Game Bub projects and builds

Why it belongs on the bench

Game Bub is a horizontal FPGA handheld that plays physical Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges, or homebrew ROM files from a FAT32 microSD card. Its AMD Xilinx XC7A100T handles emulation and direct cartridge I/O while an ESP32-S3 manages the interface, storage and FPGA configuration. The assembled unit adds a 4-inch 720×480 IPS display, stereo speakers, link port, rumble, motion sensors, USB-C charging and a PMOD header. Current firmware and FPGA sources are public, while the repository’s detailed self-build files cover the older vertical revision 2 and require PCB manufacture, assembly and 3D printing. Current firmware supports the GB family; loading arbitrary custom FPGA cores remains a future feature. The v1.0.1 firmware asset is explicitly named for the horizontal production revision 4, while archived v0.1 bitstreams identify revision 2. Crowd Supply listed the assembled handheld in stock at US$269 on 2026-09-06, before shipping and without the optional dock.

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