VisualBoyAdvance is a Gameboy Advance emulator. This tutorial will show you how to customise settings to make games look and play more smoothly.
The settings you choose to use will be dependant on your computer, how you want things to look and possibly even the game you want to play. So experiment!
First of all, you should configure the controls. The default controls are fine, but just make sure you know what they are! If you have a game controller you can use that instead. To change a control, click in the text field containing the current control, and then press a key/button.
To make movement and animation in games look smoother, the Frame skip option can be changed. To do this, click on Options > Frame skip > 0.
The size of the screen can be changed by selecting an option from Options > Video. You can choose a multiplier (for example x4 makes the screen 4 times the default size) or you can choose a fullscreen mode.
You may prefer to turn off the speed percentage, especially if you are using a fullscreen mode. To do this, click Options > Emulator > Show speed > None.
Now for the really cool bit. Filters! Filters can smooth out the screen and make it look less pixelated. The filters can be found in Options > Filter. I'd recommend trying hq2x. Another good one for some games is AdvanceMAME Scale2x. Try them out! Thier are also "interframe blending" options which can be selected in Options > Filter > Interframe Blending. Motion Blue is pretty crazy!
Another options you might want to try is Vsync, which can be enabled by clicking Options > Video > Vsync. This option stops the vertical "tearing" which can occur, however I have noticed it can have a negative impact on the performance of games. I'd recommend trying it, but I'd also recommend testing without it to compare the difference.
Some games require the Flash 128K save type. If you come across a game which doesn't seem to work, this might be cause. To change to this, click Options > Emulator > Save Type > Flash 128K.
There you have it! Things should be nice and smooth now. If you need a game to play, try the freeware GBA port of Another World, which can be found here. If I've missed something, or you know of any other cool freeware ROMs, feel free to send an email to grandfiles@gmail.com.