Super Game Boy
The Super Game Boy is an accessory for the SNES that allows playing Game Boy games on the big screen! It was released in 1994.
There were two versions of the Super Game Boy; the first one had a hardware timing bug that played the games in fast motion (including pitching up the sounds). This was fixed in the Super Game Boy 2.
In Batocera, the Super Game Boy is in a bit of a weird spot. It's considered its own system despite requiring another system to function, that uses the ROMs of a portable handheld system which can also be run inside of a different handheld system. So, where should this system go?
The answer is no one can really agree. The default behavior is to group it with the SNES games, such that all Super Game Boy ROMs copied to their own directory will appear in a subfolder. Ungrouped, the SGB will appear as its own system.
This system scrapes metadata for the “sgb” group and loads the sgb set from the currently selected theme, if available.
Grouped with the “snes” group of systems.
Quick reference
- Emulator: RetroArch
- Cores available: libretro: mgba, libretro: mesen-s
- Folder:
/userdata/roms/sgb - Accepted ROM formats:
.gb,.gbc,.zip,.7z
BIOS
| MD5 checksum | Share file path | Description |
|---|---|---|
d574d4f9c12f305074798f54c091a8b4 | bios/sgb_boot.bin | |
e0430bca9925fb9882148fd2dc2418c1 | bios/sgb2_boot.bin | |
b15ddb15721c657d82c5bab6db982ee9 | bios/SGB1.sfc | |
8ecd73eb4edf7ed7e81aef1be80031d5 | bios/SGB2.sfc |
ROMs
Place your Super Game Boy ROMs in /userdata/roms/sgb.
Emulators
RetroArch
RetroArch (formerly SSNES), is a ubiquitous frontend that can run multiple “cores”, which are essentially the emulators themselves. The most common cores use the libretro API, so that's why cores run in RetroArch in Batocera are referred to as “libretro: (core name)”. RetroArch aims to unify the feature set of all libretro cores and offer a universal, familiar interface independent of platform.
RetroArch configuration
RetroArch offers a Quick Menu accessed by pressing [HOTKEY] + 
which can be used to alter various things like RetroArch and core options, and controller mapping. Most RetroArch related settings can be altered from Batocera's EmulationStation.
Standardized features available to all libretro cores: sgb.videomode, sgb.ratio, sgb.smooth, sgb.shaders, sgb.pixel_perfect, sgb.decoration, sgb.game_translation
ES setting name batocera.conf_key | Description ⇒ ES option key_value |
|---|---|
| Settings that apply to all cores of this emulator | |
GRAPHICS API sgb.gfxbackend | Choose which graphics API library to use. Vulkan is better, when supported. ⇒ OpenGL opengl, Vulkan vulkan. |
AUDIO LATENCY sgb.audio_latency | In milliseconds. Can reduce crackling/cutting out. ⇒ 256 256, 192 192, 128 128, 64 64, 32 32, 16 16, 8 8. |
THREADED VIDEO sgb.video_threaded | Improves performance at the cost of latency and more video stuttering. ⇒ On true, Off false. |
libretro: mgba
A GBA emulator that also supports the SGB palettes of Game Boy games. It does not support the borders nor their animations.
libretro: mgba configuration
ES setting name batocera.conf_key | Description ⇒ ES option key_value |
|---|---|
| Settings that apply to all systems this core supports | |
SHOW BIOS BOOTLOGO global.skip_bios_mgba | Requires BIOS file to be present. ⇒ Show False, Skip True. |
| Settings specific to gb | |
SUPER GB BORDERS gb.sgb_borders | Only for Super Game Boy enhanced games. ⇒ Off False, On True. |
COLOR CORRECTION gb.color_correction | Simulate LCD color inaccuracy. ⇒ Off False, On GBA. |
| Settings specific to gbc | |
SUPER GB BORDERS gbc.sgb_borders | Only for Super Game Boy enhanced games. ⇒ Off False, On True. |
COLOR CORRECTION gbc.color_correction | Simulate LCD color inaccuracy. ⇒ Off False, On GBC. |
| Settings specific to gba | |
SOLAR SENSOR LEVEL gba.solar_sensor_level | Value to use for the emulated solar sensor (Boktai). ⇒ 0 0, 1 1, 2 2, 3 3, 4 4, 5 5, 6 6, 7 7, 8 8, 9 9, 10 10. |
FRAMESKIP gba.frameskip_mgba | Skip frames to improve performance, at the cost of choppy motion. ⇒ 0 0, 1 1, 2 2, 3 3, 4 4, 5 5, 6 6, 7 7, 8 8, 9 9, 10 10. |
libretro: mesen-s
A SNES emulator that fully supports the SGB features of Game Boy games. This includes the neat borders and animations of SGB:
libretro: mesen-s configuration
ES setting name batocera.conf_key | Description ⇒ ES option key_value |
|---|---|
| Settings that apply to all systems this core supports | |
BLARGG NTSC FILTER global.mesen-s_ntsc_filter | Core-powered video filter. ⇒ Disabled disabled, Composite (Blargg) Composite (Blargg), S-Video (Blargg) S-Video (Blargg), RGB (Blargg) RGB (Blargg), Monochrome (Blargg) Monochrome (Blargg). |
HIGH-RES BLENDING global.mesen-s_blend_high_res | Blur high-res mode, allowing for better transparency effects. ⇒ On enabled, Off disabled. |
CUBIC AUDIO INTERPOLATION global.mesen-s_cubic_interpolation | Enhancement. Swap from SNES' guassian interpolation to cubic. Improves sound quality. ⇒ On enabled, Off disabled. |
GAME BOY MODE global.mesen-s_gbmodel | Change behaviour when emulating GB games. Auto uses SGB for GB and GBC for GBC. ⇒ Game Boy Game Boy, Game Boy Color Game Boy Color, Super Game Boy Super Game Boy. |
SUPER GAME BOY 2 global.mesen-s_sgb2 | Emulate the Super Game Boy 2 for SGB. Runs games at the correct speed. ⇒ On enabled, Off disabled. |
OVERCLOCK (UNSTABLE) global.mesen-s_overclock | Enhancement. Reduces system slowdown. Causes issues in some games. ⇒ None None, Low Low, Medium Medium, High High, Very High Very High. |
OVERCLOCK TYPE global.mesen-s_overclock_type | Prefer “Before NMI”, change to After NMI only if needed by the game. ⇒ Before NMI Before NMI, After NMI After NMI. |
SUPER FX OVERCLOCK global.mesen-s_superfx_overclock | Enhancement. Reduces slowdown in mode 7 games. ⇒ 100% 100%, 200% 200%, 300% 300%, 400% 400%, 500% 500%, 1000% 1000%. |
Controls
Here are the default Super Game Boy's controls shown on a Batocera Retropad:
Troubleshooting
Further troubleshooting
For further troubleshooting, refer to the generic support pages.
- systems/sgb.txt
- Last modified: 16 months ago
- by atari