PokeDaisy is a Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA and Nintendo DS player for Android handhelds with two screens or one, made for the Pokemon games of every generation from Red to Black 2 and White 2 and popular ROM hacks. Next to the game runs a live companion that reads it as you play: your party, bag, map, battle matchups, Pokedex and a spoiler-free guide, all drawn in the game's own menu style.

• Two screens (AYN Thor, Retroid Pocket Duo, ...): the game on top, the companion on the bottom screen.
• One screen (Retroid Pocket 6, phones, ...): the companion opens as a window over the game or a panel beside it, and a HUD, a quick menu and battle buttons keep the essentials on the game screen.
• Folding phones (Galaxy Z Fold, Pixel Fold, ...): half open, the game goes above the fold and the companion below it, like a two-screen handheld (or on facing pages when held like a book).
• DS games (Platinum, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black, White, Black 2, White 2, and the Origin HeartGold and Renegade Platinum hacks): the touch screen goes on the bottom screen, one tap swaps it for the companion.

Device	Status
AYN Thor	Tested, made for it
Retroid Pocket Duo Lite	Supported, with its own 4:3 layout
Retroid Pocket Duo	Should work, not yet tested on real hardware
Anbernic RG DS	Should work, not yet tested on real hardware
Retroid Pocket 6	Single screen: tested
Other one-screen handhelds	Should work, held sideways like the Pocket 6
Android phones (portrait)	Should work, checked in screenshots only
A phone cast to a TV	Should work: the game on the TV, the companion on the phone

Any Android 8.0+ device runs the games.

Install

1. Download PokeDaisy-<version>.apk from the latest release on the device and open it (allow your browser or file manager to install apps if Android asks).
2. Open PokeDaisy. A short setup links your ROMs folders, picks where saves go (PokeDaisy's own folder or another emulator's, like RetroArch's) and can add cover art. All of it can be changed later in Settings.

The app updates itself: it offers each new version when you open it. The full manual is at pokedaisy.com/docs and in the app under Settings > HELP.

No games are included. Use your own legally dumped ROMs.

Features

The companion

• PARTY: your team in your game's own party screen. Tap one for its summary: stats, moves, IVs / EVs, matchups, and which moves or TMs are worth learning.
• BAG: every pocket with icons and descriptions, and items you can use or give from it in the games that allow it.
• BATTLE: opens by itself. Your moves rated SUPER / RESISTED / NEUTRAL / IMMUNE, the foe's weaknesses, ability, item and stats, suggestions for who to send out and which move to use, and the rest of the foe's team. Its touch buttons come in two looks: big coloured buttons, or a battle screen styled after the fifth generation's.
• MAP: the game's region map with you on it, every place searchable, and FLY.
• DEX: seen / caught, full entries, evolutions, where to catch each one and the moves it learns.
• GUIDE: hints first, answers on a second tap. What's in the area you're in, the next boss's team, evolutions, tips and a STUCK? page.
• BOXES (FireRed, LeafGreen, Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire in every language, Unbound, Radical Red, SoulGold and most hacks built on those games): your PC's boxes, laid out like the game's box screen. Tap a Pokemon for its summary, WITHDRAW it into your party (or swap it with one there), or DEPOSIT a party Pokemon from its summary (FireRed, LeafGreen and Emerald in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish, and a few FireRed hacks).
• CARD, STATES (10 save-state slots), ACHIEVEMENTS (RetroAchievements), and the tabs you pick for the bar.
• NUZLOCKE (per game, GBA games but Emerald Rogue): keeps score of a Nuzlocke run, the first encounter in each area and every fainted Pokemon out for good, with a gravestone on its party slot.

On the game screen

• HUD: your party, a minimap, your Poke Balls and PC / BAG / WILD buttons while you walk around.
• Quick menu (L3): PC, FLY, BIKE, ROD, the keep-away spray, wild encounters on / off, save states.
• Battle buttons: FIGHT, POKEMON and RUN right beside the battle.
• EXPAND: the overworld drawn past the GBA's edges to fill a wide screen, with zoom and look-around.

The player

• Fast-forward (smart: normal speed in menus, fast in battles) with music that keeps its normal speed, slow motion, rewind, a real-time clock, save states, turbo buttons.
• Shaders (LCD, scanlines, CRT, GBA colours, edge smoothing), overlays, and your own RetroArch overlays.
• Makeovers: play one game as another game's hero, a Pokemon following you, day and night tints.
• Remappable controls and hotkeys, touch controls you can lay out yourself (with several looks and colors, or a Delta .deltaskin controller skin), Bluetooth and USB controllers.
• Link play: two to four GBA games at once on one link cable, to trade (trade evolutions too), battle and mix records between your games or two saves of one.
• PC boxes and save trades: rearrange a game's PC, change its bag and moves, or trade Pokemon between two of your games' save files with the games closed (FireRed, LeafGreen, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire), by the games' own rules.
• Optional cheats, wild encounters off, reusable TMs, trade evolutions without a trade, auto-run and running indoors.
• A library with cover art, favorites, zipped ROMs, BPS patching (it finds the base ROM by itself), a dual-screen launcher, and launching from frontends like ES-DE, Cocoon and iiSU (iiSU, ES-DE setup).
• Standard .sav / .srm saves, shared with mGBA and RetroArch. Every start keeps a backup of your save.
• English, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Everything is explained in the manual.

Supported games

Any Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA or DS game plays. The companion needs one of the games below, in the exact version listed (ROM hacks are recognized by their file, so another version shows a "not supported" notice).

✅ works · ◐ partly · — not yet

Game	Version	Party	Bag	Battle	Map	Dex	Guide
Red / Blue (GB)	USA/Europe	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
PureRed / PureBlue (GB)	2.7.6	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	—
Yellow (GB)	USA/Europe	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Yellow (GB)	DE / FR / IT / ES	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Yellow Legacy (GB)	1.0.10	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Gold / Silver (GBC)	USA/Europe	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	—
Crystal (GBC)	USA, USA/Europe rev 1, AU	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Crystal Legacy (GBC)	1.3.1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Crystal Clear (GBC)	2.5.11, 2.6.0 (4 builds)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	—
Prism (GBC)	0.95 build 254	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	—
Polished Crystal (GBC)	3.2.0-3.2.3 (16 builds)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
FireRed	USA/Europe, rev 0 and 1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
FireRed	ES / DE / FR / IT / JP	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
LeafGreen	USA/Europe, rev 0 and 1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
LeafGreen	ES / DE / FR / IT / JP	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Emerald	USA/Europe	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Emerald	ES / DE / FR / IT / JP	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
FireRed / Emerald, randomized	UPR ZX 4.6.1, USA/Europe	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	◐
Ruby	USA, rev 0, 1 and 2	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Ruby	ES/DE/FR/IT/JP, rev 0-1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Sapphire	USA, rev 0, 1 and 2	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Sapphire	ES/DE/FR/IT/JP, rev 0-1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Platinum (DS)	USA rev 1, FR/ES rev 0	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
HeartGold (DS)	USA, EU, every language	✅	✅	—	✅	✅	✅
SoulSilver (DS)	USA, EU, every language	✅	✅	—	✅	✅	✅
Black (DS)	USA/Europe, every language	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
White (DS)	USA/Europe, every language	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Black 2 (DS)	USA/Europe, every language	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
White 2 (DS)	USA/Europe, every language	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Origin HeartGold (DS)	4.0.3 English 1.0.0	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	—
Renegade Platinum (DS)	1.2.0, 1.3.0 (+ Classic)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	—
Unbound	2.1.1.1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Unbound	2.1.1.1 French	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Radical Red	4.1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Gaia	3.2	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Odyssey	4.1.1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Heart and Soul	2.0.6	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Amethyst	1.3.0, 1.4.1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Celia's Stupid Romhack	1.1.4	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Orange Islands	Beta 5.7, an older beta	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Ultra Violet	1.22	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
FireRed Rocket Edition	the one release	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Ash Gray	4.5.3, Fork Bug Fix 1.0	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Ghost Grey	1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.4	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee	English (4 builds)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Sword and Shield Ultimate Plus	1.2.1.2 + its 3 patches	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
GS Chronicles	2.7.6	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Recharged Yellow	1.8.0, 1.9.0, 1.9.4, 1.9.7	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Emerald Legacy	1.1.4	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	✅
Lazarus	2.0	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Emerald Seaglass	3.0	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Too Many Types 2	1.5.2	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Glazed	9.2.0	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Emerald Imperium	1.3.1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Quetzal	English Alpha 9 v0	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Quetzal	Spanish Alpha 9 v0	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Quetzal	Alpha 9 v1 (EN / ES)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Quetzal	Alpha 0.8.4 (EN / ES)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Moemon Quetzal	Alpha 0.8.4 Hotfix (EN/ES)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Super Mariomon	1.2.1-1.3, 1.5.1, 1.5.2	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Recharged Emerald	2.2.5, 2.2.8, Rebalanced	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Modern Emerald	3.6	✅	✅	◐	◐	—	—
Elite Redux	2.65.3b, 2.65.4.1b	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Team Rocket Dragonsden	1.5	✅	✅	◐	◐	—	◐
Team Rocket Dragonsden	2026 3.0.9 (Spanish)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Wishes of Tomorrow	1.2.6	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Dreamstone Mysteries	the one release	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Monomyth	1.0, 1.1	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
Emerald Rogue	2.2.1-EX	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	—
SoulGold	1.1.4, 1.2 (3), 1.2.1 (2)	✅	✅	◐	✅	✅	◐
R.O.W.E.	2.1.9.1 Experimental	✅	✅	◐	✅	◐	—

Notes on the table

For a version that isn't listed, the app tries to read it as a game it knows (BEST EFFORT) and asks you to pick when it isn't sure. Map ◐ means place names only, without the map picture. Guide ◐ means the live pages only (the wild encounters here and the next boss). Battle ◐ means the battle panes work but haven't been checked in every kind of battle. On the DS, HeartGold's and SoulSilver's battles aren't read yet. Origin HeartGold's battle system is its own: the battle panes read it, but their buttons can't press its menus, and it has no guide yet. Renegade Platinum reads as Platinum with its own types (Fairy among them), moves and type chart; its trainers and wild Pokémon are its own, so it has no guide yet. Team Rocket Dragonsden is DragonsdenTV's Team Rocket Edition, not FireRed Rocket Edition. FireRed (rev 0 and 1) and Emerald randomized with Universal Pokemon Randomizer ZX 4.6.1 work with any settings and seed: the companion reads the randomized types, moves, teams, wild Pokémon and items from the ROM, and the guide leaves out the gift and legendary Pokémon it can't know. Monomyth's natures are its own: the summary names them, and they change no stat. With Wishes of Tomorrow's randomizer on, the guide and the Pokédex's AREA show the wild Pokémon your save meets. The guides were written from each game's own data and may contain mistakes.

Want another game supported? Ask in Game requests, and upvote the ones you want.

Privacy

The app has no accounts, ads or analytics, and your games and saves never leave your device. It only goes online to check for updates, fetch cover art or use RetroAchievements (only with your own key or sign-in), send a crash report (only if you turn CRASH REPORTS on) and share a BEST EFFORT match (only if you tap SHARE: the ROM's hash, size and game code, never the file). The website counts visits anonymously, with no cookies.

Community and support

Come say hi, share your runs and ask questions on r/PokeDaisy or Discord. Found a bug? Report it.

PokeDaisy is free, with no ads and nothing locked. If it made a playthrough better, you can support it on Ko-fi, Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee. It's optional, unlocks nothing and pays for PokeDaisy's own code only: no games, ROMs or game content are sold or handed out.

Building from source

See docs/DEVELOPMENT.md.

A Linux build for handhelds (SDL2, the same mGBA core and the 3DS port's companion) is in early testing: linux/README.md.

AI tooling note

This project may use AI-assisted development tools, such as Claude Code, to help with code generation, refactoring, and documentation. All changes are still reviewed by the maintainer and validated with the project's existing checks before release.

Credits

mGBA, melonDS, rcheevos, fonts, shaders, the pret decomps, cover art sources

• mGBA by Vicki Pfau (endrift) and contributors runs the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and GBA games (MPL 2.0; source in third_party/mgba), with its bundled blip_buf (LGPL 2.1) and inih (BSD).
• melonDS by the melonDS team runs the DS games (GPL 3.0; source in third_party/melonds, PokeDaisy's changes in third_party/patches), with its bundled FatFs, Teakra (MIT), xxHash (BSD 2-Clause), tiny-AES-c (Unlicense), blip_buf (LGPL 2.1) and Dolphin's ARM64 emitter (GPL 2.0+).
• rcheevos by RetroAchievements.org (MIT) for achievements.
• Pixel Operator font by Jayvee Enaguas (CC0), and Atkinson Hyperlegible by the Braille Institute (OFL 1.1) for the manual's text.
• PixelMplus (M+ FONT LICENSE, M+ FONTS PROJECT) for Japanese text, converted to Pixel Operator's pixel grid by scripts/gen_jp_font.py.
• Galmuri by Lee Minseo (OFL 1.1) for Korean text, converted to Pixel Operator's pixel grid by scripts/gen_ko_font.py.
• The pret decompilation projects (pokered, pokeyellow, pokegold, pokecrystal, pokefirered, pokeemerald, pokeruby, pokeplatinum, pokeheartgold), pokeemerald-expansion and Polished Crystal's, PureRGB's, Yellow Legacy's and Crystal Legacy's source, which the game data and guides were checked against.
• Screen shaders: LCD and scanlines from mGBA's (MIT), the GBA colours by Pokefan531 and hunterk, LCD PAPER after RetroArch's simpletex_lcd and zfast_lcd (GPL 2.0+), and libretro's xBR, xBRZ and ScaleFX for edge smoothing (MIT, xBRZ GPL 3.0).
• PokeAPI (BSD 3-Clause) for the National Dex species list.
• AndroidX, Jetpack Compose, Kotlin and Apache Commons Compress (Apache 2.0), XZ for Java (0BSD).

Every license is in NOTICE and, in the app, under Settings > LICENSES.

• Cover art from SteamGridDB and its contributors, and box art from RetroAchievements.

License

PokeDaisy is free software under the GNU GPL v3, with one additional term: if you share PokeDaisy or anything built from it, keep the credit "Based on PokeDaisy by Lidor Itzhari - https://github.com/lidor30/pokedaisy" in its documentation and credits. Forks must stay open source under the same license.

PokeDaisy is a fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures or The Pokemon Company. Pokemon and all related names are trademarks of their respective owners; Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. Device names (AYN Thor, Retroid, Anbernic) belong to their makers, and RetroAchievements and SteamGridDB are independent services; none of them endorse PokeDaisy. ROM hacks belong to their creators. No games, BIOS or game art are included: use your own legally dumped ROMs.