# aappleby/metroboy

A repository of gate-level simulators and tools for the original Game Boy.

Repository: https://github.com/aappleby/metroboy
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/metroboy
Language: C++
License Family: other
Topics: verilog, gameboy, gameboy-emulator, simulator, emulator, hdl
Last push: 2025-02-23T03:36:26+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 26/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 8, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2691, "days_push": 556, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1170, forks 37 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:51.251155+00:00)

## What it is
A collection of gate-level simulators for the original Game Boy (DMG-01), including GateBoy, which was reverse-engineered from die shots of the original chip, and LogicBoy, a faster C++ translation with bit-identical behavior. It also includes MetroBoy and related tools for hardware-level exploration of the Game Boy.

## Use cases
- simulate the original Game Boy at the gate level
- study how the DMG-01 chip works internally
- run a cycle-accurate Game Boy hardware simulation
- verify Game Boy emulator behavior against hardware-level simulation
- explore reverse-engineered schematics of the Game Boy CPU
- run Game Boy test ROMs against a hardware-accurate model

## When to choose
- you need hardware-accurate, gate-level Game Boy simulation
- you are researching or reverse-engineering the original Game Boy hardware
- you want to validate an emulator against a bit-accurate reference model
- you are studying digital logic design using a real chip as an example

## When to avoid
- you just want to play Game Boy games at full speed
- you need a lightweight or fast emulator for casual use
- you need a general-purpose Verilog simulator or HDL toolchain
- you need support for Game Boy Color or newer hardware

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: simulation, game, developer-tools
- domain: hardware, gaming-tools, reverse-engineering
- platform: cross-platform, cpp
- tags: gameboy, gate-level-simulation, hdl, verilog, dmg-01, die-shots, emulator, game-development

## Member repositories
- aappleby/metroboy (main) score 26

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:51.251155+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:28:35.640964+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/aappleby/metroboy (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:51.251155+00:00, sha 70d023e64f7a)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.