Ever Trend Zone Have you ever looked down at your Apple Watch on your wrist and thought, “I wish I could play the Game Boy game here”? Yes, I don’t have either, but now I know that it’s possible, so I can’t play it or show it off. My 6 year old self would think I was crazy if I told him I could play Pokemon on my wrist in the future. But it was 2025 and now this is possible and it’s working very well. Here’s how to do this:
See how to set this all up!
iOS emulation
About a year ago, due to several new App Store policy changes and regulations, Apple launched Floodgates in its emulation app. This ultimately allows iPhone users to legally download emulation apps such as delta emulators directly from the App Store. Before that, you had to jailbreak or get these apps using the sideloaded app store (this was a completely different mess). However, Apple now allows emulators on the App Store, allowing developers to be creative about how and where they can emulate them, to the point where they can be played on their wrist. That’s where Arcemu intervenes!
Arcemu is a retro style Game Boy emulator dedicated to working with your Apple Watch. Of course, it works well on other devices like the iPhone and iPad, but this is really made to show off that you can play these games on your Apple Watch (which is surreal). Here’s how it works:
- Download the app (one-time only $1.99. It’s worth it for me)
- After downloading on iPhone, it is also automated on Apple Watch
- Upload your own ROM to iOS app
- The ROM will then be automatically populated into the Apple Watch app
- Then the boom, you have the ability to play your ROM
What I like about this app is how much considerations are given to poor quality of life features. For example, some of my favorite features are:
- Sync to save game data across your device – Start playing the game on your iPhone, save it, then back it up on your Apple Watch, and vice versa.
- You can map the digital crown and replace the directional arrow or press A/B
- Fast forward and slow-mo options
- Wireless link connections between devices for multiplayer games
- Ability to customize button layout
- Game controller support (iPad and iOS apps only)
Since 1998, you’ve got everything you need to play the game on your wrist. I’m strictly playing Pokemon games, so there’s no fast action that needs to occur in the best game for this setup. If you’re playing other games that require more precision, you might not be playing on your wrist…
Other considerations
Arcemu currently supports Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance ROM. Therefore, we do not support NES or DS at the moment. You also need an Apple Watch Series 3 or later, an Apple Watch SE or Newer, or an Ultra or a new Apple Watch to run this. As you can see, I’m running this on my Apple Watch Ultra and it looks great.
You also need to supply ROMs. This does not preload any of the games. Finally, as mentioned above, this is a paid app that costs $1.99. However, there have been no in-app purchases since then. For $1.99, the app was downloaded quickly.
Please tell us what you think. Would you like to download this? Would you like to use it? I’ve seen using this for 5-10 minutes to spend time in certain situations.
(TagStoTRASSLATE) emulator
