Requirements
The devices, the system versions, the tools, and the games that Empo supports.
Device
- An iPhone or an iPad with iOS 26 or newer, or a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or newer. Empo does not run on a Mac with an Intel processor.
- iPhone 11 is the oldest device Empo is tested on. Older devices that run iOS 26 may work, but large maps and battle scenes slow down first on them.
- Free space for each game. A game takes the size of its extracted folder, plus the size of the archive while the import runs. A Pokemon Essentials fangame is often 500 MB to 2 GB.
Sideloading tool
Empo is not on the App Store. On an iPhone or an iPad, you need one of:
A free Apple account limits a sideloaded app to seven days. The tool refreshes the app before the limit. A paid Apple Developer account extends the period to one year.
A Mac needs no sideloading tool. You allow Empo once in System Settings. See Install Empo.
Games
| Engine | Runs |
|---|---|
| RPG Maker XP (RGSS1) | Yes |
| RPG Maker VX (RGSS2) | Yes |
| RPG Maker VX Ace (RGSS3) | Yes |
| Pokemon Essentials and other mkxp-z forks | Yes |
| PSDK | Yes |
| RPG Maker MV, MZ | Yes |
| RPG Maker 2000, 2003 | No |
A game must ship its own assets. Empo cannot install a Run-Time Package.
A PSDK game must be a release that Pokémon Studio compiled on Windows, on a Mac, or on Linux. Empo cannot run a Pokémon Studio project that is not compiled.
Movies play only in Ogg Theora. A game with an MP4 opening runs, but the opening stays blank.
Accepted inputs are a folder, a .zip, .7z, or .rar archive, a JoiPlay .jgp package, or
a self-extracting .exe. See Import a game.
Controllers and keyboards
On an iPhone or an iPad, any controller that iOS supports works. That covers the MFi controllers, the PlayStation and Xbox controllers, and the Switch Pro controller. iOS reserves the Home and Guide buttons, and those never reach a game. Hardware keyboards work through Bluetooth or through a keyboard case.
On a Mac, Empo reads these controllers and most other USB and Bluetooth controllers. To set up a controller that Empo does not recognize, see Controllers and keyboards.