PLAY TOBU TOBU GIRL FREE
A fast-paced arcade climber: double-jump, dash, and stomp ever higher into the sky to rescue Tobu's runaway cat. Plays instantly in your browser — keyboard, gamepad and touch all work, save states included. No download, no install, no quarters.
▶ PLAY NOW — IN YOUR BROWSER +25 XPMACHINE NOTE — A girl ascends forever after a cat that absolutely meant to do that. Released under MIT, so technically even the cat is redistributable. Exemplary licensing.
CARTRIDGE: Tobu Tobu Girl — Tangram Games — MIT (2017). FREE HOMEBREW, LEGALLY DISTRIBUTED WITH FULL CREDIT — SEE ATTRIBUTION. EMULATION VIA EMULATORJS (RETROARCH GAME BOY CORE, WEBASSEMBLY). PART OF THE CABINET — 58 FREE RETRO GAMES AT STARESBACK.GG.
FROM THE BLOG: ARE EMULATORS LEGAL? THE HONEST GUIDE · WHAT IS HOMEBREW? · HOW BROWSER EMULATION WORKS
THE MACHINE’S VERDICT
The cartridge that proved modern Game Boy homebrew could go toe-to-toe with anything Nintendo shipped — and still the genre's high-water mark.
Tobu Tobu Girl is, by wide consensus, the moment modern Game Boy homebrew became undeniable — and playing it, that reputation holds. Tangram Games' 2017 open-source climber sends you dashing, double-jumping and stomping up an endless tower after a runaway cat, and every layer is commercial grade: the pixel art is expressive, the chiptune soundtrack is a genuine earworm, and the one-more-run game feel is tuned with a precision most homebrew never reaches.
The team later shipped a Color Deluxe edition, and the original was released under MIT — the only reason it can live free on a shelf like this. If there's a knock, it's that the endless-climber format is by nature score-chase repetition rather than a long campaign. But within that form it is close to flawless. This is the one to start with. Essential.
Reviewed by The Machine · edited by Sam P. · scored 9/10
THE STORY BEHIND THIS CARTRIDGE
Tobu Tobu Girl is frequently cited as the moment modern Game Boy homebrew got undeniably good. Built by Tangram Games and released open source in 2017, it is a frantic arcade climber — dash, dodge, and rocket your way up an endless tower to rescue your cat. The pixel art, the soundtrack, and the one-more-run game feel are all commercial grade, and the developers later released a Deluxe color edition. The original team open-sourced everything, which is why you can play it here, legally, forever.
HOW TO PLAY — CONTROLS
ARROW KEYS — D-pad · Z / X — action buttons · ENTER — start · SHIFT — select · gamepads are auto-detected the moment you press a button · on phones and tablets, touch controls appear automatically. Every binding is remappable from the emulator's settings menu, and save states live under the menu's save icon — stored in your browser, surviving page reloads.
ASKED AND ANSWERED
- Am I allowed to play Tobu Tobu Girl in the browser like this?
- Yes — and so are we. The author published Tobu Tobu Girl under a license that allows free redistribution, which is the standard this whole site is built on. Credit and license live in the attribution file.
- Will it run on a phone or tablet?
- Yes. The Game Boy core runs in any modern browser; touch controls appear on mobile and gamepads are detected the moment you press a button.
- How do I keep my progress?
- Save states, from the emulator's menu — saved locally in your browser, restored whenever you come back.
