Retro Game Guides
Retro Game Guides is an iPhone app for reading and organizing classic game walkthroughs offline.
What Retro Game Guides is
Retro Game Guides is an iPhone app for reading and organizing classic game walkthroughs offline. Its Reflow, Original, and No wrap layouts offer different ways to read; Reflow adjusts prose to the phone’s width while keeping recognized maps and tables intact. Guide headings form a Contents view, search results show passage context, and the app saves your place in each guide. You can highlight passages, add notes, and bookmark locations, all collected in the Notes tab. The library includes original Standard Edition walkthroughs that identify supported game platforms and route scope. You can also import plain-text files up to 10 MB or save supported online guide pages as attributed text snapshots. Import tools include folder previews, duplicate skipping, and review of uncertain matches. Once content is available on the device, the library, search, progress, favorites, and notes work offline. The maker says there is no account, advertising, analytics, tracking, or cloud sync. The free plan allows up to three games, with unlimited guides per game. Unlimited Library costs $4.99, paid once as a one-time in-app purchase.
Good
- Reading position is saved for each guide.
- Search results include passage context.
- Notes, highlights, and bookmarks are collected together.
- Saved and imported content works offline.
- Free plan allows unlimited guides per game.
Watch out
- Requires iOS or iPadOS 17 or later.
- Plain-text imports are limited to 10 MB.
- ZIP archives and PDFs are not accepted.
- Free plan is limited to three games.
Who it suits
It suits iPhone readers who want to keep classic game walkthroughs, notes, and bookmarks together for offline use. The free plan may suit readers whose library covers no more than three games.
Verdict
Retro Game Guides combines offline walkthrough reading with search, saved progress, and annotation tools. Its free plan covers up to three games; expanding beyond that requires the $4.99, paid once in-app purchase.
Plans and prices
From Retro Game Guides's own pricing page, checked 7 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Up to 3 games · Unlimited guides per game · Larger batch imports require the one-time unlock |
| Unlimited Library | $4.99, paid once | Unlimited games · Larger batch imports · One-time in-app purchase |
The facts
Each one read from Retro Game Guides's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Imports
- It imports plain-text files up to 10 MB and supports folder previews, duplicate skipping, and review of uncertain matches before import.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Included content
- The app includes original Standard Edition walkthroughs whose pages state the supported game platform and route scope.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Navigation and search
- The app builds Contents from guide headings, supports search with passage context, and saves each guide’s reading position.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Notes
- Readers can highlight passages, add notes, and bookmark places, which are collected in the Notes tab.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Offline use
- Imported and saved guides, library organization, search, reading progress, favorites, bookmarks, highlights, and notes work on-device once the content is available.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Online guides
- Supported online guide pages can be saved as attributed text snapshots for offline reading.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- The maker says there is no account, advertising, analytics, or tracking, and the guide library stays on the device without a cloud-sync service.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Purchase handling
- Purchases are one-time in-app purchases, and restoring a purchase requires a network connection while Apple and RevenueCat check the entitlement.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Retro Game Guides is an offline reader and library for classic game walkthroughs on iPhone.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Reading layouts
- It offers Reflow, Original, and No wrap layouts, with Reflow adapting prose to phone width while preserving recognized maps and tables.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Requirements and limits
- The app requires iOS or iPadOS 17 or later; personal file imports accept plain text up to 10 MB, while ZIP archives and PDFs are not accepted.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Support
- Support guidance is available on the maker’s support page, which directs users to open a public support issue for guide corrections and reader-layout problems.checked 7 Oct 2026
Alternatives to Retro Game Guides
- 1
Gamepressure Guides
Free planAndroidiOSWebLinux7.4Free plan - 2
ClearedMap
Free planWeb7.3From $2.99 a month - 3
Icy Veins
Free planWebLinuxmacOSWindows7.2From $47.88 a year - 4
Gamer Guides Interactive Maps
Free planiOSWeb7.1From $24.99 a year - 5
RaiderBuddy
Free planWebExtensionWindows6.7From €2.99 a year - 6
Kronos
Free planAndroidiOSWeb6.6Free plan