NES Emulator for iPhone and iPad Now Available on App Store [Removed]

[synonys]

Copying and pasting something doesn’t make you a lawyer and I’m betting Nintendo would win at the end of day

See, it’s FUD like this that’s holding back advancements in this area. The guy cites tested law from *copyright(dot)gov* but you still have to air the specter of Nintendo’s mythical ninja lawyers. News flash Nintendo knows emulator’s are legal and only sue on narrow aspects of copyright, see Yuzu.

 

[Bearxor]

Man I just need that DS emulator with iPad 'n Apple Pencil support.

ELITE BEAT AGENTS HERE WE….

GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

 

[Vastolorde97]

Copying and pasting something doesn’t make you a lawyer and I’m betting Nintendo would win at the end of day

Never said I was lawyer and no they wouldn’t theres already a precedence with the Bleem vs Sony case

 

[synonys]

There goes another one

‎AD Boy: All-in-One-Emulator

‎AD Boy - Your all-in-one emulator to relive the golden era of gaming! With support for GBA, GBC, GB, NES, SNES, and SMS, AD Boy opens the doors to a treasure trove of classic titles right on your device. Systems: - Nintendo Entertainment System - Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Game Boy...

apps.apple.com

Timid guys handwringing over stuff that’s already proven legal will miss out

 

[VisceralRealist]

It's funny that Apple finally says "go for it, emulators are allowed now", yet everyone is too scared to publish one.

And so the incredibly ironic Great Emulator Crackdown of 2024 continues...

 

[mukiex]

Never had the need for one so I was clueless, but good to know there is a few out there to chose from.
Anyone specific you recommend?

My personal favorites are:

- Game Boy-themed SN30 or SN30 Pro 2. Just has the comfiest d-pad.
- Saturn-themed M30 (white shell, multi-color buttons) Great for classic fighters but less great for traditional 4-button/4-shoulder-button games.

 

[mjs916]

The old emulation sites with every game ever made are still out there operating… google is your friend

Google is most certainly NOT your friend.

But it is possible to find what you seek through search engines, including Google.

 

[mjs916]

Yes, a bazillion of them. A company called 8BitDo makes decent affordable bluetooth controllers. You should be able to get a good one for $20-$30 on Amazon.

I love my 8BitDo Pro 2. Highly recommend. I use it on a Raspberry Pi 3. Tried to use it on my MacBook Pro but input lags hard on the emulator (OpenEmu). It’s unusable on games using the d-pad. Slight delay that kills quick response games like Mega Man or Mario World/Yoshi’s Island.

I don’t think it’s the controller because I’ve had the same issue with Switch Pro controllers (3rd party) on the Mac as well. I’ve heard it started with MacOS Sonoma but I didn’t have my laptop before that OS.

 

[Le0M]

There goes another one

‎AD Boy: All-in-One-Emulator

‎AD Boy - Your all-in-one emulator to relive the golden era of gaming! With support for GBA, GBC, GB, NES, SNES, and SMS, AD Boy opens the doors to a treasure trove of classic titles right on your device. Systems: - Nintendo Entertainment System - Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Game Boy...

apps.apple.com

Timid guys handwringing over stuff that’s already proven legal will miss out

Thanks for the info.
Although it can be downloaded onto any mac or iOS device, it only works on iPad.

Edit: just found out that you MUST allow access to internet connection for the app to work. In this case, i works on all iOS devices and silicon Macs.

 

[foobarbaz]

Bleem vs Sony https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-9th-circuit/1281580.html#:~:text=Sony sued Bleem for a,a violation of Sony's copyright.


Emulators were deemed legal.

You missed the part where Bleem went bankrupt anyway due to the legal fees.
It doesn't matter if it's allowed. It's still an existential risk for a small developer.

 

[foobarbaz]

Yes if the iPhone automatically deletes it
gonna have to turnoff offload unused apps in settings

Nope, it's fine. You can even completely delete it and get it back from the "My Apps" tab (formerly "Purchases") in your AppStore account.

I just downloaded Bimmy and iGBA from there to test.

 

[DFZD]

*knock knock*

Who's there?

It's Nintendo. We just wanna talk.

 

[bradbomb]

Nope, it's fine. You can even completely delete it and get it back from the "My Apps" tab (formerly "Purchases") in your AppStore account.

I just downloaded Bimmy and iGBA from there to test.

I don’t think downloading from “Purchases“ will continue to work for long. I know of other apps that were removed from the app store and trying to download from “Purchases” only comes up with an error.

 

[dumastudetto]

These billion-dollar corporations should be thankful to have folks such as yourself around to make sure someone is there to stand up for them. Obviously, their lobbyists and political "donations" aren't quite enough.

It isn't just billion-dollar corporations harmed by this. There are creators who deserve to be paid and earn royalties. I've written several games as part of a team, and I don't want my stuff running on any kind of emulator.

 

[dumastudetto]

You’re not entirely wrong but then again so do computers in general.

And the contempt for users shown by the copyright holders is not encouraging. A user experience actually meant to be pleasant for the user remains a primary reason for piracy.

For example, the Peacock app recently removed the “keep watching” row entirely. Just one example of many. More specific to Nintendo, they are happy to keep reselling the same exact games over and over again, using hardware obsolescence to force it.

This emulator doesn’t provide ROMs. I wouldn’t say they are trivializing piracy.

Without emulators, illegal ROMs are essentially useless for the vast majority of people. Ease of access and use is what breeds this kind of unholy behaviour.

 

[dumastudetto]

Those apps have been on Apple's platforms since the PowerPC Classic Mac OS days.

More reason for Apple to lockdown macOS to prevent it.

 

[d686546s]

I briefly went down the road of hacking Delta onto my iPad mini and connecting a USB PlayStation controller. It was as glorious as I had hoped, but I got tired of the hacky nature of it and ended up going the Steam Deck route for my portable gaming needs. Glad to see Apple finally allowing this, though - the mini with a controller is the perfect retro gaming device.

Agee that the phone will probably always be the second best option. I have a Steam Deck too but decided to buy a Miyoo Mini+ for a lot of retro games.

It's small, it's fun, it has a distinct retro feeling -- but at the end of the day I still don't have it with me lots of times because I either forgot to put it in my office bag or because I just don't want to carry it around. Having some good games on my phone would be great for that.

 

[dumastudetto]

Emulators have been around for ages. They are on Apple platforms (just not phones). They are available for Android. Many legacy platform companies don't really care. Why is the iPhone so unique that you feel that emulation of legacy platforms shouldn't belong? Apple itself has said that they will determine whether a given emulated platform should belong, and they will scrutinize the app to keep our walled garden as clean as possible.

If you personally don't want to emulate old software, you can ignore the emulators.

Apple took a well-reasoned stance on emulators in the past. As a creator, I applauded them for it. There's a lot of junk avalable on Android that isn't permissable on iOS/iPadOS. Let's keep the junk in the toxic hellstew and away from the purity of our iPhones and iPads.

 

[dumastudetto]

Did you know a lot of classic games apps from the likes of Sega were emulators?

Ultimate Genesis: Sega's Official Console Emulator for iPhone

Apple's finicky about emulators in the App Store, but most of the candidates have been unofficial, and dubiously legal. Sega's Ultimate Genesis, though, is official, and looks like a full virtual console for your iPhone.

gizmodo.com

Why should Sega have an emulator on Apples platform while we cannot?

Did you know they were legally licensed games, and these officially-supported experiences didn't allow you to sideload illegally obtained ROMs? The way SEGA did it is the only way this stuff should be permitted.

 

[Zest28]

nah this is different because it doesn't include the copyrighted games. you have to find those on your own.

You really think Nintendo gives a ****?

Not sure what games Apple is playing, but I'm sure Nintendo is not so happy with this that Apple and developers are facilitating people playing pirated Nintendo games on the iPhone.

 

[dumastudetto]

Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller literally demoed a PS1 emulator, on a Mac, during a keynote. This is a terrible take.

We all make mistakes. He recognised that later in life when emulators were banned from iOS.

 

[dumastudetto]

You really think Nintendo gives a ****?

Not sure what games Apple is playing, but I'm sure Nintendo is not so happy with this that Apple and developers are facilitating people playing pirated their Nintendo games on the iPhone.

Hopefully the backlash will inform Apple they are making a grave mistake with this policy shift.

 

[d686546s]

It isn't just billion-dollar corporations harmed by this. There are creators who deserve to be paid and earn royalties. I've written several games as part of a team, and I don't want my stuff running on any kind of emulator.

What kind of royalties would you be earning from games that haven't been actively sold in years or decades?

 

[bgillander]

Did you know a lot of classic games apps from the likes of Sega were emulators?

Ultimate Genesis: Sega's Official Console Emulator for iPhone

Apple's finicky about emulators in the App Store, but most of the candidates have been unofficial, and dubiously legal. Sega's Ultimate Genesis, though, is official, and looks like a full virtual console for your iPhone.

gizmodo.com

Why should Sega have an emulator on Apples platform while we cannot?

Why should Sega be able to market an emulator that runs Sega's games, while you cannot do the same? Perhaps because it was to run Sega's games? If Sega had introduced a Nintendo emulator, then your question would make more sense. I'm actually a fan of emulators, but that question seems very much like comparing apples to oranges.

 

[d686546s]

Hopefully the backlash will inform Apple they are making a grave mistake with this policy shift.

Frankly this response perfectly illustrates why Apple (or Google or whoever else) should not be the sole gatekeepers of what users can run on their devices.

Whether you like it or not, emulation is perfectly legal (within certain parameters).