gameboy
717
12.5mb
Music for the Nintendo Gameboy. mp3 submission is allowed but not recommended. Submit hardware compatible files, if possible.
::|CONTENTS
- Tools
- Playback for Voting
- See Also
The GameBoy format is for entries created for or with the
Nintendo Game Boy or
Game Boy Color. The Game Boy itself is a handheld game console first released in 1989; it is the second most succesful hand-held console in history, only beaten by the Nintendo DS, and originally came bundled with the famous Tetris puzzle game. It has an extended 8080 CPU which takes inspiration from the Zilog
Z80 CPU, but features new instructions not seen in either. The term "Game Boy" is often used as a blanket term for the entire line of systems with that moniker. Since there are so many different models of the system, the original is commonly referred to as the "DMG". Throughout the console's lifespan, many new models were released; examples include the Game Boy Pocket, the Game Boy Light, and the Game Boy Color. Later on, there was also the
Game Boy Advance—this system featured an all-new CPU and sound hardware, and is thus excluded from this format.
The system has four channels of sound—two pulse waves, a variable waveform channel, and a noise channel. For further information on the system's specifications, audio and otherwise, refer to the
Game Boy page.
Tools
Little Sound Dj (LSDj)
Little Sound Dj (called LSDj for short) is by far the most popular and widely known Game Boy music program. It runs natively on the system or in an emulator. If you have a flashcart, then you can use the program on a real Game Boy! This is the program of choice for many, and boasts numerous features like having various sampled drum-sets, a speech synthesizer, and synchronization between two Game Boys via link cable (double Game Boy isn't allowed in the GameBoy format though, just one!).
In 2024, LSDj got its own
dedicated format.
Resources
Official Website
Manuals/Documentation
ROM Downloads
LSDPatch ROM Patcher and Song Manager
Beginner Tutorials - Little Sound Dj Wiki
Deflemask
Deflemask is a multi-platform tracker that targets various platforms; the Game Boy is one of the many systems that it supports. It is not as extensive or customizable as LSDj is, and does not support samples in the wave channel. Unlike LSDj, Deflemask runs on PC, Mac, and Linux and supports exporting music as Game Boy ROM files (.gb) or .gbs files. It also has built-in support for overclocking! Some consider Deflemask easier to use or less clunky than LSDj.
Much like LSDj, Deflemask also has its own
dedicated format.
Resources
Official Website
Manual
mGB
mGB is a simple program that allows the Game Boy to act as a MIDI input device. It can only be run on real hardware and requires a MIDI device such as the aforementioned
ArduinoBoy. Music is made entirely by sending MIDI commands to the Game Boy and recording the output.
Resources
GitHub Page
nanoloop
nanoloop is a synthesizer and step-sequencer program designed for the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Android/iOS. There are two different variations of the Game Boy version: nanoloop mono and nanoloop one. Both versions feature the same basic interface and capabilities, but nanoloop mono makes use of the fifth sound channel mentioned in the "Sound Hardware" section. nanoloop one, on the other hand, uses the Game Boy's standard four sound channels.
Resources
Official Website
nanoloop Online Shop
nanoloop one Page
nanoloop one Manual and Changelog
nanoloop one Demo ROM
nanoloop mono Page
nanoloop mono Manual and Changelog
MML Compilers
If you're not familiar with
MML, it's a way to type out music through specific written notations. It has a bit of a learning curve and can sometimes be buggy, but some prefer it to the other programs available. For making Game Boy music, two different MML compilers are available: XPMCK and GBMC. XPMCK is a multi-platform MML compiler, while GBMC is specialized for making Game Boy music. GBMC is the preferred MML compiler for Game Boy tunes due to its ease of compiling .gbs, .gb, and .gbc files without the need for extra files and programs. It has a catch, however—the manual is written only in Japanese! Fear not though,
Savestate's Winter Chip X entry has comments outlining the basic use of GBMC.
Like LSDj and Deflemask, MML also has its own
dedicated format.
Resources
XPMCK Website
XPMCK Manual
GBMC Website (Japanese)
Conversion Tools
There's various tools out there that let you compose in one format, and convert it to a format playable on the Game Boy.
NSF2GBS
NSF2GBS is a Lua script that simply converts any
FamiTracker-generated NSF to a .gbs file as long as it uses one Namco N163 channel. If you don't want to learn a new program to make Game Boy music, then this is probably your best option; keep in mind that stereo sound is not supported, though!
FTM2GBMC
FTM2GBMC is a tool written by
Savestate that converts FTM text exports to GBMC MML. This allows fine tuning of the results post-conversion.
GBT Player (using MOD2GBT)
GBT Player is a music creation environment for GB and GBC. It contains a tool, mod2gbt, which converts a mod file into a gbt (GameBoy Tracker) file which can be played by GBT Player.
Playback for Voting
Gameboy as format uses a variety of different file types for compatibility purposes. It is generally recommended entries be .lsdprj or .gbs - .lsdprj files also include LSDJ kits.
Do NOT submit the LSDJ ROM in your submission as this violates the clause of the license which prohibits ROM distribution.
DO put the version number of LSDJ in the .lsdprj filename! This helps when listening and rendering the submissions!!
You can create .lsdprj files for your submission by doing the following:
1. Download the
LSDPatch application (requires Java 8 or newer)
2. Open LSDPatcher and load the corresponding LSDJ ROM + sav file
3. Click "Songs" and select the song from the list of songs
4. Click "Export songs" and save to .lsdprj.
PLEASE put the version number of LSDJ in the .lsdprj filename e.g. "song_v92L.lsdprj". Since BotB internally changes the filename, it's also good to put the version in the song description.
5. Profit!
Use LSDpatcher + LSDj to playback .lsdprj files:
1. Run LSDpatcher
2. Select your LSDj ROM .gb and .sav files with the browse buttons
3. Clicks 'Songs' and 'Add Song', can add multiple songs for voting, etc.
4. Select the .lsdprj file for playback
5. Click save to create a new copy of the ROM incorporating the additional song(s)
6. Close out of LSDpatcher
7. Run LSDj, load up the song. Voila!
Other playback tools:
VGMplay: Useful for, well, .vgm files.
foobar2000: Runs .gbs and .vgm with the
Game Emu Player component (downloaded separately).
VLC: 8kb; Game Music Emu, which VLC comes with by default, is supposed to run .gbs and .vgm files.
SameBoy: SameBoy is the best gameboy emulator, so accordingly, it runs .gb files. Not every emulator that works should be fine for .gb files, but the highest recommended ones are SameBoy, BGB, and Gambatte. On mobile or other devices, using Retroarch with the SameBoy core is recommended, although some devices may struggle with performance. In that case, using the gambatte core is the next best option.
See Also
Game Boy
2a03 (soundchip)
LSDJ
lsdj (format)
DefleMask Tracker
deflemask (format)
gbstudio (format)
