Water
Play GBA games on PC
Water is a game launcher for Windows that plays Game Boy Advance, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. The first time you install one, it downloads the RetroArch emulator, checks it and sets it up. Then Play starts the game fullscreen, with your controller ready.
The GBA emulator, set up for you
Water plays Game Boy Advance, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games with mGBA for the Game Boy Advance and Gambatte for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, free and open-source, in RetroArch, each made by its own team; Water isn’t affiliated with any of them. Water downloads its official release, checks it before using it, and sets what each game needs before it starts:
- Fullscreen, straight into the game, with no setup wizard and no settings to open.
- A sharp picture that fills your screen’s height, the colours corrected for the GBA’s and GBC’s screens.
- Saves for each profile, so nobody plays over someone else’s game.
- Your controller mapped: DualShock 4, DualSense or Xbox, with no driver to install.
What your PC needs
Game Boy Advance, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games play on any PC Water runs on: Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
Settings › PC Specs in Water compares your PC with each console.
By hand, or with Water
Playing a GBA game on a PC by hand is an evening of setup:
- Download the emulator and work through its settings: graphics, saves, controller.
- Find a copy of the game you can trust, and unpack it.
- Point the emulator at it, and map your controller button by button.
With Water, you press Install, then Play.
2,342 Game Boy, Color and Advance games
Water lists 2,342 Game Boy Advance, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, every one an English release with its cover, screenshots and details, shared by people on the BitTorrent network.
The other consoles Water sets up: PS2 emulator, PS3 emulator, GameCube and Wii emulator, PSP emulator, PS1 emulator, DS emulator, N64 emulator, SNES and NES emulator, Xbox emulator, and PS Vita emulator.
Try it with a GBA game
Your first install is free: Water installs any one game, PC or console, and it stays installed. Press Install: the emulator, the game and your controller are set up by the time you press Play.
