Wzonka-Lad

Wzonka-Lad was written by Ville Helin in 68020 assembler.{{cite magazine|last=Němec|first=Luboš|date=January 1999|title=GameBoy aneb pidihry na Amize, Wzonka-Lad 0.99.12|url=https://amigareview.amiga.sk/amiga-review-40/gameboy-aneb-pidihry-na-amize|magazine=Amiga Review|language=Czech|publisher=Atlantida Publishing|issue=40|page=19|issn=1211-1465|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529170507/https://amigareview.amiga.sk/amiga-review-40/gameboy-aneb-pidihry-na-amize|archive-date=May 29, 2016|access-date=March 12, 2020|url-status=live}} Development began in 1996 and continued through 1999.{{cite web |title=Wzonka-Lad - Yet Another Gameboy Emulator for Amiga Computers |url=https://www.villehelin.com/wzonka-lad.html |website=www.villehelin.com |access-date=20 May 2022}}

The project was started because existing Game Boy emulators for Amiga, such as Virtual Game Boy (VGB), which was written in C, ran too slowly on Amiga hardware. Helin wrote Wzonka-Lad in assembly language to improve performance.

Wzonka-Lad was originally released as shareware, with registration required to unlock audio support. In August 2003, it was re-licensed as free software under the GNU General Public License, and the source code was made publicly available.{{cite web|url=http://www.hut.fi/~vhelin/news.html|title=Wzonka-Lad News|date=2003-08-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050227021021/http://www.hut.fi/~vhelin/news.html|archive-date=2005-02-27}}{{cite web |url=http://www.amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2003-08-00075-DE.html|title=Wzonka-Lad-Source unter GPL veröffentlicht|publisher=Amiga-News.de|date=August 15, 2003|language=German|accessdate=March 7, 2018}}

Wzonka-Lad is written entirely in assembly language, offering a graphical user interface and a range of features despite its low-level implementation. The emulator requires at least a Motorola 68020 processor and provides several options to vary game speed and colors.{{cite magazine|last=Goodwin|first=Simon|date=July 1997|title=Emulators Part 10: Console Emulation, GameBoy|url=https://archive.org/stream/AmigaFormatIssue099199707FuturePublishingGB300dpi#page/n25/mode/2up|magazine=Amiga Format|publisher=Future Publishing|issue=99|pages=27–28|issn=0957-4867|access-date=March 12, 2020}} It supports graphics and sound cards via CyberGraphX and AHI, and can run on the Amiga Workbench.{{cite magazine|last=Goodwin|first=Simon|date=April 1998|title=Amiga Format Emulation Series - Part 18: EmuLaTests|url=https://simon.mooli.org.uk/AF/18.html|magazine=Amiga Format|publisher=Future Publishing|issue=109|pages=|issn=0957-4867|access-date=20 April 2025}}

Compared to other Amiga Game Boy emulators, early versions of Wzonka-Lad (such as 0.64) were slower but more compatible than AmigaGameBoy, and faster than Unix ports like VGB. Later versions, such as 0.99, achieved playable speeds for most games on systems with a 68030 50 MHz processor or higher. Wzonka-Lad was recognized as the leading Amiga Game Boy emulator by the early 2000s, though VGB still had a slight edge in compatibility.

The emulator offers several executables, including "Full," "Fast," and "Warp" versions. The "Fast" version uses simplified Z80 emulation for better speed, while "Warp" reduces interrupt processing for maximum performance. The "Full" version is the slowest but most compatible.

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• [https://www.villehelin.com/wzonka-lad.html Wzonka-Lad homepage]

{{Game Boy line}}

{{Nintendo emulators}}

{{Portal bar|Video games|Amiga|Free and open-source software|1990s}}

Category:1996 software

Category:Amiga emulation software

Category:Game Boy emulators

Category:Shareware

Category:Assembly language software

Category:Free video game console emulators

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