Editing VisualBoyAdvance

{{Short description|Emulator for the Game Boy handheld game consoles}}
{{Infobox software
| name = VisualBoyAdvance
| logo = [[Image:VisualBoyAdvance.png|64px|VisualBoyAdvance icon]]
| author = Forgotten (alias)
| developer = VBA Team
| latest_release_version = 1.7.2 (''Windows'') <br />1.7.1 (''Linux, BeOS'') <br />1.7.4 (''Mac'')
| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]]
| latest_preview_version = 1.8.0 beta 3
| latest_release_date = {{Release date and age|2004|5|25}}
| latest_preview_date = {{Release date and age|2005|10|1}}
| operating_system = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre = [[Video game console emulator|Console emulator]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License|GPL-2.0-or-later]]
| size = 1.4 MB - 1.92 MB
| language = English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish, Turkish (''v.1.7 and above, for Windows only'')
| repo = {{URL|https://sourceforge.net/projects/vba/}}
}}
{{Infobox software
| name = VisualBoyAdvance-M
| logo = [[Image:VisualBoyAdvance.png|64px|VisualBoyAdvance icon]]
| author = Forgotten et al.
| developer = VBA-M Development Team
| latest_release_version = 2.1.11<ref>{{cite web | url=https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m/releases | title=Releases · visualboyadvance-m/Visualboyadvance-m | website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref>
| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2024|09|15|df=yes}}
| latest_preview_version = 
| latest_preview_date = 
| operating_system = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre = [[Video game console emulator|Console emulator]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License|GPL-3.0]]
| website = https://www.visualboyadvance-m.org
| size = 
| language = 
| repo = {{URL|https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m}}
}}

'''VisualBoyAdvance''' (commonly abbreviated as '''VBA''') is a free [[emulator]] of the [[Game Boy]], [[Game Boy Color]], and [[Game Boy Advance]] handheld game consoles<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/gba/vboyadvance.html|title=Visual Boy Advance|publisher=The Emulator Zone}}</ref> as well as of [[Super Game Boy]] and [[Super Game Boy#Super Game Boy 2|Super Game Boy 2]]. It is still downloadable to this day.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visual Boy Advance Download - VBA Emulator |url=https://visualboyadvance.org/download/ |access-date=2024-06-18 |website=Visual Boy Advance |language=en-US}}</ref>

Besides the [[DirectX]] version for the Windows platform, there is also one that is based on the free [[Cross-platform|platform independent]] [[graphics library]] [[Simple DirectMedia Layer|SDL]]. This is available for a variety of operating systems including [[Linux]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.happypenguin.org/show?VisualBoyAdvance-SDL|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530084911/http://www.happypenguin.org/show?VisualBoyAdvance-SDL|url-status=usurped|archive-date=May 30, 2012|title=VisualBoyAdvance-SDL|date=15 February 2019|publisher=The Linux Game Tome}}</ref> [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]], [[Mac OS X]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://visualboyadvance.en.softonic.com/mac|title=VisualBoyAdvance 1.7.2|newspaper=Softonic}}</ref> and [[BeOS]]. VisualBoyAdvance has also been ported to [[AmigaOS 4]], [[AROS]], [[GameCube]], [[Wii]], [[webOS]], and [[Zune HD]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://code.google.com/p/vba-wii|title=Visual Boy Advance GX|date=18 February 2022|publisher=Google Code}}</ref>

== History ==
The VisualBoyAdvance project was started by a developer under the [[User (computing)|online alias]] "Forgotten".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forums.ngemu.com/visualboy-advance-discussion/|title=Visual Boy Advance|publisher=NGEmu|access-date=2009-11-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091217071710/http://forums.ngemu.com/visualboy-advance-discussion/|archive-date=2009-12-17|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=May 2020}} When this person left the development of the emulator, the project was handed over to a team named "VBA Team", led by Forgotten's brother. Development on the original VisualBoyAdvance stopped in 2004 with version 1.8.0 beta 3, and a number of [[Fork (software development)|forked]] versions were made by various developers in the years since then, such as VisualBoyAdvance-M.<ref name="DT" />

VBA was a crucial component of [[Twitch Plays Pokémon]], a social experiment in which thousands of button inputs collected from the viewership of the streaming website [[Twitch (service)|Twitch]] were fed into an emulated version of ''[[Pokémon Red]]''.<ref name="CNET">{{Cite web |last=Statt |first=Nick |date=2014-03-01 |title=Twitch Plays Pokemon conquers Elite Four, beating game after 390 hours |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/twitch-plays-pokemon-conquers-elite-four-beating-game-after-390-hours/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301190208/http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57619740-93/twitch-plays-pokemon-conquers-elite-four-beating-game-after-390-hours/ |archive-date=2014-03-01 |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=CNET |publisher=CBS Interactive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McWhertor |first=Michael |date=2014-02-14 |title=How Twitch is crowd-sourcing an amazing Pokémon multiplayer game |url=https://www.polygon.com/2014/2/14/5411790/twitch-plays-pokemon-creator-interview-twitchplayspokemon |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=Polygon}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=St. Clair |first=Michael |date=December 2015 |title=Twitch Plays Pokemon, MarI/O, Dreeps |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1774950911 |journal=Theatre Journal |volume=67 |issue=4 |pages=702–706 |doi=10.1353/tj.2015.0112 |s2cid=194408732 |id={{ProQuest|1774950911}} |via=ProQuest|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Viewers typed commands into the chat function, which was then fed into the VBA emulator via an [[IRC bot]].<ref name="CNET"/> They succeeded after 16 days of continuous play, with a peak concurrent viewership of 121,000 and over 1.1 million unique participants.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://blog.twitch.tv/2014/03/twitch-prevails-at-pokemon/ | title = Victory! The Thundershock Heard Around the World | author = Chase | publisher = [[Twitch (service)|Twitch]] | date = 1 March 2014 | access-date = 1 March 2014 | archive-date = 5 March 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140305005717/http://blog.twitch.tv/2014/03/twitch-prevails-at-pokemon/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>

== VisualBoyAdvance-M ==
'''VisualBoyAdvance-M''', or simply '''VBA-M''', is an improved [[Fork (software development)|fork]] from the inactive VisualBoyAdvance project,<ref name="DT">{{cite web |author=Brendan Hesse |url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/best-emulators/ |title=The best console emulators (NES, SNES, Genesis, and more) |language=en |website=[[Digital Trends]] |date=2020-11-23 |accessdate=2021-01-06}}</ref> adding several features as well as maintaining an up-to-date codebase. After VisualBoyAdvance became inactive in 2004, several forks began to appear such as VBALink, which allowed users to emulate the linking of two Game Boy devices. Eventually, VBA-M was created, which merged several of the forks into one codebase. Thus, the ''M'' in VBA-M stands for ''Merge''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=VBA-M (Archived - Now on Github)|url=https://sourceforge.net/projects/vbam/|access-date=2020-10-18|website=SourceForge|date=10 February 2018 |language=en}}</ref> VBA-M is [[backwards compatible]] with [[Game Boy]] and [[Game Boy Color]].<ref name="PCWorld">{{cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/482361/how_to_emulate_the_game_boy_game_boy_advance_on_your_pc.html|title=How to Emulate the Game Boy/Game Boy Advance on Your PC|first=Alex|last=Garnett|date=September 1, 2011|website=[[PC World]]|access-date=September 26, 2022}}</ref>

VBA-M's GBA emulation core was ported into [[RetroArch]]/[[Libretro]], without the GB, GBC and SGB cores.<ref>https://github.com/visualboyadvance/vbam-libretro {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref> as well as a modified version called VBA-Next.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/libretro/vba-next |title = GitHub - libretro/vba-next: Optimized port of VBA-M to Libretro.|website = [[GitHub]]|date = 21 December 2021}}</ref>

VBA-GX is a port of VBA-M to [[Nintendo Wii]]. It enables [[motion controls]] for emulated Game Boy Advance games.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Custodio |first=Alex |title=Who Are You? Nintendo's Game Boy Advance Platform |publisher=MIT Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780262360463 |location=United States |pages=164–166}}</ref>

== Reception ==
The VisualBoyAdvance became the most popular GBA emulator for the Unix platform<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kohler |first1=Chris |title=Retro gaming hacks |date=2006 |publisher=O'Reilly |isbn=9781449303907 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fz8lndvLhJQC |access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref> and the emulator contributed "greatly" to the late years of GBA game development by providing a suite of development and visual debugging tools for developers who wanted to create games that surpassed even Nintendo's own.<ref name="book-odonnel">{{cite book |last1=O'Donnell |first1=Casey |title=Developer's dilemma: the secret world of videogame creators |date=2014 |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=9780262028196 |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N_OkBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA241 |access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref> A port from VBA's code was used as the foundation of the Visual Boy Zune, an emulator of the [[Zune HD]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2010-05-11-visual-boy-zune-brings-game-boy-emulation-to-zune-hd-video.html|title=Visual Boy Zune brings Game Boy emulation to Zune HD (video)|first=Sean|last=Hollister|website=[[Engadget]]|date=May 11, 2010|access-date=September 26, 2022}}</ref>

Wesley Akkerman from the Dutch computer magazine ''[[Computer!Totaal]]'' named the VisualBoyAdvance as one of the best Game Boy emulators alongside the mGBA, owing to its variety of features and customization options.<ref name="ComputerTotaal">{{cite web|language=Dutch|url=https://computertotaal.nl/artikelen/apps-software/de-beste-pc-emulators-voor-de-gameboy-advance/|first=Wesley|last=Akkerman|title=De beste GBA-emulators voor pc|date=March 18, 2022|website=[[Computer!Totaal]]|access-date=September 26, 2022}}</ref> In a review on the tech blog ''Techilife'', VisualBoyAdvance has been named the oldest and most reliable Game Boy Advance emulator and has been praised for its ease of use.<ref name="techilife">{{cite web|url=https://www.techilife.com/a-complete-review-on-gba-emulators-for-android-windows-pc/|title=A Complete Review On GBA Emulators For Android & Windows PC|first=Alex|last=Joshua|date=June 10, 2020|website=Techilife|access-date=September 26, 2022}}</ref>

== Features ==
VisualBoyAdvance has many features that would require more work to do on the actual GBA.  VisualBoyAdvance supports Fullscreen support, can take advantage of cheat codes from [[GameShark|Gameshark]] and [[Action Replay]], and can take screenshots while playing the game.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How to Load Cheats on VBA |url=https://visualboyadvance.org/how-to-load-cheats/ |access-date=2024-06-18 |website=Visual Boy Advance |language=en-US}}</ref> Many players would also like to find the ability to customize graphics for a better performance than what was possible on the GBA.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDT0m3WN-ac |title=Best Visual Boy Advance Settings |date=2021-09-08 |last=Justinforsure |access-date=2024-06-18 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of video game emulators]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{commons}}{{Game Boy line}}
{{Game Boy Advance line}}
{{Nintendo emulators}}
{{Portal bar|Free and open-source software|Video games}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visualboyadvance}}
[[Category:Amiga emulation software]]
[[Category:AmigaOS 4 software]]
[[Category:BeOS software]]
[[Category:Free video game console emulators]]
[[Category:Game Boy Advance emulators]]
[[Category:Game Boy emulators]]
[[Category:Linux emulation software]]
[[Category:MacOS emulation software]]
[[Category:Multi-emulators]]
[[Category:Portable software]]
[[Category:Windows emulation software]]
[[Category:Discontinued emulators]]