“Larold’s Jubilant Junkyard” has become “Larold’s Retro Gameyard“. I’ve been working on this re-branding and migration for a while. All old tutorials should redirect you to this new site. If you see any errors, please let me know! See here for more information: What happened to Larold’s Jubilant Junkyard?
Long Live the Nintendo Game Boy
The Nintendo Game Boy first came out in Japan on April 21st, 1989. Since it’s creation, over 100 million units have been sold. In addition, over 1000 games have been released for this cartridge-based 8-bit cultural icon. For over 3 decades now, gamers have been entertained by titles like Pokémon Red & Blue, Zelda: Links Awakening, Tetris, Super Mario Land, and more.
I previously wrote this article on medium.com. I decided, with the re-branding of Larold’s Retro Gameyard, to move it to my site . I’ve also taken the liberty of adding some more content since the initial posting in 2023.
The Game Boy came in many different versions, including The Game Boy Pocket, The Game Boy Light, and The Game Boy Color. In 2001, The 8-bit Game Boy would eventually be succeeded by the 32-bit Game Boy Advanced, and next discontinued 2 years later. Despite it’s fall from the spotlight over 20 years ago, the original Nintendo Game Boy still lives on. Believe it or not, people are still making games this 33 year old console. If you want a quick & easy list, here’s RetroBreak Nick’s Top 10 recent Game Boy Homebrew games.
These games aren’t going to be the modern open-world, super realistic, voice-acted, games you’re used to. That is because they’re operating on hardware that came 30 years before the Unity and Unreal Game Engines took over. Nevertheless, if you give them a chance, these games will surprise you. There’s a lot of passion & creativity in them.
In 2021, I dove into the world of Game Boy game development. To better learn, I even started creating tutorials for Game Boy game development on both my website: LaroldsRetroGameyard.com and (recently) on my YouTube channel. It’s been a fun dive, and STILL I’m learning new things everyday. If you think the Game Boy is obsolete or if want to make your own Game Boy game, this article will show you how very alive the retro 8-bit console really is!
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Game Boy Game Development
Game Boy Game Development is very different from modern Game Development. The Game Boy hardware has various limitations that might hinder one from making their “dream Game Boy game”. There are 3 major paths when it comes to Game Boy game development. RGBDS and Assembly, GBDK-2020 and the C-programming language, and the no-code GB Studio. Each path has a different level of capabilities and difficulty. As the difficulty increases, so does the amount of control and capability.
The first option and most difficult when developing Game Boy games, is called RGBDS. In it’s own words, RGBDS is A free assembler/linker package for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. With RGBDS you gain complete control over the console. RGBDS’ four programs cover the whole compilation pipeline into a ready-to-play ROM, from RGBGFX (the image converter) to RGBFIX (the header “fixer”).
I started contributing to RGBDS around 2019, because there were several features I wished for, but the maintainer at the time didn’t / couldn’t implement them. And that’s basically how it’s been ever since! Though for the past two years or so, I’ve been adding features that others want instead. I stand on the shoulders of giants for that, though; Vegard, Bentley, and AntonioND all cleaned up the codebase throughout the years. Even though I have rewritten everything except perhaps one third of RGBASM, SurfSmurf’s original design is still largely unchanged. I’ve been striving to make it easier to use and more accessible since 2021, approximately. ~ ISSOtmon RGBDS developments
Because RGBDS is based on assembly, developers have the maximum amount of control over the Game Boy hardware. With this, developers can achieve better performance than other options. Learning/Writing Assembly has a large difficulty curve. Fortunately, The RGBDS website comes with many resources for developers. These resources include:
A (minimal) boilerplate for quickly getting started
A starter kit that comes with extra utilities and features to get you off the ground quickly
An assembly tutorial For making games in RGBDS
Pre-defined constants for all the Game Boy’s registers
An Extensive language reference teaching you about assembly syntax, different commands, command-line options, and more.
Quartet by Mackerel Interactive (original by Photon Storm)Fruit Pursuit by tbspDeath Planet by Mackerel InteractiveSam Mallard by snorpungDangan by snorpungIlluminated by amueller
The next major option for making Game Boy games is the 2020 GBDK. This development kit allows developers to also use the c programming language when making games. Which makes it much easier to grasp than RGBDS.
In it’s own words, The Game Boy Developer’s Kit (GBDK, GBDK-2020) is used to develop games and programs for the Nintendo Game Boy (and some other consoles) in C and assembly. GBDK includes a set of libraries for the most common requirements and generates image files for use with a real Game Boy or emulators.
What made me [start working on gbdk-2020]? A toxic attitude towards c and towards those who wanted to use the old GBDK in their projects. We were speaking with Zalo and i decided to help him improve GBDK-2020 he just started: fix the library, make work banked code and so on and so forth.
Then bbbbbr joined. It came out into the big project. I got in contact with SDCC maintainers and that helped to improve the speed and quality of the generated code dramatically. We also made some improvements to assembler and linker, improved toolchain, added Z80 (SMS/GG/MSX) and 6502 (NES) target, thanks to michel_iwaniec. ~ Toxaon Creating GBDK-2020
Many C functions, macros, and tools are provided by the GBDK to easily perform common tasks and significantly speed up the development process. The GBDK-2020 was initially created for Game Boy games. However, the kit is in active development and has been expanded to work on other retro consoles such as:
Nintendo Game Boy / Game Boy Color
Analogue Pocket
Sega Master System & Game Gear
Mega Duck / Cougar Boy
MSXDOS (not yet fully functional)
NES (not yet fully functional)
In the category of C Programming with GBDK also lies The ZGB Engine. Created by Zal0. ZGB uses GBDK 2020, but expands it to give you some common functionality for writing games such as: a main loop, sprites spawning, sprites life cycle, sprites animations, Collison management, easily getting assets into the game, music, fx, and more..
Genesis by User0x7fPorklike.gb (ported) by binjiBlack Castle by User0x7fGB Wordyl by bbbbbrPOWA! by AiguanacheinColor Lines DX by Toxa
User0x7f has created several high-quality Game Boy games using GBDK. Examples are Black Castle, Genesis, and G-Zero. Here was User0x7f’s response on his motivation for making Game Boy games, and which of his games did he like the most.
My motivation is mostly the feeling when I played Game Boy back in the early 90s. I have so many good memories. That’s also the reason why I my games are rather short which was quite common for the first games of the system like Super Mario Land, Castlevania, Nemesis or Gargoyles Quest. I think my favorite game is Genesis 2 which is my latest game and not released yet. But there is a demo available. ~ User0x7f, on his motivation and favorite Game Boy game (of his own making)
The 3rd major option when it comes to Game Boy game development is called “GB Studio”. GB Studio provides a no-code route for game developers. In it’s own words, it’s A quick and easy to use drag and drop retro game creator for your favorite handheld video game system.
GB Studio has progressed immensely as a Game Boy development tool. It has far surpassed its initial release 4 years ago as a somewhat novelty game maker into a full fledged IDE complete with a sprite editor, music creation tool and advanced scripting options. This, along with the various game modes and support for plug-ins makes it a welcome option for many developers, and I’m really excited to see it’s continued growth for the Game Boy development scene.~ Emi Paternostro, Managing Editor for GB Studio Central, on GB Studio’s progression as a Game Boy game editor.
GB Studio is across-platform visual game build, and even comes with built-in editors for creating levels and music. In addition, if any additional functionality is needed, GB Studio supports extended the editor from source and/or adding plugins. GB Studio might give developers less “raw” control over the system, but don’t underestimate it’s capabilities.
With GB Studio, even with any programming knowledge, you can make top down 2d JRPG style adventure games, platformer games, point and click games, and even shoot-em ups.
Some GB Studio Games
Despite being a “no-code” pathway, GB Studio has produced it’s share of really cool Game Boy games. Here are few:
Hime’s Quest is popular Game Boy game released by Poppy Works and Crunchyroll.
It’s 1999, and something electric is in the air. A malevolent force has crept into New Crunchy City, wreaking havoc on its technology and tragically destroying the Anime Club’s DVD / VCR combo player. Enter Hime to save the day!~ Crunchyroll Presents: Hime’s Quest
In 2023, McDonalds and Krool Toys used GB Studio to make “Grimace’s Birthday” for Game Boy. The game featured the McDonalds mascot, Grimace, who skateboards throughout levels to find his friends. It was a promotional title launched along side McDonald’s new “Grimace Shake”.
Join the community & Contribute
If you’re looking to get involved in a cool online community. Become a contributor to the GBDK, RGBDS, or GB Studio community. They’re always looking for help:
Developers — Someone who can help fix bugs, add new features, etc..
Tutorials — Tutorials are great for beginners. They also help re-enforce what you’ve learned. Everyone learns (and teaches) differently, so there’s never too many tutorials. Like myself, Larold’s Retro Gameyard.
Additional assets & resources — Those who are creative can work on games of your own, you can collaborate with those aren’t artistically creative, or you can giveaway or sell your services. Like Beatscribe
Promoters — Maybe you have a retro YouTube channel. There are tons of games to review, and developers to network with. Like RetroBreak Nick
Translators — Most tutorials are in English, But the community consists of many different people of different languages and cultures. Translations are needed for those who don’t understand English well.
If that sound’s down your alley, hop into one of the discord servers and get active in the community. If you want to help fund development, the GBDev community has an Open Collective page where you can donate.
Playing Game Boy Games with Emulators
The easiest way to play Game Boy games is with an emulator. Emulators are part of the core of Retro Game Development. They allow the developer to get an accurate test of their game, without having to worry about deployment hardware or security. For computer users, here are three popular emulators:
Many emulators exist on both mobile and desktop platforms. Desktop emulators in particular offer a strong suite features, that will assist in making games. Each emulator has a very high-level of accuracy, and support multiple members of the Game Boy Family. In addition each emulator has a large suite of tools have been included to assist gamers and developers alike. These tools include: Save States, Throttling, Debugger, Profiler, VRAM Viewer and more.
Below is a screenshot of the Video Viewer in Emulicious. This lets you see what is going on in the Game Boy’s VRAM. You can see:
tiles currently loaded for sprites and backgrounds
The background and window tilemaps (as well as their position)
Currently drawn sprites, and the active color palettes
“Back in the day, PCSX2 was in very early state and I asked them if I could somehow support their development. They told me I should first write a GB emulator then I can ask again. I did not start right away. But when I did, PCSX2 was already quite mature. [For people getting into emulators], Don’t overengineer things and don’t overthink them. Make small steps and expect frequent refactorings of your code.” ~ Calindro, Author of Emulicious, on why he started working on emulicious and what he would tell others looking to do the same.
Emulators are great for retro game development. With the help of the internet, and many Game Boy enthusiasts, over the past 30+ years the Game Boy’s hardware has been completely mapped out. You can learn more about it on the Game Boy Pan Docs. As a result, many different emulators exist for running Game Boy games.
Playing on REAL Hardware
Running games on an emulator is great for development, but there’s no beating the feeling of playing a Game Boy game on an actual Game Boy.
For developers who want to play their games on real hardware, there are multiple options. Reproduction carts can be used. Special flash cartridges exist that can store and play multiple games from Micro-SD cards. If you’re not in the DIY mood, publishers and online services exist that can not only put your game on a real cartridge, but even create a box for it and send you the result.
Reduction cartridges were initially made for backing up game saves, preserving games, and selling cheap copies of popular games. These cartridges can very easily be used for new games. Then, affordable hardware (like the GBxCart RW) can be bought from the internet that will let you write your games to repro carts. The process is quick & easy. Once done, these carts can be then played in an actual Game Boy.
The downside of this method is that repro carts are can still be overwritten, and the cheaper versions tend to be of lower quality. In addition, not every Game Boy cartridge has the same capabilities & specs. Some games require more memory than others. Some games might not work properly (or at all)
Option #2 — SD Cartridges
If you have multiple ROM files you want to play, and/or you don’t wish to deal with writing to a cartridge yourself, there is another route. Gamers can purchase a special flash cartridge that can store and run multiple games via a interchangeable Micro-SD card. These cartridges can be purchased online (sometimes on amazon), work with most modern Micro-SD cards.
The 3rd option for playing on real hardware takes out the Do-it-yourself aspect. Many Game Boy game developers work with publishers to get physical copies of their games made and sold. In addition to having a physical cartridge, custom box art is also an option for some publishers.
Ferrante Crafts, as it stands today, mainly got started because I joined the GB Compo 21 game jam where I developed my first Game Boy game. Shortly before that I had started learning how to make my own game cartridges, which I wanted to combine with my own game so I could self publish it and make it available in a physical format. In the months afterwards I noticed there are a lot of people making new Game Boy games nowadays, who are also interested in releasing physical copies and I could help them make it a reality. Making almost everything myself (soldering cartridges, printing cutting & folding boxes and manuals, etc), means I can easily adept to demand and help a lot of people publish their game. ~ Ferrante Pescara of Ferrante Crafts
Each publisher is different, here are some options to explore:
Relatively speaking, not many people are aware that Game Boy games are still being made. However, many different resources still exist to help those who chose to embark on this adventure. Resources exist for all the different aspects of Game Boy game development.
A more comprehensive list can be found on the GBDev.io “Awesome List” at https://gbdev.io/resources.html . This open source project is a curated list of awesome Game Boy (Color) Development resources, tools, docs, related projects and homebrews. Here are some notable mentions.
Discord Servers
There’s no replacing real-time help and community. If you want to chat in real-time with other Game Boy developers, discord is also an option. In it’s own words, Discord is the easiest way to talk over voice, video, and text. Talk, chat, hang out, and stay close with your friends and communities. Here are some Game Boy Development related discord servers:
For those who enjoy “follow along” style video tutorials, YouTube also has tutorials for Game Boy game development. Game Boy game development isn’t “new”, so some of the tutorials may be dated. This doesn’t make them useless though. Even dated videos may do well at teaching certain concepts still in use in 2023. Be sure to check the publish date of each video and seek out help on the discord servers if things don’t go smoothly.
I was a little kid when the Game Boy came out and it was the main system I had for years. I spent countless long car rides having amazing adventures in Metroid II, Links Awakening and other classic games. I was amazed how much emotional punch four little fuzzy sounds going out of the GB chip could deliver in Zelda. I hope with my songs to recreate even a fraction of that experience for others who find the charm in this console. At the same time I also want to push what the GB music chip can do further than it’s gone before and make new and unique sounds. As others have noted before, the limitations really inspire creativity and nothing sounds quite like a Game Boy song. ~ “Beatscribe” on making music for Game Boy
I reached out to Beatscribe. If you’re in need of some musical assets for your Game Boy adventure, we’ve got a coupon code for you:
More than just games
Despite being a “gaming console”, a lot of developers just like creating for the Game Boy in general. Here are some “non-game” projects, that might peak your interest:
It started when I found my old Game Boy in my parent’s attic and was curious to learn how it works ane if I could create my own cartridge. Since there are already so many resources from people who made projects for the Game Boy before me it was actually not that hard to develop the basic concept of a Wifi cartridge. However, I never anticipated that I could eventuall stream games thgouth it.~ Sebastian Staacks on Creating his Game Boy WiFi cartridge
Improving the Game Boy
Despite being very dear to us, the original Game Boy hardware was pretty basic. It still suffices in this day & age, but there’s always room for improvement. If you’re looking for a modern Game Boy, there are two popular options. Check out the Analogue Pocket or Mod Retro’s Chromatic.
The Analogue Pocket
A multi-video-game-system portable handheld. A digital audio workstation with a built-in synthesizer and sequencer. A tribute to portable gaming.Out of the box, Pocket is compatible with the 2,780+ Game Boy, Game Boy Color & Game Boy Advance game cartridge library. Pocket works with cartridge adapters for other handheld systems, too. Like Game Gear. Neo Geo Pocket Color. Atari Lynx & more. Completely engineered in *two FPGAs.
Relive your childhood with Chromatic, the ultimate retro cartridge gaming console. Chromatic is compatible with Game Boy®, Game Boy Color®, and Chromatic cartridges, so you can play all your old and new favorites on the handheld of your dreams.
Equipped with the world’s only 160×144 pixel sunlight-readable backlit display, Chromatic is ready to play in any environment. Its super scratch-resistant sapphire front crystal makes it perfect for on-the-go gaming.
Rather than plastic, Chromatic’s shell is crafted from premium, lightweight and durable magnesium alloy. The result? A handheld that’s indestructible and feels so good to hold, you won’t want to put it down.
If you like to do-it-yourself, the Game Boy modding community is very lively. If you search the internet you can find many creators such as Macho Nacho Productions and The Retro Future modding their Game Boy hardware.
Upgrading every part possible, without compromising the soul of Game Boy gaming. Brighter & screens, new shell colors & designs, illuminated buttons, usb-rechargeability, the list goes on.
Clear-case Game Boy pocket by UnwindingStaircaseWhite illuminated GBC by FlakyContribution345Modded GBC w/ ISP screen by GemuBoyModding
If you want to start modding your first Game Boy, you can get many different supplies at the Retro game repair shop. I reached out to them, and they generously gave us this coupon code for newcomers:
Conclusion
Hopefully now you’ll realize, the Game Boy isn’t dead yet. Many links were included in this article, so you can go support the creators. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email, or you can hop into a previously mentioned discord server. I hope you feel tempted to dive back into the world of Game Boy. Here are some final games you should check out.
If you want to see more games, the GBDev “Homebrew Hub” has a huge collection of homebrew Game Boy and Game Boy advance games.
Homebrew Hub is a community-led initiative to collect, archive and preserve homebrew software developed for Game Boy (Color) and the Game Boy Advance. Each ROM can be downloaded or played directly in the browser, through an accurate emulator. 1261 entries are currently in the database.~ Homebrew Hub Landing Page
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