• Start two (three, four) Advance VisualBoys at once. This is done by entering the program over and over again.
  set the same number for all the screens. ( I suggest 11000).
  
• In VBA Options/Emulator, uncheck Pause when inactive window
  (Don't forget to do this for all 4 emulators you have started. )
  
• You don't have to turn off the sound like in TGB Dual - only the active VBA produces sound
• In options setup all the things, like controls, save paths & so on.
  
• If you want a log of the transfer, check Log in Options/Link
  
• New! When playing Zelda: Four Swords, you have to set Timeout in Options/Link to above 10000 or below 200 (these values worked for me) - anything in between might make the game not link.
• If you want to use save files, you must rename them - the save file extension for VBA #1 is .sa1
  (e.g. Pokemon Ruby.sa1), for #2 .sa2 etc. (the same is true for save states - #1 has .sg1 etc.) - another solution is to import them, that works too.
• Enjoy!

VBA Link LAN setup instructions New!

Q: I set see the Link in the options, but nothing works. A: Single emulator can not link to itself. To get a link working, bring up 2-4 different vbalink emulator screens. Q: The link in game XY doesn't work. A: It probably uses another transfer mode. There are five of them, but VBALink emulates only one so far. VBA - Go to website and download file from save prompt. Getting contents of link into excel via VBA. Adding HTML entities using CSS content. Download VBA-Link for free. Visual Boy Advance Link. This is a portable version of Visual Boy Advance Link. Made with the portableappsinstaller. My objective is to be able to mass download images via hyperlink. I have an excel file that has all the links to the webpages that contain the pictures I need to download. So, I save the excel file as a webpage so that I can use a program like downthemall to go to each image and download them, here is the problem. Linklocation – This is the link to the document, file, place in the workbook or online site. Friendlyname – (Optional) – The text or numeric value that is displayed in the cell. Download our VBA Macro Code Examples Add-in Download 100% Free.

How to open ZIP files / Compressed archives

• In windows XP you can open zip files as if they were directories. If you don't have XP - Download WinZIP
• Need something better than WinZIP? Can't Open RAR or ARJ files? Download PowerArchiver that has support for ZIP, 7-Zip, CAB, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, RAR, ACE and many more formats
  

Default keys (can be edited in the Options menu)

Arrow keys - direction
Z - Button A
X - Button B
A - Button L
S - Button R
Enter - Start
Backspace - Select
Speedup - Space
Capture - F12
You can change the configuration above to use a joystick. Go to
Options ->Joypad ->Configuration.. menu.
The 1 thorough 4 Joypad allow you to have different settings which can be
easily switched.

Gameboy Advance Emulator Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I set see the Link in the options, but nothing works.
A: Single emulator can not link to itself. To get a link working, bring up 2-4 different vbalink emulator screens.

Q: The link in game XY doesn't work.
A: It probably uses another transfer mode. There are five of them, but VBALink emulates only one so far.
Q: What are the system requirements of VBALink?
A: They're the same as for VBA - that means pretty high. The slowest computerI successfully traded Pokemon on was a 333MHz - it ran at about 25% speed.
Q: How can I find the changed or added lines in the source files?
A: Just search for Link (whole word), I think I wrote it everywhere I changedsomething. Or, as Xedecimal said, you can use a merge application.
Q: What shall I do with the files - win32.cpp, gba.cpp, link.cpp ....etc....?
A: These are source files , and normal people don't need themat all. Just download the executable file .

Q: After the link ends, the game freezes for about 1 second.
A: It's normal. This happens due to the way the link emulation works and it does nothing bad.

Q: Pokemon LeafGreen& FireRed GBA rom - The msg that i keep getting is that i need to exchange the backup memory when i attempt to go to the trade center.
A: For Pokemon roms you must change save type to 128k.

Q: I don't see the 'Link' option in the 'Option' menu, what is the problem ?
A: This probably means that the version you are using is inferior to 1.7.2. Download the latest version and this problems should be fixed. Also, be sure that you have no language packs installed.
Q: When I try to play a game, the link doesn't work, what is happening ?
A: In most cases, that is a timeout situation. Playing in the timeout option should fix the problem. Raising the timeout time might be a good idea. In other cases, the games might change the connection type or data transmission type and could cause many types of errors, mostly compatiblity errors.
Q: I am able to link the connections, but after a while I get disconnected...
A: This also happens in a lot of situation. They are mostly timeout. Again, playing with the timeout might fix the problem, but not always.
Q: I use a Router/Firewall, which ports should I open/foward ?
A: You should forward ports 6478 to 6480 to avoid any confusions.

(And some more Help / FAQ compiled by ikarius)
Q: I got everything to work just fine, but it is incredibly slow through the internet, what's wrong ?
A: GBA wasn't meant for internet transmission, so the data transfer rates are very high (evaluated to an average of 2 mbs / s). LAN supports from 10 to 100 mbs/s and in some cases much higher. Except if you and your friends has T1, you will definitly experience lag in some games. Playing with the timeout might affect it, but in rare cases. Mostly it's a problem that can be fixed by the developpers of VBALink which would instore to create a certain data compression, but this ain't easy to do, so it might take sometimes.
Q: I don't use VBA Link LAN, but I am trying to play on the same computer, but it lags...
A: Your system might not be fast enough to support more than one emulator running at the same time. Unfortunatly, there is no way to correct this, except getting a new system.
Q: Does VBALink supports multiplayer GB/GBC games ?
A: No. Not in the current version, but eventually it might be possible.
Q: Zelda: Four Swords doesn't work for me, is there anything wrong ?
A: No. Four Swords uses another type of connection that might work for some people but they will still experience much problems with it. VBA Link doesn`t support Four Swords yet. Please be patient over this game.
Q: How do I get (insert game name here) to work ?
A: We actually can't say how every games work. You should take a look on the VBALink forums in the 'Working' and 'Not Working' sections.
Q: Can you make (insert game name here) to work ?
A: The developpers of VBA Link are working hard to make it work as better as it can. Actually emulating multiplayer like this is very hard. We have some objective, but we cannot take every single requests. Be assured that more compatibility will be made in the future.
Q: Is there any ways to get in contact with people to play ?
A: There is IRC where you can meet other players to play and also ikarius is working over a front-end that will allow to people to meet online and be able to organize games, just like zbattle.net.

How to compile

First thing. Most of you don't need this. Just download the executable file. 1.6a
It's easy enough. Just replace GBA.cpp in the src directory, Win32.cpp and Reg.cpp in the src/Win32 directory, and add Link.cpp and Link.h to the project. If you have version 1.6a, it should compile without any errors (at least it did in VC++ 6).
There's one parameter, LINKLOG, if you #define it in Link.h, the emulator willproduce a vbalog.txt file with a log of the transfer.

Back to TOP

What is the Best GBA App for Android?
John GBA vs. My Boy!

Review of the John GBA Emulator App

John GBA Emulator Pricing. Two John GBA emulator versions are available on Google Play. The first version is the LITE and the second is the paid version which you can get for $1.

John GBA Emulator Features. This emulator utilizes the Original GBA engine and is able to support raw cheats. It also supports cheats through GameShark and CodeBreaker. Like most touch-screen emulators, John GBA is equipped with an on-screen keypad that enables you to customize size and placement.

John GBA Emulator Supported Games . This emulator supports only GBA games so you can't load ROMS of Gameboy Color and Gameboy carts.

Download Vba Link

John GBA Emulator Interface . No fancy interface for the John GBA emulator. You install the app and it will search your device for ROMs. You can cancel the auto search and go directly to the location of the ROM in your SD card or phone.

App Support/Updates. If you like to use real controllers, you'll be happy to know that the John GBA emulator supports Gametel, MOGA, Wiimote and other Bluetooth controllers. Its page on Google Play Store also shows that it offers zipped file support. Moreover, the emulator will work on devices running on Android 2.3 (and above). It's stable and is regularly updated.

download free. full version John_GBA.apk

My Boy! Emulator Review

My Boy Pricing. You get two versions for My Boy! – free and paid. You can download both versions on Google Play Store. The paid version however is a lot more expensive than the premium John GBA emulator – at $5.

My Boy Features. It supports link cable emulation through Bluetooth and wifi. Plus, its developer Fast Emulator has also officially added support for devices under x86 (Intel) processors. With the free version, fast forward speed is only limited to x2 and normal. Rendering is done with OpenGL backend as long as your device has a capable GPU. Older devices defaults to normal rendering. Thanks to the GBA link cable emulation support MyBoy is my favorite Pokemom emulator app for Android as it lets you trade!

My Boy Supported Games. The My Boy! GBA emulator exclusively supports GBA ROMS/games. If you want to play Gameboy Color or Gameboy games, you need to download a separate My OldBoy! emulator for it.

My Boy Interface. The main user interface of this emulator bears some similarities with the John GBA emulator (such as having a directory and options button on its main page). But it doesn't have a search function and on its main page it doesn't show a list of detected games.

Free Download Vba Link

My Boy App Support/Updates. My Boy! offers support for external controllers for bluetoothed gamepad like MOGA. Its last update was in July 2014 but it doesn't have a lot of bugs that would necessitate an update anyway.

download free. full version My_Boy!.apk

* My Boy Pokemon Link Trade GBA Emulator for Android phones and tablets.

Which is the better GBA emulator for Android?

The two emulators do an admirable job at emulating Game Boy Advance game and your choice ultimately depend on certain factors. If you only want to play old GBA games the John GBA is easy to use. However the ads can be a little annoying. In addition, even though its page says it offers support for zipped files, I needed to extract my own game from its zipped folder before the app could recognize it. Also, depending on the size of your SD card and phone, using the search feature can take a bit of time. The emulator doesn't automatically adjust the screen orientation either. You need to change it in your settings.

With the My Boy! emulator, you can much better controls. You'll still see the ads but only on the main page and won't bother you when you're playing. If you're a casual player you'll have a great time playing your GBA games with the My Boy! There aren't a lot of games that make use of My Boy! link emulation. Perhaps the only drawback I can think of here is the price of the premium version but then again, you get a lot of features in return.

Final Thoughts

The John GBA emulator is definitely more affordable but I would recommend My Boy! due to its very responsive button layout, absence of ads and its unique link emulation. But whatever app you pick, you are assured that either will do a great job taking you on a trip down to memory lane as you play your favorite GBA games.

Ok, now you have your emulator (either VBA or VBALink - there are others but for this tutorial I will be using VisualBoy Advance version 1.7.2) you will need some games. If you head over to google and search for Gameboy Advance Roms or GBA PD Roms you can find hundreds of public domain GameBoy Advance games for you to play. Downloading is free and you do not have to register, but don't expect to find games like Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh! here.

You can find [email protected] - the author of this guide at VBA Link Support Forum and his forum at Emulation64.

Read other guides by Matty :

Gameboy Emulator for ANDROID • Free full .apk Download »

VBA Link over internet with a Router.
Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald 'Internal Battery Has Run Dry' Fix.