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One of the best handheld Zelda games is now (unofficially) available on Android

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Why This Matters

The unofficial Android port of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap marks a significant step in bringing classic gaming experiences to mobile devices, expanding accessibility for fans and new players alike. This development highlights the growing trend of retro game emulation and porting, which can influence future game preservation and modding efforts in the industry.

Key Takeaways

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

TL;DR The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap has now received an unofficial Android port.

This port comes a few days after the game was ported to PC.

The Android version supports gamepads and allows you to adjust the game’s resolution and frame rate.

We saw a major development last week when The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap received an unofficial PC port. We didn’t have to wait long for an Android version, though, as a developer has now made this a reality.

Developer MatheoVignaud (h/t: r/retroid) has released an Android version of The Minish Cap, following on from last week’s PC port. This version includes a few options, namely window/render scaling and target frame rate (from 30fps to unlocked).

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Installing the Android port is pretty easy, as you sideload the APK from MatheoVignaud’s GitHub page. You also need a copy of The Minish Cap ROM, renamed baserom.gba for the US version (or baserom_eu.gba for the EU version). Simply launch the app, tap play, and select the ROM from the resulting file picker. The app will then spend a few seconds extracting assets from the ROM, and that’s it. If the app is stuck while extracting assets, then the most likely cause is that you haven’t renamed the file.

The only real downside to this port is that the touch controls are tiny. So I’d highly recommend using a physical controller for a more enjoyable experience. Thankfully, my Xbox One controller works just fine. It’s also worth noting that the settings page becomes a little wonky (with overlapping text) when holding your device in portrait orientation. Nevertheless, I’m glad to see The Minish Cap joining Twilight Princess, Majora’s Mask, and Ocarina of Time in receiving Android ports.

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