CrankBoy Game Boy emulator

What you’re building

CrankBoy is an open-source, C-based Game Boy emulator tailored for Panic’s Playdate. It provides full-speed original Game Boy emulation on Rev A and Rev B devices, 44.1 kHz audio, automatic cartridge saves, multiple save-state slots, cover art, configurable crank controls, and optional soft-patching with BPS, IPS, or UPS files. A release can be sideloaded through a Playdate account or copied in Data Disk mode, after which legally obtained .gb, .gbc, or compressed .gbz files appear in its library. The expected outcome is a Playdate-native emulator interface with game saves and device-specific controls. Important constraints remain: the project says it is not completely stable, some games fail, link-cable peripherals are unsupported, display updates default to 30 Hz even while emulation runs at full speed, and broader Game Boy Color and audio improvements may exist only in unstable nightlies. Back up saves and use only ROMs you lawfully possess.

Key steps

1. Download the latest stable CrankBoy release; choose a nightly only after accepting its explicitly unstable status.
2. Sideload the PDX or ZIP through the Playdate account page, or enter Data Disk mode and copy the PDX into the Games folder.
3. Enter Data Disk mode and place legally obtained .gb, .gbc, or .gbz files under /Shared/Emulation/gb/games/; put matching cover art under /Shared/Emulation/gb/covers/ if desired.
4. Launch CrankBoy, verify the library, configure performance, visual, and crank preferences, and test cartridge and save-state behavior with backups enabled.
5. For a ROM hack, create the matching patches subdirectory, add supported patch files, and enable and order them in CrankBoy’s Patch settings, noting that conflicting patches produce no warning.