GB Studio
A downloadable tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux
GB Studio is a quick and easy to use drag and drop retro game creator for your favourite handheld video game system.
Please support on Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/gbstudiodev šā¤ļø
[Update] GB Studio 4.3.2 now available!
Added a few more bug fixes in this release. There was an issue where it wasn't possible to delete script events after deleting a multi selection, and deleting patterns in the music editor while previewing the song was causing the app to freeze. These and a few other issues are now fixed in 4.3.2.
There's also a new feature, Web Templates! This lets you replace the default HTML, CSS and JavaScript wrapper used when exporting your projects so you can do things like adding Playtiles controller support. You can even turn your web templates into plugins to share with the community! You can find Web Templates in the Settings section, under Web Export Settings.
This will probably be the last release that supports Windows 7/8/8.1 though!
The changelog is available at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/blob/develop/CHANGELOG.md#432---2026-06-22
If you spot any problems, please make sure to report an issue at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/issues
[Update] GB Studio 4.3.1 now available!
This one is a small bug fix release to fix a few early issues found in 4.3.0. Deleting music files no longer causes the application to crash (sorry!) and there's no longer an error message shown in the Javascript console of web builds.
The changelog is available at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/blob/develop/CHANGELOG.md#431---2026-06-11
If you spot any problems, please make sure to report an issue at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/issues
[Update] GB Studio 4.3.0 now available!
This version includes:
- The new music editor that was recently released at music.gbstudio.dev including MIDI input
- The ability to place notes in the world view
- Plugin authors now have more ways to prevent plugin clashes, with support for patch files and alternate files when other plugins are detected
- Data Table Lookup event which allows reading static table data like monster stats using an index variable. You can even import/export to .CSV files
- Super GB games can now use the "Set Super GB Color Area" event to show up to four color palettes on screen at once
- a Ukrainian localisation
- Lots of bug fixes in the game engine
And much more!
A massive thank you to everyone who contributed code, reported bugs, shared feedback, and supported GB Studio on Patreon!
Full changelog is available at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/blob/develop/CHANGELOG.md#430---2026-06...
If you spot any problems, please make sure to report an issue at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/issues
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GB Studio is a visual game builder with no programming knowledge required allowing you to make real Game Boy ROMs in minutes. You can run the games on any emulator or you can run them on your Game Boy if you've got a flash cart!
Full documentation is available at https://www.gbstudio.dev/.
It's open source too!
Can't wait to see what you make!
- Chris
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- GB Studio 4.3.2 now available!78 days ago
- GB Studio 4.3.1 now available!89 days ago
- GB Studio 4.3.0 now available!92 days ago
- GBS MusicApr 21, 2026
- GB Studio 4.2.2 now available!Feb 24, 2026
- GB Studio 4.2.0 now available!Feb 13, 2026
- GB Studio 4.2.0 Beta 3Feb 03, 2026
- GB Studio 4.2.0 Beta 2Jan 19, 2026
Comments
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Heyo Chris Maltby! I have a usage question about this sweet tool of yours as a fellow dev.
I noticed this tool had the RPG Maker tag and that youāve said its a drag and drop type of tool. Does this tool have the ability to convert an RPG Maker MZ or an HTML5 game into a GameBoy ROM or am I misunderstanding how it works? š¤
If it does support that then it would definitely be a tool Iād use for converting my own HTML5 web builds of my own games into GBA/GBC/GB ROM files as an additional supported platform for my own studioās games. That would be a pretty interesting platform to target tbh! š
EDIT:
I did some investigating into this topic of converting an HTML5 or Web-based app/game into a GBC/GBA ROM and it turns out it isnāt possible due to architectural and code interpreter incompatibilities related to the GameBoy engine not supporting WebView, DOM or even JS code.
Given this lack of support for HTML5 Web infrastructure Iāll be focusing on other options for supporting additional platforms on top of the Windows, Android and Linux/SteamDeck platforms.
Question?: which should I download I'm a bit confused about the names is it by pixels like 32 bits of pixel or is it for Windows 64 style I'm confused help?
i have made the most
gameplay heavygame ever made: QUARE, using your software, thank you chris :DCan you make mobile games with this? or is just exclusive for Game Boy emulators?
the logo looks ai
How rude! I made every app icon thatās been used for GB Studio in the 7 years it has existed myself by hand, originally using Sketch, then Figma and the latest icon was a combination of Apple Icon Composer and Figma. Have not used AI for artwork and would not ever.
Good job on not using ai to generate images :)
this is rude! this is a dev made engine and all of it in here are handmade, with passion and love, if youre posting just for the heck of it DONT!
Sorry in advance if this ends up sounding like a mini rant but I canāt stand comments like what you just made Lewiscraftā¦
Is it really so bad if a dev uses AI in a tasteful way?
Your comment sounds like itās coming from a heavily biased POV on the usage of AIā¦
A bit of adviceā¦ avoid making that type of biased comment to anyone who is in the ādigital creation/creatorā industries centered around software developmentā¦ It wonāt be taken kindly by many of us software developers. I technically canāt speak for other devs, but I can say that if I saw that kinda heavily biased comment about my own digital creations Iād deffo throw you out of my own studioās community myself with an instant perma-ban since itās irritating to deal with people who have such a narrow POV on how modern tools like AI should be usedā¦ š
This wasnt made with any generative ai, was it? That isnt included in this? I didnt think so but i wanted to make sure.
Itās open source which means anyone can contribute to it, but itās up to the contributor to mention the use of AI in their contribution. GB Studio 1.0 was released 7 years ago so it probably has close to none AI-generated/guided code in it, canāt say none because of what I explained above, but same thing can be said about any open source project at this point (unless they have a very strict disclosing policy but I doubt thatād fix the issue)
Definitely making my second project with this! I could even run it on my handheld emulator!
Question. Is there a way to make a game boot into different routines depending on which Game Boy it's using? I wanted to make a program where it gives you a different incompatibility error depending on what system is recognized.
So I was messing around with the dash in the new adventure mode, but I dashed into a change scene trigger, and sometimes some enemies would be hidden but still active. I also had the dash to ignore triggers too. Just something you might wanna fix.
HOW HARD WOULD IT BE TO BE ABLE TO SORT ASSETS BY DATE/NAME/SIZE IN THE WORKSPACES FOR IMAGES AND MUSIC
FOLDERS WAS SUPER HELPFUL
Hi Samuel,
Thanks for this image, it helps narrow down a few things it could be but it's not enough to say for certain
If you can make a brand new project and it works that would lead me to think it's likely a file permission issue with your project. If the older version of GB Studio works on this project but your new one doesn't then there's something very odd going on.
If possible though can you please move this discussion to a post on https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/issues
Thanks,
Chris
hey man you should download "sharex", you can take gif screenshots without any watermarks for free.
hey do you have to know code
just asking
i wanna make a lil mini game and put it on itch io idk how to code though
nvm
lol
Meu Deus,o Windows Defender bloqueou o gb-studio.exe
Thank you so much for this amazing program. I would never have gotten into GB homebrew without your hard work!
I've been getting this error for a project for about a week now.
Any help/advice would be welcomed.
I love this project but I really have a need for an auto wrapper for dialogs.
It would be nice if there were some sort of click-and-drag feature to use in point-and-click games.
You forgot to get miraget to 4.3.2 because saving projects ain't working
can you add a super gameboy soundtrack and get that project folder mirigate to 4.3.2 please?
can you make a online version PREETY PLEASE
Thank you for all the hard work and the incredible amount of updates over the last years.
GB Studio has changed the Game Boy scene a lot.
<3
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???
this didn't happen with previous versions
I saw this happen on another project with 4.3.0 yesterday, there might be another message in the log saying that a script doesnāt fit into a memory bank. The error isnāt very good but itās saying that one of your scripts is too long and needs to be reduced in size or split into smaller parts. (Dialogue events now take up slightly more memory to fix a bug that was found)
Check out the second half of this message on GitHub where I see the same issue and gave a fix https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/issues/2098#issuecomment-4693926923
Iām going to work on improving that error message for the next version.
If you want to look at your project directly you can submit an issue at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/issues to share your project files.
You should also be able to still open the project in 4.2 if you want to keep using the older version
I have this project 4.2.0 that it's the same but It will not saved
Hi Samuel, can you submit a bug report at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/issues with more information about what you're doing, and any error messages you're seeing. My guess is you have a project you made with 4.2.0 that you're trying to open in 4.3.0 but now can't save it?
Things that it would be good to know:
- What operating system are you using? Windows? Mac? Linux?
- Which version of GB Studio are you using? 4.3.0?
- Are there any error messages, what do they say?
- Is there anything specific about where your project files are stored? e.g. they're on an iCloud drive? On a USB stick? Or just on your hard drive as normal.
- Can you provide screenshots?
- Can you provide project files so I can reproduce the issue myself?
If you can provide as much information as possible at https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/issues (Click "New Issue" on that page) I'll do what I can to help.
Thanks,
Chris
I
There was an Error while saving because it wouldn't save project
My GB Studio fangame went viral after some YouTube channel specializing in hacks and homebrews posted a playthrough! That is not something I was ready for.
Awesome, well done Levi! Is that your Yoshi game? I've just been playing it now, really cool!
Cool to experiment with! i am currently making a test/tech demo with it, which when i get the first stage done, i will try to redo the backgrounds and give the game a name, and then using all the code i will expand it and add in more stages! thanks for this amazing software!
Hi Chris - been a MASSIVE fan of GB Studio since day one, such an amazing (and huge) project! I've been developing a cool design partner app for GB Studio and would love it if you could maybe give some feedback. It's early stages, but pretty feature rich, and exports GB Studio projects - I call it GB Edit - gbedit.dev - thanks in advance!
That's amazing! I love the GB Edit Tool. It's so straightforward. I had fun doodling a house and some trees in it just now and watching the feedback in the live preview.
What about base tempo into GB Studio like the one that uses on gb music and what about the bbr image that comes with
And also fix the bug because I saw the left edge when the player touches the edge it will not be able to see OK?
And there's something wrong with the actors because it will not work correctly.
Can you update to 4.2.3?
Are there terms of use somewhere I can't seem to find or is it just "use it!!! have fun!!!" ?
The software license is here :-) https://github.com/chrismaltby/gb-studio/blob/main/LICENSE but, yes, pretty much "use it!!! have fun!!!" + "you own everything you make"
Thank you lol forgot to check github, I was just checking out the website. You're the best
What about base tempo into GB Studio like the one that uses on gb music and what about the bbr image that comes with
Can you update to 4.2.3?
Also fix the bugs to it's GB Studio because there is something wrong with the actor's movements so, can you fix it for me?
Just wanted to drop by and say, love ya Chris!
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good
how can i make it portable for usb drivers
Thereās is a portable version and a version to install
one other issue i'm having is actors not animating if they don't move diagonally first. this didn't happen in 4.1
is there a fix for this too?
unsure if it's also a bug but trying to use the new left-right-only animation state doesn't flip the actor when moving a different direction, at least in adventure mode. could that be added as a fix in a new version? would halve the amount of animation data i need for this character. if so, i guess the expected outcome would be if it moves any amount left or right it will animate in that direction, but if it only moves up or down it will maintain the direction it was already facing? would be a huge deal for me if that's how it worked
So do I understand that you can make GBA games with GB Studio also? Or are you able to just port your GB and GBC games to GBA?
The Game Boy Advance is able to play GB and GBC games. That's all.
Although I did put an Easter egg in my game that changes one sprite depending on whether you're using a Game Boy Color or a Game Boy Advance.
Hi, could you maybe try clearing your build cache or setting a different temporary directory as shown in these screenshots? I've had a few similar reports recently and I'm wondering if there's something causing old cached versions of files to be used when they shouldn't.
Hopefully this works for you, I'm investigating what's going on and will have a fix released as soon as I can figure it out :-)
Appreciate the Linux ARM64 builds! Thank you! I could finally ditch MacOS totally on my M1 Macbook to tinker with one of my favorite pastimes: GB Studio!
Which Linux distro are you using on M1, is that Asahi? Considering trying something like that out on my M1 Mac Mini when I get my next desktop Mac :-)
Yes. Asahi Fedora with Gnome. Works great.