Ares Core on iPhone & iPad | Retropa

Systems and formats in the catalog

Ares upstream project: https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares, and the catalog in this app trims that lineup down to a few handheld families. Ares runs far more systems on a desktop machine than Retropa enables here. Treat the extension list as a floor rather than a promise: getting a file recognized is one thing, and playing a specific title well is another. The app includes no games and no BIOS files, so import only files you are allowed to use.

• Game Boy Advance: .gba
• WonderSwan: .ws
• WonderSwan Color: .wsc
• Neo Geo Pocket: .ngp
• Neo Geo Pocket Color: .ngpc, .ngc

Match the monochrome or color model

Download the image locally first, then check what Retropa detected: the original WonderSwan or the Color model, plain Neo Geo Pocket or Pocket Color. The color variants do things the monochrome hardware cannot. Renaming a file does not convert it, so a color-only title will not turn into an original-model game because you changed the suffix.

• Hang on to the original image, and keep progress in its own backup.
• Confirm the detected model before you go hunting for a palette problem.
• If a system-specific firmware prompt shows up, follow it; no BIOS comes with the app.

WonderSwan orientation needs more than portrait

WonderSwan titles can be built for horizontal or vertical play, and some switch between the two. Work out which orientation the game expects, then look at both directional-button clusters and the skin layout you have chosen. Holding the phone upright by itself does not mean the emulated screen and every control have turned the right way. When a layout cannot reach the inputs you need, pick a different one instead of hoping the core will remap things on its own.

Pocket is not Neo Geo arcade

Neo Geo Pocket takes handheld images, not the multi-file arcade sets that belong to Neo Geo MVS. An arcade BIOS archive is not a Pocket image and will not stand in for one. With the default layout, test the diagonals and both action buttons. Pocket's own screen is monochrome, so expect the color palette only from Pocket Color. Arcade execution is a separate capability that requires Retropa Plus.

Core switching and keeping progress

GBA is the one system here with a genuine choice: mGBA is the default, and Ares is the extra option. Retropa Plus unlocks that switch, and Plus is what core switching costs regardless of whether the system itself is free. For WonderSwan and Neo Geo Pocket the catalog lists Ares and nothing else, so there is no second opinion to gather. Where a comparison is possible, back up the in-game save and the current core's save states, then replay one scene on both cores and judge sound, picture and input for yourself.

• A save state belongs to the core that made it and will not open elsewhere.
• Keep a copy of in-game saves too; nothing migrates them automatically.
• A core switch does not convert the game image or provide a BIOS.

Where comparison is and is not available

Alternatives exist for Game Boy Advance, but the catalog lists Ares alone for WonderSwan and for both Neo Geo Pocket models. Plus does not change that: switching only works where a compatible second core is already listed. Upstream Ares is also much broader than this integration, so resist the idea that another system can be switched on by renaming a file. What you see in Retropa is what runs.