Today we’re looking at a software mod that will get Pico 8 running natively on your Android handheld such as the Anbernic RG Cube or the Retroid Pocket 4, or even an Android phone.
- Download winlator https://github.com/brunodev85/winlator/
- Install - it will take a moment to install
- Pay for and download the pico8 zip folder (not the exe installer) for Windows https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php (I did this on my PC and transferred the file to my device but you can also log in and download on your Android device)
- Extract the zip file and store the pico-8 folder in the downloads folder of the internal storage of your device.
- Start Winlator. Create a new container by pressing the ”+” button on the upper right.
- Name the container Pico8
- Set the screen aspect ratio to that of your device, eg, RG405M - 640x480 (4:3); Custom: RG Cube - 640x640 (1:1)
- Graphics Driver: Turnip (if this doesn’t work you can try the WirGL option)
- DX Wrapper: WineD3D
- Audio Driver: ALSA
- Importantly, at the DX Components tab, under DirectX use the Native (Windows) option under DirectSound if not set by default.
- Now tap the blue and white tick at the bottom right.
- Now let’s get Pico8 connected:
- Tap on the 3 dots at the right hand side of your Pico8 container
- Tap “Run”
- You may need a mouse here but you can use touch as well, just find the mouse cursor and drag it around. Two finger tap is a right click and four finger tap brings up the Winlator menu when you need a keyboard.
- Navigate to D:\ and find the pico-8 folder.
- Open the folder, right click (two finger tap) on pico8.exe and “Create Shortcut”
- At the left hand side of the window tap on Desktop
- Find the pico8.desktop file, right click (two finger tap), and select “edit”
- Now find the line that starts with “Exec…” and add “-splore” at the end with a space so it reads something like this: Exec=env WINEPREFIX=“/home/xuser/.wine” wine D:\\pico-8\\pico8.exe -splore (to enable a keyboard tap with four fingers and select “Keyboard” then type -splore in the correct place, tap with four fingers again, and tap “Keyboard” again)
- Now select File > Save, and then close the window
- Tap with four fingers again and select “Exit”
- Now let’s run through the startup process so exit the app altogether.
- First make sure you’re connected to the interwebs
- If you’re running Daijisho, go to widgets and create an app shortcut to Winlator
- Now tap on Winlator, tap on the top left “hamburger” button
- Tap on Shortcuts
- Now tap on pico8
- Hooraaaaaaaaaaay!! (if it’s not time for hooray, try switching the Graphics driver)
- UPDATES:
- The big change to this tutorial is that the dpad now works!
- Also pressing the dpad dims the screen, so if anyone out there knows how to fix this leave us a comment and I will pin it to the comments below.
Now just navigate through Splore and find some games. You can watch this to get started: