The Best IOS Game Emulators You Can Play on Your IPhone
Since the launch of Android in 2008, Apple’s iOS has fallen significantly behind Google-powered rivals in one area: retro gaming. While some companies, notably Final Fantasy creator Square Enix, regularly put their older games on the App Store through official mobile ports, the best Sonic or Mario fans could access the App Store were free-to-play games like Sonic Dash or Super. Mario Run .
Sometimes you want something meatier. And Android fans will agree: since the platform’s launch, it’s been open to gaming emulators that can emulate older consoles using software for games from the 80s, 90s, and in some cases, the 00s and beyond.
As Apple turns the iPhone into a modern gaming platform with full-featured versions of games like Resident Evil Village , it seems like the company is finally ready to address this blind spot. Emulators can be tricky to deal with game publishers, even if they’re technically legal , but in an April 5 update, Apple finally changed its rules to allow them on the App Store as long as they don’t distribute infringing material.
Since then, a small but dedicated group of developers have joined forces to bring retro gaming to the most popular mobile platform in the US. Here are the best iPhone game emulators—and the best part is, they’re all free.
RetroArch
RetroArch is the most powerful emulation program on the App Store, but technically it’s not an emulator at all. Instead, it is an interface for running various emulation “kernels” distributed by other developers. Think of RetroArch as a menu, where each core is a separate console that you can select from a menu and then customize to your liking.
With all these options, navigation can be a little confusing. RetroArch’s interface is simple, and while it can be decorated with various themes, it still sometimes dumps dozens of concepts onto the page at once without doing much to explain them.
The good news is that once you download the app from the App Store, you’ll be able to play games on over 70 consoles, including popular consoles like the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation 1. Most of them will work out of the box. but some may require a BIOS (or operating system) file, or at least suggest adding a file or two for added compatibility.
That’s the problem with emulators: they can’t distribute copyrighted information, so you’ll have to provide it yourself. Emulation enthusiasts claim that backing up your game files is legal under US law , although the practice has not yet faced significant legal scrutiny.
But RetroArch makes uploading your own files more difficult than most competing programs. Instead of selecting games from a list, all of which are displayed in a nice frame, the general process is to open RetroArch, select Load Kernel , select the system you want to play (each system may have multiple kernels with different performance levels). and original hardware accuracy in between), click Load Content, then click Open and select the game in the file browser.
It’s a lot to do every time you want to play a game, and you may need to do some research on which kernel to use beforehand. And that’s not all: once you enter the game, you’ll have to tweak dozens of settings, including “Frame Throttle” and “Latency”.
For the most part, you can ignore them, but while you can ease the pain with features like Favorites and Playlists, it can still be a little tedious.
However, enthusiasts will surely enjoy the granular control as settings can even be set on a per-core basis. Everyone else can at least rest assured that while playing there is easy access to basics like touch controls and save states (which allow you to save the game anywhere, separate from the in-game save feature), which can be done in both portrait, and in portrait mode. landscape mode.
RetroArch is the best choice to get the most settings and consoles at your fingertips, and is only worth downloading as a backup as it may be the only way to play certain games. But if you’re looking for something more user-friendly, there are other options.
Delta
Delta was the first emulator to really take off on the App Store, and functions as a stripped-down but more user-friendly version of RetroArch. It also supports multiple cores, but only one for each console and only for a select number, mostly older systems.
These include the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and Sega Genesis. Again, you’ll have to provide the game files yourself, and in the case of the DS, the BIOS files.
But once you follow these steps, setup becomes much easier than in RetroArch. You just need to add the game once to Delta’s main menu using the + icon in the top right corner, which will allow you to browse iTunes or your files, and Delta will add it to the corresponding console’s menu along with the box. art.
From there, simply click on the game icon and it will load. You’ll see touch controls that will work in both portrait and landscape modes, and you’ll also have access to basic features like save states and a “hold button” that allows you to constantly hold down a specific button while playing (useful for games like this like Super Mario World ).
In the app’s settings menu, you can also add cheat codes, change the opacity of touch controls, and even connect to a DropBox or Google Drive folder to download games from there.
Overall it’s a more enjoyable experience and, frankly, cuter. All of Delta’s menus are purple, reminiscent of the Gamecube, and the touch controls for each system have excellent theming, which you can also replace with your own options if you want.
If all you want to do is play old Nintendo games, Delta might be a better choice since it’s similar to Retroarch but doesn’t require a computer engineering degree to use.
PPSSPP
PPSSPP is actually available in Retroarch as a core, but if all you want is to play PSP games, this is the best choice.
That’s because it gives you everything Retroarch does, but like Delta, has an interface that’s easier to navigate.
The catch is that it only works in landscape mode, but since PSP games are widescreen anyway, you’ll probably want to use it anyway.
The user interface here isn’t as clean as Delta’s, but it still offers a simpler basic experience than RetroArch (and the menu is nice too, as it resembles the actual PSP menu). To play the game, simply open the app, click Download, and browse the files for your game. PPSSPP will add it to the Games menu, and after playing it, it will appear in the Recent menu for future use.
Once you’re in a game, click the ^ arrow at the top of the screen to view your save states, as well as additional options you can set for each game. As with RetroArch, there’s a real vocabulary here, like Disable Clipping and Skip GPU Read, but you can usually ignore them and experts will love the extra options.
The only real downside to the app is that it’s not as powerful as other systems, as Apple’s coding restrictions prevent developer Henrik Rydgaard from adding features like RetroAchievements and Vulkan graphics support. In his blog , Ridgard said he’s working to bring them back, but that performance may always lag behind the version of the app on other systems because Apple doesn’t allow Just-in-Time recompilers, which can help re-translate the code for a smoother game.
However, given the power of modern Apple devices, this shouldn’t be a problem for most. The biggest issue I had with Mega Man Maverick Hunter X was the touch controls, but like all the other emulators on this list, you can use an external controller if you want.
Please note that you will eventually see a paid version of PPSSPP on the App Store, but like previous PPSSPP releases, it will not have any additional features. On the contrary, its purchase is just a way to support Ridgard’s work.
Gamma
Gamma is a tough sell, but if you really don’t want to deal with RetroArch, it might be a good choice for you. This is another dedicated emulator, this time for PS1 games, and it basically works like Delta. In fact, in a conversation with The Verge, Delta developer Riley Testut said that Gamma is based on his work with permission.
This should be a simple setup process that involves clicking the + in the top right corner, adding a game file, and automatically populating the list with included skins. There is even a service for linking to a Dropbox or Google Drive folder, as well as the ability to use various skins with a touch controller. Gamma can also run without a BIOS, although adding one may improve performance.
The problem is advertising. When loading a game and when idling in the main menu, Gamma will play ads that can last up to a minute, and it just completely ruins the momentum. The app will also ask you to track your activity when you first load it, which can be a little intimidating.
There is a way around this problem: you need to turn off Wi-Fi and network data when using Gamma. But it’s too much to just play 90s games.
What emulators are not available on iOS?
Even with these four options, iOS still lags behind Android when it comes to emulation. RetroArch, as complex as it is, covers most of the bases, but systems like the PS2, Gamecube, Wii and even the Nintendo Switch are still not represented on the device, even if they can be played elsewhere .
We may never see these systems come to the iPhone due to the limitations Ridgard pointed out, but with general support all the way up to the PSP, as well as ports of modern AAA games like Assassin’s Creed: Mirage , the iPhone has a stronger fight for the title of the best game. phone than ever before.