Video game emulators They are going through a difficult time. In March it was the Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, which was shut down after a lawsuit from Nintendo. Pizza Emulators, another Nintendo emulator, disappeared around the same time. Then over the weekend, after Apple updated its restrictions on retro game emulators to allow them on the App Store, a Game Boy Advance app called iGBA quickly became a favorite. iGBA did not pass on Monday.
However, the emulator that iGBA resembled is now available on the App Store: Delta, a free and improved version of an emulator designed specifically for iOS that supports games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and DS, which create games built for those systems that can be played on iPhone screens. The emulator is “focused on providing a polished, easy-to-use emulation experience, with iOS-specific features like AirPlay,” says its creator, Riley Testut. It is compatible with a variety of controllers, including Nintendo Switch Pro controllers, Joy-Cons, Nintendo Switch Online controllers, and PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Apple loosened App Store restrictions for allow retro game emulators in his shop earlier this month. The main stipulation in their rule change was that emulation apps comply with “all applicable laws.” (Nintendo has a history of cracking down on sites that traffic in ROMs, which are playable software versions of its hardware game cartridges.) Apple also expressly prohibits “copycats” in its store. “Don’t just copy the latest popular app on the App Store, or make some minor changes to another app’s name or user interface and pass it off as your own,” their guidelines say. In the case of iGBA, it was itself a version of another developer’s work.
Testut, a University of Southern California student and app developer, tells WIRED that he first learned about iGBA on Discord, where Patreon supporters were talking about it Saturday night. He quickly recognized his work in the emulator listed on the App Store. “Not only were the controller and user interface designs identical, but also internal application name It was literally ‘GBA4iOS.app’.”
Online, Testut expressed his surprise and disappointment that iGBA had arrived on Apple’s platform before his own project. “I’m angry that Apple took the time to change the App Store rules to allow emulators and then approved a knockoff of my own app,” even though it had been trying to release a GBA4iOS update called Delta” since March 5 “, said. wrote in Threads,
Testut says the developer responsible for iGBA emailed him “and personally apologized for the mess… They didn’t expect all of this to happen so quickly,” Testut says.
Apple declined to comment.
As the gaming industry fights to save older titles that are at risk of disappearing forever, emulators like Testut’s are likely to become increasingly in demand. “We have repeatedly seen that IP owners are reluctant to (consistently) port older titles to newer hardware, preventing later generations from playing them,” says Testut. “Emulators ensure that old games can still be played decades later, similar to playing old audio recordings.”
Even industry leaders believe that emulation could be the answer to preservation issues in games. “My hope (and I think I have to present it that way from now on) is that as an industry we work on legal emulation that allows modern hardware to run any old executable (within reason) that allows someone to play any game”. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said axios in 2021. Since then, Microsoft has created a internal team focused on the preservation of Xbox games.
Apple has already opened the door to emulators in its App Store; iGBA has shown that there is a very eager market waiting. Delta, as long as it remains to Apple’s liking, could finally be it.