What are the best Game Boy and Game Boy Advance emulators for Mac? 2022 list

The Game Boy is a fourth generation machine and the Game Boy Advance is also part of this line of consoles, belonging to the sixth generation. The biggest difference between the two rooted in its designsince the first one had a vertical shape and the second one was designed horizontally.

Nevertheless, both consoles were already discontinuedspecifically between 2003 Y 2010. Reason why, their fans are still looking for solutions to remember the legendary titles of these machines.

Given this, the best solution is to use an emulator. Therefore, in this case, we will emphasize the best Mac compatible software to emulate the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance.

What features are ideal for playing Game Boy Advance games on Mac?

As an emulator is a computer program designed to mimic the operation of a certain machineas usual, require certain minimum requirements to ensure high quality work. Taking into account that they must provide the same functionalities of a computer through different hardware, virtually.

Therefore, before installing any emulator on your apple computerwe recommend you verify that it has the ideal features to run said program and thus, admit the video games of the consoles in question. Failure to do so may reveal a malfunction and diminish your gaming experience.

Consequently, here we let you know what are the minimum requirements of a Game Boy Advance emulator on MacOS:

• Operating system: Mac OS X
• Processor: Anyone since this emulator is not very demanding.
• RAM: 1 GB or more.
• Graphic card: Anyone since this emulator is not very demanding.
• Disc space: 200MB.

List of Best Game Boy Console Emulators to Play on Mac

The famous game boy family is a series of portable battery-powered game consoles developed by Nintendo and in a short time, became one of the most successful in the worldl. Hence, its importance for a wide audience of children, youth and even adults.

For its part, although the Game Boy differed from the Game Boy Advance due to its design, the truth is that they had something in common: It was possible to use the same cartridges in one in the other and vice versa. Which, drew more attention from fans and simplified their gaming experience. For this reason, Game Boy Advance emulators typically feature the ability to run original Game Boy titles.

Indeed, below, we will introduce you to some solutions suitable for imitating both Nintendo machines on Mac:

VisualBoyAdvance

It is the most robust and efficient emulator out there from both the Game Boy and the Game Boy Advance for MacOS computers, as their emulations are quite accurate. Thanks to this, it provides all the graphic potential of the legendary machines and has the ability to restore all the dynamism that they offered at the time. Being a software that is also characterized by its excellent speed.

Among other details, it is worth noting that, VisualBoyAdvance for Mac is a very easy program to install on any computer, apart from the fact that it exhibits an intuitive and practical user interface. Even this program is distinguished by its lightness, since it uses only a couple of MB of space and in fact, manages to issue a perfect operation in old systems.

Its main pros:

• Is completely free.
• Have Flash support 128KB.
• Give a superb audio reproduction.
• Ensures smooth emulation with neat sprite rotation.

Download VisualBoyAdvance for MacOS

BoycottAdvance

Specifically, BoycottAdvance is a program designed to run the Game Boy Advance video games, on both MacOS and Windows. Which is distinguished as a multiplatform, free and open source software that provides high quality emulation, including improvements around the real machine.

Thus, together with the Emulator Enhancer complement, the program has support for USB controllers and accepts full screen video; unlike the Game Boy Advance. Another of its best features is that ensures compatibility with a wide range of GBA video games, including all commercial titles. Also, this emulator works through ROMs and game images with total efficiency.

Its main pros:

• has the function “save/open state” that allows you to save and recover the games at any time.
• It offers the possibility of run all Game Boy Advance games without limitation.
• serves for take screenshots of video games directly.

Download Boycott Advance for MacOS

KiGB

It refers to an emulator that works perfectly to enjoy video games of Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Super Game Boy on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Through it, users can obtain the greatest compatibility around the titles of these machines and even, make use of tricks during games.

In addition to this, KiGB is an alternative that Provides high precision in both graphics and sound as well as in sync. Highlighting that, it manages to overcome the resolution of the console itself. Another feature that we should not overlook is that the program supports gzip compressed files and allows two players to play over a TCP/IP network.

Its main pros:

• Offers compatibility with joysticks and joypads.
• admits save states.
• provides different configuration options in every game.

Download KiGB for macOS

mGBA

This is an open source emulator program that has the necessary functionalities to imitate Nintendo’s legendary Game Boy Advance and ensure a highly effective gaming experience. which is rated as a lightweight software that has been designed to run on any lower-end hardware, thus revealing optimal performance regardless of the capabilities of the Mac computer.

This means that, without sacrificing emulation accuracy or portability, mGBA Shows Unparalleled Ability to Enjoy All Game Boy Advance Games. Taking into account that, supports an extensive number of ROMs to start the vast majority of video games of said machine. It is also worth mentioning that this emulator is multiplatform and its installation is fast.

Its main pros:

• is updated regularly and adds new features that improve the console real.
• This is an emulator that supports cheat codes.
• It allows save progress in the game.

Download mGBA for MacOS

higan

It refers to a cross-platform program compatible with MacOS, Windows and Linux and is estimated as one of the most advanced emulators for different Nintendo consoles, be it Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, NES and many more machines. Through it, Mac users can enjoy a versatile, high-performance solution.

For its part, this software provides a noticeable improvement in terms of graphics that outperform real game consoles, to deliver a much more visually optimized gaming experience; it also provides great audio quality. All this, without requiring many resources, so works perfectly on low end computers.

Its main pros:

• Is very Easy to install and configure.
• presents compatibility with a large number of video game.
• It has the additional ability to use the cycle-accurate emulation.

Download Higan for macOS

RetroArch.com

If you want to have a “all in one emulator” on your Mac, it is best if you choose to download RetroArch. This is a multiplatform program that allows run famous GBA titles in full quality and, in addition, it is ideal to make use of other game consoles. Being a free and open source program that exhibits a user-friendly interface.

Another of its most special characteristics is that provides optimum performance when imitating any machine, regardless of the performance of the computer. In addition to that, it provides a high level of customization during the gaming experience because it provides dozens of configuration options.

Its main pros:

• It is useful for save, resume and save games directly from the program.
• It has multiplayer game support via LAN.
• Provides detailed instructions on installation and use.
• You accept keyboards and joysticks external.

OpenEmu.org

To finish our list of the best GBA emulatorscould not miss OpenEmu which is defined as free, open source, cross-platform software which supports a long list of classic consoles. So, it is quite popular to run games on various machines, such as: Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Atari, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, SNES, Sega Master System, etc..

Indeed, this emulator is compatible with a huge catalog of titles, among which are those of GBA and best of all, is that has its own video game library that allows you to find different options in order to dispense with the need to download all the ROMs. Another of its most relevant advantages lies in the fact that supports granular game settings and, in short, it is a very versatile program.

Its main pros:

• It is practical and easy to use
• has a button mapping function which allows to connect multiple controllers.
• It includes direct screen recording.
• Use the modern Mac OS X technologies to provide a optimal performance.

The best Game Boy games to play on your MacOS

Next, we invite you to know the most legendary, iconic and entertaining Game Boy video gameswith the aim that you try the selected emulator for your Mac and thus be able to get the most out of it.

Like, remember the funniest moments of your youth:

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

Is about the continuation of the Super Mario Land platform saga in which Wario wishes to have a castle for himself and for that, he cast a spell on everything Super Mario Land. Thus, Mario becomes the main enemy, since the entire population thinks that Wario has become their leader. Thus, Mario will have to undo the spell by collecting 6 gold coins.

this title does not present levels with linear development, so the player can move around a map and access the levels they want. Also, there are 4 independent levels of zones.

Tetris

It consists of a famous logic game that supports two modes: Single player and multiplayer. This is made up of geometric figures that have four square blocks joined orthogonally and are generated in an area that occupies 5×5 blocks in the upper area of ​​the screen. There, the falls of the pieces progressively accelerate and the player has to decide where they should landbefore they pile on each other to the top.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

It was awarded as one of the most entertaining Mario games and makes reference to a circuit racing title. In each of these circuits, the player will be challenged to compete against seven other opponents who are part of Mario’s cast and also travel in small karts. To obtain victory, the objective it is based on weakening opponents or increasing speed to the maximum level.

Once the race is over, the player you can get a rank which translates into points and will depend on your performance. These are: A (very good, 36 points), B (good, 30 points), C (fair, 25 points), D (bad, 20 points) and E (poor, less than 20 points).

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2

belonging to the genus of Skateboard and extreme sports, this is a video game that stands out as the second installment of the saga where traditional game modes are included and the physical appearance of the skaters is improved. There, you will be able to choose your character and act like a pro skater Showing off his best stunts.

The levels included are as follows: Hangar, Airport, Marseille (competition), School II, New York, Philadelphia, Venice Beach, Bullring (competition) and California (competition).

golden sun

It refers to an RPG title distributed by Nintendo. Through it, you can learn the story of an iconic event that produces the release of alchemical energy and it is manifested in an earthquake, a landslide and a very strong storm. After these havoc, the player along with his companions must seek help and defeat the thugs They will do everything possible to render them unconscious.