Coffee GB vs GBCC

Coffee GB is a desktop emulator for the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color, with support for Super Game Boy features. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, and accepts .gb, .gbc, and .rom files, including games inside ZIP and 7z archives. ROM files are not included. For saving and reviewing play, it offers ten slots, named save states with previews, autosave and resume, screenshots, input recordings, and rewind. Rollback netplay supports link-cable games and synchronized infrared communication. Keyboard and controller input are supported, with separate controls for up to four players in compatible Super Game Boy games. Cartridge support includes real-time clocks, rumble, tilt, Game Boy Camera, and Game Boy Printer. Cheats include Game Genie and GameShark, with a searchable libretro database. The project reports 5,858 automated verdicts passing across 17 test suite families. Coffee GB is free and distributed under the MIT License. Netplay uses a direct, unencrypted TCP connection; the project advises using trusted people and networks. On macOS, controllers require compatible system SDL2, though keyboard input and emulation work without it.

GBCC is a free Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulator written in C, with an emphasis on accurate emulation. It runs on Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows, with SDL and GTK graphical interfaces. Visual options include Dot-Matrix, Colour-Correct, and Subpixel shaders, DMG palettes, and frame blending; Colour-Correct and Subpixel are intended to reproduce Game Boy Color output accurately. It supports gamepads, adjustable turbo, screenshots, a VRAM tile display, cartridge saves with real-time clock data, and save states with automatic saving and resuming. Link emulation connects GBCC to another instance of itself. The Game Boy Printer sends output only to the terminal, and Game Boy Camera support is limited to Linux and Android. Game Boy Pocket and Super Game Boy are not supported. Installation options vary by platform, and the project describes development as ongoing but slow. Save states are binary dumps and may not work across different architectures or compilers.