I hear you. I felt the same way, at first. But then I fell under the sway of the GBA!
So far, I recommend either Butano or GBALua or FreePascal – but Lua is way easier to learn! Of course, FreePascal can compile to DOS. But – and help me out here, especially if I’m wrong – I think that GBALua can compile to binary and link with stuff compiled from C or C++ on DevKitArm… Right? (I’m learning this stuff as quick as I can, I swear!)
I’m just doing this jam to learn all of it as fast as I can. I don’t really care if I finish in time. I’ve become obsessed with coding the GBA! (And then the DS after that, then the GameCube or Wii! Mwahahahaha!)
Seriously, find some sample code, modify it, compile. Repeat. After I get the basics of Object-Pascal and Lua down (and refresh my memory of C++), I’m going to do that as much as I can. No idea what I’ll submit! :D