Forget Phones, iPads Are the Real Superstars of Portable Retro Emulation

howtogeek.com:

Apple is making history by allowing video game emulation apps on the iOS, iPadOS, and Apple TV stores, and that's got iPhone users rightly excited. However, I think that of all their devices, it's Apple's iPads that actually offer the strongest reasons to play emulated games. Here's why.

The 4:3 Screen Aspect Ratio!

With the sole exception of the second-generation iPad Pro 11-inch model, all iPads have a 4:3 aspect ratio. That just so happens to be the same aspect ratio as the vast majority of home television during the bulk of gaming history. So any games meant for consoles like the SEGA Master System, NES, SNES, PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, and really anything before the "HD" console era were made for this screen shape.

This means you can get a lovely full-screen game with no black bars on your iPad, compared to playing on your iPhone or Apple TV where you'll have relatively enormous amounts of unused screen real estate. Most iPad models have truly superlative displays, and if you're lucky enough to own a Mini-LED or the latest tandem OLED iPad models, the game will look like it's painted onto the glass.

Excellent Speakers

I've waxed lyrical in the past about how impossibly good the speakers on the iPads are, and once again this is a great reason to play emulated games on your iPad instead of your iPhone. If you really want to enjoy those thumping chip tunes or the amazing early soundtracks of CD-based games from the PlayStation 1 or Sega Saturn Era, anyone would choose the beefy speakers on an iPad over a phone any day.

Great for Controller Play Set Up Anywhere

While there are good controller solutions for iPhones, such as the Backbone controller, you'll likely be tempted to try playing with touch controls at some point. Unless you're playing a turn-based game like Final Fantasy Tactics then I think we can all agree touch controls are terrible. They're even worse for emulated games that were not designed with touch control in mind.

Since iPads