mgba core for 3ds

[ghost]

mgba runs great on the n3ds and its available for the system. however it is not in retroarch and I think it would greatly improve the 3ds port if it was added

it is worth noting that in the 3ds recipe mgba is included however no make file for 3ds exist in the mgba fork used by retroarch

it is also worth noting that files exist (for 3ds) in the libretro mgba repository located in src/platform

[ghost]

idk if this is allowed but..
@twinaphex

you were pinged for the ps vita mgba and I was wondering if you could check why mgba dosent show in the 3ds build even though files exist for it

sorry if i bugged you

[flowlee]

I would also very much like to see this core return to the 3ds build since mGBA seems to be the best available emulator for GBA on the 3DS.

[UltraSyko]

Retroarch 1.9.7 Stable. Not much has changed two years later. It's still fuzzy and slower. It's a real shame. Because Retroarch's menu is a LOT LOT better. But the official mgba 3ds app plays better.

[inactive123]

Any reason why you won't consider gpSP? It's much, much faster, is far lighter on CPU resources, therefore conserves more battery power, and is probably the only GBA emu that is going to run at fullspeed on an o3DS. Even on a New 3DS I'd say it would be worthwhile considering gpSP since mGBA probably uses up far more battery power/resources.

[UltraSyko]

I actually never knew gpSP was that good. I tried it 2 years ago and it did nothing but crash so I stuck with the official mGBA. But there are reasons why I want this core to improve (and I guess gpSP as well). I do think it has the potential to be the best way to experience gameboy games on the 3DS. First off, having a Retroarch core to handles GB, GBC and GBA all in one is nice. The ability to hotswap cores with a unified menu and an online updater is amazing! Both libretro mGBA and gpSP win there.

Retroarch advantages
How the official mGBA menu looks is...to put it kindly, not the best. File list forced bottom screen, with a bigger font size meaning more scrolling. It's absolute alphabetical order, not even shoving folders up top like Retroarch's rgui theme. Can't choose a directory for saved screenshots and saves on official mGBA makes it more cluttered on my microSD unlike Retroarch's ability to choose a destination to help order and separate them. This alone is why I want to jump ship.

It's a lot more comfortable for selecting Gameboy Palettes thanks to having it's own submenu

libretro mGBA vs gpSP
Overall gpSP wins for being more optimized and I'm glad you informed me on that, but I do like mGBA's QoL features.

Both having a Color Correction option is cool and not even Official mGBA has that. libretro mGBA has more Interframe Blending options and Game Boy Palettes. Whichever core improves is fine by me. Not a debate between these two, but just general wishful thinking that Retroarch can one day be just as good as Official mGBA or even better.

[inactive123]

We'll have to check out what could explain any potential performance difference then. Perhaps the audio implementation is different and for 3DS we could perhaps resort to pushing fewer samples in batch, I recall something like that being a performance issue on the weaker consoles? We would have to check that in doing so we don't inconvenience the PC platforms and other systems where mGBA works effortlessly at fullspeed.

[endrift]

It could be all the things I warned would cause performance issues (e.g. all of the video post-processing features that were added), but I haven't verified that yet. I do kind of question the performance testing methodology considering that code that should have been identically performant was deemed too slow and replaced with equivalent, but harder to read less idiomatic code...

[inactive123]

I'll ask if we can get some performance measurements using performance counters.

[mhc19881010]

most gba games can use gasp, but some must mgba. pls fix libretro mgba, make it as fast as the single version. thank you!