Field manual

Emulation guides, one system at a time.

Straight guides to running retro systems on iPhone and iPad — what each console needs, what genuinely doesn't work, and how to set it up. No filler, and no links to games: bring backups of the ones you own.

Guide

Which emulator should you get for your iPhone?

They're normal App Store apps now. Here's what actually makes a difference once you've used one for a fortnight.

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Nintendo

How to play Pokémon FireRed on your iPhone

Nintendo never put Kanto on a modern console. Your phone turns out to be a lovely way to play it — here's what it's like.

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Nintendo

The best way to play Pokémon Emerald

Twenty years on, Emerald still isn't on any modern console — and the cartridge in your drawer has probably stopped keeping time.

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Nintendo

Play Game Boy Advance games on your iPhone

The best 2D games ever made, on a screen that's actually lit this time. No more tilting it toward a lamp.

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Sony

Play PSP games on your iPhone

Here's the surprise: PSP games look better on your phone than they ever did on the PSP. And you can put them on your TV.

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Sony

Play PlayStation 1 games on your iPhone

Multi-disc games, all four shoulder buttons, and the one setting that makes 32-bit 3D look right again.

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Nintendo

Play Nintendo 64 games on your iPhone

Those four little yellow buttons are the whole problem, and most apps get them wrong. This one doesn't.

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Nintendo

Play Super Nintendo games on your iPhone

Where 2D games peaked. Turn on one setting first and they'll look the way you actually remember them.

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Nintendo

Play NES games on your iPhone

Two buttons and no fuss — plus the thing that quietly makes those impossible childhood games finishable.

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Nintendo

Play Game Boy games on your iPhone

The grey brick, in your pocket again. Including the green screen, if you want it.

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Nintendo

Play Nintendo DS games on your iPhone

The one console where playing on a phone is arguably better than the original hardware.

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Guide

Retro games worth replaying first

Forty years of games just became available and you have no idea what to play. Start here.

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Comparison

RetroArch on iPhone, or something simpler

What it is in plain English, why people give up on it, and when something simpler is the better call.

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