Now android users can play their favorite childhood games with the help of Game Boy Advance (GBA) emulators. The advancement in mobile technology has equipped android users to run emulators and recapture their childhood. There is a number of good GBA emulators that are worth a shot.
The question arises, what makes a great GBA emulator? Each GBA might offer different features, but a great GBA emulator will rank between emulation precision along with extra gimmicks. The most basic of all features that you should look for in a good GBA emulator is full gamepad support all the time and a save state management. These features will come in handy believe me!
Top 7 GBA Emulators
My Boy
My Boy is one of the most popular and user-friendly emulators available to the android user on Play-Store. It has a bucket load of features like built-in cheat codes, extremely high game compatibility, and fast forward mode. Along with these, some advanced features that are also provided are OpenGL rendering, built-in BIOS emulator, rumble emulator using phone vibrator and hardware controller support. These set of features provide a very impressive gaming experience. My Boy emulator is available on Google Play Store for free (including ads) and for $4.99 (without ads).
RetroArch
RetroArch is a multi-function emulator which works with “cores”. A core can be installed onto the RetroArch emulator and that core will act as an emulator itself. In simpler terms, RetroArch emulator enables the user to experience multiple emulators on a single application. There are many Emulators like Game Boy which have cores that are compatible with the RetroArch emulator.
Although RetroArch provides a great functionality by enabling users to experience different emulators, it does not contain as many features as the individual emulator. Also, it is a bit difficult to use as compared to the other emulators in the market. Don’t worry, it still has great compatibility and it is free to download from Google Play Store (without ads).
John GBA
If you talk about go-to Game Boy Advanced emulator, John Boy should be your first choice. It is one of the best emulators on the Google Play Store. Along with a very reasonable price tag of $2.99, it comes with a ton of built-in functionalities.
John Boy will support almost every game available out there, it also includes onscreen controls, built-in cheats, fast forward and slow-mo. If that is not enough, you also get Dropbox support where you can save your game without any hassle. With complete off-line mode compatibility, you can enjoy your GBA emulator experience anywhere anytime.
ClassicBoy
ClassicBoy GBA emulator is an all in one emulator. It encompasses multiple consoles like PlayStation, Sega Genesis, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, Game Boy, and NES.
Classic Boy emulator supports almost every game available in the market. You also get functionality like save state management, load state management, built-in cheat codes, and fast forward and slow-mo. It is available on Google Play Store in two versions, Free version (with less functionality like hardware controller support) and $3.99 Premium version.
EmuBox Emulator
EmuBox Emulator works a lot like Classic Boy Emulator, but it supports different consoles. This all in one emulator supports Game Boy Advance, Game Boy, Nintendo DS, Play Station, and SNES.
EmuBox Emulator offers features like built-in cheat code support, save state management, load state management and fast forward and slow-mo. Like Classic Boy Emulator this one also supports hardware controller support.
Unlike Classic Boy Emulator where you have to purchase the Premium version to get full features, Emu Box Emulator is totally free of cost, you can download it from Google Play Store.
GBA.emu
GBA.emu emulator is specially designed for Game Boy Advance. It comes with a multitude of features including, built-in cheat code support, quick save option, BIOS emulation, save state management, load state management, hardware controller support and fast forward and slow-mo. support.
GBA.emu emulator is compatible with most of the game ROMs, it also provides the additional feature of cross-platform support with the PC version. GBA.emu can be easily downloaded from Google Play Store, although it is not free you have to pay $4.99.
GBC.emu
GBC.emu and GBA.emu are Game Boy emulators by Robert Broglia. GBC.emu is the best Game Boy Color and Game Boy Emulator available on Google Play Store. This is supported for both the Game Bot Color and the Game Boy consoles, which means you can enjoy both these consoles.
Along with high compatibility, GBC.emu offers a lot of features like support for Game Genie and Game-shark cheat codes, cross-platform supports just like GBA.emu, and hardware controller support. It can be downloaded from Google Play Store, but just like GBA.emu it is not free you have to pay $2.99 to experience the full functionality of this emulator, although it is an open-source emulator.
Final Verdict
Although there is the number of Game Boy Advance Emulators out there, only few of them are worth getting into. We have discussed 7 top-rated, most compatible and feature extensive emulators that are available on Google Play Store.
It is up to your personal preference and requirement that which emulator you want or need. Each emulator provides a little bit different functionality that the others. In our opinion, John GBA and My Boy are the most practical, but keep in mind it all depends on your requirement.