Pokemon

A Switch 2 exclusive from March is now running on an iPhone as a native app, with no emulator underneath. The engineering is genuinely clever. The requirements are steeper than any of the coverage mentions, starting with a paid Apple developer account.

Monomyth released free on 30 October 2026 after seven years of development. It is an Emerald ROM hack that fills the Game Boy Advance cartridge to its absolute 32 MB maximum, which is the detail that decides whether your handheld runs it. The link trading feature does not work on a handheld at all, and here is why.

A free fan game that is nothing but the Battle Frontier. Eight facilities, the full Pokédex through gen 9, every battle mechanic, and a final stadium full of series Champions. It ships an Android build on day one, which is the part that decides whether your handheld can run it.

Pokémon Arena 2D is a real time sprite fighter going viral on TikTok, and it is not playable anywhere yet. The pages promising otherwise have no game on them. A similarly named one shipped last week with an Android APK.

A Godot rebuild of FireRed's opening with real time battles, playable in a browser right now. There is no Linux build and no APK, which decides everything about where you can play it. PortMaster already ships the runtime it would need.

An argument about which Pokémon would play quarterback became a browser game with a draft, formations and a simulated 17 game season. Here is what it is, and the awkward truth about which retro handhelds can actually load it.

Six random level 100 Pokémon, one battle against Red, a new team every day. It runs the real FireRed battle engine in a browser, its creator archived it within half an hour, and it has never been tested on a phone.

Pokémon fan games are not ROM hacks, and the hardware question is completely different. Two of the biggest ones are official PortMaster ports that run on a 40 dollar Anbernic. Some now run in a browser with no install at all. The others need Android or a PC. Sorted by what you own.

The Pokémon ROM hacks worth your time, sorted by what hardware you actually need. Most run perfectly on a 40 dollar handheld. A few do not run on one at all, and the lists never tell you which is which.

A new GBA hack unlocks Pokémon that were sitting inside the 2003 cartridge all along, plus the encounters that vanished when the e-Reader died. This is a restoration, not an expansion.

PokeMMO is running a public test server for its Black 2 and White 2 expansion on 19 September. Here is what the announcement actually says, what carries over, and which handhelds run PokeMMO today.

After five years in development, Pokémon Myth 2 has hit version 1.0 with two original regions and over 100 Fakemon. Here is what is in it, and the awkward question of which handheld can run a 1GB RPG Maker game.

A free Pokémon fangame that plays like Vampire Survivors, with 25 playable Pokémon and an online leaderboard. It is not a ROM hack, which changes which handhelds can actually run it. Here is what you need.

Heart & Soul rebuilds the Johto journey on Game Boy Advance, mixing Gold and Silver with HeartGold and SoulSilver. Version 2.0 just landed. Here is what changed and what you need to play it.

A complete FireRed hack set in a decayed 2049 Kanto, with 200 plus ghost Pokémon and an original soundtrack. Here is what it is and what you need to play it.

A Three.js layer that renders your live FireRed session in 2.5D. It is not a recomp and not a ROM hack. Here is how it works and what is not out yet.

A fan project turned Pokémon Emerald into a browser MMO with guilds, trading, and PvP. Here is what it actually is, and the awkward truth about which retro handhelds can open it.

Gen1Recomp runs natively on retro handhelds, not through an emulator. Here is what works on Anbernic, Android and Steam Deck, and what quietly does not.

A first person clip of Pallet Town went viral this week. Here is what Gen1Recomp really is, why it is not an emulator, and whether your handheld can run it.