Minicraft GBA: Difference between revisions

Minicraft
Minicraft
General
Author	Vulcalien
Type	Action
Version	2.0
License	GPL-3.0
Last Updated	2026/02/20
Links
	Download
	Website
	Source

← Older edit

Latest revision as of 11:50, 20 February 2026

Minicraft is a GBA demake of Minicraft, a 2D game made by Markus Persson (aka Notch) for the 22nd Ludum Dare.

The aim is to make a version that is as close as possible to the original. A pause menu and save feature were also added to improve the experience.

Installation

Open the gba ROM with your GBA emulator of choice (mGBA is highly recommended if you don't have one).

User guide

Differences due to Hardware limitations

	Original	GBA Demake
World size	128x128	112x112
Entity limit	∞	255
Chest limit	∞	32
Inventory size	∞	96

Game Light

The light system is completely different, both visually and in how it works.

The original Minicraft calculates the light for each pixel: that is, for various reasons, impractical to do on the GBA.

The GBA version uses tiles, because the GBA is very good at handling them. That gives light a blocky look, but it seems acceptable.

Performance Overlay

By holding the L and R buttons down and then pressing Select, the performance overlay is enabled.

Four hexadecimal values are written at the top corners:

FF <--- vcount after 'tick'     entity count ---> FF
FF <--- vcount after 'draw'     sprite count ---> FF

Screenshots

Media

Minicraft: The OTHER Version of Minecraft That Notch Created (Logdotzip)

Changelog

v2.0

This version brings a major overhaul to save files, switching to 64 KB files. Save files from previous versions are incompatible! Most of the changes are technical, such as improving how assets are embedded into the ROM and using my library libsimplegba to handle low-level operations.
About save files: Version 2.0 uses 64 KB Flash ROM to save. That is a comfortable amount of memory for the game. However, if your device only supports 32 KB SRAM saves, download this version instead. I believe 32 KB should be enough, but I cannot guarantee you will never encounter saving issues.

v1.3.0

This version brings improvements to the saving system, a way for the player to respawn and some performance optimization.

v1.2.1

Version 1.2.1 is a source-only update that doesn't change the game ROM. The only difference compared to 1.2 is that the linker script is improved.

v1.2

This update fixes two visual bugs and introduces frameskip. Frameskip should help prevent noticeable lag by reducing the frame rate when the CPU is under too much stress.

v1.1

This update fixes a rendering bug that affected entities near a player holding a lantern.
The bug was present only on real Hardware, not in emulators.

v1.0

First Release.

Credits

Original game Minicraft by Markus Persson.

External links

itch.io - https://vulcalien.itch.io/minicraft-for-gba
GitHub - https://github.com/Vulcalien/minicraft-gba

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{#seo:
-|title= (Action) - GameBrew
-|title_mode=append
-|image=minicraftgba.png
-|image_alt=Minicraft
-}}
 {{Infobox GBA Homebrews
 |title=Minicraft
-|image=minicraftgba.png
+|image=minicraftgba2.png
 |description=Minicraft ported to the GBA.
-|author=
+|author=Vulcalien
-|lastupdated=2022/11/19
+|lastupdated=2026/02/20
 |type=Action
-|version=1.0
+|version=2.0
 |license=GPL-3.0
 |download=https://dlhb.gamebrew.org/gbahomebrews/minicraftgba.7z
-|website=https://gbadev.org/demos.php?showinfo=1562
+|website=https://vulcalien.itch.io/minicraft-for-gba
 |source=https://github.com/Vulcalien/minicraft-gba
 }}
-'''Minicraft''' is a GBA demake of Minicraft, a 2D game made by Markus Persson (aka Notch) for the 22nd Ludum Dare.
+{{#seo:
+|title= (Action) - GameBrew
+|title_mode=append
+|image=minicraftgba2.png
+|image_alt=Minicraft
+}}
+Minicraft is a GBA demake of Minicraft, a 2D game made by Markus Persson (aka Notch) for the 22nd Ludum Dare.
-==Description==
+The aim is to make a version that is as close as possible to the original. A pause menu and save feature were also added to improve the experience.
-My aim is to make a version that is as close as possible to the original. Of course, the GBA has some hardware limitations but, since the game isn't too complex, I could port it without too many problems. When the limitations were impossible to overcome, I had to hack a few things, change others, put limits and so on.
-To improve the experience, I also added a pause menu and a way to save and load the world.
+==Installation==
+Open the gba ROM with your GBA emulator of choice (mGBA is highly recommended if you don't have one).
-== Differences due to Hardware limitations ==
+==User guide==
+===Differences due to Hardware limitations===
 {| class="wikitable"
 !
@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 | Inventory size
 |align="center"| ∞
-|align="center"| 128
+|align="center"| 96
 |}
-=== Game Light ===
+===Game Light===
 The light system is completely different, both visually and in how it works.
-The original Minicraft calculates the light for '''each pixel''': that is, for various reasons, impractical to do on the GBA.
+The original Minicraft calculates the light for each pixel: that is, for various reasons, impractical to do on the GBA.
-So I had to find another way, and the best one seemed to use tiles, because the GBA is very good at handling them. That gives light a 'blocky' look, but it seems acceptable.
+The GBA version uses tiles, because the GBA is very good at handling them. That gives light a blocky look, but it seems acceptable.
-== Running ==
+===Performance Overlay===
-Download or build the ROM (<code>.gba</code> extension). Then open it with your GBA emulator of choice. If you don't have one, I highly recommend mGBA.
+By holding the L and R buttons down and then pressing Select, the performance overlay is enabled.
-If you have any trouble with the save files, try to manually set the save format to <code>128 KB Flash ROM</code>.
-=== Performance Overlay ===
-By holding the <code>L</code> and <code>R</code> buttons down and then pressing <code>Select</code>, the performance overlay is enabled.<br />
 Four hexadecimal values are written at the top corners:
-<pre>FF &lt;--- vcount after 'tick'     entity count ---&gt; FF
+ FF <--- vcount after 'tick'     entity count ---> FF
-FF &lt;--- vcount after 'draw'     sprite count ---&gt; FF</pre>
+ FF <--- vcount after 'draw'     sprite count ---> FF
+==Screenshots==
+https://dlhb.gamebrew.org/gbahomebrews/minicraftgba3.png
+https://dlhb.gamebrew.org/gbahomebrews/minicraftgba4.png
+https://dlhb.gamebrew.org/gbahomebrews/minicraftgba5.png
 ==Media==
-'''Minicraft: The OTHER Version of Minecraft That Notch Created ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEi7Uz6gTSE Logdotzip])'''<br>
+'''Minicraft: The OTHER Version of Minecraft That Notch Created''' ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEi7Uz6gTSE Logdotzip])<br>
 <youtube>ZEi7Uz6gTSE</youtube>
-==Screenshots==
+==Changelog==
-https://dlhb.gamebrew.org/gbahomebrews/minicraftgba-1.png
+'''v2.0'''
-https://dlhb.gamebrew.org/gbahomebrews/minicraftgba-2.jpg
+*This version brings a major overhaul to save files, switching to 64 KB files. Save files from previous versions are incompatible! Most of the changes are technical, such as improving how assets are embedded into the ROM and using my library ''libsimplegba'' to handle low-level operations.
-https://dlhb.gamebrew.org/gbahomebrews/minicraftgba-3.jpg
+*About save files: Version 2.0 uses 64 KB Flash ROM to save. That is a comfortable amount of memory for the game. However, if your device only supports 32 KB SRAM saves, download [https://github.com/Vulcalien/minicraft-gba/releases/download/2.0/minicraft-gba_2.0_SRAM-32KB.zip this version] instead. I believe 32 KB should be enough, but I cannot guarantee you will never encounter saving issues.
+'''v1.3.0'''
+*This version brings improvements to the saving system, a way for the player to respawn and some performance optimization.
+'''v1.2.1'''
+*Version 1.2.1 is a source-only update that doesn't change the game ROM. The only difference compared to 1.2 is that the linker script is improved.
+'''v1.2'''
+*This update fixes two visual bugs and introduces frameskip. Frameskip should help prevent noticeable lag by reducing the frame rate when the CPU is under too much stress.
+'''v1.1'''
+* This update fixes a rendering bug that affected entities near a player holding a lantern.
+* The bug was present only on real Hardware, not in emulators.
+'''v1.0'''
+*First Release.
-== Building ==
+==Credits==
-To build the game, I use the <code>Makefile</code> present in the files. You will need the gcc-arm-none-eabi compiler. I've not tested any other compiler and, if you want to try, I cannot guarantee that the game will work or that the performance will be as good (since it's optimized for the GCC compiler).
+Original game Minicraft by Markus Persson.
-Run <code>make</code>: it should build without any configuration.
-== License ==
-The original game <code>Minicraft</code> was made by Markus Persson in 2011. I do not own it, nor am I affiliated to it.
-This demake of the game is released under the GNU General Public License, either version 3 of the License or any later version.
 ==External links==
-* Gbadev - https://gbadev.org/demos.php?showinfo=1562
+* itch.io - https://vulcalien.itch.io/minicraft-for-gba
-* Gbatemp - https://gbatemp.net/threads/minicraft-v1-0-gba-port.622058/
+* GitHub - https://github.com/Vulcalien/minicraft-gba
-* Github - https://github.com/Vulcalien/minicraft-gba
-[[Category:GBA homebrew games]]
-[[Category:Homebrew action games on GBA]]
-[[Category:Homebrew adventure games on GBA]]