How to Play PICO-8 on Android Handhelds

It would appear that the market is shifting towards more devices with a 1:1 aspect ratio. While the RGB30 and RGB20SX are still running Linux firmware, the RG Cube and ZPG A1 Unicorn provide an Android-based experience. The problem with this is that there hasn’t been a way to play PICO-8 on Android handhelds. That’s all changed thanks to Windows emulation thanks to the likes of Winlator and Mobox.

The biggest downside to this entire process is that there’s actually a process. The ability to play PICO-8 on Android handhelds isn’t as simple as transferring files and being on your merry way. Thankfully, PICO-8 is lightweight enough that it can run without much of a hitch, on practically any Android device that you might own or pick up in the future. With that being said, let’s dive into setting everything up so you can play PICO-8 on Android.

How to Install and Set up Winlator on Android

The first thing that you’ll need to do is actually get Winlator set up on your Android device. This Windows emulator continues to impress and is constantly being updated with improvements and optimizations to improve the experience.

1. Download and install the latest version of Winlator.
   • Winlator GitHub
     
2. Open your web browser of choice.
3. Navigate to the PICO-8 website and purchase it, if necessary.
   • PICO-8 Landing Page
4. Download the Windows ZIP file.
   
5. Extract the PICO-8 file to the Downloads folder on your device.
6. Open the Winlator app.
7. In the top right corner, tap the + button to create a new container.
8. Name the container whatever you like. We’ve named ours pico8.
   

   Create a new Container in Winlator

9. Under Screen Size, select the option closest to your device.
   • For example, you would select one of the 16×9 options for the AYN Odin 2.
10. If using something like the RG Cube with a 1:1 screen, swipe up and tap Custom.
11. Enter 720 x 720.
    

    Set the screen resolution for your handheld

12. For the graphics driver, you can leave it set to Turnip (Adreno).
13. Tap the drop-down for DX Wrapper and select WineD3D.
    

    Change the DX Wrapper

14. Leave the Audio Driver set to ALSA.
15. Scroll down to where you see Wine Configuration.
16. Swipe and tap Win Components.
17. Under DirectSound make sure that Native (Windows) is selected.
18. Tap the Checkmark in the bottom right corner.
    

    Double-check your Win Components

How to Set up PICO-8 in Winlator

The way that Winlator works is that you create different “Containers” for the different games that you want to play. With this, you can have one Container for PICO-8, and another for something like Fallout 4 on a modern device. We’ll have more on that in a later guide.

1. From the main Containers page, tap the three vertical dots next to the Container you just created.
2. Tap the Run button.
   

   Fire up your PICO-8 container

3. When navigating Winlator, treat the touchscreen as if it were a trackpad.
4. Open the D: folder in the File Browser. (This is your device’s Downloads folder.
5. Locate and open the Pico-8 folder that you extracted in the previous section.
   

   Open the PICO-8 folder

6. Locate the pico8.exe file.
7. Two-finger tap (or right-click) on the pico8.exe file.
8. Highlight and select Create Shortcut from the drop-down menu.
   

   Create a Shortcut in Winlator

9. In the left sidebar of the File Explorer, click Desktop.
10. Right-click the pico8.desktop file.
11. Select Edit from the drop-down menu.
    

    Time to edit the Config files

12. From the Notepad app window that opens, locate the line starting with “Exec=env”.
13. Four-finger tap on the screen.
14. Select Keyboard from the pop-out side menu.
    

    Bring up the virtual keyboard.

15. Place your cursor at the end of the line after pico8.exe.
16. Type -splore.
17. Select File > Save and close the Notepad app.
18. Four-finger tap on the screen again.
19. Select Exit from the pop-out side menu.
    

    Add Splore, Save, and Exit

In theory, you could just call it quits after creating the PICO-8 shortcut. However, that will load you into the main terminal interface, meaning that you’ll have to enter a command every time you want to play something. But, by adding ‘-splore’ to the end of the Config file, this boots you right into the Splore interface within PICO-8, removing some fo the headache.

How to Play PICO-8 on Android

Now that you’ve set up Winlator and installed PICO-8 to a Container, there’s not much left to do other than to play PICO-8 on Android!

1. Make sure that your device is connected to the internet.
2. Open the Winlator app.
3. Tap the Hamburger Menu in the top left corner.
4. Select Shortcuts.
   

   Open the PICO-8 Shortcut

5. Tap the PICO-8 shortcut that you created previously.
6. If this is your first time playing PICO-8, go through each of the sections and select Update. This will populate the various sections with a list of games for you to play.
   

   Open PICO-8 and update Splore

7. Profit!

Play PICO-8 Anywhere!

Admittedly, we’re still hoping for the day when we can play PICO-8 on Android, natively. We aren’t sure whether this is something that’s even in the cards for the PICO-8 team, but perhaps that will change as the popularity of the platform continues to grow. There are so many great PICO-8 games that deserve to be played, and now, we can play them on even more handhelds.

What did you think of this article? Let us know in the comments below, and chat with us in our Discord!

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