Awesome Game Boy Development
A curated list of awesome Game Boy (Color) Development resources, tools, docs, related projects and open-source ROMs. Inspired by the awesome list thing.
You can find a (way cooler) web version of this list here.
Contents
Introduction
Disambiguation
Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance development is covered by another project, the awesome-gbadev list.
GBA, however, can run GB/GBC games. It does so in a slightly different way compared to native hardware: this is covered in the Emulator Development section of this list.
Game Boy Color and Super Game Boy
This list is focused on the original Game Boy (GB or DMG, 1989), the Game Boy Color (GBC or CGB) and the Super Game Boy (SGB) are very similar systems, with a few important distinctions, such as:
- Different hardware specifications;
- Specific hardware and software features;
- Specific registers;
- Specific bugs, quirks and exploitable behaviours.
If you aim to develop your software for SGB or GBC, or you want to know how it runs on the other systems, you may want to take advantage and adapt to these differences, check the Game Boy Color category and look for specific references to GBC/CGB and SGB.
Documentation
Opcodes
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gb-opcodes - Opcodes table
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RGBDS opcodes reference - A reference of all instructions, including short descriptions, cycle and byte counts, and explanations of flag modifications.
Game Boy Color
Hardware
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DMG Schematics - Hardware schematics.
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The Game Boy Project - Provides a study on the hardware and detailed constructional information for the implementation of three 8-bit bidirectional parallel ports.
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Related custom hardware - by Gekkio.
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ESP8266 GB Dev Board - Dev board for Game Boy accessories development, powered by ESP8266.
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ESP8266 GB Printer - A device that emulates the GB Printer and lets you retrieve images using WiFi.
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fruttenboel - Page with loads of information on the hardware, custom boards to interface with the console and other related projects.
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Game Boy hardware database - Data and photos of various types of Game Boy consoles.
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dmg-schematics - Schematics and annotated overlay for the DMG-CPU B chip, extracted from die photos, made with KiCad. Also contains Electric VLSI library with layouts for some of the cells and memories.
Peripherals
Cartridges
Custom cartridges
Misc
Emulator Development
Testing
Software Development
The Choosing tools for Game Boy development essay provides an overview of the available development tools for Game Boy.
Assemblers
Compilers
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GBDK - Maintained and modernized GBDK (Game Boy Development Kit) powered by an updated version of the SDCC toolchain. Provides a C compiler, assembler, linker and a set of libraries.
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Turbo Rascal Syntax Error - Complete suite (IDE, compiler, programming language, resource editor) intended for developing games/demos for 8 / 16-bit line of computers, including the Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
Experimental/Proof of Concepts
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RGBDS-Live - In-browser coding environment to try out RGBDS.
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Wiz - A high-level assembly language for writing homebrew on retro console platforms (Game Boy, NES, Atari 2600, and more).
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gbforth - A Forth-based Game Boy development kit.
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gbasm-rs - An opinionated Rust based compiler for Game Boy z80 assembly code.
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gbasm - A JavaScript based compiler for Game Boy z80 assembly code.
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tniASM - Macro Assembler.
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Assembler - Assembler written in Swift.
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llvm-gbz80 / clang-gbz80 - Clang/LLVM port to the GBZ80 CPU (similar to the deprecated euclio/llvm-gbz80 ).
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gbdk-go - A compiler translates Go programs to C code. The output C code is built into GB ROM by GBDK.
Emulators
Complete list of open source emulators
Engines
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ZGB - A little engine for creating games for the original Game Boy (expands gbdk, more info here).
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Retr0 GB - An engine for creating games (expands GBDK).
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GBExtended - C library extending gbdk.
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gbdk-lib-extension - A small set of sources and tools for the Game Boy Development Kit by Michael Hope.
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Dot Matrix Game Editor - An IDE for Game Boy programming in a C-like language called GBL, with many other features like tile and map extraction, WLA-DX assembly, and more.
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mgbdis - Game Boy ROM disassembler with RGBDS compatible output.
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ROM Header Utility - An online tool to inspect and modify a ROM’s header data, including the logo.
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romusage - Command line tool for estimating usage (free space) of Game Boy ROMs from a .map, .noi or ihx file. Works with GBDK-2020 and RGBDS.
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awake - Game Boy decompiler.
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Game Boy Text Tools - Set of tools for text manipulation and translation of Game Boy ROMs written in Node.js.
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evscript - A scripting language for the Game Boy, useful for enemy AI, dialogue, animations, and coroutines.
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evunit - A unit testing program for assembly code.
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opcode_count - Generates statistics on which CPU instructions are run the most often using Python and Emulicious
Graphics utilities
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Game Boy Tile Data Generator - HTML5 / JS web application that will convert bitmap images to hexadecimal data appropriate for use in tile based graphical applications, specifically GB.
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Harry Mulder’s GB Development - Some sources and home of Game Boy Tile Designer (GBTD) and Game Boy Map Builder (GBMB) tools.
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GBTiles - Converts .GBR files created with Harry Mulder’s Tile Designer (GBTD) and .GBM files created with Harry Mulder’s Map Builder (GBMB) to different formats for use with the Game Boy and GBDK.
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bmp2cgb - Graphics converter for Game Boy Color development providing real time palette adjustments.
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png2gb - CLI tool to convert image file to game boy .c array.
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GB-convert - Game Boy tile conversion and map editor tool (converts to assembly).
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brewtool - A collection of primitive editor/converter tools for making assets used with homebrew ROM development.
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vtGBte - A minimalistic ncurses tile editor.
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tpp1 - Definition and specification of a custom GB/GBC memory/hardware mapper, as a functional superset of MBC.
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libstdgb - A C library of useful Game Boy operations (SDCC).
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Tilemap GB - GIMP image editor plug-in for importing & exporting GBMB and GBTD tilemaps and tilesets (as bitmap images or .GBM/.GBR files).
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Tilemap Helper - GIMP image editor plug-in for optimizing tile maps and tile sets.
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Tilemap Studio - A tilemap editor for Game Boy, Color, Advance, and SNES projects. Written in C++ with FLTK.
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Superfamiconv - Flexible and composable tile graphics converter supporting Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Mega Drive and PC Engine formats.
Hardware and ROM utilities
Music drivers and trackers
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DevSound - Sound driver embeddable in homebrews which supports pulse width manipulation, arpeggios, and multiple waveforms.
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Carillon Player - Music Engine.
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GBT PLAYER - A music player library and converter kit.
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mmlgb - A MML parser and GBDK sound driver for the Nintendo Game Boy.
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XPMCK - An MML based music compiler with support for Game Boy & Game Boy Color.
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GBSoundSystem - A modernized audio driver for GameBoy Tracker (aka the Paragon 5 music player).
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hUGETracker - A music tracker based on OpenMPT, focused on ease of use, compact output, and embeddability in homebrew games.
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CBT-FX - A GBDK-2020 sound effect driver compatible with FX-Hammer sound effects.
Programming
Guides, tutorials and tools to develop software for Game Boy using the development toolchains described in the Software Development chapter.
ASM
Sources
Fragments of code, effects, proof of concepts and generally non complete games.
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dev’rs ASM section - A lot of working demos and sources.
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EmmaEwert’s experiments - A collection of prototype programs, mostly just toying around. Among others, a daylight effect, transparency and a weather effect.
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DeadCScroll - A detailed tutorial on how to make the screen wobble, among other “raster effects”
Timings
Boilerplates and libraries
Syntax highlighting packages
C
Homebrews
Complete and open source games.
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Homebrew Hub - A community-led attempt to collect, archive and preserve every unlicensed and homebrew game released for Game Boy. Entries are playable online.
ASM
C
GB Studio
Demos
Reverse Engineering
Game Disassemblies
Game Boy Camera
Retrieving images
Game Boy Printer emulation (e.g. to retrieve images from the camera):
Changing the camera’s behavior
Methods to improve and/or manipulate the camera’s quality and behavior:
Post processing
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GB Studio - Drag and drop game creator with simple, no knowledge required, visual scripting.
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ArduinoBoy - Serial communication (MIDI) from an Arduino to the Game Boy for music applications such as LittleSoundDJ, Nanoloop, and mGB.
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papiGB - Game Boy Classic fully functional FPGA implementation from scratch.
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fpgaboy - Implementation Nintendo’s Game Boy console on an FPGA.
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Piglet - A LUA-driven AI that plays classic Game Boy color games using experimentation. In active development.
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Ostrich - A Game Boy Sound System player written in Swift.
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mGB - A Game Boy cartridge program that enables the Game Boy to act as a full MIDI supported sound module.
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GBVisualizer - Demonstrating the use of two undocumented Game Boy Color registers, nicknamed PCM12 (FF76) and PCM34 (FF77), which can be used to read the current PCM amplitude of the 4 APU channels.
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ArduinoGameBoy - Arduino based Game Boy cartridge reader and writer.
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gameboy-brainfuck - Brainf*ck interpreter.
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gbfk - Brainf*ck interpreter, with input.
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gb-save-states - Patches to add save state support to Game Boy games when playing on the original hardware.
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gbcpu - A CPU and peripherals implementing the Game Boy instruction set and functionality.
- Digitized Speech in Game Boy Games
- Sniffing Game Boy serial traffic with an STM32F4
- Virtual Game Boy Printer with an STM32F4
- Printing on the Game Boy Printer using an STM32F4
- Programming Game Boy Chinese cartridges with an STM32F4
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Pokemon Pocket Computer: - What is it and how to use it to make cheat codes.
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Booting the Game Boy with a custom logo - Bypassing the Nintendo logo check.
- Making a Game Boy game in 2017: A “Sheep It Up!” Post-Mortem (part 1, part 2)
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Nintendo’s fake logos - Every cartridge has to show the authentic logo to be considered valid and be run, but obviously some companies managed to exploit the check system.
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liblsdj - Utility library for interacting with the LSDj save format (.sav), song files (.lsdsng) and more.
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lsdpatch - Tool for modifying samples, fonts and palettes on LSDj ROM images.
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Game Boy video effects - Some little experiments using the STAT interrupt to do funny video manipulations.
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gbos - A basic operating system for the Game Boy.
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Work Master OS - Russian multi tasking operating system.
- Game Boy Link Cable Breakout Board
- GBCartFlasher firmware
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VerilogBoy - Game Boy compatible console Verilog RTL implementation.
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GBCamcorder - Lo-Fi portable video recorder using a GameBoy Camera cartridge.
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GBCartRead - Read ROM, Read RAM or Write RAM from/to a GameBoy Cartridge.
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GBxCart-RW - A device for reading game ROMs, save games and restoring saves for GB, GBC and GBA carts from your PC via USB.
- Dumping the Super Game Boy Boot ROM
Directories
Websites
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devrs.com/gb - Old home of the scene: examples, sources, complete documentation, guides, tutorials and various tools.
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pdroms.de - Game Boy releases.
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Handheld Underground - Unlicensed games, blog posts about Game Boy, home of the hhugboy emulator.
About
Contribute
Take a look at Contribution Guidelines.
License
Licensed under GPLv3.
See LICENSE for more information.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to every contributor of this project, Jeff Frohwein, Pascal Felber, KOOPa, Pan of Anthrox, GABY, Marat Fayzullin, Paul Robson, BOWSER, neviksti, Martin “nocash” Korth, Nitro2k01, Duo, Chris Antonellis, Michael Hope, Beware, Jonathan “Lord Nightmare” Gevaryahu, Carsten Sorense, Sindre Aamås, Otaku No Zoku, GeeBee.
Special thanks to our friends at DigitalOcean and Incube8 Games, sponsoring the open source activites of our Game Boy Development community.