JoiPlay Setup Guide

What is this?

Today, we'll discuss how to play well-known Pokemon fangames on your Android handheld.

Now, when I say fangames, I'm not referring to romhacks. I'm referring to PC-based fangames such as Pokemon Reunion, Insurgence, Uranium, Reborn, and Rejuvenation, among others.

Some of these may be familiar to you, while others may not be.

I'll disclaim this as well now. This guide has the highest chance of failing out of all the guides I've created on my website. It is truly miraculous that any of these functions, much less run, are genuinely kept together by aspirations and hopes.

This implies that I am not the best person to seek support or ask if you are having problems. The answer will be unknown to me. I can at least confirm that these games run on the AWN Odin 2, but I'm not sure whether they work on your other device or anything else. I'll go over how to get these games running and everything else today. They are functioning normally, though I can't guarantee they won't crash every hour or anything.

Setup Start

But let's get back to the games. To play these games, we'll need to use an Android app called JoiPlay. Although it's not an emulator, you may consider it one.

No cost is involved; it may be free through a Patreon post. The most recent JoiPlay public version is available for download on Patreon.

Next, you should download the most recent version of the RPG Maker Plugin. It might be in another post or that same one.

Finally, the JoiPlay Mapping Generator must be downloaded, which is available here. It is the post's last choice. This is necessary for controller mapping.

All you require are those three APKs.

Open each APK and install it, beginning with the JoiPlay one. Then, you can complete the remaining two.

You can now launch JoiPlay. Continue clicking "Next," agree to the terms and privacy statement, and finally grant all the permissions it requests—there are several.

Getting Games

At last, we have reached the JoiPlay home screen. To proceed, we must now obtain a game or games. The simplest way to download them is to use the browser on your device, but you can also download them on your PC and then transfer them to your smartphone. Either method works. However, if you download them straight to your device without using a PC, utilize Solid Explorer File Manager, which is an amazing file manager that can extract zip files.

I will quickly go over how to obtain the files for them. It's really easy: go to the game's website and download the entire zip file, not just the installer. We require all the files, and happily, every game offers the complete zip files. Let's quickly go over how to obtain the files for the games I discussed before. You don't need all of them, so if it's easier for you, you may choose to play only one of these games for the time being.

Pokemon Reunion

Go to the Download tab of their website to learn more about Pokemon Reunion. A MEGA link will open; right-click the full version and select "download," then "standard download." Remember that this game weighs 2.21GB. It will take some time, so go ahead and extract the zip file.

Pokemon Insurgence

Visit the Pokemon Insurgence website and click the "Download" option. You can click the Download button beneath the Full Download option. Remember that most of these are huge, and this game is 691MB. Feel free to extract that zip file now.

Pokemon Uranium

Go to the Play button and the Pokemon Uranium website. You will be sent to Reddit; download the Zip file. It will lead you to MEGA. Open the zip file and extract it.

Pokemon Reborn

Go to the Pokemon Reborn website and scroll down to find the "Download" button. Don't grab the Windows 8 or later version; instead, grab the Windows 7 or earlier version by scrolling down again. Open the zip file and extract it.

Pokemon Rejuvenation

Go to their website and find the Download option for Pokemon Rejuvenation. Get the most recent version of Windows by scrolling down once more. You will be directed to MEGA, where you may download and extract the zip file.

Now, if you're as crazy as I am and you grabbed them all on the PC instead, let me warn you that if you extract them on the PC first, transferring them all to your device simultaneously will take hours. If you're familiar with Android, you'll also need to keep your screen on during the transfer so it doesn't disconnect, so you'll need to tap the screen every 20 minutes or so to avoid the 30-minute timeout.

You should move them to your device as zip files and save them in a folder. I have my Pokemon Fangames, and it's in my ROMs folder on the SD card, but you may store it anywhere you like. Then, use Solid File Explorer Manager to extract on the real device. Press and hold the zip file, click the three dots, and select Extract.

After extracting, you can delete the original zip files if you'd like; they are unnecessary.

Installing Games

Let's return to the device so that we can launch JoiPlay once more.

To access one of the game folders, click the Plus symbol in the upper right corner. Mine are in the Pokemon Fangames subdirectory, ROMs folder, and the external drive. I'll start with Pokemon Insurgence, and after that, you should choose the exe file, typically called Game.exe. If you would like, you can now add a name, a version, and a thumbnail to the game, but I'll ignore those. When prompted to extract the game files, click "yes" and let it take care of the rest.

We can now follow the same procedure for the remaining games. The instructions are identical for Uranium, except that Uranium.exe is the executable. Rejuvenation, reunion, and rebirth are all the same steps.

A popup like mine may appear if you attempt to run a game. It states that RTP must be downloaded, in this case, for RPG Maker XP. Fortunately, a Download button is located directly there; click it. We need this game's RPG Maker XP tab, so scroll down and choose it. Then, download it at the bottom right of the page. Return to JoiPlay, click the game again, choose Choose this time, and then find and pick the file we downloaded. It will extract.

Try clicking the game once more. You'll probably be prompted for a long list of permissions; grant them all.

We'll load the game this time, so you'll be ready if you're using a touch screen. However, a few issues must be fixed for those using a controller or portable device. To exit and return to the JoiPlays home screen, select the tab at the top and the X button.

Controller Mapping

Navigate to Settings in the upper right corner, select P. Essentials Settings, and turn on Input Overrides. To get Gamepad Mapping, open the game, choose the top tab, click the Settings cog on the right, and finally scroll down. You may already have items here; for me, I took them out and pressed buttons on my controller to make them appear, but either approach works. By default, it may not display all of your controller's buttons.

Occasionally, pressing a button on my controller caused me to leave this screen; returning to it essentially removes anything that isn't a button or pad, such as Back and so on.

The challenging part now begins: mapping the controls on our gadget to the game's controls. I used the on-screen touch controls to navigate to the controls portion of the game's main screen for Insurgence. Additionally, all of the activities and the appropriate controls are visible if you browse across this page. For instance, in this game, the Action button is C, while the cancel button is X. That is now my Action button. If we go to Gamepad Mapping again, I want to use Button A on my controller and map it to C. The Dpad buttons can then be mapped to correspond with a keyboard's WASD, with W standing for up, A for left, S for down, and D for right. After that, you can assign other buttons to any buttons you choose. Right now, I've only mapped Action and Cancel. If you need an additional button while you play the game, map it. Remember to press a button on your controller to make it appear here. I would also set any buttons that are not in use to 0 to prevent them from being used.

Hiding Touchscreen Controls

Additionally, I suggest clicking the tabs to minimize the on-screen buttons rather than hiding them just in case. However, if everything is properly mapped, you can choose to conceal the buttons by going to Settings, Gamepad Settings, and turning on "Conceal Virtual Gamepad" on JoiPlay's main screen.

More Controller Mapping

The controls must now be mapped for each game separately; they do not save between games, so you must repeat the process for every game.

Pokemon Uranium

The controls for Pokemon Uranium had to be switched. You'll notice that your controls have changed when you click the rotating circle icon in the lower right corner. After selecting with C, go to Options and select Set Controls. Now that you can map your controls, I'll do my rapidly on the screen. We need to add the Dpad, so push your Dpad buttons to make them appear, then map WASD to them. I will zero out all the buttons we don't use, then set Button A to C for Action and Button B to X for Cancel. Everything is functioning now, and you can move about. As I mentioned before, I didn't map everything; you may add the Run option and other features if you'd like.

Pokemon Reunion

Next up is Project Reunion, which is devoid of a display controls option. However, if you've been paying attention, you realize that C most likely stands for Action and X for Cancel. Additionally, we can verify it with the rotating circle, and I can attest that both are accurate. We'll be ready to go again after adding our Dpad buttons and mapping as normal.

Pokemon Reborn

When we arrive at Pokemon Reborn, there isn't a button that allows us to access Controls. Let's repeat the same thing, setting our pads to Action to C and Cancel to X. Then, because I'm intrigued, I will try a new game. A setup panel with controls may appear once we can control our character. I was correct, but it had already occurred. You can inspect the game's controls, so you may now remap these new options to your heart's desire. Quite practical.

Pokemon Rejuvenation

You may use the same control panel for Pokemon Rejuvenation and Pokemon since the same individuals created them.

Therefore, it's quite simple: follow these instructions for any game you add. For most games, you may safely test using Action as C and Cancel as X. This will allow you to access the game's controls area and see what other buttons do for you to map.

I can attest that these steps function on the AWN Odin 2 I'm using in this video, but I can't guarantee they do the same on any handheld or controller.

Wonky Textures Fix

Before I send you off to play some games, I want to give you one more piece of advice. The game appears strange and isn't working properly if you start playing it or are already playing it, and suddenly, the tiles are all jumbled. To begin the process, press and hold the game on the Joiplay interface, select Optimize maps, and then press Enter. There are definitely more games with tilemap problems than Pokemon Infinite Fusion, but this typically fixes them.

Although I haven't tested it, you may optimize maps in any game without problems. You decide.

You're done here else. Enjoy yourself while playing some games.