Tomb Raider on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance is incredible | MVG

The open source Tomb Raider engine known as OpenLara is running on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. In this episode we uncover how this impossible port was achieved. And indeed how it runs at good speeds on the GBA.

Huge thanks to XProger for taking the time to answer my questions about this incredible port!

Music:

► Tomb Raider I, 1 featuring Lara Croft (1996)
► Tracks by: Nathan McCree
► Eidos Int. Limited / Core Design

Credits/Sources/Links:

Social Media Links :

#Nintendo #GBA #TombRaider

[Hariainm]

Of all the "Impossible ports", this is without a doubt the number #1. How he archieve this without FPU and an eighth of the PS1 RAM is mind-boggling

[andrewkauke]

This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Full resolution 3D, 3D modeled characters, good textures, a solid frame rate, AND good sound design. This doesn’t just push the limits of the GBA, it downright breaks them.

[HDH]

This port is code optimization at its finest. Im so happy the art of optimizing for weak hardware is still a thing, it seems nobody cares about it in times of limitless RAM and crazy efficient GPUs.

[laowhy]

This is absolutely insane. Great breakdown.

[LonSeidman]

If a studio ported it back in the day it would have been a strong seller. I remember being impressed that they managed to cram Wing Commander Prophecy (sans video) into a GBA cart that was not only playable but pretty fun too.

[Mirlohu]

Coding in assembly is a lost art. This guy's awesome.

[nikanj]

Ubisoft: So what sort of experience do you have in game development?
XProger: I optimised Tomb Raider so much it runs on a Game Boy Advance.
Ubisoft: GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!

[merlefi]

This is absolutely unbelievable! I remember telling my mom almost 20 years ago that the 3D Tomb Raiders aren't in the GBA and all of them (I mean 1 to Chronicles) are on our PS1 only (she really loves the Tomb Raider games even to this day). If I still had my GBA, I'd surprise her with this!

[BillLambert]

Those Ram allocation tricks make me smile. Modern developers have no idea how crucial those techniques used to be for performance optimisation. Carefully laying out your data structures to tighten loops and avoid cache misses were a huge part of early game development.

[emdotrod]

Soon the conversation will switch from "can it run Doom" to "can it run Tomb Raider"

[DSage]

As someone who programs 3D on the GBA, this is beyond amazing. :)

[jmd]

That's old fashioned game development where they do everything they can to save every ounce of performance. Developers of bloated web browsers need to pay attention to projects like this!

[Wlfenstrike]

Doom on GBA was already impressive, but Tomb Raider on GBA is just mind blowing.

[sylvoen]

this is already pretty impressive on its own but i'm not even kidding my jaw dropped when i heard that all of the game's sfx and music were somehow squeezed in there as well. i think this would've made Numbers back when the gba was new

[FaridAnsari]

This shows that doing amazing things in even the most "technical" fields such as as coding is much as an art as it is science and the art/creativity part really shines when limitations are imposed!
That's why I am not a huge fan of modern applications built on frameworks on top of frameworks consuming system resources to accomplish simple tasks. I mean I understand why it's that way these days but I feel it chips away at the "art" part of coding.

[zimtak]

Wow, if the GBA had optimized 3D engines like this early on in it's lifespan games from popular 3D franchises like Tony Hawk, Crazy Taxi, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, etc, could have been truly amazing for their time. They could have either been quality ports or better yet new games that could stay true to the original games. Heh, the N-gage advertisements would have been like: "Yeah, well we can do 3D... as well... and almost as good too... for a significantly higher price. You also have to remove the battery every time you want to change the ga- aw hell, we're screwed!".

[oldenvye]

Those side comparisons made the PS1 version look like a HD game but it's impressive that this even exists.

[Pyke_]

OpenLara is becoming the new "Doom" of ports, a lot of systems now is running Tomb Raider and counting!

[Freshbrood]

Devs don't get nearly enough credit. This is proof that ALL the older consoles are capable of greatness in the right hands.

[nathantron]

I've been following Open Lara for a long time, and it is amazing. They deserve all the support they can get. It's amazing work.