AnnePad

Pokémon Stadium via static recompilation, rebuilt for iPhone and iPad. Native Metal rendering, Files-based setup, touch controls, persistent saves, and pinned, ROM-free local builds.

AnnePad packages the Pokémon Stadium recompilation project as a native Apple app. It runs ahead-of-time compiled arm64 code through Metal, imports a user-provided Pokémon Stadium (US) 1.0 ROM through Files, and supplies a landscape touch controller that can be customized or hidden when using a physical controller.

No ROM, save, extracted Nintendo asset, signing identity, or provisioning profile is included in this repository. This repository contains the Apple integration and build scripts. The executable contains translated game logic, while ROM files and extracted resource files remain private. See the legal and asset boundaries.

Maintenance status: the foundational upstream is now archived. AnnePad's current production build still prepares its pinned source with patches; a maintained-source conversion and complete release-source delivery are pending. The modernization record separates the verified baseline, issue #2 investigation, and remaining source-delivery work. Preview 4 adds shareable diagnostics for the Brock-gym crash; it is not a confirmed gameplay fix.

Note

AI disclosure: AnnePad uses substantial AI assistance for code, tests, documentation, debugging and maintenance. Some support replies and maintenance tasks are automated. There is no audited percentage of AI-generated code. Build, test and device records describe what was checked. This disclosure concerns AnnePad's workflow, not the authorship of its upstream projects.

Install status

Option	Status	What to do
Make your own with PadMint	Available	See Get started. Releases hold the recipe only.
Local iPhone or iPad build	Available now	Build and sign with your Apple development team using the instructions below.
Simulator	Available now	Best for development and UI testing; it is not a substitute for physical-device testing.
App Store / TestFlight	Not announced	No listing or public TestFlight currently exists.

Earlier builds were signed, installed, and played on a physical iPad. Build 4 has device-build/package and synthetic Simulator diagnostic validation; its new diagnostics have not yet been accepted on the reporter’s hardware. Files import, Metal rendering, touch gameplay, the settings and layout editors, resolution changes, saves, relaunch, and in-place updates have all been exercised on that hardware. Physical-controller, headphone/Bluetooth, interruption, thermal, and full iPhone acceptance remain separate test work.

Get started

The easy way: releases publish no app, because AnnePad contains code translated from the game; you make your own from your own ROM. On an Apple Silicon Mac with Xcode (plus its Metal Toolchain: xcodebuild -downloadComponent MetalToolchain) and brew install cmake ninja mips-linux-gnu-binutils jq ripgrep, download PadMint, unzip it, double-click PadMint.command, choose AnnePad and pick your Pokémon Stadium (US) ROM. PadMint builds AnnePad from this repository's latest release and saves an unsigned IPA in your Downloads folder. Install it with AltStore Classic, SideStore or Sideloadly. The IPA contains code translated from your ROM: it is yours alone; never share it.

By hand:

You need:

• an Apple Silicon Mac;
• Xcode and its command-line tools;
• CMake, Ninja, Git, and Python;
• enough free storage for the generated AOT source and build trees; and
• your own legally obtained Pokémon Stadium (US) 1.0 ROM.

The supported normalized ROM is 32 MiB with MD5 ed1378bc12115f71209a77844965ba50. AnnePad accepts .z64, .v64, and .n64 byte orders and verifies the exact revision before use.

git clone https://github.com/chrissotraidis/annepad.git
cd annepad

./scripts/check-prerequisites.sh
./scripts/fetch-sources.sh
./scripts/prepare-game.sh --rom /absolute/path/to/your-game.v64
./scripts/build-host-tools.sh
./scripts/generate-game.sh --rom /absolute/path/to/your-game.v64

# Playable Simulator app
./scripts/build-ios-simulator.sh

# Audited, unsigned iPhoneOS app and IPA
./scripts/package-ios.sh

The optimized AOT compile is intentionally substantial. On a memory-constrained Mac, limit parallel jobs:

ANNEPAD_BUILD_JOBS=2 ./scripts/package-ios.sh

See docs/BUILDING.md for the complete macOS, Simulator, device-signing, packaging, audit, rollback, and clean-checkout workflow.

First launch

AnnePad never downloads game data.

1. Launch the app in landscape.
2. Choose Choose ROM on the native setup screen.
3. Select your legal Pokémon Stadium (US) 1.0 dump from Files.
4. AnnePad validates its size and hash, normalizes the byte order, and stores a private protected copy in the app container.
5. After Verified. Starting Pokémon Stadium…, the native game begins.

The in-game utility button keeps Replace ROM, Remove ROM, and Edit Touch Layout reachable without placing a permanent settings strip over gameplay. The user ROM and saves remain private to the app container and are excluded from Git and the package audit.

Touch controls

AnnePad feeds touch input into the same normalized N64 input snapshot used by its other input paths. It does not patch Pokémon Stadium's gameplay logic to fake touch behavior.

• Left side: protected analog stick and compact D-pad.
• Right side: A, B, Z, four C buttons, Start, L, and R.
• Phone layout: primary controls sit in the landscape side rails to keep the game surface visible.
• Tablet layout: wider low-grip placement for two-handed play.
• Customize: move, resize, hide, show, or reset individual controls while the game is running; global opacity and separate phone/tablet layouts persist between launches.
• Multitouch: independent button lifetimes preserve quick taps and held shoulders without cross-extension or stuck input.
• Controller coexistence: touch controls can be hidden while using a physical controller; hardware acceptance still requires a real device.

AnnePad's controller backend is SDL2 2.32.10. Preview 3 reconciles current SDL controller instance IDs with four stable player slots at startup, controller add/remove/remap events, foreground resume, and a bounded active check. A stale or detached handle is closed, its input becomes neutral, a sole returning pad reclaims player 1, and an additional pad takes the next free slot. This behavior has deterministic regression coverage; Bluetooth, wired, natural-sleep, full mapping, and two-controller acceptance still require hands-on hardware tests.

Pokémon Stadium uses held R to reveal battle move assignments, L for cancel in relevant battle paths, and edge-triggered Z actions. AnnePad therefore keeps Z as a normal press-and-hold touch.

Current screenshots

Battle at a glance Every core N64 control remains within reach in landscape.	Explore Stadium Touch input stays present across the game’s menu-driven modes.
Pick a team Choose rental Pokémon using the same touch layout.	Ready for the match Move from team selection into a Stadium battle without a controller.

These project-provided iPad captures use privately supplied local game data. No game data is stored in this repository or distributed with the app.

What works

Area	Current result
Native runtime	Static AOT arm64 game code; no general emulator wrapper, JIT, TCC, LiveRecomp, or runtime plugin loading in iOS builds
Rendering	Direct Metal RT64 path on macOS, iPhone/iPad Simulator, and physical iPad
Gameplay	Complete rental battles on native macOS and touch-only Simulator; the signed iPad build boots and plays through touch
Performance	Automatic title/attract averages 29.96 presents/s; controlled two-turn battle averages 29.47 presents/s against the game's 30 Hz cadence
Touch	Analog stick, D-pad, A/B/Z, C buttons, shoulders, Start, pressed feedback, safe areas, and persistent customization
ROM setup	Native Files picker, exact US 1.0 validation, normalization, replacement, and removal
Saves	Serialized snapshots, atomic replacement, backup rotation, corrupt-primary quarantine/recovery, background flush, and relaunch persistence
Lifecycle	iPhone and iPad Simulator soaks retain the same process across foreground, Settings background, and restored foreground intervals
Controllers	SDL2 instance-ID ownership is reconciled across disconnect, reconnect, remap, and foreground resume; deterministic slot/input tests pass, while hands-on hardware acceptance remains open
Packaging	ROM-free arm64 iPhoneOS app and unsigned IPA with deterministic content manifest and fail-closed audit

For the evidence ledger and honest remaining gates, read docs/STATUS.md, docs/TESTING.md, and docs/RELEASE-CHECKLIST.md.

Supported game

Game	Engine	Status
Pokémon Stadium (US) 1.0	Pokémon Stadium recompilation project	Supported
Other Pokémon Stadium revisions and games	—	Not supported by this app

AnnePad is a native source-port integration, not a general Nintendo 64 emulator. It accepts only the exact US 1.0 ROM identified above.

Build provenance and ROM-free packaging

flowchart LR
    A["AnnePad scripts"] --> B["Pinned upstream source"]
    B --> C["Maintained Apple/mobile patches"]
    D["Your supported ROM"] --> E["Private validation and AOT generation"]
    C --> F["Native arm64 app"]
    E --> F
    F --> G["Audited ROM-free IPA"]
    D --> H["Files-based private app storage"]
    H --> I["Native gameplay and saves"]
    G --> I

Loading

dependencies.lock.json pins every source revision. Fetch scripts disable dependency push URLs, maintained patches are checked both forward and in reverse, and ROM-derived intermediate source remains ignored. The package audit rejects ROMs, saves, extracted assets, Simulator slices, private paths, credentials, provisioning profiles, signing keys, and debug-only release surfaces.

This demonstrates repeat packaging of the same app. It does not establish an independent offline rebuild from the published release. Preview 4 adds an explicitly scoped build-recipe archive with wrapper source, pins, patch series, prepared-file hashes and license texts. It still requires external dependencies and private game inputs; complete nested source delivery remains pending. The native executable includes ahead-of-time translated game logic; absence of a ROM file or separable assets does not establish rights to redistribute every linked component.

Physical-device handoff

When an Apple development team and an iPhone or iPad are available:

DEVELOPMENT_TEAM="your-local-team-id" \
  ./scripts/build-ios-device.sh release signed
./scripts/install-ios-device.sh --device "attached-device-name-or-id"

The signed product is isolated under build-ios-app-device-release-signed/Release/AnnePad.app. The physical-iPad path has been exercised; iPhone ergonomics, the controller matrix, audio-route interruptions, and broader hardware coverage remain open.

Frequently asked questions

Is AnnePad an emulator?

No. AnnePad uses static recompilation: generated C code is compiled ahead of time into the native arm64 application. The iOS build audit rejects dynamic recompilers, JIT-related facilities, and general runtime plugin loading.

Does this repository include Pokémon Stadium?

No. You must provide your own legally obtained Pokémon Stadium (US) 1.0 ROM. Do not open issues requesting game data or download links.

Is the game playable?

Yes. Native macOS completed a full rental battle, iPad Simulator completed a separate full rental battle using touch only, and the signed build has been installed and played on a physical iPad. The broader controller, audio-route, iPhone, and device matrix remains incomplete.

Where is the IPA?

There is no public IPA: the app contains code translated from the game, so PadMint builds your own from your ROM on an Apple Silicon Mac. See Get started.

Do physical controllers work?

The SDL2 controller path feeds the normalized N64 input path. Preview 3 repairs stale-handle and player-slot ownership after disconnect, reconnect, and foreground resume, with deterministic regression coverage. It has not yet completed the required real-iPhone and real-iPad controller matrix, so hardware support is not claimed as accepted.

What is the licensing status?

Each upstream component retains its own copyright and license. Some pinned upstream components do not provide a repository-level license grant, so this free, unsigned, ROM-free developer preview should not be treated as a broad open-source, commercial, or official-store license. See the scoped legal and asset boundaries.

Project map

Path	Purpose
apple/	Native Apple shell, ROM setup, touch UI, lifecycle, audio, and platform bridges
patches/	Maintained changes replayed onto exact upstream revisions
dependencies.lock.json	Machine-readable source pins
scripts/fetch-sources.sh	Materialize and verify the locked source graph
scripts/build-ios-simulator.sh	Build the playable release-profile Simulator app
scripts/build-ios-device.sh	Build unsigned or locally signed iPhoneOS apps
scripts/package-ios.sh	Build and audit the unsigned IPA
scripts/verify-clean-checkout.sh	Fail-closed isolated rebuild and manifest comparison
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md	Game core, renderer, Apple shell, input, saves, and packaging design
docs/BUILDING.md	Complete reproducible build and signing handoff
docs/INSTALL_IPA.md	Install the unsigned developer preview with AltStore Classic
docs/TESTING.md	Automated, Simulator, and physical-device acceptance matrix
docs/STATUS.md	Current proven behavior and next concrete gate

Generated sources, external checkouts, ROMs, saves, build directories, logs, IPAs, and signing material are intentionally ignored.

Community and support

Join the Discord for help and news. It is one community for AnnePad and its sibling projects, such as KartPad, BlueWake and MeleePad: ask about setup, building with PadMint, and installing, share how it runs on your device, and hear about new releases first.

Found a bug? Open an issue with your device, its OS version, and the steps that led to it.

Legal and acknowledgements

AnnePad builds on PokémonStadiumRecomp, the Pokémon Stadium decompilation work, N64Recomp, N64ModernRuntime, RT64, SDL, and their contributors. Each project retains its own copyright and license. AnnePad does not relicense upstream or reverse-engineered material and does not conceal its origin.

Before sharing source, screenshots, or a binary, follow the legal and asset boundaries and the release checklist.