GB Enhanced+ vs oxGBC

GB Enhanced+ is a free, open-source emulator for DMG, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and Pokémon Mini systems, available on Windows, Linux and macOS. Nintendo DS emulation is described as experimental. The project focuses on emulating peripherals and less common hardware, with support listed for the Wave Scanner, Wantame Card Scanner, Vaus Controller and WorkBoy. It also supports link-cable emulation, real-time clock features, save states and controller input. Configuration options include joystick haptics, accelerometer input for motion controls and netplay settings for linking emulator instances. The emulator can automatically apply an IPS or UPS patch file when it shares a name with a ROM. PDF and ODT manuals cover operation, netplay, rumble support and motion controls. Building it requires SDL 2.0, OpenGL 3.3 or greater, a C++ compiler and CMake; Windows also requires GLEW. Qt for the GUI and SDL2_net for netplay are optional. It is licensed under GPLv2. Save states from version 1.9 and earlier are incompatible with version 1.10.

oxGBC is a free Rust emulator for Game Boy and Game Boy Color. One portable emulation core supports Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and browsers through WebAssembly. The project aims for high accuracy using sub-instruction CPU timing and dot-level PPU emulation, and is validated in CI against community test suites including Blargg, Mooneye, SameSuite, DMG-acid2, CGB-acid2, CGB-acid-hell, and Magen.

Gameplay options include multiple save-state slots, optional automatic save and restore, configurable rewind, and adjustable speed with Slow and Turbo modes. Keyboard and gamepad controls are rebindable, including button combinations. Video options include visual filters, LCD frame blending, built-in or user-defined palettes, and custom GLSL shaders through an optional OpenGL backend. The desktop interface has a file browser and scans ROM directories. Listed cartridge support includes MBC0, MBC1, MBC1M, MBC2, MBC3, and MBC5, including battery-backed MBC3 real-time clock and SRAM. The project is licensed under GNU GPL version 3.0. On macOS, Gatekeeper blocks the first launch until the app is opened manually through security settings or its quarantine is cleared.