Ok, so I just want minecraft java edition running on my Retroid Pocket Flip 2. Which from a hardware perspective is identical in everyway to the Retroid Pocket 5.

I can use Game Native to get PC games running.

My device also came with PovavLauncher. I don't know what it does, but it's minecraft related. Although it appears to be an android app.

Does anyone know where I should look for a guide?

You can run the game without a Microsoft account if you use a third party or custom launcher/entrypoint. Downloading and updating it is another story. Just speaking from Linux gamescope and curseforge experience. Not exactly sure about your case.

Ignoring cracks/illegal routes, I'm not sure you can

Microsoft deleted any remaining Minecraft accounts that were not migrated to a Microsoft account 2 years ago now. Any accounts remaining are now solidly Microsoft accounts with Minecraft access. Unless for some reason the android and apple license system was exempted, If you never ported your account, you no longer own a license to use Minecraft.

Its BS that they were allowed to do this but, that's the state of the situation.

Any legitimate/legal launcher that you find for Minecraft is going to require you to sign into a Microsoft account to use it, as they require account authentication to download the library files and the old Mojang account system that the original system used no longer exists.

you mentioned PovavLauncher. That's a minecraft launcher as well, they don't provide libraries for the game, and instead have you sign into a MS account so they can pull the files directly from microsoft.

edit: Apparently the requirement to have an account to download the files isn't actually correct. It's just they require you to have a license to use Minecraft if you're going to download them. I don't feel like it was always this way but it currently seems to be that way with my testing.

I think Prism launcher lets you play offline without an account, but I might be misremembering that

Without cracking, only emulating console versions or the Android version, or figuring out a way to run the super old and abandoned Pi Edition on modern hardware.

https://github.com/HMCL-dev/HMCL

https://hmcl.app/

I only saw a comment from the LLM that you could set up an offline account but I can't confirm this.

the standard Prism Launcher does have an offline mode. However, it's only accessible once you've logged into a Microsoft account.(I just tried it because I was curious of if they checked against that) If you try to run a instance without not having a Microsoft account linked it will prompt for you to add a Microsoft account first.

You can easily get it to work without a Microsoft account, just not in an officially supported way.

Android and iOS should be exempt as far as I know, because if you own a PC copy of Bedrock, you can't play on mobile and vice versa. Otherwise you are right piracy is the only option.

Java on mobile isn't officially supported, so it wouldn't be the case if you own bedrock on mobile

Technically, Minecraft java does have a free version which is a limifed demo version. However, I believe it is actually the full game with just a flag turned on.

Yeah, the Prism launcher, when you don't have a account connected, asks you if you want to download the demo version instead.

I never realized they had a free trial version of Minecraft Java Edition. That is probably when they unlocked the ability to download the library files without an account.

It would make sense if the demo version is using the free trial that it would be the full game just in a restricted area. I had always thought that when they said demo, they had meant like the old demo that Mojang had had prior to the 1.0 release. But if it's the free trial, that makes so much more sense.

edit: Looking into it further, it seems like they have three separate demo programs, there's the demo that I was talking about, that was like the 1.0 original version that used to be able to find on the Minecraft website, but they've since then added a demo mode that gives you a forced world seed and restricted things that you can do, and on top of that they also have a free trial mode now that unlocks a little bit of the the restrictions but removes items from the game.

I didn't know they provided so many ways that you could try Minecraft before buying it.

I think you can download the installer after you buy it using a Microsoft account

You still need an account but at least it isn't tied to the install