CupidGBA is a Game Boy Advance emulator written in C with SDL2 for video, audio, and input.

• Emulates Game Boy Advance (.gba) ROMs
• Uses optional real BIOS (-b) or built-in HLE BIOS fallback
• Supports battery-backed save types (auto-detect + manual override)
• Renders at native GBA resolution 240x160 with integer window scaling

• Linux (or another platform with SDL2)
• gcc
• make
• pkg-config
• SDL2 development package

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libsdl2-dev

From the project root:

make clean && make

This produces the executable:

• ./cupidgba

./cupidgba rom.gba [-b bios.bin] [-s scale] [-S savetype]

Options:

• -b <path>: Load real GBA BIOS image (optional)
• -s <1..10>: Window scale factor (default: 3)
• -S <type>: Force save type instead of auto-detect

Save types for -S:

• sram
• sram512
• flash512
• flash1m
• eeprom
• eeprom512
• none

Example:

./cupidgba /path/to/game.gba -s 4 -b bios/gba_bios.bin

Keyboard:

• Z = A
• X = B
• Backspace = Select
• Enter = Start
• Arrow Keys = D-Pad
• A = L
• S = R
• Esc = Quit

Gamepad (SDL controller mapping):

• A/B = A/B
• Back = Select
• Start = Start
• D-Pad = D-Pad
• LB/RB = L/R
• Left analog stick also maps to D-Pad (with deadzone)

• Save data is stored next to the ROM, using the same base name with .sav
• Example: Pokemon.gba → Pokemon.sav
• Saves are periodically flushed during play and once again on exit

• This project currently targets GBA ROMs only.
• Supplying non-GBA ROM formats may fail or crash.

• src/ — emulator source
  • src/arm/ — ARM7TDMI CPU core
  • src/gba/ — GBA subsystems (memory, video, audio, DMA, timers, BIOS, savedata)
  • src/gba/render/ — software renderer modes
  • src/core/ — timing/event scheduler
  • src/platform/ — SDL frontend (main, audio, input)
• include/cupid/ — public/internal headers
• bios/ — optional location for BIOS image(s)

• Build fails with missing SDL2: ensure libsdl2-dev and pkg-config are installed.
• No audio: emulator continues running if audio init fails.
• Crashes with .gb / .gbc: use .gba ROMs only.