A curated list of awesome Game Boy (Color) Development resources, tools, docs, related projects and open-source ROMs. Inspired by the awesome list thing.

Intro
- Disambiguation
Community
Documentation
Software Development
- Assemblers
- Compilers
- Emulators
- Tools
Emulator Development
- Testing
- Open-Source emulators
Programming
- ASM
- C
Games
- ASM
- C
- Hack ROMs
- Demos
ROMs Disassembly
- Articles and tools about reverse engineering
Related Projects
- Files Directories
- Websites
More
About this repository

Intro

The Game Boy, a hardware autopsy.
The Ultimate Game Boy Talk.
Emulation of Nintendo Game Boy - Overview of the Game Boy hardware with the perspective of building an emulator.
To C Or Not To C - Writeup offering a brief overview of the Game Boy's capabilities, discussing the pros and cons of the available development tools, and providing tips to write more efficient code.

Disambiguation

Although this documentation is focused on the original (1989) Game Boy (DMG), the Game Boy Color (GBC) and Super Game Boy (SGB) are very similar systems, with few important distinctions, such as:

Different hardware specifications

Specific hardware and software features

Specific registers

Specific bugs 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.

Community

gbdev Discord Server
#gbdev on EFnet - IRC channel.
gbdev.gg8.se Wiki
devrs.com/gb - Old home of the scene, a lot was posted here: code examples and full sources, complete documentation, guides and tutorials, various tools.

Documentation

Game Boy Programming Manual - Official Game Boy programming and hardware manual by Nintendo.
Pan Docs - Historical comprehensive technical reference, wikified, corrected and updated. Original version.
The Cycle-Accurate Game Boy Docs - A precise documentation by AntonioND to make a cycle-accurate Game Boy emulator.
Game Boy: Complete Technical Reference by Gekkio.

Misc

Introduction to Game Boy Hacking - Workshop introducing basic assembly, debugging and reverse engineering.
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About GAME BOY - but were afraid to ask
GBSOUND.txt - A document detailing the Game Boy sound engine.
GB Instructions Game Boy Assembly commands.
GB ASM Tips - Some tips for coding in Assembly by Jeff Frohwein.
ASMotor Manual - A reference for RGBDS.
ASMotor v1.10 documentation
gbdev FAQs - Must read by Jeff Frohwein.
Game Boy Bootrom - Commented dump of the DMG bootrom.
GB Technical Information - Some old code resources.
Differences between the Z80 and the gameboy's processor
Gameboy 2BPP Graphics Format - Information on how the Game Boy interprets VRAM tile data to color pixels.

Cheatsheets, Tables

Game Boy Crib Sheet - A handy printable reference sheet with ASM opcodes, memory locations, and much more (repository).
OP Codes cheatsheet
rednex gbz80 opcode reference
Opcode table
Opcode table with timings and flags
Game Boy CPU Instruction Set Sheet (GCISheet) - Cheatsheet for the available Instruction Set.

Hardware

DMG Schematics - Hardware schematics.
The Game Boy Project - Provides a study on the hardware and detailed constructional information for the realisation of three 8-bit bidirectional parallel ports.
Related custom hardware - by Gekkio.
ESP8266 GB Dev Board - Dev board for Game Boy accessories development, powered by ESP8266.
ESP8266 GB Printer - A device that emulates the GB Printer and lets you retrieve images using WiFi.
fruttenboel - Page with loads of information on the hardware, custom boards to interface with the console and other related projects.
Game Boy hardware database - Data and photos of various types of Game Boy consoles.

Game Boy Color

Peripherals

Game Boy Camera RE - Documentation about GB Camera and tools used to reverse engineer it by using Arduino UNO.
Creating photorealistic images with neural networks and a Gameboy Camera
The Game Boy Printer - An in-depth technical document about the printer hardware, the communication protocol and the usual routine that games used for implementing the print feature.
Ben Heck Reverse Engineers Game Boy Printer (Errata: the used thermal paper is expired, 4 colors are actually printable).
Arduino Game Boy Printer Emulator - Emulating a Game Boy Printer via the Game Boy Link cable with an Arduino Nano.
Mobile Game Boy Adapter
GB KISS LINK MODEM

Cartridges

AntonioND's docs - Corrected schematics and infos on cartridge header data.
Gekkio's Game Boy cartridge types - An overview on existing cartridge types.
Gekkio's cartridge analysis:
- DMG-BEAN-02;
- MBC1;
- no MBC.
Game Boy Cartridges Schematics - Schematics for MBC2 and MBC3 types.
Cartridges PCB photos
Reiner Ziegler's Game Boy page - Commercial and homemade programmable cartridges and programming systems. Tutorials, wiring and schematics provided.
MBC1+RAM+Battery cartridge Schematic - First schematics by Jeff Frohwein.
MBC1 and MBC2 cartridges circuits and explanation on how these MBC actually bank switch and control RAM.
GB Rom List - Navigable table of every GB game released with details on their cartridges.
Game Boy cartridge PCB photos
Emulating a GameBoy Cartridge - Emulating the functionality of a Game Boy cartridge with the development board STM32F4.
Wolf - Game Boy cartridge with co-processor.

Software Development

Assemblers

RGBDS - Assembler and linker package (a fork currently mantained).
- RGBDS Documentation
wla-dx - Yet Another GB-Z80/Z80/.. Multi Platform Cross Assembler Package.
- wla-dx Documentation

Compilers

The Game Boy Developer's Kit (GBDK) - A set of tools that enable to develop in C. Includes a set of libraries for the most common requirements and generates ready ROM files.
- GBDK documentation
- gbdk-osx - Patched GBDK 2.96a for the latest compilers on OS X.
- gbdk-n - Aims to update the gbdk libraries to be compatible with new versions of SDCC and provide helpers for building roms.
clang-gbz80 - Clang port to the GBZ80 CPU.

Experimentals/Proof of Concepts

Wiz - A high-level assembly language for writing homebrew on retro console platforms (Game Boy, NES, Atari 2600, and more).
gbforth - A Forth-based Game Boy development kit.
gbasm - A JavaScript based compiler for Game Boy z80 assembly code.
tniASM - Macro Assembler.
Assembler - Assembler written in Swift.
llvm-gbz80 - LLVM port to the GBZ80 CPU (similar to the deprecated euclio/llvm-gbz80).

Emulators

BGB - Powerful Game Boy emulator and debugger. Provides an accurate hardware emulation.
Mooneye GB - Research project and emulator in Rust.
SameBoy - Accurate emulator with a wide range of powerful debugging features.
Gambatte - Open-source, cross-platform and accurate emulator for Game Boy and Game Boy Color.

A lot more of emulators, written in various languages/stacks, can be found in the Open Source emulators list.

Tools

ZGB - A little engine for creating games for the original Game Boy (expands gbdk, more info here).
DevSound - Sound driver embeddable in homebrews which supports pulse width manipulation, arpeggios, and multiple waveforms.
Carillon Player - Music Engine for Game Boy & Game Boy Color.
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.
Harry Mulder's GB Development - Some sources and home of Game Boy Tile Designer and Game Boy Map Builder tools.
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.
GBT PLAYER - A music player library and converter kit for Game Boy that can be used with RGBDS.
ROM Header Utility - An online tool to inspect and modify a ROM's header data, including the logo.
gbcamextract - Extracts photos from Game Boy Camera saves.
GBExtended - C library extending gbdk.
GBZ80 to items - An online converter, translates gameboy assembly into Pokémon R/B/Y items (Source).
bmp2cgb - Graphics converter for Game Boy Color development providing real time palette adjustments.
png2gb - CLI tool to convert image file to game boy .c array.
gbdk-lib-extension - A small set of sources and tools for the Game Boy Development Kit by Michael Hope.
GB-convert - Game Boy tile conversion and map editor tool (converts to assembly).
cart-dumper - Game Boy Cartridge Dumper ROM.
Game Boy LCD sniffing - Sniff your Game Boy's LCD using a logic analyzer.
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.
brewtool - A collection of primitive editor/converter tools for making assets used with homebrew ROM development.
Game Boy Text Tools - Set of tools for text manipulation and translation of Game Boy ROMs written in NodeJS
mmlgb - A MML parser and GBDK sound driver for the Nintendo Game Boy.
XPMCK - An MML-based music compiler with support for Game Boy & Game Boy Color.
mgbdis - Game Boy ROM disassembler with RGBDS compatible output.
Retr0 GB - An engine for creating games (expands GBDK).
awake - Gameboy decompiler.
swapdump - Diagnostic utility for Game Boy flashcarts.
Gameboy-LinkUp - Gameboy LinkUp serial cable networking project.

Syntax highlighting packages

Atom language package for RGBASM - Atom syntax highlighting for RGBDS assembly.
gbz80-highlight - Notepad++ and gedit syntax highlighting files for RGBDS assembly.
Vim syntax file for the Game Boy assembler RGBASM - Vim syntax highlighting for RGBDS assembly.
Vim syntax file for RGBDS - Another Vim syntax highlighting file for RGBDS assembly.
rgbds_textmate - Some syntax highlighting rules for coding in Z80 assembly as a Textmate language plugin. Works in Sublime Text 2 and 3. The syntax is particularly designed for RGBDS and Game Boy-specific Z80 instructions.
Z80 Assembly support for Visual Studio Code
rgbds-vscode - Visual Studio Code language extension for RGBDS GBZ80 Assembly

Emulator Development

Reverse Engineering fine details of Game Boy hardware (errata) - 43 minutes talk by Gekkio given at Disobey 2018.
Building a Game Boy emulator in JavaScript - Step by step tutorial.
Writing a Game Boy emulator, Cinoop
RealBoy Emulator - A series of posts about the design and implementation of the RealBoy Emulator.
Codeslinger - Another series of posts documenting the building of an emulator.
Why did I spend 1.5 months creating a Gameboy emulator? - Blog post.
binjgb rewind - Implementing a rewind feature.
Emulation Accuracy
Decoding Gameboy Z80 opcodes - How to algorithmically decode gameboy instructions as opposed to writing one huge switch-case statement for over 500 instructions.
Porting a GO Game Boy emulator to WebAssembly

Testing

Blargg's test roms
Gekkio's test roms
GB Accuracy Tests
144p Test Suite - Port of Artemio Urbina's 240p Test Suite to the Game Boy.

Programming

ASM

ASMSchool - A set of lessons by Duo about coding in Assembly for GB/GBC and disassembling.
hardware.inc - Standard include file containing Game Boy hardware definitions for use in RGBDS projects.
dev'rs ASM section - A lot of working demos and sources.
Assembly tutorial by David Pello - Good document to actually learn to produce working asm code for gb. Brief explanations of many important topics. Many examples with commented source code.
assemblydigest - Exploring Game Boy programming techniques:
Beginner's Guide to Reverse Engineering GB - Some starting tips on disassembling and reverse engineering.
FlappyBoy: Making a simple Game Boy Game
Super Game Boy development - Step by step tutorial to implement Super Game Boy features (frame and palettes).
GameBoy programming tutorial: Hello World! - Step by step tutorial.
gb asm tutorial - Step by step tutorial, building several ROMs to accompany its explanations.

Timings

Game Boy DMA transfer routines - Understanding and using DMA routines.
Nitty Gritty Gameboy Cycle Timing
Mode3 Sprite Timing
GameBoy Color DMA-Transfers v0.0.1
STAT interrupt timings
Video Timing

Boilerplates

gb-template - A template with basic functions pre-made such as joypad input, DMA transfers, and map/tile data loading.
rgbds-template - Basic hello-world example for Game Boy using RGBDS.
Game Boy Assembly Language Primer - Simple template code with memory defines, copy routines and IBM font tilemap.
bootstrap.gb - An example Game Boy project.
Gameboy Boilerplate - Boilerplate project to move quicker into the actual assembly code for your game.

C

8-Bit Wonderland - Well-written introductory document about how the Game Boy works and how to start developing working code for it.
Grooves Game Boy Programming - A complete set of lessons about implementing various game mechanics in a Game Boy game.
How to Write a Simple Side Scrolling Game - Old (but still relevant) tutorial.
Just another simple tutorial
GBDK Tutorial - Fairly minimal game demo for getting started with GBDK.
GBDK Sprite - Presents a workflow for getting multiple sprites to display and animate.
GBDK Color - Extends your knowledge of basic spriting on the Game Boy by adding colors to sprites, backgrounds and the window layer.
GBDK Joypad - Details the use of the joypad with GBDK.
Game Boy home of Flavor - Some full games and sources.
GBDK Configuring and Programming Tutorial - Configuring GBDK, Using Tiles, Colliding Sprites, GBTD, GBMB, Memory Management and ROM Banking.
Simplified GBDK examples

Games

Homebrew Hub - Every unofficial homebrew ever produced for Game Boy playable online (mobile/touch too): a community-lead attempt to collect, archive and save every unofficial game, homebrew, demo, patch, hackrom for Game Boy (Color) produced by the community through years of passionate work.
Infinity - RPG developed by Affinix Software primarily between the years 1999 and 2001. The game never found a publisher and was eventually canceled. Got recently released with the full source, development tools and workflows.

ASM

RedPlusPlus - An upgrade to Pokémon Red. Fixes several bugs and adds a lot of new features.
Tuff
2048-gb
Snake
PlantBoy
Lazerpong
Geometrix
µCity
Carazu
Snake-gb
GB303 - GB303 wavetable-based TB-303 style synthesizer for the Nintendo Game Boy.
Sushi
Flappy-boy-asm
kupman and some other projects
Adjustris
exeman
Aevilia
GBSlides - A simple Game Boy Powerpoint-like slides viewer.
Pokered-gbc - Pokémon Red remade with full GBC support.
ToyToy
StefaN - Fourway Breakout clone.
Galaxia
desgb - DES encryption.
superhappyfunbubbletime

C

FlappyBoy
flappybird-gameboy - Flappy Bird clone (gbdk)
fbgb - Flappy Bird clone (gbdk)
Novascape
Squishy the Turtle
Quadratino
Doctor How
Super Princess' 2092 Exodus
GBsnake
gb-mines
oranges
red hot princess carnage
loderunner
Hives
Bubble Factory - Vanilla SDCC (no gbdk).
GBC Atari Boxing - Atari 2600 Boxing clone for the Game Boy (Color).
GB raycaster, Vision-8 and some other projects
Tobu Tobu Girl - An arcade platformer for the Game Boy.
Burly Bear vs. The Mean Foxes (GBC port)
PostBot
Guns & Riders

Hack ROMs

Trainin' in a Winter Wonderland (Pokemon Gold (U))

Demos

ROMs Disassembly

Pokémon Red/Blue
Pokémon Crystal
Pokémon Yellow
Pokémon Gold and Silver
Pokémon Pinball
Pokémon TCG
pokegold-spaceworld - Pokémon Gold and Silver 1997 Space World demo.
Link's Awakening DX
Oracle of Ages
Tetris - Based on Jeff Frohwein's original disassembly.
FX Hammer
Harvest Moon 3

Articles and tools

Reverse engineering Kirby's Dreamland 2
pokemontools - a python module that provides various reverse engineering components for various Pokémon games.
Reverse Engineering a Gameboy ROM with radare2 - A walkthrough to reverse engineer a Game Boy ROM challenge using radare2.
Disassembling Link's Awakening - A series of blog posts about disassembling Link's Awakening DX.
Reverse Engineering the GameBoy Tetris
DMA hijacking - A simple technique that allows you to run custom code in most GB/SGB/CGB games, provided you have an ACE exploit.

ArduinoBoy - Serial communication (MIDI) from an Arduino to the Game Boy for music applications such as LittleSoundDJ, Nanoloop, and mGB.
papiGB - Game Boy Classic fully functional FPGA implementation from scratch.
fpgaboy - Implementation Nintendo's Game Boy console on an FPGA.
Piglet - A LUA-driven AI that plays classic Game Boy color games using experimentation. In active development.
Gatesboy - Non-gaming purposes applications development.
Ostrich - A Game Boy Sound System player written in Swift.
mGB - A Game Boy cartridge program that enables the Game Boy to act as a full MIDI supported sound module.
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.
GBVideoPlayer - A technical demo demonstrating how the Game Boy LCD controller can be hacked to make a Game Boy Color play a full motion video in color, together with music.
ArduinoGameBoy - Arduino based Game Boy cartridge reader and writer.
gameboy-brainfuck - Brainf*ck interpreter.
gbfk - Brainf*ck interpreter, with input.
gb-save-states - Patches to add save state support to Game Boy games when playing on the original hardware.
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
Pokemon Pocket Computer: - What is it and how to use it to make cheat codes.
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)
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.
liblsdj - Utility library for interacting with the LSDj save format (.sav), song files (.lsdsng) and more.
lsdpatch - Tool for modifying samples, fonts and palettes on LSDj ROM images.
Game Boy video effects - Some little experiments using the STAT interrupt to do funny video manipulations.

Directories

Archive of related files
The Game Boy Archive - A library of Game Boy related software, hardware and literature. Aimed to mirror and preserve old and fragmented contributions from the last three decades.
The Game Boy Archive - Salvage - Historical archive of software, old articles, FAQs and various documents.

Websites

GBDK Developers - Active blog about everything related to the scene. Including features, insights and interviews.
pdroms.de Game Boy releases.
Game Boy Demospotting - A collection of demos.
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.

README.md

Awesome Game Boy Development

Join us on Discord

Contents