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When paused some Gameboy games:

  1. Continue with moving visuals (to some degree),
  2. Continue with music.
  3. Get silent and have a static image only:
  • either last frame frozen, maybe combined with a "Paused" overlay,
  • or feature a custom static Pause screen.

As this was a portable console and battery life limited I ask myself:

  • Did the GameBoy more or less run in an endless processing loop and consumed the same energy regardless where in gameplay?
  • Or did the GameBoy provide a low power mode for less active gameplay, like "Inventory Screens" or "Pause screens" from which a key press functioned as a CPU interrupt to continue at full throttle again?
porg
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1 Answers1

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It is definitely possible to program your game in a way that reduces power consumption. This guide contains some good examples. One of the more notable examples is to use the halt CPU instruction when waiting for things like VBlank.

dalton_c
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