About GoGBA

What is GoGBA?

GoGBA is a Game Boy Advance (GBA) game emulator designed for mobile devices. Our goal is to provide a quiet, reliable, and immersive gaming experience for classic GBA titles like Pokémon, Fire Emblem, and Golden Sun.

Our Philosophy

GoGBA is built around a simple principle: quiet, reliable, immersive, and distraction-free. We prioritize:

  • Quiet: No ads, no pop-ups, no distractions. Zero interruptions.
  • Reliable: Your saves are safe and never lost. Exit anytime without worry.
  • Immersive: Clean UI with transparent buttons, minimal animations, and optimized touch controls.
  • Comfortable: 10 dark themes designed for long gaming sessions with eye-friendly colors.
  • Focused: We focus on doing the essentials well, rather than overwhelming you with unnecessary options.

Our goal: Open and continue playing instantly. Play for long sessions without fatigue. Exit without worry.

Key Features

  • Seamless Experience: Open the app and continue playing instantly. Your progress is always saved. Recent games and favorites are prioritized.
  • Reliable Save System: Automatic saves every 10 seconds, plus saves on exit and when backgrounded. Atomic writes prevent data corruption. Cross-core save compatibility and RTC (Real-Time Clock) support.
  • Dark Themes: 10 carefully designed dark themes (Catppuccin Mocha, Dracula, Nord, Gruvbox, Tokyo Night, One Dark, Monokai, Rose Pine, Kanagawa, OLED Neon) optimized for eye comfort during long sessions.
  • Clean Interface: Minimal, distraction-free UI with transparent virtual buttons (10%-100% opacity adjustable). No UI noise, no distractions.
  • Optimized Touch Controls: Normal mode (standard GBA layout) and Arcade mode (LRAB four-directional buttons). Haptic feedback with adjustable strength. Directional stick optimization for smooth control.
  • Gamepad Support: Full controller support with customizable button mapping. Option to hide virtual buttons when gamepad is connected. Works on both Android and iOS.
  • RetroAchievements Integration: Unlock achievements, track progress, compete on leaderboards. Rich Presence support shows your game status. Hardcore and Encore modes available.
  • Flexible Layout: Portrait or landscape mode with orientation locking. No unwanted screen rotation during gameplay.
  • Speed Control: Adjust game speed from 1x to 3x. Optional audio muting during speed-up for focused gameplay.
  • Video Rendering Filters: LCD, scanlines, bilinear, and HQ2x filters for authentic retro visuals.
  • Game Library Management: Auto-scan game directory, favorite games, search functionality, list/grid view toggle. Support for external app file opening (.gba file association).
  • BIOS Management: Optional BIOS file import for enhanced game compatibility.
  • Multi-language: Support for 24 languages including English, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional/Hong Kong), Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Thai, Filipino, Turkish, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Hindi, Malay, and Ukrainian.
  • Custom Covers: Search and select game covers from the libretro database. Automatic cover matching via SHA1/MD5 hash.

Technical Details

Platform Support

  • Android: Android 7.0+
  • iOS: iOS 15.0+

Core Technology

GoGBA uses:

  • libretro mgba core: High-performance GBA emulation core with native integration for optimal performance
  • librcheevos: RetroAchievements integration library for achievement tracking and leaderboards
  • Flutter 3.x: Cross-platform UI framework for consistent experience across Android and iOS
  • Riverpod 3.1: State management for reliable app behavior
  • go_router 17.1: Declarative routing for smooth navigation
  • Firebase: Analytics and Crashlytics for monitoring and stability

Performance Optimizations

  • 60 FPS frame rate control with fixed timestep game loop for smooth, consistent gameplay
  • Refresh rate control on Android (automatically set to 60Hz during gameplay)
  • Efficient rendering with stream-based game screen updates
  • Cover image caching for faster library loading
  • Native libretro integration for optimal performance on both platforms
  • Memory-efficient architecture designed for long gaming sessions

Privacy & Data

GoGBA is designed with privacy in mind:

  • All data is stored locally on your device
  • No account required
  • No data collection or tracking
  • Game files and saves never leave your device

For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

Legal Notice

GoGBA is an emulation tool. You are responsible for ensuring you have the legal right to use any ROM files you load into the app. We do not provide, distribute, or facilitate access to ROM files. Please only use ROM files for games you legally own.

For more information, see our Terms of Service.

Open Source Components

GoGBA uses several open-source components:

  • libretro mgba core: Licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL) 2.0
  • librcheevos: RetroAchievements library for achievement support
  • Flutter: Licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License
  • Various other open-source dependencies as listed in the app's license information

You can view the full license information within the app by going to Settings → About → License.

Contact

For questions, feedback, or support, please contact us:

Email: hamberluo@gmail.com

Visit our Support page for frequently asked questions and troubleshooting help.

Product Maturity

GoGBA has reached production-ready status with complete core functionality:

  • Complete GBA emulation with libretro mgba core
  • Dual platform support (Android + iOS) with native integration
  • Reliable save system with automatic saves and atomic writes
  • Game library management with auto-scan, favorites, search, and list/grid views
  • Virtual button controls with Normal/Arcade modes and haptic feedback
  • Full gamepad support with customizable button mapping
  • RetroAchievements integration with achievements, leaderboards, and Rich Presence
  • Multi-language support (24 languages, including App Store metadata)
  • 10 dark themes optimized for long sessions
  • Game cover search and automatic matching
  • Video rendering filters (LCD, scanlines, bilinear, HQ2x)
  • BIOS management for enhanced compatibility
  • Performance optimizations for smooth 60 FPS gameplay
  • Automated deployment infrastructure (Fastlane)
  • Monitoring and analytics (Firebase Analytics + Crashlytics)

Design Decisions

GoGBA focuses on core functionality and user experience. The following features are explicitly not included by design:

  • Cheat codes (Game Genie/Code Breaker): We prioritize authentic gameplay experience
  • Quick save/load: We focus on reliable automatic save system instead
  • Button layout editing: Fixed layouts ensure consistency and avoid configuration complexity

We believe in quality over quantity—focusing on doing the essentials exceptionally well, rather than overwhelming users with unnecessary options.

Future Plans

Planned features for future updates include:

  • Network multiplayer support (based on libretro netpacket API)
  • Gyroscope support for games requiring motion sensors (e.g., WarioWare: Twisted!)
  • Cloud save synchronization
  • Theme store

We focus on stability and user experience first, adding new features thoughtfully and carefully.