mGBA
Latest Release: 0.10.0
Latest Development Version: 7797-b220c7a68
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The Infinite Loop That Wasn't: A Holy Grail Bug Story
Jan 25, 2020
Once upon a time there was a game for the GBA by the name of Hello Kitty Collection: Miracle Fashion Maker. It was a cutesy game based on the famous Sanrio Hello Kitty franchise, developed by Access. But hidden beneath the surface of the seemingly innocuous title was an insidious problem. Somehow, this simple game just did not boot in any GBA emulator. This alone was enough to qualify it as a Holy Grail bug. As with all Holy Grail bugs the bug itself was absolutely baffling. Here the explanation was simple: sometime during the game’s startup sequence, it enters a loop that can never exit due to expecting a specific value reading out of memory that does not exist. While many games have similar bugs, such as the intro sequence in the high-profile game The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, those rely on a specific behavior from reading invalid memory addresses. But this loop seemed to defy that behavior. And yet, it works on actual hardware. Moreover, this same bug also occurs in when loading a save in Sonic Pinball Party after a cold boot. Could the expectation of these invalid memory accesses be wrong somehow? But how?
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mGBA 0.8.0
Jan 21, 2020
A little late (okay, a lot late), mGBA 0.8.0 is finally available as a stable release. This is a major feature release and includes some highly anticipated features. Notably, the high-resolution OpenGL renderer for GBA games, BattleChip Gate support, interframe blending, and much more. Additionally, it includes over 50 bug fixes and hundreds of other changes. A preview of the features follows after the cut, along with a full list of changes.
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mGBA 0.8 beta 1
Oct 20, 2019
After far too long in development, mGBA 0.8.0 is almost ready for release. While there are still a few missing features left to finish, I didn’t want to hold up 0.8 that much longer. While I’m working on those last features I’m hoping a final push for testing will help flatten out any more serious issues before the final release of mGBA 0.8.0, so I’m releasing the first beta for mGBA 0.8.
Some notable new features of mGBA 0.8 include:
- A high-resolution hardware renderer for enhanced GBA graphics
- Discord Rich Presence support
- BattleChip Gate emulation
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mGBA 0.7.3
Sep 15, 2019
A new release of mGBA, version 0.7.3, is available. This version is a bugfix release, which contains many stability and accuracy fixes. Notably, sprites that are broken at the top of the screen are fixed. An extensive list of changes follows after the cut.
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mGBA 0.7.2
May 25, 2019
A new release of mGBA, version 0.7.2, is available. This version is a bugfix release, which contains many stability and accuracy fixes. Notably, the 3DS version no longer hangs on non-CFW New 3DSes. An extensive list of changes follows after the cut.
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mGBA 0.7.1
Feb 24, 2019
A new release of mGBA, version 0.7.1, is available. This version is a bugfix release, which contains many stability and accuracy fixes. Notably, the new Switch port no longer crashes on second load and the dreaded save bug in the Vita port is now fixed. An extensive list of changes follows after the cut.
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mGBA 0.7.0
Jan 26, 2019
After an extended incubation period mGBA 0.7.0 is now available. This is a major feature release. It features a brand new Nintendo Switch port, vastly improved Game Boy support, dozens of bugfixes and accuracy improvements, and more debugging features. A full list of changes follows after the cut.
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mGBA 0.7 beta 1
Sep 24, 2018
While it’s been long enough since mGBA 0.6.0 came out that the release of mGBA 0.7.0 has seemed like it may never happen, I’m glad to say we’re finally reaching the end of mGBA 0.6’s time. Due to significant life changes, not the least of which is getting a new job with a long, tiring commute, I’ve not has as much time to do serious feature work. However, there have been plenty of changes, fixes, improvements under the hood. Though mGBA 0.7.0 is almost ready I’d like to see a signficant wave of testing and bugfixes before I deem it stable. As such, mGBA 0.7 beta 1 is now available, and hopefully the release of mGBA 0.7.0 will be out within a week or two.
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mGBA Ports: Nintendo Switch
Sep 16, 2018
When homebrew hit the Wii U in 2015 I decided to not create an official port of mGBA. There were several reasons for this, but the primary reason was the fact that Nintendo was releasing GBA games in the Wii U VC. It already ran well in vWii mode, and the writing was already on the wall that the Wii U was on its way out. With the hype surrounding the next system, then only known as the NX, I decided to wait out the Wii U and see how the next hardware held up.
When the Switch eventually did launch, with little news on a Virtual Console, I decided that I would port mGBA to the Switch if Nintendo had in fact abandoned VC as the rumors claimed. As the fate of VC got more and more grim, I decided that I would release a Switch port as soon as hardware accelerated graphics arrived.
With the recent addition of 3D graphics support to libnx I decided to jump in. Porting to the Switch was relatively painless, and I’m glad to announce that early builds of mGBA for Switch are now available on the downloads page and the upcoming mGBA 0.7.0 will include official Switch support.
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mGBA 0.6.3
Apr 14, 2018
A new release of mGBA, version 0.6.3, is available. This version is a bugfix release to address some major audio and video regressions that snuck into 0.6.2. As such, all users of 0.6.2 are encouraged to update, especially if they are playing Game Boy games.
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