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Local Multiplayer

Two to four people can play one game on one phone or tablet, each on their own controller. Any Android controller works, over Bluetooth or USB. There is nothing to set up first:

  • Everyone on a controller: stand the phone up or connect it to a TV, and give each player a pad.
  • A handheld plus a pad: on an Android handheld, such as a Retroid, play on its built-in controls while a friend uses a Bluetooth pad.

The on-screen pad is never a player of its own: it always controls Player 1. Each extra player needs a controller.

Playing on two devices instead, such as two phones or a phone and an NX Redux handheld? See Netplay.

Which systems

Each system has as many players as the console had controller ports. The TurboGrafx-16 is the exception: its multitap is always plugged in, so it has four. Other multitap adapters aren't supported.

Players Systems
Up to 4 Nintendo 64, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo GameCube, Sega Dreamcast, Arcade (FBNeo), TurboGrafx-16
2 NES and Famicom Disk System, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Master System, SG-1000, Sega CD, 32X, PlayStation, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 5200, ColecoVision
1 Every other system, such as Game Gear, the Game Boys, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, PSP and PICO-8

On Arcade, each game uses as many players as the cabinet had.

Joining a game

  1. Start the game.
  2. Press any button on a controller. It takes the next free player: Player 1 first, then Player 2, and so on.
  3. A notice names the player and the controller, such as Player 2: Xbox Wireless Controller.

Moving the left stick or the d-pad joins too. Moving only the right stick doesn't. A press while the in-game menu is open never joins: close the menu first.

Who is which player lasts until you quit the game. Each launch starts with every player free again. Save states don't store who is which player.

The in-game menu

  • Only Player 1 opens the in-game menu with SELECT + START. For Players 2 to 4, SELECT and START go to the game.
  • The Home or Guide button (MENU) opens the menu from any controller.
  • Any controller can move around the open menu.

The Players page

In a game with more than one player, the in-game menu has a Players row under Load. Its page lists:

Row Value LEFT / RIGHT
Player 1 to Player 4 The controller's name, Empty, or the name with (disconnected) Steps through the connected controllers that are playing, and Empty. Picking a controller another player has swaps the two players.
One row per connected controller Playing or Not playing Switches between them.

The footer reads Close the menu, then press a button on a new controller to join. Two controllers with the same name are numbered, such as Xbox Wireless Controller (2).

Not playing

A controller set to Not playing is ignored in multiplayer games until you set it back to Playing. It is remembered for that controller, across games, and it doesn't affect one-player games.

Bench a handheld's built-in controls

Playing on an Android handheld with an external pad? Set the handheld's built-in controls to Not playing, and your pad stays Player 1.

When a controller disconnects

If a controller drops out, such as a flat battery or a lost Bluetooth connection, its player stays reserved. Its row reads, for example, Xbox Wireless Controller (disconnected).

  • Reconnect the same controller and it gets the same player back.
  • The other players carry on as before.
  • Any buttons the dropped player was holding are let go.

Rumble

Each player's rumble goes to their own controller.

  • Player 1 falls back to the phone's vibration motor when their controller has no motor Android can use, or when they play on the on-screen pad.
  • Players 2 to 4 never vibrate the phone.
  • Game rumble in Tools → Settings → Controls sets the strength for everyone.

Some controllers' motors aren't available to Android over Bluetooth. An 8BitDo Ultimate 2 over Bluetooth on a Galaxy Fold is one we tried. That player then gets no rumble.

Which games rumble: see Controls → Game rumble.

System notes

System Note
Sega Dreamcast Players 2 to 4 have the Vibration Pack but no memory card. Games save to Player 1's card.
PlayStation Player 2 gets the same DualShock pad as Player 1.
Sega Genesis, Sega CD, 32X Controller Type applies to Player 2 too.
Nintendo 64 Each player's Rumble Pak is set in Core Options, from Player 1 Pak to Player 4 Pak.
Nintendo Wii, GameCube Every player gets Player 1's controller. On Wii, each player shakes with R2, and only Player 1 can point or use the phone's motion.

Limits

  • A controller that Android sees as two devices, such as a pair of Joy-Cons, becomes two players.
  • No multitap adapters yet, such as the NES Four Score, the Super Nintendo or PlayStation multitap, or the Sega Team Player.
  • No link-cable play between players on one phone. Game Boy and Game Boy Advance link play works between two devices with Netplay.