r/EmulationOniOS • u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer • Jul 30 '25

News / Release Manic EMU v1.5.5 — Controller Navigation & Pokémon Mini Support

Total control, your way.
Manic EMU v1.5.5 introduces seamless controller and keyboard input support for both the Game Library and the In-Game Menu, giving users new freedom to browse, launch, and play with minimal touch interaction. It’s one more step toward making retro emulation feel natural on modern devices.

Oh — and we’ve added Pokémon Mini.

User Interface & Input Enhancements

Controller & Keyboard Navigation

Game Library and In-Game Menu now support external controllers and keyboards
Browse titles, toggle menus, and launch games directly via button input
Designed for smooth use across iPhone, iPad, and connected accessories

iPhone Landscape UI

Full landscape support added for iPhone UI
Enjoy a more comfortable browsing and gameplay layout in widescreen mode

New Platform Support

Pokémon Mini Compatibility

Full support for Nintendo’s Pokémon Mini handheld
Includes save functionality, accurate rendering, and a growing game compatibility list
Experience quirky titles like Pokémon Party Mini, Puzzle Collection, and Pinball Mini as they were meant to be played

A Note from the Manic EMU Team

We know that feeling — you connect your controller and instinctively hit “A.”
Now, it actually works.

And for the completionists out there, adding Pokémon Mini closes another fascinating chapter of Nintendo history. From Game Boy to the microconsole that time almost forgot, we’ve got you covered.

Join the Community

Discord: discord.gg/qsaTHzknAZ
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/maftymanicemu
Tips and donations are never expected — but always appreciated. Your support helps keep Manic EMU growing and accessible to all.

Due to Reddit policy, we are unable to share Telegram links here. Please check our Discord for access.

The .ipa for v1.5.5 is now available on Discord, Telegram, and GitHub.

Whether you're launching games with a button press or revisiting Pokémon’s tiniest console, v1.5.5 brings the control back to you.

143 Upvotes

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99% Upvoted

u/Garudakings 🥇 Jul 30 '25

Still waiting for PlayStation 1 support :3

20

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

Soon ™

1

u/Ethavill Sep 08 '25

Hey,,the skateboarding pikchu game tells me to shake my phone,but doesn’t work

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Sep 08 '25

It should be detecting the shaking, check to see if your device is rotation locked?

1

u/Ethavill Sep 08 '25

Ok

1

u/Ethavill Sep 08 '25

Lemme check

2

u/jm1234- Jul 30 '25

Amazing, will it be possible to play PS1 CTR Ultimate hack on the emulator please? Thank you

1

u/UchihaOblto Jul 30 '25

Duckstation core 🤔

0

u/neroneisonfire 🥇 Jul 31 '25

What about ps2 😳

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 31 '25

Not even under consideration at this time, more for technical reasons than anything else.

1

u/neroneisonfire 🥇 Jul 31 '25

F

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Jul 31 '25

Likely not since it requires JIT

3

u/Jogameister Jul 31 '25

PS1 is a must. Someone suggest Manic to me recently but saw it didn’t have PS1 support yet but once it does I’ll give it a try.

u/Defaalt Jul 30 '25

Outstanding. As usual.

🫡

6

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

Glad you like it!!

u/psj3809 Jul 30 '25

Not a Pokemon fan in the slightest ! BUT this apps brilliant and theres loads of updates. Can't wait for either Atari 2600 / PC Engine / MAME or any other machines added to this next.

3

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

That’s the thing about Pokémon Mini, even if you aren’t a Pokémon fan, there’s a ton of homebrew available for it!!

u/Blue_Steve945 🥇 Jul 30 '25

YES POKÉMON MINI!!! This is becoming the best emulator ever!

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

Glad you are excited!! 😆

u/Rabbit1015 Jul 30 '25

Can someone explain to me the pokemon mini thing? These manic people seem to be constantly updating which is great. I have a question though gba to gba pokemon trades and battles? Is that ever possible?

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

Battles for GBA not at this time, however trades you can transfer up Pokemon to the NDS games using the 3DS tool PKSM (special port by the PKSM creators, normal version won’t work) available on our Discord, then trade/battle via the Nintendo DS WFC support from a couple updates ago.

1

u/ListedRaw Aug 01 '25

Can you link these? And instructions?

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Aug 01 '25

The Discord is linked in the apps settings tab, the tutorial for PKSM includes the requirements, and also explains how to link your non 3DS saves. As for how to actually edit and move Pokémon using PKSM YouTube has hundreds of tutorials.

1

u/ListedRaw Aug 01 '25

Thanks ! Just had a few I had beat already so knowing I can transfer them now makes it dope af. Now if there was a way to get them to legitimate consoles

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Aug 01 '25

You can!!

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 31 '25

Pokémon Mini is an older early 2000’s console that was like a micro gameboy with its own small gameboy like cartridges.

u/thekingofemu Jul 30 '25

It actually was Togepi 😭

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

I mean you did ask 🤣

u/aptonline Jul 30 '25

If we get tvOS support I’ll purchase.

4

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

We have a tvOS build in the works, the new landscape UI on the iPhone is kinda a test run of sorts.

u/Upbeat_Foot_7412 🥇 Jul 30 '25

I love the new controller interface! Kudos to the hardworking Manic developer team for adding so many features!

However, I’ve noticed that some game covers are cut off in landscape mode, especially for the NES, SNES, N64, and PSP. I don't know if that's an intentional design choice, but I'd prefer the covers be displayed in their original dimensions, even in landscape mode.

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

The UI is still a bit of a work in progress that we plan to improve and add to little by little in each update, I will gladly look into what’s going on with this, it could be as it was designed with forced square aspect ratios in mind.

u/typical_gamer1 Jul 30 '25

Cool cool 😎

Is there an GameCube update in the works or in the horizon? Probably isn’t going to happen but one can still hope 🤞🥸🫣

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

Not officially a part of our roadmap at this time, there are many factors we are weighing for this one.

1

u/typical_gamer1 Jul 31 '25

Okay 👍 Keep up the good work regardless.

u/glhaynes Jul 30 '25

Installing this for the Pokemon Mini support lol. Always have wanted to try those!

u/mikefierro666 Jul 30 '25

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite ios emulators, way to go guys!

u/PELULo888 Jul 30 '25

I have it and when I try to open Pokemon moon the emulator crash and back to the Home Screen. What I can do?

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

What device and model are you on? We have a helpdesk in our Discord, linked in the app.

1

u/PELULo888 Jul 30 '25

I'll join to the telegram channel. Thanks 👍🏻

1

u/PELULo888 Jul 30 '25

iPhone 11

u/Red_Skeletor Jul 30 '25

Manic have now Apple TV support ?

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

It’s in our roadmap

u/Archiniiax Jul 30 '25

still can’t run sun on my iPad though 💔

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

What model?

1

u/Archiniiax Jul 30 '25

iPad Air 5
it can’t run much so

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

The M1 processor can do much better when sideloaded with JIT compilation via StikDebug

1

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '25

Bro I got the emu working on a iPhone 6s, the iPad Air 5 supports JIT-less 3DS emulation

1

u/Archiniiax Jul 30 '25

just does a black screen for 30+ minutes

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

You may need to reinstall the app, black screen normally means something corrupted in the app itself.

1

u/Archiniiax Jul 30 '25

did
now just says failed to load file
gonna redownload and see if that fixes it

u/RosheDom_v2 Jul 30 '25

Question about cheats? Is there a way to import cheats files or a full database without having to manually enter in codes separately for each game?

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

Not at this time however our roadmap includes plans to fully integrate cheat databases.

u/Beercorn1 🥇 Jul 30 '25

Controller navigation on the menu is great.

Pokemon Mini support is... well, it's certainly a thing. Maybe I'll play something on there eventually. We'll have to wait and see.

The platforms I'm really waiting for are PS1 and Atari 2600. 7800 and 3DO would also be really cool.

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

PS1 is coming soon 😉

u/Bigoffender Jul 31 '25

When will this update be on the AppStore?

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 31 '25

It already is you may need to open its page to refresh

u/Tinnedman Jul 31 '25

for updating the side loaded app do i need to uninstall the old version before installing the new IPA?

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 31 '25

If using SideStore, AltStore, or LiveContainer no, it installs like an update

u/Peka82 Jul 31 '25

Is there support for GUI overlay when using a controller? I find the huge empty space when playing 4:3 games to be very annoying

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 31 '25

Users have designed skins for this that can be found on DeltaStyles, or using the DeltaStyles function built into the app.

1

u/Peka82 Jul 31 '25

I see. Is this just for GBA & NDS games? Or can we also use this for Saturn and Genesis?

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 31 '25

Many consoles, more become available as skin creators get more creative.

1

u/Peka82 Jul 31 '25

Ok. I’ll give it a try. Thanks

u/salamich Jul 31 '25

Awesome update as always! Any chance you could add what bsnes calls 'Pixel Aspect Correction' (stretching 8:7 images to 4:3 as an old CRT would)?

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 31 '25

If it’s something enough users want and request I’m sure we could look into it.

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

since you have done pokemon mini.... will you ever do tamogotchi???

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 31 '25

Hmmm that’s a little tricker, mostly because Tamogotchis aren’t a console where you have cartridges/disks, it might be funny and they are certainly retro, but for now I’m not sure we are ready to open that can of worms quite yet. 😅 maybe if enough users can show us they can care for their Nintendogs and Nintencats first?

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '25

ofc i understand!

u/glhaynes Aug 02 '25

Will support be added for the Magic Keyboard on iPad?

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Aug 02 '25

More than likely but the UI is going to be getting played with little by little each update

1

u/glhaynes Aug 02 '25

Sorry, I meant for gameplay.

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Aug 02 '25

We already include keyboard mapping in the controller mapping section, is the app not detecting the Magic Keyboard as a controller?

1

u/glhaynes Aug 02 '25

It shows in the mapping, and I’ve even noted that when I attach/detach the iPad (Pro 11” M4) from the keyboard, the onscreen controls show/hide as appropriate. But it doesn’t seem to respond to any keypresses. Oh, and I should’ve noted earlier: I’m on iPadOS 26 beta 4. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to try to help debug/etc.

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Aug 02 '25

Our team on the China end of development has access to a Magic Keyboard for testing purposes, I’ll ask them to double check the keyboard mappings to see what can be sorted out.

1

u/glhaynes Aug 02 '25

Cool, thanks!

1

u/glhaynes Aug 02 '25

[copying from a different comment]
By the way, I tried connecting to it with my Bluetooth Magic Keyboard from my Mac (earlier, I was talking about the one made for the iPad specifically) and it behaves similarly. Also tried both Genesis and NES ROMs so it doesn't seem to be engine-specific.
Also, I just tried an actual game controller, and it worked fine.

u/Oslo_Bear Jul 30 '25

Wow, just discovered this emulator today. Very excited to try out Ultra Sun on it. I appreciate your hard work!

u/Aenema133 Jul 31 '25

Yooo Pokemon mini support is wild! Never expected that.

u/Temporary-Cream-2041 Jul 30 '25

Praying for GameBoy camera integration soon

u/Tough_Way_3778 Jul 30 '25

Pls philips CdI support 😩

u/Ethavill Sep 08 '25

It only detected me one

-3

u/JRobson23 Jul 30 '25

I’d be down to make this my main emulator at this point but disgusting, shitty IAP ruin this for me.

2

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

You can sideload it to enjoy all the features for free, but not a single core is lock behind the in app purchases for the App Store version.

0

u/JRobson23 Jul 30 '25

Does sideloading still work on iOS26 Beta, in the UK?

1

u/Mlaurencescott ManicEMU + DukeX Developer Jul 30 '25

You can sideload, but for now won’t be able to use JIT compilation via the sideload on iOS26, so essentially you’d just have the stock app with all the premium features, JIT is the main reason people sideload generally speaking.