GBA games get Nintendo DS upgrade with new emulator
From the Anbernic RG DS ($129 on Amazon) to the Retroid Pocket Duo and the powerful AYN Thor – the past two years have seen a veritable flood of gaming handhelds with two displays. These are not only suitable for playing titles originally developed for the Nintendo DS or 3DS, the second display can also be used for YouTube videos, web browsers or manuals while playing titles that only use one display.
Some emulators, however, are also trying to add dual-display features to older games – PokéDaisy adds a companion app to Pokémon games for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, for example. A new emulator called GBA SP, available in beta on GitHub, now adds second-display features to a total of 51 GBA games. The function of the second display depends on the game.
For example, Mario Kart can display the track, Metroid shows a large map of the game world, while the GBA version of Super Mario World displays a list of levels that have already been completed. Technically, this works by running a second instance of the game, with progress carried over from the main instance so that, for example, the minimap is updated regularly. However, the second display offers no touchscreen functionality with this emulator.
The full list of 51 supported games also shows what is displayed on the second screen for each title. The emulator also supports most other GBA games that are not on this list, but does not display anything on the second screen for those games. The emulator is compatible with both Linux-based handhelds such as the Anbernic RG DS and Android handhelds such as the Retroid Pocket Duo.
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