Delta – Game Emulator – the game examples in the store are all homebrew titles (Picture: Apple)
Now that Apple allow retro game emulators on iOS the most popular one has become the most downloaded free app on the App Store.
Despite their family friendly reputation there are some things Nintendo is decidedly less cute and cuddly about. It doesn’t like anyone messing around with its IP and doesn’t allow fan games or creations of any kind. But what it particularly hates is piracy and emulation.
It’s not alone in that but only last month Nintendo shut down the Yuzu and Citra Switch emulators and last year legal action saw notorious hacker Gary Bowser fined a staggering $14 million.
So, you can imagine how they feel about Apple’s new, more permissive, policy on game emulator apps, which has seen Delta – Game Emulator become the number one free app on iOS, with support for the NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS.
The app is free to download but does not include any game ROMs, which you have to obtain or provide yourself. Emulation is in a grey area, legally speaking, in most countries but Nintendo has shut down sites offering free ROM downloads many times in the past.
Even so, they’re still not hard to obtain for those who know where to look or can create them themselves, if they already own the game on cartridge.
Apple chose to allow emulators itself, but it’s thought it was an attempt to placate various agencies around the world, especially in Europe, who are upset about iOS not allowing third party app stores and restricting certain types of apps.
Emulators have been available on Android for years, and Nintendo has not been able to have them successfully removed, so it’s not clear that they’ll be able to do anything about Delta on iOS.
The fact that it’s only just become available is why it’s shot to the top of the iOS charts but to be that successful so quickly suggests that it, or other apps like it, are going to become evergreen titles on the App Store.
We’ve contacted Nintendo for comment but it they’re not able to do anything about it they’re unlikely to say anything.
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Apple specifically only allows ‘retro’ game emulators, implying that it wouldn’t allow those for the Nintendo Switch or other current formats.
The Nintendo DS is the most recent format supported by Delta and was first released in 2004. Unlike the other platforms there is currently no way to play Nintendo DS games – which are awkward to emulate on a TV, due to the dual screens – on the Switch, and no indication from Nintendo as to whether they’ll ever be available.
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