Granted, the control scheme isn’t the most ideal, but given the limited real estate and input options on Apple Watch, it makes sense. The remaining space was dedicated to extremely tiny Start and Select buttons. Left and right movements are accomplished by swiping on the screen, and A and B buttons by tapping the screen. One of the most challenging aspects of making Giovanni a reality was addressing the limited input options offered by Apple Watch. O’Flaherty-Chan decided that it was necessary to enlist the Digital Crown for up and down movements. As you might expect, being a prototype it can be a bit slow and sluggish, but it’s still an impressive feat when you consider the limited nature of the Apple Watch hardware and software. The emulator, named Giovanni after a Pokémon villain, is open source and available for developers to explore on GitHub.

Developer Gabriel O’Flaherty-Chan’s prototype Game Boy emulator is looking to help the cause by making a library of Nintendo games available on Apple Watch. If you’ve checked the App Store lately via the Apple Watch app, then you’re likely aware of how limited the gaming library is on watchOS.