Original Game Boy
In one sentence
The original Game Boy is the 1989 handheld, the DMG. Retroable builds ROMs for that machine, and a separate Color ROM when you pick Game Boy Color. Advance, NES, SNES, Game Gear, and Mega Drive are in development.
The detail
The Color model, from 1998, plays many original ROMs and adds color of its own. A Color ROM is a different build, and Retroable makes that build when Game Boy Color is the console you pick. The Advance, from 2001, is a different CPU and a different screen, so an original ROM does not become an Advance game by renaming the file.
NES, SNES, Game Gear, and Mega Drive are different cartridges and different code. Those consoles, and the Advance, are in development and not all of them can be used yet. What is not available yet is the list.
When you read 160 by 144, four shades, and the LR35902, you are reading the original machine. Game Boy Color keeps the screen size and adds palettes. Later machines reuse the name and not the limits.
Worth keeping
- Retroable targets the 1989 Game Boy, the DMG, and also builds Game Boy Color
- Advance, NES, SNES, Game Gear, and Mega Drive are in development
- An original ROM can run on a Color handheld, but a Color ROM is a different file
Questions
Will my ROM run on a Game Boy Color?
Original ROMs usually do, in the original shades. A Color ROM, with palettes, is what you get when you pick Game Boy Color.
Can I ask for a GBA game?
Game Boy Advance is in development. A prompt does not produce an Advance ROM yet.
What does DMG mean?
Dot Matrix Game, the model name of the original Game Boy.
Related
Game Boy is a trademark of Nintendo. Retroable is independent and is not affiliated with Nintendo.