Platform request: Gameboy

[MikeDX]

Given that wiz can compile for gameboy, and we have the wonderful gbdk, it would be really great to see this added.

I am unsure of the state of any open source bios or indeed if we really need one. There are issues of course using the header but maybe this can be worked around.

I appreciate there is a huge amount of work involved, this is a suggestion and in no way a demand :)

[sehugg]

I looked into it last year -- I think I got stuck trying to find an appropriate emulator, and tried to integrate this one: https://github.com/joamag/boytacean

[GabeTheCat123]

Why isn't this going to be made? i'm still waiting for making my GameBoy game on 8bitworkshop... 😢😢

[MikeDX]

I looked into it last year -- I think I got stuck trying to find an appropriate emulator, and tried to integrate this one: https://github.com/joamag/boytacean

I'm going to give this a go now i've finished the pacman hardware taget.

[sehugg]

I took a swing at Gameboy a few months ago, it's kinda rough but there are a few samples.

[MikeDX]

I've made some changes and have ported the "chase" game which is running well.

I also took a stab at the boytacean and that also works now (with sound)

The question I suppose we need to answer is which direction you want to go and how we manage the hardware interface to the gb hardware.

[sehugg]

The GB emulator on the main branch was vibe'd as an experiment, its only redeeming quality is that it supports IDE debugging and tracing b/c it's hooked into the JS CPU framework.

Boytacean is likely more accurate, tho adding debugging support might be tricky.

The Chase port looks nice. What SDK do you use for GB programming? I kinda hacked an old GBDK version to support the older SDCC compiler.

[MikeDX]

Thanks that matches what I ran into.

Emulator: Agreed the main-branch GB core’s real win is IDE debug/trace via the JS CPU framework.

I tried boytacean as an optional backend, accuracy looked better, but palette/debug integration was messy and pulled it from the menus for now. Happy to revisit later if there’s a clean way to get boytacean (or similar) accuracy without losing the debugger.

Chase / SDK: No external toolchain — Chase is written against the same GBDK headers already in the IDE (presets/gb/gb/…, gb.h / hardware.h, etc.) and compiled with the in-browser SDCC gbz80 path (gb.lib / gbz80.lib).

So it’s your old "GBDK-for-older-SDCC" setup, not modern GBDK-2020.

API surface is the usual stuff: set_bkg_, 8×16 sprites, window HUD, and direct NR for music/SFX (Coleco note streams, not FamiTone).

Happy to submit a PR with “Chase + small GB polish” and leave boytacean out entirely if that’s cleaner, but I can't take too much credit as I've got a pipeline here for multiple "chase" ports which were heavily helped by LLMs.

Galaxian

Colecovision / SG1000

SMS

Also happy to share these chase ports if they are useful / interesting. Some are better than others. Sound is a little rough in places

[MikeDX]

WIP PR submitted as #255