Comparison

Pocket Adventures vs RetroHandheld

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Pocket Adventures

Create, play, and share action-platform levels in a dynamic online community. Explore immersive themes and earn rewards by engaging with creators and friends. Compete on leaderboards for a fun experience for all ages.

Highlights
  • Create custom levels
  • Play user-generated levels daily
  • Immersive themes
  • Online community interaction
  • Social sharing
  • Earn rewards and unlock content
Features
Read full description

“It’s like Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Castlevania, Sly Cooper, Megaman, & Sonic The Hedgehog packed into one awesome game that can fit in your pocket!” –Jack S., Seattle, WA Pocket Adventures takes the “PLAY, CREATE, &, SHARE” concept to the next level by giving players the tools and power to create immersive action-platform styled levels! NEW LEVELS EVERY DAY Players like you from around the world are making fun and challenging levels for you to play, every single day. Do you think you can beat them all? IMMERSIVE THEMES Bored playing with the Temple theme? Want to play in Space? Or as a Super Hero? No problem! We’ve provided 3 action-packed themes to keep the fun going on and on! You can switch the theme whenever you want! DYNAMIC, ONLINE COMMUMITY Is a level too easy or too hard? Let the creator know! Get involved with the creators and communicate with them to build up a community of great levels. GET SOCIAL Did you just create an amazing level? Share it with all of your friends and family on Facebook, via email, or challenge the community! Show them your masterpiece and challenge them to a fun experience! EARN PRIZES & REWARDS Get rewarded by playing, creating, and sharing levels! Use these rewards to unlock new levels and in-game content. SIRQUL INTEGRATION Integrated with the newest and hottest social, location, mobile platform of 2013, Pocket Adventures creates a mind-blowing experience for all ages. Good luck. We’ll see you on the leaderboards! Learn more about Pocket Adventures and other FREE games at http://sirqul.com/pocketadventures CONTACT: pocketadventures@sirqul.com WEBSITE: http://www.sirqul.com FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/sirqul TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/sirqul About Sirqul, Inc. Pocket Adventures is powered by Sirqul.com, a Seattle-based startup that has created a ubiquitous social platform enabling consumers and brands to create their own distributed, Social-Location-Mobile solutions as a means of driving awareness and engagement through viral adoption. Pocket Adventures is one of many applications that Sirqul will release this year leveraging the Sirqul platform.

About

RetroHandheld

Transform your iPhone or iPad into a classic gaming console. Play popular retro systems like Game Boy, NES, and PlayStation with controller support and save states. Bring your own legally owned game files for an offline, ad-free experience.

Highlights
  • Plays 8 classic consoles
  • Controller support
  • Save states and auto-save
  • Offline play
  • Cheat code support
  • iCloud backup
Features
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Retro Handheld turns your iPhone and iPad into a real retro gaming machine, and it plays the consoles most iPhone emulators leave out. Start for free with the classic lineup: Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, NES, and Super NES. Unlock Nintendo 64, PlayStation, GameGear, DreamCast and Sega Genesis with one purchase — no subscription and no ads, ever. PlayStation works the moment you import a game. OpenBIOS is bundled, so there is no BIOS file to hunt down and no setup to wade through. Every emulator core ships inside the app, ready to play. WHAT YOU GET Eight consoles in one app, from Game Boy to PlayStation Auto cover art box art downloads automatically when you add a game A native, uncluttered interface built for iPhone and iPad Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro, and MFi controller support with automatic per-console mapping Game Genie, GameShark, and Action Replay cheat code support Save states anywhere, auto-save on exit, and one-tap resume Fast-forward for speeding through slow sections Screenshot capture to save your best moments iCloud backup for save data across devices Retro TV shell on iPad, plus haptic feedback Play time tracking for every game Fully offline. No accounts, no internet, no tracking. BRING YOUR OWN GAMES Retro Handheld does not include any games. You must own the original cartridge or disc to legally use game files with the app. Import your library from the Files app and keep it on your own device. Built on proven open-source emulation cores, compiled and bundled so there is nothing extra to download before you play.

Screenshots

Pocket Adventures4 screens
RetroHandheld4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: RetroHandheld at 100% against Pocket Adventures's 40%. RetroHandheld also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 weeks). Pocket Adventures's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 3.8) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pocket Adventures sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and RetroHandheld sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pocket Adventures holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 40% of Pocket Adventures's written reviews are positive against 100% of RetroHandheld's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket Adventures ships an update every 5 weeks, RetroHandheld every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pocket Adventures versus RetroHandheld: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket AdventuresRetroHandheld
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better3.8 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings14 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB24 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperSirqul, Inc.David Margot

Customer experience

Pocket Adventures

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

RetroHandheld

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Pocket Adventures

One-time6
  • 1000 tickets$0.99
  • 2500 tickets$1.99
  • 6000 tickets$4.99
Show 3 more
  • 12000 tickets$9.99
  • 25000 tickets$19.99
  • 50000 tickets$39.99
1 purchases

RetroHandheld

One-time1
  • Full Unlock$2.99

Questions

Is Pocket Adventures free?
Pocket Adventures is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is RetroHandheld free?
RetroHandheld is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pocket Adventures or RetroHandheld?
Pocket Adventures is rated higher. Pocket Adventures averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while RetroHandheld averages 3.8 from 4 ratings.
Do Pocket Adventures or RetroHandheld have ads?
Neither Pocket Adventures nor RetroHandheld shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pocket Adventures or RetroHandheld?
Pocket Adventures ships an update every 5 weeks, and RetroHandheld every 2 weeks. Most recently, Pocket Adventures was updated on October 15, 2026 and RetroHandheld on October 31, 2026.

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