Do you love some of the older video games that are hard to find these days? Still wanting to play Legend of Zelda: Occarina of Time or the original Mario Kart 64? Hard to be able to do without the right setup these days. Too many of the original equipment has long since died and the software is hard to find as well. However, that’s where the opportunity to use an emulator can make the difference between never playing those old time favorites that you once knew so well and having fun going retro with your gaming this week!
What’s An Emulator?
Basically an emulator is hardware or software that allows a computer system from today (the host) to act like another computer system (the guest). This enables today’s computers to run effectively some of the older versions of games on the newer model hardware. And because of this, older games are able to survive and be revived and enjoyed today.
How to Download Games for Game Boy Advance
One setup that is very popular with using an emulator are the Game Boy Advance games. Here’s a list of just a few of the most popular titles that you can now access once again:
- Wario Ware Twisted (The #1 all time favorite)
- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
- Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past with Four Swords
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
- Final Fantasy V1 Advance
- Ultimate Card Games
- Super Mario Bros. – various games
- Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire
- Golden Sun
- Super Monkey Ball Jr.
Steps to Download Games
This time we are going to tell you how to download games for Game Boy Advance (GBA) console that can be subsequently played on your emulator.
Downloading the Emulator
Prior to navigating to EmuParadise, make sure you choose one of the more reliable emulators to play retro games on. If you haven’t done this yet, you may want to familiarize yourself with the most popular programs used for emulating the GBA handheld. A couple of top choices that you might want to consider would be using either RetroArch or MAME that support almost all of the most popular Game Boy Advance games.
Once you have decided which emulator to use and to download, go to the website that offers it and double-click on the emulator file to start the download. Once the process is complete, you will be able to find the new file in the default Downloads folder. Use any unarchiver at your disposal to decompress the acquired file. After that, extract the files to the new folder you should create for storing the emulator. Now you have the emulator successfully installed on your PC. Congrats, the first step is now complete!
Downloading GBA Games Using EmuParadise or Romsmania
When it comes to finding the actual games, there are several sites that offer GBA games also known as ROMs for free. We suggest using EmuParadise or Romsmania, the sources that offer safe products that will never hurt your computer. And let’s be clear, you DO want to make sure that you get your games from safe sites so that you protect your computer.
Next up, after you’ve chosen the site, it’s time to start looking for some of the top games to add to your collection . Once on the site, select the “ROMs, iSOs, and Games” option that should be somewhere at the top of the main screen.
You will see a long list of suggested ROMs for various games. Let us remind you that we are looking for GBA game ROMs. So scrolling down the list until we find Nintendo Game Boy Advance ROMs is our goal. Click the link to be able to start looking for a specific GBA game.
- For instance, if you are eager to play Super Mario Advance 4, you should start searching for the ROMs for this particular game on the website. Just type “Mario Advance 4” into the search bar and explore the selection currently available. Even typing in the first letter of a game that you’ve interested in will pull up a list of related games to check out. You are likely to discover some games that you’ve forgotten about my doing that which can be fun!
Once you find the necessary ROM file, click on it to get the link to the file.
- Make sure to download the ROM file that has the name of your country listed next to them.
- Moreover, you may be required to enter the verification code prior to downloading the selected files. This procedure is necessary for the system to make sure you are not a bot. Once you see the code that should appear at the top of the page, type it into the corresponding “Your Answer” field. After that, you should press the “Verify and Download” button.
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Then, you will be required to scroll down and follow the download link. The link’s name should resemble the name of the game you’re intending to download (e.g. SuperMarioAdvanceROM). By clicking the link you will launch the download and eventually get the file onto your computer. This will depend on your internet connectivity. Please, note that some ROM files should be decompressed prior to being run on the emulator.
Once you’ve successfully added it to your computer, you can fire up your emulator, select the downloaded game and start playing it.
Now that you’ve figured out how to get all these retro games to play once again, you’ve got hours and hours of opportunity to relive years and games gone by. Enjoy your new game!