GBA DS is giving Game Boy Advance games an unofficial DS-style makeover, using a second screen for maps, status panels and relocated HUD elements. Developer kyannon’s version 1.5 arrived on November 11 with eight more supported games, bringing the project’s listed total to 51.
The interesting part is how it gets there. Built on libmgba, GBA DS can run a silent second copy of a game, copy over the current state and open its map without interrupting the copy you are playing. It refreshes that information roughly once a second or around transitions, while checking for menus and fades that should not become your permanent second-screen wallpaper.
What appears below depends on the game. Metroid Fusion gets its map, Mario Kart: Super Circuit moves information and an enlarged course map off the main action, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 gets a goal sheet. Unsupported titles still run on one screen.
The latest additions include V-Rally 3, Ninja Five-O, Eragon and Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II. Version 1.5 also adds configurable hotkeys, customizable bezels and patch handling. The release notes are unusually specific about untested sections, including some bosses, endings, and multiplayer modes. Supported does not mean every corner of every game has been checked.
The project targets the Anbernic RG DS Plus, with Linux builds for ROCKNIX and BananaOS, an Android build used with GammaOS, and a browser beta. Its stock Linux instructions remain experimental. You bring your own legally obtained games; no ROMs or BIOS files are included.
There is an explicit AI disclosure too: kyannon says almost all of GBA DS’s code and documentation are AI-written, while the underlying mGBA emulator is human-written. The developer says every release is tested on real RG DS Plus hardware. Game graphics come from your ROM, not generated artwork. After Pokémon Fulldex squeezed two-screen games into one display, this takes the opposite approach: finding a useful job for the screen a GBA never had.
Source: GBA DS on GitHub
