R36S Game Boy Emulation: GB, GBC & Pocket Games Guide
Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulation on the R36S is essentially perfect — every game runs flawlessly. The interesting part is getting the display settings right: choosing the correct palette for original Game Boy games, setting up borders, and deciding whether to use integer scaling or fill the full screen.
Which Core to Use for Game Boy
The R36S handles both GB and GBC emulation effortlessly. The main choice is between accuracy and features:
| Core | Systems | Accuracy | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gambatte | GB, GBC | Excellent | Best all-around choice |
| SameBoy | GB, GBC | Highest | Cycle-accurate, border support |
| mGBA | GB, GBC, GBA | Very Good | Single core for all GB variants |
| TGB Dual | GB, GBC | Good | Link cable emulation (trading, battles) |
Recommended Cores
Use Gambatte for most GB and GBC games — it's fast, accurate, and well-maintained. Use SameBoy if you want Super Game Boy borders or the highest possible accuracy. Use TGB Dual specifically for games that require link cable emulation (Pokémon trading/battles).
BIOS Files for Game Boy
GB and GBC emulation works without BIOS files, but using the actual boot ROM BIOS provides:
- Correct boot animation (the classic Game Boy logo scroll)
- Slightly better game compatibility in edge cases
- Accurate GBC palette assignment for GB games
BIOS file names expected by RetroArch:
| System | BIOS Filename | Location on SD Card |
|---|---|---|
| Game Boy | gb_bios.bin | /roms/BIOS/ |
| Game Boy Color | gbc_bios.bin | /roms/BIOS/ |
| Super Game Boy | SGB_BIOS.smc | /roms/BIOS/ |
Gambatte Core Options
Open Quick Menu → Core Options while running a GB/GBC game.
Game Boy Color Palette (for Original GB Games)
When playing original Game Boy games on GBC or GBA hardware (emulated or real), a color palette is applied. Gambatte offers many options:
| Palette Option | Description |
|---|---|
| DMG (Greenscale) | Original Game Boy greenish tint — authentic experience |
| GBC (Game-Specific) | Uses GBC's built-in palette for each game — colorized look |
| SGB | Super Game Boy palettes — warm, earthy tones |
| Game Boy Pocket-style neutral grey tones |
Pro Tip
For original Game Boy games, the "Pocket" palette (neutral grey tones) looks cleanest on the R36S's backlit IPS screen. The classic "DMG Green" palette is more authentic but the green tint can feel dated. Try both and pick your preference.
Key Gambatte Settings
| Setting | Recommended | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Up/Down Allowed | Off | Prevents glitches from pressing opposing directions simultaneously |
| Turbo Speed | Off | Enable for faster grinding in RPGs if desired |
| Interframe Blending | LCD Ghosting (ON) | Reduces flickering in games that use alternating-frame sprite tricks |
| Color Correction | GBC Only | Adjusts GBC color output to match real hardware display |
Display Settings for Game Boy
Aspect Ratio and Why 3× Is the Ceiling
The Game Boy screen is 160×144 pixels, which is a 10:9 shape. The R36S panel is 640×480, which is 4:3. Working out what fits is simple arithmetic and it rules out most of the options:
- 3× = 480×432 — fits, with 80 px unused down each side and 24 px top and bottom. Every source pixel becomes a clean 3×3 block. This is the best setting.
- 4× = 640×576 — does not fit. The panel is 480 pixels tall, so this overflows by 96 px, a sixth of the image. In practice RetroArch will not crop your game to achieve it; integer scaling falls back to the largest multiple that fits, which is 3×.
- Core Provided — the correct 10:9 proportion, scaled non-integer to use more of the panel. Slightly softer than 3×, noticeably larger.
- Stretched to fill — 640×480 uses the whole screen but forces 10:9 content into a 4:3 frame, stretching everything about 20% wider than it should be. Game Boy sprites are small and square by design, so this is more obvious here than on most systems.
Recommended Display Setting
Integer scale at 3×. The 480×432 image sits centred with black bars at the sides, giving authentic Game Boy proportions and perfectly square pixels. The unused screen area is the price of not distorting a 10:9 image on a 4:3 panel — there is no setting that avoids that trade, only settings that choose which side of it to take.
This is the one system where you can afford everything
Game Boy is by far the lightest thing this handheld will ever run. Where PS1 and N64 force you to weigh accuracy against framerate, here there is no contest to referee — the CPU headroom is enormous, as the hardware breakdown explains.
So spend that headroom on fidelity rather than leaving it idle. Use the most accurate core rather than the fastest, turn on the LCD shader if you like the look, enable Super Game Boy borders, run the real boot ROM. None of it will cost you a frame. Optimising Game Boy settings for performance on this device is solving a problem you do not have.
Game Boy DMG Shader (Optional)
If you want the authentic reflective LCD look:
- Quick Menu → Shaders → Load Preset
- Find
handheld/dot-matrix-green.glslporgb-shader.glslp - This simulates the original DMG screen grid pattern
SameBoy: Super Game Boy Borders
SameBoy supports Super Game Boy mode, which displays decorative borders around GB games — exactly as the SGB accessory did on SNES.
Enabling SGB Borders
- Set Core to SameBoy
- Core Options → System → Emulated Model → Super Game Boy
- Make sure the
SGB_BIOS.smcBIOS file is in your BIOS folder - Launch a GB game — if it has SGB support, the game-specific border will appear
Games with notable Super Game Boy support: Kirby's Dreamland 2, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and most Nintendo first-party GB games.
Link Cable Emulation (Pokémon Trading)
The TGB Dual core emulates two Game Boys joined by a link cable, both on this one device. It is genuinely useful, but it is worth being clear about what it does and does not solve.
What it solves: trade evolutions. Machoke, Graveler, Kadabra and Haunter only evolve when traded, and TGB Dual lets you trade a Pokémon across, evolve it, and trade it back — entirely offline, with no second console and no other player.
What it does not solve: version exclusives. If you want a Pokémon that exists only in Red while you are playing Blue, no amount of single-device emulation conjures it; you need both ROMs and two saves, and you are effectively playing both games. That works, it is just a different activity from trading with a friend.
For actual multiplayer, link-cable play between two people runs over netplay, which brings its own requirements — matching ROMs, matching cores, and a Wi-Fi dongle, since a standard R36S has no radio.
Using TGB Dual for Pokémon
- Load the core: TGB Dual
- Load the ROM — TGB Dual opens two Game Boy windows simultaneously
- Both "handhelds" are controlled via the same controller, switching between them
- In-game, enter a trade center or battle room on both games to initiate link cable actions
Important
TGB Dual requires two separate save files for the same game. Don't overwrite your primary save. Set up a dedicated save file specifically for trade purposes, and back up both saves before using TGB Dual.
Best Game Boy & GBC Games for R36S
| Game | System | Why It's Great on R36S |
|---|---|---|
| Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow | GB | Perfect emulation, use link cable core for trades |
| Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal | GBC | Gorgeous colors on the IPS screen |
| The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX | GBC | Vibrant GBC colors, complete classic adventure |
| Tetris | GB | DMG green palette looks perfect for this one |
| Kirby's Dream Land | GB | Clean visuals, SGB border support |
| Metal Gear Solid | GBC | Impressive GBC title, runs flawlessly |
| Dragon Warrior Monsters | GBC | Addictive RPG, long battery sessions |
| Wario Land 3 | GBC | Great platformer with excellent GBC colors |