Emulators have changed the iPhone forever

digitaltrends.com:

The iPhone App Store is finally home to a few emulators. For folks not into gaming, an emulator is software that allows you to run code from another platform. In this case, we are talking about emulators that let you play titles from retro game consoles (such as the Game Boy Advance) by taking the code installed on hardware (like a cartridge) and letting it run via apps on non-native machines (such as iPhones and iPads).

It seems fans have kept their eyes on this landmark development. Soon after its release, the Delta emulator app climbed to the top of the App Store download charts in 35 countries. An iPad app is already on its way. The momentum continued with the release of the Gamma emulator for PlayStation 1 titles. And last week, PPSSPP – arguably the best mobile emulator out there – landed on the App Store.

It’s a development that makes the iPhone more fun — and in more ways than one. The App Store — and especially the Arcade section — is already home to some visually stunning games. But they don’t command the kind of yearning that retro games elicit. These games are a beautiful recapturing of an era long gone. A touch of nostalgia. And there isn’t a platform more expansive and eligible than the iPhone.

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Why now?

After years of being on the fence, Apple has finally warmed up to the idea of emulators. This came hot on the heels of massive changes it made to the iPhone ecosystem in the wake of market rule overhauls in the EU. There are multiple reasons that Apple has avoided emulators, with two core hurdles being legal gray waters and inherent platform fears.

I’ll give a brief primer on the legal situation here. Nintendo nuked the hell out of Yuzu, an emulator for the Nintendo Switch, over charges of allowing “piracy at a colossal scale.” Yuzu officially