Old-school video game emulation comes to iPhones
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Apple's recent decision to allow video game emulators on its App Store has sparked a huge wave of fresh interest in playing and preserving classic games.
Why it matters: Emulation — which allows games designed for old devices to run on new ones, like iPhones and iPads — enables older gamers to revisit childhood classics, and younger ones to get a taste of what gaming was like in the halcyon 8-bit days.
Driving the news: After years of barring video game emulators, Apple welcomed them onto its App Store last month.
- Apple's about-face came amid an antitrust lawsuit here in the U.S. and a new tech competition law in Europe, both of which target what some regulators and lawmakers consider anti-consumer behavior from the Cupertino tech giant.
Zoom in: Delta, which emulates old-school handhelds and consoles like Nintendo's Game Boy and SNES, quickly emerged as a big winner, with millions of downloads in the past month, developer Riley Testut tells Axios.
- "Emulation needed a moment to become mainstream," Testut says. Previously, "you had to really know what you're doing, or be technical-minded."
- Having Delta and similar software on the App Store is "a turning point for the discussion about emulation," Testut says.
The latest: Two more emulators, RetroArch and PPSSPP, arrived for iPhones on Tuesday.
Friction point: Video game emulation exists in a legal gray zone.
- Emulation software is not itself illegal, but users aren't supposed to download game files (called ROMs) that they don't actually own.
- While some iOS emulators have ads, Delta isn't directly monetized. Instead, Testut and co-founder Shane Gill are accepting donations through Patreon.
Between the lines: Video game emulation fans typically come in two forms: those who want to enjoy the classic games they grew up with, and those who want to preserve classic games as an important art form worth celebrating.
- While some game studios "port" their old games to new systems, others make them harder to access. (Some gamers keep their old consoles and handhelds running, supporting a cottage industry of repair and modification shops.)
- And some games are lost to the sands of time as studios fold or merge and ownership of old intellectual property gets murkier.
Yes, but: Emulation isn't just about playing classic games in their original form.
- "ROM hacks" are a popular subgenre, in which game fans with programming know-how modify existing games to create something partially or wholly new.
- In some cases, people who start with ROM hacks develop an interest in game design that leads to a career.
- "The ROM hack scene — I would love for it to get so much bigger because I do think that user-generated content — it allows people to experience these things in new ways," Testut says.
💬 Our thought bubble: I've been playing a handful of childhood favorite Game Boy games — I own them, please don't sue me! — and boy if it isn't a delightful nostalgia rush.
- That I now get to easily share them with my son is an added bonus.
The bottom line: It's never been easier to enjoy classic games on the go.
