There are dozens of Game Boy Advance emulators out there that you can use to play your favorite Pokemon GBA game series. Whether you plan to play Pokemon on your computer or mobile device, there is an available emulator.
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But the question is, does all of them work? I doubt it, but here is the list of best and recommended GBA emulators that I have tried personally and even recommended by most gamers.
Best Game Boy Advance Emulators to Play Pokemon GBA Games
GBA Emulators for Windows Users
Game Boy Advance Emulators started to work for Windows operating systems. Unfortunately, many of these GBA emulators are outdated, though still playable in most cases. Here are the GBA emulators for Windows users that we highly recommend.
Also read: List of Best GBA Emulators for PC
GBA Emulators for Mac OS
There are plenty of cool GBA emulators for Mac OS users, and here are some of those;
GBA Emulators for Android
GBA Emulation on mobile devices has become so much popular these days, and the hype still continues. Imagine holding a real Game Boy Advance gaming console with more advanced features. I recommended checking these best GBA emulators for Android, yet my personal favorite is listed below.
- MyBoy – This is my personal favorite GBA emulator, there is a free version of this app, but I prefer the paid version to fully enjoy the emulation service, plus almost all Pokemon Gameshark codes and cheat will work in this emulator.
- John GBA Lite – I tested this emulator, and it runs GBA games smoothly and even supports cheating; you might want to consider John GBA Lite as an alternative to My Boy.
GBA Emulator for iOS
GBA4iOS – I tried this emulator, and I can say so far GBA4iOS is the best GBA emulator for iOS. Sadly there aren’t many GBA emulators for iOS. Though GBA4iOS sometimes becomes unstable, the majority of our readers recommend this.
Related: Best GBA Emulators for iOS
Conclusion
Try one of the options from the list above if you’re seeking for the finest Game Boy Advance emulator to play your favorite Pokemon games. All of them have been tried and are perfect for the majority of players.
However, please feel free to let us know in the comments section below if you run into any issues with any of them. Don’t forget to let us know which emulator you prefer as well!
I try to download the pokemon mega X Y edition but when
It is fully loaded it says I can’t access this file then talking
About Ips and all that crap
It’s possible that the file hasn’t been patched to an emerald ROM yet. We have a comprehensive guide available here on how to apply IPS/UPS patches and play ROM hacks: https://www.pokemoncoders.com/apply-ips-ups-patch-play-rom-hack/ . Please let me know if you find this helpful.
My screen got white after i opened the game
So, i’m using the Visual Boy Advance, and i have a Pokemon Fire Red file, but i tried to download a Pokemon Emerald copy, and it just go white when i open, the Fire Red copy is still okay, but i can’t open it up, i tried some other files for Emerald but i still can’t.
Hi Nun, thanks for coming here. We have created a guide on how to fix the White screen issue. See it here https://www.pokemoncoders.com/fix-white-screen-visual-boy-advance/
What is the best for MacOS for using cheats?
mGA and retroarch are good GBA emulators for Mac OS.
any for linux?
mGBA and Retroarch have versions for Linux, you might want to check them. Let me know if this works for you.
Hello, I tried booting up the ROM on the Visual Boy but when I boot it up, it says I don’t have the 1 mil installed? or something??
If you are referring to the “1m sub-circuit board is not installed” error, here’s our fix for that https://www.pokemoncoders.com/fix-1m-sub-circuit-board-not-installed-error/
Pokemon ruby walk through walls
You can find here https://www.pokemoncoders.com/pokemon-ruby-cheats/ our collection of Pokemon Ruby cheats, including the walk through walls.
I got bugged by John’s emulator when I put the codes for I got stuck on a purple screen, what did it do?
Try switching to MyBoy, it works best when used with cheats
I don’t know why this happens but I have downloaded several games and it won’t let me use them on my boy. Is it because I have the free version? (My old boy). Help me please. I get that there is no appropriate file in that folder. I’m sure I’ve downloaded the correct version and at least 6 more.
If I understand it correctly, you are trying to run GBA games on My Old Boy? That’s not possible. My Old Boy is only for GB and GBC games. You need My Boy or John GBA to play GBA games.
In Pokémon Emerald there’re 7 legendaries you can catch however in the emulator you can’t. Is that due to copyright or do you have to catch them in order for the locations to spawn?
I’m not quite sure where did get that info mate, which emulator are you referring?
I’m using the NO$GBA emulator and it’s the best emulator for GBA ROMs. Easy to instal, good graphic, sound and you can play your games in full screen. If you are beginners in this kind of thing I recommend the MGBA Emulator, that emulator is good too.
Thanks for the input Murko, indeed these are good emulators and I recommend the as well.
how do i download for chromebook
If your Chromebook supports android apps, then I guess you can install My Boy.
How can I download Pokemon ruby for My Boy!, because I want to do a Nuzlocke on it but I can’t figure it out my brother told me just buy a Game boy Advance and Pokemon Ruby with it but I told him that Game boys are $40 or more and it’s hard to find a Pokemon Ruby cartridge nowadays, so please tell me how I can download it.
Hi there, Ivan, sorry but we don’t share rom files here, including for Pokemon Ruby, it’s a piracy thing. I so much understand that playing the game in Nuzlocke is an extremely fun experience, but sharing rom files is illegal.
I cant get to claire on the last gym the boulder falls in the same spot and it wont let me pass please help
how do i use gameshark on the squirrels rom? i use retroarch
Hello Dan, I’m not a retroarch user so I can’t give further information for your emulator. When using cheats, most gamers recommend using My Boy for Android or VBA for Windows as these are the most reliable GBA emulators that works best with cheats.
I’ve tried both the emulators for Android… At first they worked just fine. But suddenly both of them stopped working. I wonder why is that so and what can I do to play Fire Red without any disturbance.
You mean MyBoy? It’s the best GBA emulator for Android so far. Maybe it’s not the emulator causing the problem and I would suspect it’s the rom you have.
I’ve put these codes into the my boy emulator for the android phones and cant get them to work. I was wondering if I was doing it wrong or maybe there’s an issue with the rom I got
Most likely it’s because of your ROM version, but this guy on reddit shares the appropriate FireRed rom that you may want to check.
Hello,
Maybe I’m doing it wrong, but I can’t get a masterball code to work for MyBoy on Android in Sapphire v1.1
Hey bro, thanks for coming here. Unfortunately majority of cheats works only for V1.0 and may not work for V1.1. You need to find a 1.0 version of sapphire, regarding that rom version, sorry we don’t share rom files here.