How to Connect a GBA to Dolphin

By Dennis Blake

Updated September 22, 2017

Play Gamecube and GBA games on Dolphin and VBA-M.
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Nintendo's hand-held Game Boy Advance is capable of connecting via a special link cable to the Gamecube console. Certain games such as "Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles" and "The Legend of Zelda: The Four Swords Adventures" are designed to incorporate one or more Game Boy Advances as optional controllers for multiple players. This functionality carries over to the Gamecube emulator Dolphin and GBA emulator Visual Boy Advance. Using a version of VBA designed specifically for this purpose, you can emulate Gamecube and GBA connectivity on your computer.

Select "Gamecube" page from the Dolphin configuration page. Select "GBA" on the drop-down menu next to "Port 1." You enable additional ports in this fashion if you intend to connect more than one instance of VBA-M.

Open your Gamecube game in Dolphin.

Download and install VBA-M from its website on all computers that need to connect to Dolphin. You can run VBA-M on the same computer as Dolphin or another on the same network. You can also connect multiple instances of VBA-M simultaneously to mimic the multiplayer component of Gamecube games that connect with more than one Game Boy Advance.

Download a copy of the Game Boy Advance bios to your VBA-M directory.

Choose the "Emulator" selection on the "Options" menu. Uncheck the option "Pause When Inactive."

Click the "Options" menu, hover over the "Link" option and select "Joybus Options." Check the "Enable Joybus Connection" and enter the IP address of the computer running Dolphin. If you are running VBA-M and Dolphin on the same computer, use the IP address "127.0.0.1." Repeat this step for every instance of VBA-M that you want to connect.

Choose "Open GBA" from the "File" menu. Select the GBA bios you downloaded previously. The game will start and make a connection with Dolphin.

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