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THE ORIGINAL GAME BOY / ON ANDROID

GB Emulator — Play the Original Game Boy on Android

Four shades of green, a chunky D-pad and games you could play for hours. Now with instant saves and controls made for a phone.

Get the Emulator for Android ↘GB or GBC? See the difference →
★ FOUR
SHADES.
01 / THE ORIGINAL

The Game Boy,
the way it started.

A 1989 handheld with a 160×144 screen and a legendary battery life. Its games still hold up.

GBA Emulator opens your own original Game Boy game files and keeps them in the same library as your Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games. Each one carries a GB badge, and the GB filter shows only the classics.

This page is about the original, monochrome Game Boy. Looking for the full app across all three generations? Start with the GBA emulator overview.

MOSSBRIDGE VILLAGE
Original fictional art. Not a real game.
02 / THE FOUR-SHADE LOOK

Crisp pixels.
Or a softer glow.

Try the two image styles on an original monochrome scene.

Original Game Boy games only ever use four shades, so every sprite and tile is built from very few pixels. Pixel Perfect keeps those pixels sharp and evenly sized, which is how the games were designed to be seen.

Smooth uses softer image scaling, if you prefer a gentler picture on a modern screen. Set the style per game in Game Settings. Pixel Perfect is the default.

  • 160×144screen resolution
  • 4shades of green
  • 1989year released
SCORE 0420x03 LV1-2
Illustrative filtering on original artwork.
03 / CONTROLS

Two buttons. One D-pad.
No fuss.

The Game Boy has a D-pad, A, B, Start and Select. Nothing more, so the touch layout stays clean. Menu opens the pause menu, where Game Settings, Cheats and Save options live.

  • 01

    Move and resize

    Drag each control where your thumbs want it. Portrait and landscape have separate layouts.

  • 02

    Portrait or landscape

    Automatic, or locked per game.

  • 03

    Prefer a gamepad?

    Connect a controller and the touch buttons can step aside.

Everything about controls →
04 / SAVE YOUR PLACE

Cartridges had batteries.
You have Auto Resume.

01

Play

Save in the game as you always did. The app keeps that save file for you.

02

Quick Save

Keep one checkpoint per game and return to it whenever you like.

03

Leave

Your latest session is saved automatically when you leave a game.

04

Carry on

Open the game again to continue. Export or import the save file to move between devices.

The complete save guide →

05 / GB OR GBC?

Both play here.

Games made for the original Game Boy are monochrome. Games made for the Game Boy Color use color. The app supports both, along with GBA, and labels each with its own badge so you always know what you are opening.

Speed and cheats work the same way. The Fast button toggles 1x and 2x, and you can choose 4x per game. GB games accept GameShark and Game Genie codes, or Auto Detect. See using cheats.

COLORGBC emulator

The Game Boy Color side of the app.

GUIDEGB vs GBC vs GBA

Specs, files and compatibility side by side.

GB / QUICK ANSWERS

Good to
know.

All questions →
Which files does the GB emulator use?
Original Game Boy games are .gb files. Add a single file or a folder from your device. The app identifies the system automatically and labels the game GB.
Are original Game Boy games in color?
No. The original Game Boy screen shows four shades of green, so its games are monochrome. Color arrived with the Game Boy Color, which also plays here. See the GBC emulator page.
Can I play in landscape?
Yes. Orientation can be automatic, or locked to portrait or landscape for each game in Game Settings.
Is this the same app as the GBA emulator?
Yes. GB, GBC and GBA games share one library and one player. The GBA emulator overview covers the rest of the app.
Official GBA Emulator app iconGB. GBC. GBA. ONE APP.

Press start.

Your own Game Boy games, plus GBC and GBA, in one Android app.

Get the Emulator for Android ↘
Bring your own compatible game files. Games are not included.