs from a reliable website and you’re good to go! But the problem is not all retro gamers know how to select a reliable and stable GBA emulator that will ensure the best emulation quality on their platforms. Go on reading our article if you’re looking for the best GBA emulators for your Windows PC, Android, iOS, Linux, or MacOS.
You can get the best GBA games for virtually any emulator from the list below. You’ll find a huge collection of safe and legal games for GBA and other vintage consoles that are available completely free.
#1 RetroArch
RetroArch is one of the longstanding cross-platform emulators that can ideally emulate almost each of Nintendo vintage consoles and run your favorite games on Windows, Linux, MacOS, and even Android. It boasts cheat code and advanced GPU shader support. With this emulator, you can easily rewind and fast forward you games, remap the keys, save and load states, use gamepad to play your favorite titles from the couch, and download art thumbnails for your ROMs. You can legally download RetroArch from Google Store and use it with any GBA ROM.
#2 BizHawk
The primary reason why classic gamers opt for BizHawk is that it allows the best possible speedruns. What’s more, this emulator allows changing the original gameplay of GBA games to suit your specific gaming needs. You can reboot, pause, soft and hard reset your games, as well as change the window size and switch to full screen. It also provides a controller support for more authentic gaming experience. Though not as versatile and stable as RetroArch, BizHawk is good for casual gaming on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android platforms. It’s compatible with almost any legal GBA ROMs download and good for playing a handful of homebrew ROMs.
#3 mGBA
mGBa is a stable and time-tested tool famed for a variety of advanced features. Not only does it afford high performance, speed, and portability, but also allows playing classic games in the much higher quality compared to the original games. The odds are good you won’t experience difficulty setting up this emulator. mGBA’s intuitive interface and effective design makes it the best option for the classic games at the beginning of their retro journey. The emulator in question is compatible with Windows, Vita, MacOS, and Linux. mGBA also makes it possible for you to play multiplayer games on the same PC and utilize pre-loaded cheat codes.
#4 No$GBA
Another emulator well-known for its multiplayer feature is No$GBA. It’s one of the most popular and stable emulator designed to run a wide range of Nintendo retro games published for the GBA and Nintendo DS on a modern PC and portable devices. What’s cool about this tool is that allows saving stats and loading your game at any point, which means that you need to always start your game from the very beginning after reloading your emulator. You can tweak graphics and sound settings to your liking. Moreover, No$GBA offers some useful debugging features that can help you make your gaming experience as enjoyable as possible.
#5 Higan
Higan can rightly be called the simplest GBA emulator on our list. It’s easy to configure and set up. Moreover, it doesn’t take up much space on your hard drive. It’s also one of the most powerful and full-featured emulators for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Higan supports cheat codes and is compatible with a plethora of GBA games. There’s also a standalone version for DS games.
Bottom Line
Hope that today’s overview of the best Gameboy Advance emulators will help you enjoy favorite classic on a Windows PC, Android tablet, iOS smartphone, and other devices running modern operating systems. And don’t forget that there are many other GBA emulators out there that may come in handy when you decide to dive into retrogaming. Don’t hesitate to explore other options if you want.
Pick an emulator and download any GBA ROM you might be interested in to your PC right now! Don’t hold back on embarking on the most fascinating classic gaming journey of your lifetime.