# gbadev resources

A curated list of development resources for Game Boy Advance.

Contribute adding resources or providing feedback through Pull Requests, Issues or joining us on Discordopen in new window.

# Introduction

GBADev Discord Serveropen in new window - This is where everyone hangs out nowadays. Come say hi!
Info for IRC users
All rooms are bridged to IRC channels on EFnetopen in new window.
Main channel
#gbadev - general chat
Additional channels
#gba-meta - community feedback/discussion
#gba-help - help & support
#gba-emudev - emulator development
#gba-asm - ARM/Thumb assembly and CPU architecture
#gba-showcase - share what you're working on!
#gba-music - listening, composing and audio programming
#gba-offtopic - off-topic chat
#gba-docs - community documentation projects (tutorials, technical docs etc.)
#gba-tools - tool discussion (grit, tiled, aseprite, etc.)
Project-specific channels
#gba-toolchain - gba-toolchain, agbabi and gba-plusplus development & support
#butano - Butano engine development & support
#natu - Natu toolkit development & support
GBADevopen in new window - The longstanding homepage of the scene. Regularly updated with the lastest news and releases.
GBAtempopen in new window - The site carries the GBA name, but now the console is relegated to the backbenches.

GBATEKopen in new window - Programming specs for the GBA and NDS hardware
CowBite Virtual Hardware Specificationsopen in new window - Older GBA hardware documentation
The Audio Advanceopen in new window - Audio hardware documentation and basic test ROMs

Toncopen in new window - Complete programming tutorial
Sound on the Gameboy Advanceopen in new window - How to write your own sound mixer / MOD music player

devkitARMopen in new window - C/C++ cross-compiler toolchain, which includes libgba, libtonc, maxmod, and various tools and example projects.
gba-toolchainopen in new window - GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain based alternative to devkitARM.
gvasmopen in new window - Stand-alone assembler and disassembler (WIP) designed specifically for GBA homebrew

rust-consoleopen in new window - GBA programming in Rust, plus tutorial.
natuopen in new window - GBA programming in Nim (provides wrapper around libtonc, maxmod and more).
gba-modernopen in new window - Write GBA games using modern C++.
ZigGBAopen in new window - WIP SDK for creating GBA games using Zig (Inspired by Tonc).
Butanoopen in new window - Modern C++ high level engine for the GBA.
BPCore Engineopen in new window - Create GBA applications with the Lua programming language

agbabiopen in new window - Drop-in application binary interface library (context switching, division, irq, memcpy, sine).
gba-plusplusopen in new window - Modern C++ alternative to libgba and libtonc.
HeartLibopen in new window - Comprehensive C library inspired by the classic HAMLib.
libsevenopen in new window - Lightweight, from-scratch replacement for libgba.
GBAdvopen in new window - High level utilities on top of libgba.
Maxmodopen in new window - Music and sound library (supports .mod, .xm, .s3m, .it)
Apex Audio Systemopen in new window - Music and sound library (supports .mod only, but very good performance)
Krawallopen in new window - Music and sound library (supports .xm, .s3m)
Pimpmobileopen in new window - Music library (supports .mod, .xm)
posprintfopen in new window - An sprintf routine written in Thumb assembler.
GBFSopen in new window - Practical filesystem

mGBAopen in new window - Actively developed GBA emulator. Runs on a bunch of platforms. Text debugger through GDB stub.
No$gbaopen in new window - Venerable GBA emulator. Windows only, but runs well under Wine. Not very actively maintained but still gets updates now and then. Sports graphical debugger.
NanoBoyAdvanceopen in new window - GBA emulator with high accuracy, especially in timing and CPU emulation. Currently lacking a GUI or debugger.
MiSTer FPGA implementationopen in new window - Needs MiSTeropen in new window setup to run.

##Homebrews

Goodboy Advanceopen in new window - Made in 2018, and has a nice bit of information on how it's made.
Celeste Classicopen in new window - 2019 port of Pico8 version of Celeste.
GBADoomopen in new window - 2019/2020 GBA port of prBoom version of Doom.
BlindJumpopen in new window - Adventure game, developed in 2020. Implementation of link-cable multiplayer, fully digital audio.
Tigermothopen in new window - Bullet hell game, developed for the GBAJam 2021
Dusteropen in new window - A sleek strategy board game for the gba
OpenLaraopen in new window - Classic Tomb Raider open-source engine

gba_biosopen in new window - WIP disassembly of the Game Boy Advance BIOS
GBA bare metal codeopen in new window - Various experiments by Krom, such as video playback and 3D, written in ARM Assembly

Reverse Engineering a GameBoy Advance Gameopen in new window - A series of detailed posts and talks about developing a level editoropen in new window for Klonoa: Empire of Dreams
Pokemon Rubyopen in new window - C programming language annotation of a Pokemon Ruby disassembly

HELopen in new window - GBA C library built on top of HAM (a classic SDK from back in the day)
Headspin's Guideopen in new window to Compression, Files Systems, Screen Effects and MOD Players for the Gameboy Advance