BlockBoy
by tomalbrc
BlockBoy lets players load Game Boy and Game Boy Color ROMs as a playable emulator inside Minecraft, controlled with the keyboard.
What it does
Players open the emulator with a block-based screen in the world and steer it with WASD as the D-pad, sneak as the B button and left click for Start. Right click selects, and leaving the current game returns the player to the world. The screen can be scaled from 1 to 5, and save files are written next to the ROMs in the roms folder, so progress persists between sessions.
The mod runs on the server only, which means players join without installing anything, while the server owner supplies the ROM files. Access is governed by permission nodes, and the blockboy.command node defaults to vanilla permission level 1. Simple Voice Chat is optional: when it is present, the emulator's audio can be heard through voice chat.
Builds cover Minecraft 1.20.1 – 1.21.5 on Fabric, with the latest file 0.9.0+1.21.5 for 1.21.5 published on 2025-04-24. The code is open source under the MIT License, and the source and issue tracker are public. Snapshot builds are also published.
Key features
Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulation
Game Boy and Game Boy Color ROMs run inside the game on a screen that players can scale from 1 to 5.
Keyboard controls
WASD maps to the D-pad, sneak to B, left click to Start and right click to Select.
Saves kept with the ROMs
Save files are stored in the roms folder, so a game can be continued after leaving it.
Permission-based access
Usage is controlled through the blockboy.command permission node, which defaults to vanilla permission level 1.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
1.21.x6 of 6 versions with builds
1.20.x3 of 3 versions with builds
This mod also publishes snapshot builds. Snapshots are not shown in the matrix.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Optional 1
Use cases
Server minigame hubs
A server can offer retro games as a minigame, with players joining from vanilla clients.
Single-player play
The emulator also works on a single-player world with the mod installed on the server side.
Who it’s for: Server owners who want Game Boy games available to players, and players who already run a server that hosts BlockBoy. Players need no client install.
Questions
Does a player need BlockBoy installed to play?
Are the game files included with BlockBoy?
Does Simple Voice Chat need to be present?
In the catalog
BlockBoy is one of 2,135 Minigame mods on ModsFinder, and one of 1,454 Minigame mods for Fabric. 15,307 mods support Minecraft 1.21.5.
More from tomalbrc
Similar mods
What the author says
Gameboy (Color) emulator for fabric servers. Works serverside as well as in single player. Optionally supports the simple voice chat mod for audio.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/blockboy
- Owner
- tomalbrc
- Published
- 2024-04-15
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-04-24
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15