Play GBA Games on a iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad

So, you want to play game boy advanced games on your iDevice? I will go through the process step-by-step so that beginners can understand. For this guide I will be using an iPod Touch for an example, but for on a iPhone or iPad it is the same practice. So without any more delays, here we go!

  1. Your device must be jailbroken in order to do this. One way of doing this is by visiting jailbreakme.com on your device. I won't go into much details here on how to jailbreak as that is for another guide.
  2. Launch Cydia and add the sources "http://cydia.imodzone.net" and "http://cydia.xsellize.com/". How do you add a source? Well, to add a source, follow these instructions.

    Find manage navigate to it at the bottom.

    Screenshot 1

    Tap on sources.

    Screenshot 2

    Tap on edit.

    Screenshot 3

    Tap on add.

    Screenshot 4

    Type in "http://cydia.imodzone.net/" and then tap on add source.

    Screenshot 5

    When it is done downloading and updating, tap return to Cydia.

    Screenshot 6

    Do the same process again to add "http://cydia.xsellize.com/".

    Screenshot 7

    Congratulations, you have just added iModZone's and xSellize's Cydia repositories. With the source now added, you will now be able to download packages from the repositories.

  3. Now with the repositories added, it is time to download and install gpSPhone and iFile.

    After adding the sources, find the iModZone Repo and tap on it.

    Screenshot 8

    Scroll down to find gpSPhone and tap on it.

    Screenshot 9

    Tap on install.

    Screenshot 10

    Tap on confirm.

    Screenshot 11

    Wait for it to download and install and then tap return to Cydia.

    Screenshot 12

    Go back to sources and find the xSellize repository.

    Screenshot 12

    Scroll down to find iFile and tap on it.

    Screenshot 13

    Repeat the same process as you did before with installing gpSPhone.

  4. With the "tools" needed to complete the job you can now add ROMs to the emulator. To add ROMs, you will need a site to obtain them from. I find myself normally using http://doperoms.com, but you can get them from wherever as long as you know the site is safe. With the ROM that you want for your device now downloaded, it is time to transfer it.

    Launch iFile from the home screen on your device.

    Tap the wifi bar looking icon at the bottom to start the web server.

    Screenshot 14

    Find local IP address of your device in the post that will appear on your screen and take note of it. It is blurred in this screenshot.

    Screenshot 15

    In your web browser, type in the local IP address followed by the port number ":8080". (Please note that the port may end up being a different number. In newer verisons of iFile this seems to be the case.)

    Screenshot 16

    Navigate to "/var/mobile/Media/ROMs/GBA".

    Screenshot 17

    Once you are there, you can "Browse...", find your ROM on your computer that you have downloaded before (make sure that it is unzipped), and then "Upload" it to your device.

  5. Launch gpSPhone, select the ROM that you have placed on your device, and enjoy your game!

There are different ways to to get gpSPhone and iFile. In this case I am using iModZone's and xSellize's Cydia repositories to obtain them. Also, there are also different ways to transfer ROMs to your device, this is just one of several ways. They all have the same concept which is to get a ROM downloaded and transfered to the device so that the emulator can read it.

If you liked this guide, there are some other emulators out there. They can emulate NES and N64, but they have their limitations as to what devices they can play on. Essentially, you can use this same method with those emulators as well.