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Link play

Use the launcher’s ONLINE tab to find a battle lobby, host a battle, or join with a short room code. This page is for players. Mod authors who need to understand compatibility should use Link Compatibility.

Before you start

Import the game and save you want to use, then open the launcher’s ONLINE tab. You need an internet connection. The client keeps one TCP connection to the relay for presence, rooms, spectating and tournaments; players do not exchange host IP addresses or open ports. Link protocol 3 is what the relay and every current build speak, so both players need a build from the same release.

Online play is open to every imported game: Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, FireRed, LeafGreen, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald. Battles and trades run inside one generation; see Generations for the cross-generation Union Room.

Connect and join

1. Enter a Display name and select Connect. The pill turns to ONLINE and the page shows how many players and open lobbies there are.
2. The landing page has three cards: Play, Watch and Trade. Host a tournament is at the bottom of Play.
3. Under Play, join a listed lobby with its Join button, or select Host a battle. A lobby marked private asks for its four-digit PIN. Lobbies can be filtered by All, Gen 1, Gen 2 or Gen 3, and you can invite a listed player directly.
4. Follow the wizard: Which game?, Which save?, Pick your team, then Check this over. Gen 3 hosts also pick Which kind of battle?: single, double or multi.

The room screen shows who is seated, the rules, and its status. In the current UI the states read Waiting for a challenger, Both trainers are picking a team and Battle in progress. Both trainers select Ready; the host has Host controls to kick a player or close the room. The Copy button copies the room id.

Private tournaments use a six-character code: enter it under Join private tournament. Public ones are listed under Open tournaments.

Compatibility

Choose one of the launcher’s approved cart modes on both sides: a vanilla cart or a sealed custom cart. Mods included in that sealed custom cart are part of the approved link setup. Loose mods enabled outside the selected cart are not; disable those before hosting or joining. The launcher checks the selected carts and refuses an unsupported pairing before the room begins.

Mods that only translate text are the exception: a mod declared as a translation stays on and does not block online play. On the Gen 3 games, mods that are purely cosmetic (text, fonts, names, sprites, palettes, audio) also stay on, as long as they request no permissions and register no hooks or events. The room list greys out a lobby you cannot play and names the first field that differs.

The details, and how mod authors keep their mods link-safe, are in Link Compatibility.

Generations

• Gen 1 and Gen 2 rooms run that generation’s own link battle.
• Gen 3 rooms offer Single battle, Double battle and Multi battle (four trainers, two teams of two, three Pokémon each), plus trades. Tournaments use single or double.
• The Union Room is a shared room where Gen 1, 2 and 3 players meet, chat, trade and battle. In Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver and Crystal it is upstairs in every Pokémon Center; Launcher Options -> Union Room set to OFF restores the original Centers. Ruby and Sapphire get an added door in each Pokémon Center 2F. FireRed, LeafGreen and Emerald have their own 40-player room.
• Cross-generation battles run under a Gen 3 ruleset limited to the older game’s Pokémon and moves; temporary substitutes never touch the save. Cross-generation trades show every permanent change before you confirm.
• The in-game Cable Club on Red, Blue and Yellow also links over a local network without the launcher.
• Fast-forward is locked to 1X in every link or online battle.

Troubleshooting

• If the tab says OFFLINE, check the internet connection and select Connect again. If it reports an error, record the exact message before retrying and see Troubleshooting.
• If no lobbies appear, confirm the status says connected. You can still use Host a battle when the list is empty.
• If a private lobby refuses you, check the four-digit PIN. If a tournament code is rejected, enter exactly six characters. If the room says you cannot join, follow the reason printed under the lobby name.
• If the game says mods that change link play are on, disable them in the mod manager and relaunch: mods are fixed at boot.
• If the game refuses a battle or trade for compatibility, both players should compare the selected cart id, version, and seal state. Disable loose mods and reimport the intended sealed custom cart if needed. See Link Compatibility for cart-author guidance.
• If the refusal says cart differs, cart version differs, or cart hash differs, import the same sealed cart release on both machines and choose the game that cart targets.

Check and recover

The visible success checkpoint is ONLINE, a room screen after Host a battle or Join, and the room status Both trainers are picking a team. If that checkpoint is not reached, return to the launcher, restore the intended vanilla or sealed custom cart selection, disable loose mods, and retry after recording the displayed message.