Pokémon Crystal · reborn for the round screen
PokéHike
Johto, in the palm of your hand.
Two buttons. One touchscreen.
Every control of the original, where your fingers already are.
Not an emulator
Every rule of Crystal.
Rebuilt to run natively.
PokéHike doesn’t run a Game Boy. Its engine is rewritten from the Pokémon Crystal decompilation, routine by routine, and checked against the original’s behaviour. The result is the game you know, drawn directly for a round display.
Edge to edge
The opening,
all the way around.
Suicune’s run, the Unown and the Crystal logo now fill the whole circle instead of sitting in a small square. Backgrounds extend to the edge of the glass; every sprite stays pixel‑perfect.
Captured from the native renderer of the firmware on the watch.
A world that keeps time
Johto, morning
to midnight.
The game clock runs on the watch, so Violet City wakes up in soft morning light and glows purple after dark. The same people, Pokémon and events follow the time of day, just as they did on the cartridge. Keep scrolling to watch one walk through town go from morning to night.
Made for round
A menu you
spin with a finger.
Press Start and the classic list becomes a wheel. One option sits in focus at the centre; swipe to turn it, tap to open.
- SwipeFlick up or down to move through Pokédex, Pokémon, Bag, Pokégear and more.
- TapTouch the centre to open. Touch a neighbour to jump straight to it.
- Or pressPWR is A and BOOT is B, with a small hint beside each button showing what it will do.
Everything in your Bag
Familiar screens.
Redrawn for the circle.
All 251. In order, or A to Z.
Scroll the list with a flick, then tap a Pokémon for its artwork, size and original entry text.
Battle
Champion‑ready.
The complete Crystal battle system, with every move, effect and animation, on a screen the size of a coin. Tap a moment to replay it.
Between adventures
A companion,
not a distraction.
PokéHike is quiet by design. Nothing plays until you ask, important moments wait for you, and the screen fades to true black when you put it down.
Wake to play in 1.8 seconds.
From deep sleep to the first frame, down from 5.4 seconds. Saving takes 0.4.
Auto.
The journey continues.
Turn on Auto and your trainer keeps travelling, handles routine wild battles and heals up, using only moves the real game allows. It stops for the decisions that matter and keeps a log of everything it did.
In testing, Auto has played its way to Mt. Silver and defeated Red.
Auto is off on current watch builds while it is qualified on hardware.
Under the glass
Small chip.
Serious engineering.
The game engine and every screen moved to Rust. The last product C++ was removed, along with 41,199 lines of older code.
The frame‑rate target, with every frame timed to the panel’s own refresh signal. No tearing.
to save, down from 1.8 seconds.
Saves are written twice and checked. Lose power mid‑save and the last good one survives.
The original’s rules and random‑number order, checked against the source game.
No account, no network, no ads. The whole game lives in the watch’s 32 MB of flash.
Tech Specs
- Display
- 1.75‑inch round AMOLED466 × 466 pixelsCapacitive touchGame drawn at exact 3× pixels
- Size
- 55 mm diameter15.05 mm thick48.96 mm glass, 43.76 mm active areaAluminium case, lanyard loops
- Chip and memory
- ESP32‑S3, dual core8 MB PSRAM32 MB flashEverything on board. No SD card.
- Controls
- PWR: A, Home, wakeBOOT: B, StartSwipe and tap on the menusOn‑screen hints by each button
- Sound
- Built‑in speakerMusic and game sounds synthesised on deviceSeparate switches, adjustable volume
- Sensors and power
- 6‑axis motion sensorRechargeable battery, USB‑CScreen fades after five idle minutesBattery life not yet measured
Where it stands
Running on the watch today.
Still getting better.
Working today
- Native Crystal engine, all 251 Pokémon
- Full‑round intro and title
- Touch Start menu, Pokédex, Pokégear, Bag, Party, Trainer Card
- Round battle cards and move info
- Day and night from the game clock
- Music, sound effects and volume
- Compressed, crash‑safe saves
- Quick settings and 1.8 s wake
In development
- Auto mode on the watch
- Trainer Watch face
- Walking with your partner on screen
- Step‑powered expeditions
- Whole‑campaign qualification, Johto to Red
Not promised yet
- Battery life figures
- Importing a cartridge save
- Link features and trading
Stay in the loop
Follow the journey.
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