FAQ

  1. Where can I download games?
  2. How do I add games?
  3. How do I add artwork?
  4. How do I change the console color?
  5. Can I save games with Game Play Color?
  6. Why aren’t my games showing up?
  7. Why does my game restart every time I switch apps?
  8. How do I ask for and track new features?

Where can I download games?

While we cannot officially recommend any single site for downloading Game Boy and Game Boy Color ROMs, we suggest using Google to search for ROMs by title.

Please remember that downloading copied ROMs is illegal: only use images for ROMs you own.

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How do I add games?

You can add games to Game Play Color by one of two mechanisms:

  1. Using a Mac or PC

    1. Download or create an image of the ROM you wish to play.

    2. If the ROM is compressed (usually indicated by a .zip extension) double-click it to extract it. This should leave you with a .gb or .gbc file.

    3. Sign in to Google Drive on your Mac or PC.

    4. Drag-and-drop your downloaded ROM (Shantae.gbc in our example) into Google Drive.

    5. Google Drive should show a progress bar during the upload and a message when it has completed (e.g. Shantae.gbc has been uploaded to Games in our example).

    6. Launch Game Play Color on your iOS device by tapping the Game Play icon on your home screen. Sign in to Google Drive if prompted.

    7. Show the game library by tapping on the emulator screen. Your newly uploaded game should be visible in the library.

    8. Tap the game once to start downloading. A spinner will appear to indicate that the download is in progress.

    9. When the download is complete, the game will change colour and the spinner will disappear.

    10. Tap the game to again to start playing.

  2. Using your iPhone, iPod or iPad

    The great guys over at OPERATIONiDROID and iEmulators have produced a video explaining one of the many techniques available for getting ROMs into Game Play Color using just your iOS device:

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How do I add artwork?

  1. Add some ROMs to Game Play Color as described above.

  2. Download a JPEG (.jpg) of the cover art for your ROM you wish to add artwork to.

  3. Rename the file to match the name of the ROM.

    In our example, our ROM file is entitield Shantae.gbc, so we rename the artwork to Shantae.jpg.

  4. Sign in to Google Drive.

  5. Drag-and-drop the artwork file into Google Drive.

  6. Google Drive should show a progress bar during the upload and a message when it has completed

    (e.g., Shantae.jpg has been uploaded to Games in our example).

  7. Launch Game Play Color on your iOS device and show the game library by tapping on the emulator screen. After a few moments, your ROM should display the game artwork.

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How do I change the console color?

Like the original Game Boy Color, Game Play Color is available in a range of colors. You can change these from the Settings dialog.

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Can I save games with Game Play Color?

Yes. Game Play Color supports saving games as implemented in the original ROMs. Simply save each game as you would on an original Game Boy or Game Boy Color.

For example, to save your game in Pokémon, tap Select during game-play, select SAVE from the menu, then choose YES to save.

Note: Saved games are currently stored on the device and are not backed up to Google Drive. Removing Game Play Color from your home screen will delete your saved games. We’re exploring saving game state on Google Drive in future updates.

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Why aren’t my games showing up?

Game Play Color should automatically update to show any .gbc or .gb files you add to Google Drive.

If your games are not appearing, check that you haven’t mistakenly added Game Boy Advance (.gba) ROMs, as these are currently unsupported.

If you have zipped Game Boy or Game Boy Color ROMs (.zip), you will need to unzip these before they will appear.

Check out our guide on adding games for more help.

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Why does my game restart every time I switch apps?

Unfortunately, due to the limitations of iOS, it’s not possible to know when web applications (like Game Play Color) are about to be backgrounded. This means we are unable to automatically take a snapshot when you switch apps (e.g., to reply to a text message, take a phone call, etc).

Game Boy Color games which support saving will correctly remember your last save, but Game Boy games will be restarted.

We hope to add support for manual restore points in future versions of Game Play Color which should help mitigate this issue.

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How do I ask for and track new features?

Feature requests are tracked using GitHub Issues.

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