A few months back we came across a PlayStation emulator for the iPhone. It was a pretty nifty proof of concept, but as an actual gaming solution it looked to be pretty weak. There are too many buttons on the PlayStation controller to emulate on the iPhone's touchscreen, and the games put too much strain on the unit's processor. Recent video of a Super Nintendo emulator looks to be much more promising.
The SNES's six buttons and d-pad seem to fit fine on the bottom half of the iPhone's screen. The above video shows acceptable gameplay framerates for Diddys Kong Quest. What a tease: I thought he would boot up Chrono Trigger first -- at least he eventually gets to it.
Mobile Magazine says that the emulator works in both landscape and portrait modes, but the sound isn't functional yet. I suppose the best news is that this emulator, snes4iphone, went public earier this month. If you can follow instructions, you can deck out your iPhone or iPod Touch with your favorite *cough* legally owned ROM files and pack your multifunction devices with even more function.
As cool as this is, there's still much better portable devices to get your emulation on with. You know, those ones with real buttons. [innocent grin] Of course, the fine, legal emulation abilities of Wii's Virtual Console are more than enough for me!
[Thanks, JR]
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
10:23 PM on 02.25.2008
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Trying to play console games on a touch screen is like trying to fuck a brick - equal parts pointless and painful.
And Dan - there's already a GBA emulator for the iPhone/Touch, I figured letting you know here was easier than calling you (I don't have your number).
:)
@The-Excel
Both ipod touch and iphone have multi-touch screens. Or is that not what you were asking??
http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/IPhone
Not since the last time I used one.
Effectively all the concerns raised here (how do you push more than one direction on the d-pad, awkward to hold, button/timing issues, etc.) make up the bulk of why emulation on this device is absolutely wretched. It's even irritating for turn based RPG's, which really should just not be the case.