TECH Signal 510
Show HN: Pokémon Emerald Ported to Raspberry Pi Pico 2
A full Pokémon Emerald game runs natively on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 microcontroller, delivering 60 fps HDMI output with persistent saves.
This shows that a complex Game Boy Advance title can be executed on a low-cost MCU by splitting game logic and graphics across two cores and reimagining the PPU in software. Engineers see the trade-offs required for real-time performance, such as audio limitations and missing peripherals, when porting legacy code to new architectures. It also illustrates how DMA-driven display pipelines can isolate output from CPU stalls caused by flash operations.
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The port runs game logic on core 0 and PPU rendering on core 1, achieving locked 60 fps except for the OBJ-window intro scene.
All game data resides in QSPI flash and is executed in place, using about 378 KB of RAM for runtime while saves persist across power cycles.
Audio is partially functional (DPCM and reverse-playback instruments silent), link cable and real-time clock features are missing, and the OBJ-window intro runs below target frame rate.
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