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Game Boy Color

Game Boy Color icon Game Boy Color logo

Overview

Nintendo released the Game Boy Color in November 1998. The handheld runs on a dual-speed Sharp LR35902 core (up to 8.19 MHz in color mode, 4.19 MHz in monochrome) and added a palette of 32,768 colors plus larger memory for richer sprites. REG-Linux groups every cartridge and ROM under the gbc system tag so metadata scraping, theming and visual sets stay consistent across the platform and its dot-matrix legacy.

Technical specifications

  • Manufacturer: Nintendo
  • Release year: 1998
  • Hardware type: portable
  • CPU: Sharp LR35902 running at up to 8.19 MHz (4.19 MHz for Game Boy compatibility)
  • Memory: 32 KB internal work RAM (banked) and 16 KB video RAM for tile/palette data
  • Display: 160×144 reflective LCD with up to 32,768 colors and 56 sprites per line
  • Sound: Four-channel stereo (two square waves, one wave, one noise) with extended control compared to the original Game Boy

Supported ROM extensions

gbc, zip, 7z

Quick reference

BIOS

No BIOS file is required for Game Boy Color emulation in REG-Linux.

ROMs

Store all Game Boy Color ROMs inside /userdata/roms/gbc. Want to emulate two players? Read GBC2Players for build-in linking tips.

Emulators

RetroArch

RetroArch provides one interface with shaders, overlays, hotkeys, rewind, netplay and shared settings for every core. REG-Linux surfaces many of those controls inside EmulationStation menus as well.

RetroArch configuration

Open the Quick Menu with [HOTKEY] + the south face button (see controller configuration) while a core is running to adjust advanced options or per-game overrides.

Standardized settings exposed to every Game Boy Color core include gbc.videomode, gbc.ratio, gbc.smooth, gbc.shaders, gbc.pixel_perfect, gbc.decoration and gbc.game_translation.

ES setting name REG-Linux.conf_key Description & values
GRAPHICS BACKEND gbc.gfxbackend Choose OpenGL (opengl) or Vulkan (vulkan).
AUDIO LATENCY gbc.audio_latency Buffer size in milliseconds: 256, 192, 128, 64, 32, 16, 8. Increase to resolve crackles, lower for tighter latency.
THREADED VIDEO gbc.video_threaded Use a second thread for video processing (true On, false Off).

libretro: Gambatte

Gambatte is a high-accuracy Game Boy Color emulator that relies on extensive hardware tests and documentation. REG-Linux includes the latest libretro core so you can benefit from its meticulous timing and compatibility.

libretro: Gambatte configuration

ES setting name REG-Linux.conf_key Description & values
SHOW BIOS BOOTLOGO global.gb_bootloader Show the boot animation when starting games (enabled, disabled).
GHOSTING EFFECT global.gb_mix_frames Simulate the LCD ghosting of the original screen (disabled, mix, mix_fast, lcd_ghosting, lcd_ghosting_fast).
COLOR CORRECTION (GBC) gbc.gbc_color_correction Adjusts colors to mimic real hardware (disabled, always).
COLORIZATION (GB) gb.gb_colorization Pick a palette for original Game Boy games, including DMG palettes, GBC-style tints, Super Game Boy mixes and special palettes like TI-83 Legacy or WonderSwan.

libretro: mGBA

mGBA focuses on speed and accuracy across Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance titles. It earns its place here for GBC content that benefits from its fast interface and shared libretro tooling.

libretro: mGBA configuration

ES setting name REG-Linux.conf_key Description & values
SHOW BIOS BOOTLOGO global.skip_bios_mgba Show the BIOS animation when the BIOS file is present (True, False).
SUPER GB BORDERS (GB) gb.sgb_borders Display Super Game Boy borders for compatible games (False, True).
COLOR CORRECTION (GB) gb.color_correction Simulate the LCD color ink on original Game Boy titles (False, GBA).
SUPER GB BORDERS (GBC) gbc.sgb_borders Enable Super Game Boy borders for GBC content (False, True).
COLOR CORRECTION (GBC) gbc.color_correction Simulate accurate GBC colors (False, GBC).
SOLAR SENSOR LEVEL gba.solar_sensor_level For Boktai-style cartridges, adjust the solar sensor value (0 through 10).
FRAMESKIP gba.frameskip_mgba Skip extra frames to help performance (0 through 10).

libretro: VBA-M

VBA-M is the continuation of VisualBoyAdvance with expanded palette, debugging and filtering options for Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance titles.

libretro: VBA-M configuration

ES setting name REG-Linux.conf_key Description & values
COLORIZATION (GB) gb.palettes Choose from many color palettes such as original gameboy, black and white, gba sp, blue sea, dark knight, green forest, hot desert, pink dreams, weird colors, plus dozens of Super Game Boy and special palettes.
COLOR CORRECTION (GB) gb.gbcoloroption_gb Simulate original LCD color inaccuracies (disabled, enabled).
SUPER GB BORDERS (GB) gb.showborders_gb Show Super Game Boy borders (disabled, enabled).
COLOR CORRECTION (GBC) gbc.gbcoloroption_gbc Simulate GBC LCD imperfections (disabled, enabled).
SUPER GB BORDERS (GBC) gbc.showborders_gbc Enable Super Game Boy borders for GBC (disabled, enabled).
SOLAR SENSOR LEVEL gba.solarsensor Adjust the Boktai solar sensor input (0 through 10).
SENSOR SENSITIVITY (GYRO) gba.gyro_sensitivity Adjust gyro input, values range from 10 to 120.
SENSOR SENSITIVITY (TILT) gba.tilt_sensitivity Adjust tilt input for Gyro-enabled games (10 to 120).

libretro: MesenS

Although MesenS is technically a SNES emulator, it can launch Game Boy Color games through the Super Game Boy interface when the proper BIOS files exist. Load ROMs from roms/sgb and the emulator will boot them as if you played them on the SNES accessory.

Controls

Game Boy Color titles adopt the default REG-Linux Retropad layout. Use the controller configuration menus to adjust mappings per core or per game if needed.