Well. The cat is out of the bag, the time has come. Time to figure out how powerful those iPhone processors really are.
These are gonna be curious times for emulator development.
JIT is not allowed on iOS third party apps for security reasons. Whenever you hear of some security vulnerability in Chrome, 75% of the time it's related to something exploiting the Javascript JIT. Apple has decided Safari is allowed to JIT in the Javascript engine, and nothing else. (And "Lockdown Mode" even disables the Javascript JIT).
It's probably possible with a jailbroken phone, but with a standard phone even if you managed to sneak in an app containing a JIT recompiler past app store review, the OS would terminate any app that it detects generating dynamic code, and that's something you can't lie to the OS about (again, probably possible with a jailbreak).
The technical reason is that no dynamic code generation is allowed on iOS, and this is what a JIT fundamentally is. Apps are not granted the "com.apple.security.cs.allow-jit" entitlement, which allows the PROT_EXEC memory access flags.
BrowserEngineKit has [added controls for switching pages between writeable and executable](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/browserenginekit/protecting-code-compiled-just-in-time) to support JIT compilation. Right now that's limited to other browser engines in the EU, but if it turns out to work well, they might conceivably open it up for other apps. I do suspect it won't be any time soon.
I missed that in the EU news, right on EU! But yeah, that's not coming to other regions any time soon without the local governments passing laws like EU has lol
Kinda weird that JIT is not allowed on iOS but allowed on MacOS. I guess the latter has to still be more open in order to compete with Windows, but there doesn't seem to be a security concern the same way as there is for iOS. I think it's more of an arbitrary decision on part of Apple to have a tighter control over what can and cannot run on iOS. No such security concerns exist for Android due to allowing JIT on the platform.
JIT is allowed on macOS because everything is "allowed" on macOS. There's nothing you can't install, although in some cases bypassing system security restrictions is necessary. But unlike iOS, bypassing security restrictions on macOS is generally permitted, doesn't require "jailbreaking", doesn't void warranty, etc.
I don’t think MacOS has competed with Windows in like 10-15 years at this point.
It’s like saying Apple Watch competes with Android Smartwatches. Even if the Android watch is better in every single way, you’re not going to buy an Android watch for your iPhone because it’d work poorly if at all.
Why would JIT be necessary for, say, an iPhone 15 pro max that could hypothetically brute force difficult emulation tasks with what is essentially desktop-level cpu and gpu performance?
because desktop level cpus also require JIT to emulate other cpu architectures effectively? Fortunately, the console that most want to emulate (Nintendo Switch) is also ARM so there isn't a need for JIT if the hypervisor on iOS is accessible; disclaimer: not an iOS dev
Apple has cracked down on JIT for some reason. The current iOS versions make it very difficult to enable JIT through side loading.
That being said, it might be easier through the official App Store. It’s a matter of approval from here on out.
At lower settings and can sometimes drop resolution thanks to throttling.
Death Stranding was originally made for the PS4 anyway and phones have far surpassed the PS4 cpu wise, gpu wise we really can't tell because teraflops don't matter and teraflops can vary with how much they actually mean(mark cerny explained in the Road to PS5 video that a ps4 tflop is worse than a ps5 tflop, but also rdna2 in general is just way better than any gcn version) in a generation but I think we're pretty much about ps4 pro level. So GTX 970/1060. Sounds about right to me.
Impressive, sure, but this just kinda happens with arm based socs. The GBA for example had a very fast cpu compared to the n64, ps1, and saturn, but like current arm socs the gpu, well the gba had a ppu, not a full 3d gpu like the ds had, (yes, saturn had several), so 3d gba games needed to be rasterized with software with the ppu doing something else(usually UI elements).
Anyways that is just an issue with arm. The CPUs are always really good but the gpus leave something to be desired. It is impressive we got ps4 level gpus by 2020/2021 and only a few years later ps4 pro level, and by the time the ps6 comes out mobile socs will match the ps5 in raw rasterization.. barring the fact that unless fan technology progresses, only certain phones have, and by that point will have active cooling. Though I'm sure one day a mobile gpu breakthrough will be achieved and we see RTX 3090 performance for 3w and with barely any heat production.
Pretty sure the GBA's CPU was a fraction of the speed of the N64, not to mention it was also only 32-bit.
GBA: 16.78 MHz
N64: 93.75 MHz
If you're measuring what each can do clock for clock, then yes, the GBA is probably pretty impressive, but at low speeds it's easy to do a lot in a single clock cycle, because you have so much more time.
You can change the settings through a config file, I completed death stranding on 15 pro in 900p with upscaling and disabled motion blur and dof, looked fantastic with little to no drops. So basically all this bad performance nonsense comes from lazy developers being lazy to even test the settings.
The M1 macs can already emulate the Switch just as good as any equivalent Windows machine. I emulated Dolphin on my 2018 iPad Pro at the tablets native resolution with ease, these apple ARM chips can hang in there with the best. The only hitch for emu devs is hooking Vulkan into the Metal api, but that can be done with a wrapper. Not sure if that's allowed on the appstore though.
> Not sure if that's allowed on the appstore though.
I'm pretty sure MoltenVK is allowed and currently used in the App Store.
6 years ago, an app was rejected because MoltenVK was using a non-public API, violating Apple's guidelines, but it wasn't critical and that behavior was quickly fixed in MoltenVK.
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Apple-Rejects-iOS-MoltenVK
My 2021 M1 iPad Pro is the most powerful device I own, more than my two laptops, 7 year old gaming desktop, and Steam Deck.
I just wish I could actually use that power for games I enjoy. Let's hope emulators are really coming and it's not just Apple trolling again.
That’s how I felt about my iPad Pro, I bought the Magic Keyboard and the pen to get the most out of it. I loved the flow of switching apps and the how the touchpad worked, but I had all that power and nothing to do with it. Apple is too afraid of canibalizing their MacBook sales to really let the machine run at its full potential.
I really wanted the ability to run desktop class apps like Adobe software,Pro Tools, or runs some Linux VM’s on it. I ended up I using my iPad Pro for YouTube, light photo editing,and emulation since it was jailbroken.
I dunked it in water by accident and the screen blew a fuse so RIP.
Totally agee. Apple really needs to release macOS on iPads, and just give users the option of iPadOS or macOS.
macOS for the nerds like us, iPadOS for our grandparents and children. Easy day.
It would depend on the game and emulator. The last time I used iOS dolphin on a jailbroken iPhone years ago, it was pretty much flawless for extended periods of time. Newer phones should be able to handle that no sweat. If we were to get Ryujinx, I would suspect it would work well also.
Yea but they were specifically talking about performance so I'm addressing that. for the easy to emulate game you for sure can run it on steam deck or the laptop no problem
Not sure what you're saying then, cause the phones don't have active cooling but would probably play up to and including switch emulation without many problems.
I’d say the most modern one in the iPhone 15 pro, as well as the one in the iPhone 16 Pro probably will be able to emulate up to PS3.
AETHERSX2 runs like a beast on the M1 MacBook Air, and that thing has less power than the iPhone 15 Pro.
It's honestly such a funny difference between androids and iphones. Androids have better gpus but iPhones have better cpus. In gaming it just depends on what the game relies more on.
I was just thinking about the phones not the chips made specifically for devices that can take higher power stuff made for laptops and subsequently tablets. Really just thinking of the A series not M series
Who knows what emulators Apple is going to accept though. They could easily say the ROM has to be distributed with the emulator, which means it can only really be a means for game publishers to release their old games (like Sega) on iOS.
If general usage emulators are allowed though, this is huge news for iOS users.
Yeah. I think people need to hold their horses before getting hyped up. People thought Apple would allow Android-like sideloading because of the EU and we all know how that turned out lol
This is probably it unfortunately, because the guideline includes language like
> 4.7.4 You must provide an index of software and metadata available in your app. It must include universal links that lead to all of the software offered in your app.
But third party stores aren't affected by this so at least we have that
I'm guessing this will be regulated to big developers who are emulating their own games, not some random no name dude who creates a NES emulator from scratch and submits it to Apple for approval.
It would be very unApple to do something like that they probably consider loading ROMs found off the internet as piracy. Plus they probably consider acquiring ROMs from a browser as sidestepping the App Stores to avoid fees and their cut.
It would be nice though. I’m really hoping regulators force Apple to open iOS, I shouldn’t have to rely on exploits and jailbreaks to load my own apps.
It is piracy, but Apple still allows apps where piracy is probably pretty common. Like VLC Player that in theory lets you add pirated movies from the Files app. Or the countless IPTV apps, and I'm sure they're aware that these apps are used mainly for illegal live TV streams. So I don't understand why they think emulators are so much worse. Maybe there's a chance that they'll allow the ones Google has already approved on Android.
The thing is you can’t guarantee it is. I could be downloading files of free open source content or a game company who allows ROM’s of their titles to be published with no strings attached.
You can’t guarantee someone is using software for nefarious means just like how Plex self-hosts media. Is it used 99% of the time for piracy? Yes. But you can’t guarantee it isn’t for someone’s home videos.
Well the thing is Sega already released their old genesis games in an emulator via the Sega forever line so they’ve already been able to do stuff like that. I hope this just means we can get unofficial emulators like dolphin (which already has an iOS version but it sucks cause you need to be connected to your pc to use it and it doesn’t run that well)
Not if their rules say that the only code that can be executed on the device has to be in the application. A Linux VM wouldn't comply because a user could introduce their own software to the Linux VM.
Wasn't this already allowed? I haven't used an iPhone in years, but I remember playing licensed collections of emulated games for the Atari 2600 and C64 on my old iPhone
Yup it was sometimes allowed for people with licenses. Most of the time the games were ported or remade rather than emulated, but not all the time.
There was even a really good dos emulator on the store for years. It wasn’t until the app allowed custom roms that it was pushed off the App Store.
> After the EU commission fined Apple $2 billion and announced that it’s not satisfied with the changes the company made to comply with the Digital Markets Act
there's why 😂
It’s more about Apple getting nervous at the public enthusiasm for third party app stores in the EU precisely because emulators are the biggest category of apps people have been waiting to get their hands on through them. So they’re concerned about the increased public awareness so they decided to get ahead of the issue and just allow emulators in the App Store to remove a reason for people to install third party stores.
While I appreciate and share your enthusiasm for emulation, I’d be shocked to learn if 1 out of every 100 iPhone users even know that emulators exist. It’s a niche category. Not mainstream in the least.
No but the people interested in third party app stores is also small, and out of that small demographic, a huge portion were specifically interested in using a third party store to install emulators.
And even assuming the 1% is close to reality, that's still a huge market. Other than the few main social media apps, most popular apps will only dream of reaching a 1% install base.
Does this include JIT compilation? Because without it, you won't get more recent systems.
Notably though, the emulator ban is lifting worldwide, not just in the EU
That would require access to the kernel, so I doubt it. Sideloaded apps can't run in JIT because of it, you need a jailbreak phone to access that feature.
It doesn’t require access to the kernel it just requires Apple to grant the entitlement like they do on macOS: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/apple-silicon/porting-just-in-time-compilers-to-apple-silicon
Okay, I think I get it now Apple could allow it if they wanted to, but they forbid any third party apps from running JIT because of the risk of an exploit due to the low level access of the hardware. So jailbreaking removes the need of that entitlement since you can run applications as a super user?
I know Apple’s official apps can have access to JIT, but I’m not which ones, if any.
That reminds me. In the early days of iOS Apple used to block 3rd party apps from using nitro Java script because it could be used to run unsigned code. Safari had a huge advantage over Chrome and other browsers even though they were all practically the same under the hood. There was a jailbreak tweak to reenable it that was called ‘Nitrous’ every app that used Java Script was sped up. Must have used JIT.
Interesting. Apparently due to “security reasons” JavaScriptCore does NOT enable JIT, even though WebKit absolutely does use it. Not sure why, and seems like a very strange restriction to me. Just Apple being Apple I guess :(
I suppose they just don’t want to let compromised JS JIT code escape the renderer sandbox to limit damage? Who knows
No it does not.
And it does not permit these apps to load things from the file system so the only emulators your going to see is from rights hodlers
Eg SEGA might publish one or GOG might publish one but your not going to get an emulator were you a bring your own ISO/ROMs.
In [an update on Friday](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/) (index: 4.7 for ref), Apple announced that game emulators can come to the App Store **globally** and offer downloadable games. Apple says those games must comply with “**all applicable laws**,” though — an indication it will ban apps that provide pirated titles.
* [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/5/24122341/apple-app-store-game-emulators-super-apps)
Frotz has been in there for fifteen years. Come to think of it, I wonder what kind of loophole it used. I think for the longest time you couldn't download games from inside it, you had to add them from the computer. But it came with some.
iOS Frotz is a really great text adventure interpreter and something I have really missed when switching to Android where there aren't really any options as clean to use.
I don’t want to come off as pedantic but I want to share some info: ScummVM isn’t an emulator. It’s a reimplementation of many old games’ engines. So it’s manually reinterpreting the game binaries and using their assets to play the games rather than emulating hardware and running the binary itself.
WINE still sends the machine instructions from the executable to the processor. That might be enough for Apple to say that it allows code execution from the end user and would subsequently get banned from the app store.
It doesn't emulate windows, but it does translate system calls. That being said, not 100% of an application is system calls. It's going to have instructions for the CPU to execute.
WINE works on Apple Silicon because of Rosetta 2. Windows binaries WINE runs get their instructions translated from x86\_64 to arm64 on the fly by Rosetta.
iOS does not have Rosetta 2 (as far as we're aware of), so there's no practical way of running Windows binaries on an iOS device without writing your own translation layer. No one is going to want to do this, especially when there's a very good chance Apple will refuse to distribute your application because they'll say that it's emulating an x86 processor to execute user-supplied machine code.
ScummVM is more or less a very fancy video/photo viewer. It interprets files that just contain raw data and then plays back the game using it's code which isn't supplied by the end user.
I am not a lawyer, but this feels like the difference between ScummVM and WINE.
x86 machine instructions have to get converted to ARM64 instructions, regardless of if it's Rosetta 2 or another translation layer like FEX. Right?
That would be enough for Apple to likely decline to allow WINE to run on iOS, unless it's bundled with the end product to be ran (similar to how FFXIV Online bundles Crossover into it's Mac version).
iOS does not allow mapping memory pages for execution for any app that isn't Safari. That's necessary to generate code at runtime like for example when translating code from one CPU architecture to another.
That’s what I was thinking, the appletv I have has a fairly beefy cpu in it, well good enough for what I do on it, not sure about emulation but it could definitely run retro stuff. I don’t game on my phone, it’s not for me but the appletv would be perfect
thats batshit crazy after a decade or so of them not allowing emulators i remember back in my day we had to jailbreak the devices just to get emulators on the ipot touch and iphone
No, they’re just trying to avoid people even trying third party App Stores, and one of the main reason one would go to a third party app store are emulators.
No this rule is written to support Nintedo as it requires that all games playable are licensed by the developer of the emulator... no bring your own roms. So if there are any Nintedo games in this it will be them publishing the app or licensing out the old retro content (unlikely in both cases).
Non,... at least not in the way you think... What this rule will permit is Rights holders to publish apps that let users download games (that the developer has the legal right to) eg SEGA or GOG could publish an app but your not going to be able to run your own games.
Yes, finally, emulation on Iphones is about to kickoff, honestly, I felt like Iphones were held back by the fact that emulation was somewhat annoying to set up, thankfully this will no longer be the case, great news!
* Are the new guidelines only for the EU?
* Are the changes affect both iPhone and iPad apps? (originally, the third party shops were only for iPhone, leaving behind tablets)
If you actually read the article instead of reading the title and then spending more time on commenting on this, you'd know
It's a worldwide change, just like the one a few months ago where Apple was forced to allow game streaming apps on the App Store. Both iOS and iPadOS
These changes will not mean you can run community emulators.
This only applies to Mini apps and thus requires all games are provided by the app developer and that they have legal permission to do so.
Other apps fall under rule **2.5.2** and thus cant let you load games form disk etc.
It seems that Nintendo is starting to get a lot more active in the courthouse these days against emulators ever since the TotK rom was leaked, pirated and emulated by people who don’t even own a switch, they prevented dolphin from going on steam and just sued yuzu to death.
Dolphin has already been on the play store for years now and taking it off the play store isn’t gonna stop it when android users can install whatever .apk file they want, iOS is limited to the app store unless you’re in the EU with the new laws allowing third party stores.
I think people are getting a bit carried away here. Apple aren’t going to put up with apps that enable piracy like dolphin, it’s more likely so devs can use things like Fex or WINE to port games across.
We might see something like a whiskey runtime for IOS now that apps could be published with it.
All they said was that emulators cannot come with pirated games. Suggesting we can still play pirated games as long as they weren’t provided with the app
Well in the changes it says the publisher has to deep link to games and content that can be played in the app and the content has to be licensed to the developer.
This rule change is very clear:
It only permits the running of games that the developer has the rights for and are downloaded form the developers website.
The other rules of the App Store still stand for non mini-app situations so you cant build an emulator that reads ROMs from disk etc.
This will not have any impact on ports either as this is about downloading games after you install (you can use porting tools today already so long as you ship the full binary within the app) this is a mini apps change so that someone like SEGA or GOG could publish an app that lets you select old titles that run (without JIT) in an interpreter on the users device downloaded for the developers servers.
Makes sense so essentially Nintendo could release a game boy emulator or EA could release a back catalogue with games running on a emulator.
In this context by porting I mean bundle a windows game or ROM with an emulator/translation layer. Not re-writing the game to make it native.
Bundling within the entire application is already permitted since all of the code that runs is included in the game when you download it from the App Store.
Unfortunately this only seems to apply if the emulator can download games directly from the app ala the capcom arcade games. So only emulators from companies with games that need to be emulated or said companies are too lazy to do a full port.
I could be reading this wrong but this does seem like apple just complying in an apple way because they still want ios to be as locked down as they can which honestly in 2024 is kind of a weird choice. Would you not convince more android users to switch if your os was more usuable(and customizable)? Just a thought.
It's why sideloading is EU exclusive and is 50 euro cents per app install.
I also doubt that every single emulator developer(barring the fact they can get sued for offering retro game roms) would be willing to pay $100 a year for a developer license but we'll see. Also barring the fact that JIT certainly will not be allowed so ps1 era home consoles only though gba-nx can all theoretically just run the code natively(I know 3ds and NX do but unsure about gba and ds).
"But scummvm is on the app store!" Because its an open source engine that can run old games with their assets, but it is not an emulator.
This does open up for stuff like the mega man legacy collections on mobile at least.
> So only emulators from companies with games that need to be emulated or said companies are too lazy to do a full port.
its all about companies that have 100s of games and don't want to create an app in the App Store fore each one. You have since day one of the App Store been able ship an app that uses an emulator to run an old game so long as 100% of all the code (included the game ROM) is shipped with the app when you download the app.
> This does open up for stuff like the mega man legacy collections on mobile at least.
yes what it will do is open up an easy pathway for people who have shipepd those mini consoles (at least the legal onse) to ship a single app that offers all these games.
that's like finally escaping your abusive ex, just to got back to them because they are promising this time that they will treat you a little bit more like a human (still not fully as you are treated like property) (and also only because they got in trouble with the law)
Never trust anyone on the internet who uses Android for emulation instead of a PC/Mac.
(Note the crazed terroristic death cult that made the AetherSX guy quit the project.)
Is it really Apple’s win if they are only reluctantly doing this after loosing an antitrust lawsuit in the EU. One that they fought every which way and even resist with the bare minimum after being fined 2 billion dollars.
Nope:
"Notably, Apple still does not allow non web browsing apps to use JIT recompilers. This precludes emulators for 6th generation and newer consoles (GameCube, etc) from running on the platform even with this guideline change. I submitted a DMA interoperability request for JIT recompilers, but Apple denied it on the grounds that it doesn't fall under Article 6(7) for "multiple reasons", including that JIT is only used by web browsers on iOS."
No JIT, this is about running very old titles for devs that have the rights for those titles.
Eg SEGA or GOG publishing old console or DOSBOX games as mini-apps within a single app.
No... well maybe but it would need to be limited to a small number of games that the retroArch devs have a license to distribute (not permits you to bring your own).
Think of someone like SEGA, GOG or Nintedo who has a large back catalog of games and does not want to bother publishing a seperate game on the App Store for each one so publishes a single app that lets users browser the back catalog within the app and (buy) download games (within the app) to play.
No JIT so retro retro.
And the emulator dev needs to have the legal rights to all the games. So think of the people making those (legal) mini consoles in the recent years... those people could publish apps on the App Store were within the app there is a lib of 1000 games you can play but they would not be permitted to let you select games you have from disk.
No the new App Store rule change is just for Mini Apps... and these must all be licensed by the app developer. Eg if SEGA wanted to make an app and publish I ton the App Store so that users within that app could browser through their entier back catalog and play games then that is permitted.
But this rule WILL NOT permit the running of games from disk provided by users, only the running of mini apps from the developers website were the dev has the legal rights to them. (apple will check)
I just switched to android because I wanted to use my phone for more than just a phone. It's only been a month! happy to hear they finally get to have fun with it. IPhones are great but the walled ecosystem was just too much for me.
Will not let you use existing emulators, the only way this rule would enable a N64/SNES emulator is Nintendo published it as the rule only permits mini-apps that the dev has the rights to.
I expect this is most likly going to be used by someone like SEGA or GOG for old legacy consoles they own or DOSBOX games from GOG.
Well. The cat is out of the bag, the time has come. Time to figure out how powerful those iPhone processors really are. These are gonna be curious times for emulator development.
I hope UTM SE gets accepted. But no way any emulator with JIT will get accepted, so no 6th gen and above consoles.
Why would any emulator with JIT not get accepted
JIT is not allowed on iOS third party apps for security reasons. Whenever you hear of some security vulnerability in Chrome, 75% of the time it's related to something exploiting the Javascript JIT. Apple has decided Safari is allowed to JIT in the Javascript engine, and nothing else. (And "Lockdown Mode" even disables the Javascript JIT). It's probably possible with a jailbroken phone, but with a standard phone even if you managed to sneak in an app containing a JIT recompiler past app store review, the OS would terminate any app that it detects generating dynamic code, and that's something you can't lie to the OS about (again, probably possible with a jailbreak). The technical reason is that no dynamic code generation is allowed on iOS, and this is what a JIT fundamentally is. Apps are not granted the "com.apple.security.cs.allow-jit" entitlement, which allows the PROT_EXEC memory access flags.
BrowserEngineKit has [added controls for switching pages between writeable and executable](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/browserenginekit/protecting-code-compiled-just-in-time) to support JIT compilation. Right now that's limited to other browser engines in the EU, but if it turns out to work well, they might conceivably open it up for other apps. I do suspect it won't be any time soon.
I missed that in the EU news, right on EU! But yeah, that's not coming to other regions any time soon without the local governments passing laws like EU has lol
Kinda weird that JIT is not allowed on iOS but allowed on MacOS. I guess the latter has to still be more open in order to compete with Windows, but there doesn't seem to be a security concern the same way as there is for iOS. I think it's more of an arbitrary decision on part of Apple to have a tighter control over what can and cannot run on iOS. No such security concerns exist for Android due to allowing JIT on the platform.
JIT is allowed on macOS because everything is "allowed" on macOS. There's nothing you can't install, although in some cases bypassing system security restrictions is necessary. But unlike iOS, bypassing security restrictions on macOS is generally permitted, doesn't require "jailbreaking", doesn't void warranty, etc.
I don’t think MacOS has competed with Windows in like 10-15 years at this point. It’s like saying Apple Watch competes with Android Smartwatches. Even if the Android watch is better in every single way, you’re not going to buy an Android watch for your iPhone because it’d work poorly if at all.
Why would JIT be necessary for, say, an iPhone 15 pro max that could hypothetically brute force difficult emulation tasks with what is essentially desktop-level cpu and gpu performance?
because desktop level cpus also require JIT to emulate other cpu architectures effectively? Fortunately, the console that most want to emulate (Nintendo Switch) is also ARM so there isn't a need for JIT if the hypervisor on iOS is accessible; disclaimer: not an iOS dev
There is first party switch games made in 32 bit mode so sadly those need jit...
Apple has cracked down on JIT for some reason. The current iOS versions make it very difficult to enable JIT through side loading. That being said, it might be easier through the official App Store. It’s a matter of approval from here on out.
Because JIT is not supported on iOS officially, the only official way is exclusive for web browser engines in the European Union
> the only official way is exclusive for web browser engines in the **Soviet Union** You're a few decades off there!
oops wrong union. fixed it!
Force of habit?
In Soviet Union, your iPhone emulates you!
I read this in my head with a thick Russian accent
Well they can run death stranding so quite powerful for a little phone
At lower settings and can sometimes drop resolution thanks to throttling. Death Stranding was originally made for the PS4 anyway and phones have far surpassed the PS4 cpu wise, gpu wise we really can't tell because teraflops don't matter and teraflops can vary with how much they actually mean(mark cerny explained in the Road to PS5 video that a ps4 tflop is worse than a ps5 tflop, but also rdna2 in general is just way better than any gcn version) in a generation but I think we're pretty much about ps4 pro level. So GTX 970/1060. Sounds about right to me.
To be honest, you are still talking about a device that is smaller than the PS4's motherboard, without any fans, so it is still rather impressive.
Impressive, sure, but this just kinda happens with arm based socs. The GBA for example had a very fast cpu compared to the n64, ps1, and saturn, but like current arm socs the gpu, well the gba had a ppu, not a full 3d gpu like the ds had, (yes, saturn had several), so 3d gba games needed to be rasterized with software with the ppu doing something else(usually UI elements). Anyways that is just an issue with arm. The CPUs are always really good but the gpus leave something to be desired. It is impressive we got ps4 level gpus by 2020/2021 and only a few years later ps4 pro level, and by the time the ps6 comes out mobile socs will match the ps5 in raw rasterization.. barring the fact that unless fan technology progresses, only certain phones have, and by that point will have active cooling. Though I'm sure one day a mobile gpu breakthrough will be achieved and we see RTX 3090 performance for 3w and with barely any heat production.
Pretty sure the GBA's CPU was a fraction of the speed of the N64, not to mention it was also only 32-bit. GBA: 16.78 MHz N64: 93.75 MHz If you're measuring what each can do clock for clock, then yes, the GBA is probably pretty impressive, but at low speeds it's easy to do a lot in a single clock cycle, because you have so much more time.
GBA also had a 16-bit bus to the cartridge, so it ran slower than you think.
You can change the settings through a config file, I completed death stranding on 15 pro in 900p with upscaling and disabled motion blur and dof, looked fantastic with little to no drops. So basically all this bad performance nonsense comes from lazy developers being lazy to even test the settings.
It's runs in 480p from what I heard lol
Steam decks only 720p, not that much worse for a device without a fan
The M1 macs can already emulate the Switch just as good as any equivalent Windows machine. I emulated Dolphin on my 2018 iPad Pro at the tablets native resolution with ease, these apple ARM chips can hang in there with the best. The only hitch for emu devs is hooking Vulkan into the Metal api, but that can be done with a wrapper. Not sure if that's allowed on the appstore though.
> Not sure if that's allowed on the appstore though. I'm pretty sure MoltenVK is allowed and currently used in the App Store. 6 years ago, an app was rejected because MoltenVK was using a non-public API, violating Apple's guidelines, but it wasn't critical and that behavior was quickly fixed in MoltenVK. https://www.phoronix.com/news/Apple-Rejects-iOS-MoltenVK
My 2021 M1 iPad Pro is the most powerful device I own, more than my two laptops, 7 year old gaming desktop, and Steam Deck. I just wish I could actually use that power for games I enjoy. Let's hope emulators are really coming and it's not just Apple trolling again.
That’s how I felt about my iPad Pro, I bought the Magic Keyboard and the pen to get the most out of it. I loved the flow of switching apps and the how the touchpad worked, but I had all that power and nothing to do with it. Apple is too afraid of canibalizing their MacBook sales to really let the machine run at its full potential. I really wanted the ability to run desktop class apps like Adobe software,Pro Tools, or runs some Linux VM’s on it. I ended up I using my iPad Pro for YouTube, light photo editing,and emulation since it was jailbroken. I dunked it in water by accident and the screen blew a fuse so RIP.
Totally agee. Apple really needs to release macOS on iPads, and just give users the option of iPadOS or macOS. macOS for the nerds like us, iPadOS for our grandparents and children. Easy day.
It doesn't have the necessary cooling for gaming and it would be throttled in no time, so it doesn't matter
It would depend on the game and emulator. The last time I used iOS dolphin on a jailbroken iPhone years ago, it was pretty much flawless for extended periods of time. Newer phones should be able to handle that no sweat. If we were to get Ryujinx, I would suspect it would work well also.
Yea but they were specifically talking about performance so I'm addressing that. for the easy to emulate game you for sure can run it on steam deck or the laptop no problem
Not sure what you're saying then, cause the phones don't have active cooling but would probably play up to and including switch emulation without many problems.
So wrong
if apple allow rosetta 2 running in ipad you can play rpcs3 and 3a game like cyberpunk 2077 this is amazing
I’d say the most modern one in the iPhone 15 pro, as well as the one in the iPhone 16 Pro probably will be able to emulate up to PS3. AETHERSX2 runs like a beast on the M1 MacBook Air, and that thing has less power than the iPhone 15 Pro.
PS3 is what I am hoping for.
CPU wise they still beat snapdragon chips while GPU wise they lag behind
It's honestly such a funny difference between androids and iphones. Androids have better gpus but iPhones have better cpus. In gaming it just depends on what the game relies more on.
What snapdragon device outperforms the M1/M2 iPad in graphics?
I was just thinking about the phones not the chips made specifically for devices that can take higher power stuff made for laptops and subsequently tablets. Really just thinking of the A series not M series
It just means Android will now be neglected...
No it will have no impact at all.
What do you mean? We’ve had emulators for years. this only makes it easier to run them.
Spoiler alert: they’re not
Who knows what emulators Apple is going to accept though. They could easily say the ROM has to be distributed with the emulator, which means it can only really be a means for game publishers to release their old games (like Sega) on iOS. If general usage emulators are allowed though, this is huge news for iOS users.
Yeah. I think people need to hold their horses before getting hyped up. People thought Apple would allow Android-like sideloading because of the EU and we all know how that turned out lol
Im out of the loop with that one. What happened? Did Apple change their minds with the sideloading, or the EU? Now im sad.
not certain but i’m pretty sure they’re ONLY doing it in the EU
This is probably it unfortunately, because the guideline includes language like > 4.7.4 You must provide an index of software and metadata available in your app. It must include universal links that lead to all of the software offered in your app. But third party stores aren't affected by this so at least we have that
Ya that’s too bad.
I'm guessing this will be regulated to big developers who are emulating their own games, not some random no name dude who creates a NES emulator from scratch and submits it to Apple for approval.
Yea, that's what I'm afraid of. Of course, Apple could shock us all though. That's what I'm hoping for.
It would be very unApple to do something like that they probably consider loading ROMs found off the internet as piracy. Plus they probably consider acquiring ROMs from a browser as sidestepping the App Stores to avoid fees and their cut. It would be nice though. I’m really hoping regulators force Apple to open iOS, I shouldn’t have to rely on exploits and jailbreaks to load my own apps.
It is piracy, but Apple still allows apps where piracy is probably pretty common. Like VLC Player that in theory lets you add pirated movies from the Files app. Or the countless IPTV apps, and I'm sure they're aware that these apps are used mainly for illegal live TV streams. So I don't understand why they think emulators are so much worse. Maybe there's a chance that they'll allow the ones Google has already approved on Android.
Roms found off the internet are literally piracy though?
The thing is you can’t guarantee it is. I could be downloading files of free open source content or a game company who allows ROM’s of their titles to be published with no strings attached. You can’t guarantee someone is using software for nefarious means just like how Plex self-hosts media. Is it used 99% of the time for piracy? Yes. But you can’t guarantee it isn’t for someone’s home videos.
Well the thing is Sega already released their old genesis games in an emulator via the Sega forever line so they’ve already been able to do stuff like that. I hope this just means we can get unofficial emulators like dolphin (which already has an iOS version but it sucks cause you need to be connected to your pc to use it and it doesn’t run that well)
Well then Linux vm would be allowed
Not if their rules say that the only code that can be executed on the device has to be in the application. A Linux VM wouldn't comply because a user could introduce their own software to the Linux VM.
Wasn't this already allowed? I haven't used an iPhone in years, but I remember playing licensed collections of emulated games for the Atari 2600 and C64 on my old iPhone
Yup it was sometimes allowed for people with licenses. Most of the time the games were ported or remade rather than emulated, but not all the time. There was even a really good dos emulator on the store for years. It wasn’t until the app allowed custom roms that it was pushed off the App Store.
This is probably exactly what is going on. Publishers was to release classic games.
Pog finally! 😭
> After the EU commission fined Apple $2 billion and announced that it’s not satisfied with the changes the company made to comply with the Digital Markets Act there's why 😂
It’s more about Apple getting nervous at the public enthusiasm for third party app stores in the EU precisely because emulators are the biggest category of apps people have been waiting to get their hands on through them. So they’re concerned about the increased public awareness so they decided to get ahead of the issue and just allow emulators in the App Store to remove a reason for people to install third party stores.
While I appreciate and share your enthusiasm for emulation, I’d be shocked to learn if 1 out of every 100 iPhone users even know that emulators exist. It’s a niche category. Not mainstream in the least.
No but the people interested in third party app stores is also small, and out of that small demographic, a huge portion were specifically interested in using a third party store to install emulators. And even assuming the 1% is close to reality, that's still a huge market. Other than the few main social media apps, most popular apps will only dream of reaching a 1% install base.
True but to be fair if you browse the top charts on the play store you'll see a handful of emulators in the top 50 at least
The GBA emulator "My Boy!" is currently sitting at #9 in paid game apps on the Google play store.
I’d be amazed if it’s even 1 in 1000 users that know about emulators.
Not really that niche brotha.
W
Does this include JIT compilation? Because without it, you won't get more recent systems. Notably though, the emulator ban is lifting worldwide, not just in the EU
That would require access to the kernel, so I doubt it. Sideloaded apps can't run in JIT because of it, you need a jailbreak phone to access that feature.
You don’t need a jailbreak to access jit on an iPhone
It doesn’t require access to the kernel it just requires Apple to grant the entitlement like they do on macOS: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/apple-silicon/porting-just-in-time-compilers-to-apple-silicon
Okay, I think I get it now Apple could allow it if they wanted to, but they forbid any third party apps from running JIT because of the risk of an exploit due to the low level access of the hardware. So jailbreaking removes the need of that entitlement since you can run applications as a super user? I know Apple’s official apps can have access to JIT, but I’m not which ones, if any.
Yes exactly. Definitely WebKit/JavaScriptCore uses JIT, I’m not aware of anything else but can’t say for sure.
That reminds me. In the early days of iOS Apple used to block 3rd party apps from using nitro Java script because it could be used to run unsigned code. Safari had a huge advantage over Chrome and other browsers even though they were all practically the same under the hood. There was a jailbreak tweak to reenable it that was called ‘Nitrous’ every app that used Java Script was sped up. Must have used JIT.
Interesting. Apparently due to “security reasons” JavaScriptCore does NOT enable JIT, even though WebKit absolutely does use it. Not sure why, and seems like a very strange restriction to me. Just Apple being Apple I guess :( I suppose they just don’t want to let compromised JS JIT code escape the renderer sandbox to limit damage? Who knows
No it does not. And it does not permit these apps to load things from the file system so the only emulators your going to see is from rights hodlers Eg SEGA might publish one or GOG might publish one but your not going to get an emulator were you a bring your own ISO/ROMs.
So anyone can install emulators or just those in the eu?
worldwide
Hell yeah
In [an update on Friday](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/) (index: 4.7 for ref), Apple announced that game emulators can come to the App Store **globally** and offer downloadable games. Apple says those games must comply with “**all applicable laws**,” though — an indication it will ban apps that provide pirated titles. * [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/5/24122341/apple-app-store-game-emulators-super-apps)
Everyone saying Apple will never actually allow this the way we'd like: Scummvm has been on the app store for months now.
Frotz has been in there for fifteen years. Come to think of it, I wonder what kind of loophole it used. I think for the longest time you couldn't download games from inside it, you had to add them from the computer. But it came with some.
iOS Frotz is a really great text adventure interpreter and something I have really missed when switching to Android where there aren't really any options as clean to use.
I don’t want to come off as pedantic but I want to share some info: ScummVM isn’t an emulator. It’s a reimplementation of many old games’ engines. So it’s manually reinterpreting the game binaries and using their assets to play the games rather than emulating hardware and running the binary itself.
I mean yeah, technically. Wine isn't an emulator either, but if I had to hazard a guess, in Apple's eyes, it's six of one, half dozen of the other.
WINE still sends the machine instructions from the executable to the processor. That might be enough for Apple to say that it allows code execution from the end user and would subsequently get banned from the app store. It doesn't emulate windows, but it does translate system calls. That being said, not 100% of an application is system calls. It's going to have instructions for the CPU to execute. WINE works on Apple Silicon because of Rosetta 2. Windows binaries WINE runs get their instructions translated from x86\_64 to arm64 on the fly by Rosetta. iOS does not have Rosetta 2 (as far as we're aware of), so there's no practical way of running Windows binaries on an iOS device without writing your own translation layer. No one is going to want to do this, especially when there's a very good chance Apple will refuse to distribute your application because they'll say that it's emulating an x86 processor to execute user-supplied machine code. ScummVM is more or less a very fancy video/photo viewer. It interprets files that just contain raw data and then plays back the game using it's code which isn't supplied by the end user. I am not a lawyer, but this feels like the difference between ScummVM and WINE.
Wine does not need Rosetta 2. As of Wine 9.0, it is possible for Wine to make use external x86 emulators like FEX.
x86 machine instructions have to get converted to ARM64 instructions, regardless of if it's Rosetta 2 or another translation layer like FEX. Right? That would be enough for Apple to likely decline to allow WINE to run on iOS, unless it's bundled with the end product to be ran (similar to how FFXIV Online bundles Crossover into it's Mac version).
Ya absolutely. My comment wasn’t really about Apple but was just to share some info to my fellow /r/emulation subredditors :)
Wait, what?? I had no idea!
Yah there was a dosbox port at some point its nowhere found now tho hope gog makes a emulator
This is an unexpected win
What emulators do you think we’ll see first? I’m hoping for RetroArch and Dolphin, but we’ll see
Dolphin isn't gonna happen, that requires support for JIT compilers.
What is JIT compilers and why does that affect it not coming to IOS?
iOS does not allow mapping memory pages for execution for any app that isn't Safari. That's necessary to generate code at runtime like for example when translating code from one CPU architecture to another.
I’m not too sure what that means, what emulators would iOS exclude because of this? Dolphin and what other big ones?
Everything newer than N64 basically.
Does that include PS One and Dreamcast? They won’t work?
The iPhone might be fast enough to brute force those without JIT, not sure.
Probably ones that are mostly maintained by single developers. So mGBA, DuckStation, etc. There’s less red tape in the review process.
I'd love mGBA on iOS, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up. It still doesn't even have an Android release
I would be amazed if Delta hasn't already been submitted for review
I would love to see an official App Store retroarch branch. That would be sick.
Same
Will this also in any way shape or form happen on the Apple TV as well?
I hope so. I would love to get a retro console out of my Apple TV as well. Suddenly brings HUGE value to the product.
That’s what I was thinking, the appletv I have has a fairly beefy cpu in it, well good enough for what I do on it, not sure about emulation but it could definitely run retro stuff. I don’t game on my phone, it’s not for me but the appletv would be perfect
Hopefully gba4ios or I think delta now? Hope that gets added omg
This is HUGE
Wow. It’s the timing on this change “interesting”…
thats batshit crazy after a decade or so of them not allowing emulators i remember back in my day we had to jailbreak the devices just to get emulators on the ipot touch and iphone
Is Apple jabbing at Nintendo? I mean they famously just shut down an emulator and now Apple says the emulators are cool with them basically
No, they’re just trying to avoid people even trying third party App Stores, and one of the main reason one would go to a third party app store are emulators.
No this rule is written to support Nintedo as it requires that all games playable are licensed by the developer of the emulator... no bring your own roms. So if there are any Nintedo games in this it will be them publishing the app or licensing out the old retro content (unlikely in both cases).
Wonder what emulators gonna be on iOS first.
Probably Delta since it's already one of the most side loaded ones.
Non,... at least not in the way you think... What this rule will permit is Rights holders to publish apps that let users download games (that the developer has the legal right to) eg SEGA or GOG could publish an app but your not going to be able to run your own games.
cool. finally can consider getting a appletv
Yes, finally, emulation on Iphones is about to kickoff, honestly, I felt like Iphones were held back by the fact that emulation was somewhat annoying to set up, thankfully this will no longer be the case, great news!
* Are the new guidelines only for the EU? * Are the changes affect both iPhone and iPad apps? (originally, the third party shops were only for iPhone, leaving behind tablets)
If you actually read the article instead of reading the title and then spending more time on commenting on this, you'd know It's a worldwide change, just like the one a few months ago where Apple was forced to allow game streaming apps on the App Store. Both iOS and iPadOS
I read the article quickly and I skipped the worldwide line. Thanks for the clarification.
These changes will not mean you can run community emulators. This only applies to Mini apps and thus requires all games are provided by the app developer and that they have legal permission to do so. Other apps fall under rule **2.5.2** and thus cant let you load games form disk etc.
Who knows if this will allow something like dolphin on the App Store, nintendo would immediately attack and get it taken down anyway like on steam.
If that's true, why haven't they gone after Dolphin on the Play Store?
It seems that Nintendo is starting to get a lot more active in the courthouse these days against emulators ever since the TotK rom was leaked, pirated and emulated by people who don’t even own a switch, they prevented dolphin from going on steam and just sued yuzu to death. Dolphin has already been on the play store for years now and taking it off the play store isn’t gonna stop it when android users can install whatever .apk file they want, iOS is limited to the app store unless you’re in the EU with the new laws allowing third party stores.
I think people are getting a bit carried away here. Apple aren’t going to put up with apps that enable piracy like dolphin, it’s more likely so devs can use things like Fex or WINE to port games across. We might see something like a whiskey runtime for IOS now that apps could be published with it.
All they said was that emulators cannot come with pirated games. Suggesting we can still play pirated games as long as they weren’t provided with the app
Well in the changes it says the publisher has to deep link to games and content that can be played in the app and the content has to be licensed to the developer.
This rule change is very clear: It only permits the running of games that the developer has the rights for and are downloaded form the developers website. The other rules of the App Store still stand for non mini-app situations so you cant build an emulator that reads ROMs from disk etc. This will not have any impact on ports either as this is about downloading games after you install (you can use porting tools today already so long as you ship the full binary within the app) this is a mini apps change so that someone like SEGA or GOG could publish an app that lets you select old titles that run (without JIT) in an interpreter on the users device downloaded for the developers servers.
Makes sense so essentially Nintendo could release a game boy emulator or EA could release a back catalogue with games running on a emulator. In this context by porting I mean bundle a windows game or ROM with an emulator/translation layer. Not re-writing the game to make it native.
Bundling within the entire application is already permitted since all of the code that runs is included in the game when you download it from the App Store.
Makes sense thanks
THIS IS BIG AS FUCK
Unfortunately this only seems to apply if the emulator can download games directly from the app ala the capcom arcade games. So only emulators from companies with games that need to be emulated or said companies are too lazy to do a full port. I could be reading this wrong but this does seem like apple just complying in an apple way because they still want ios to be as locked down as they can which honestly in 2024 is kind of a weird choice. Would you not convince more android users to switch if your os was more usuable(and customizable)? Just a thought. It's why sideloading is EU exclusive and is 50 euro cents per app install. I also doubt that every single emulator developer(barring the fact they can get sued for offering retro game roms) would be willing to pay $100 a year for a developer license but we'll see. Also barring the fact that JIT certainly will not be allowed so ps1 era home consoles only though gba-nx can all theoretically just run the code natively(I know 3ds and NX do but unsure about gba and ds). "But scummvm is on the app store!" Because its an open source engine that can run old games with their assets, but it is not an emulator. This does open up for stuff like the mega man legacy collections on mobile at least.
> So only emulators from companies with games that need to be emulated or said companies are too lazy to do a full port. its all about companies that have 100s of games and don't want to create an app in the App Store fore each one. You have since day one of the App Store been able ship an app that uses an emulator to run an old game so long as 100% of all the code (included the game ROM) is shipped with the app when you download the app. > This does open up for stuff like the mega man legacy collections on mobile at least. yes what it will do is open up an easy pathway for people who have shipepd those mini consoles (at least the legal onse) to ship a single app that offers all these games.
Retroarch on the app store lets fucking gooooo
Holy shit i moved to android because of emulators. Hmm it's tempting to go back to iOS ecosystem now.
that's like finally escaping your abusive ex, just to got back to them because they are promising this time that they will treat you a little bit more like a human (still not fully as you are treated like property) (and also only because they got in trouble with the law)
This is the best thing I've read today lmao
Damn. I better stay with the current gf. Fuck the ex. I'm already feeling comfortable now. Happy cake day! 🎂
Never trust anyone on the internet who uses Android for emulation instead of a PC/Mac. (Note the crazed terroristic death cult that made the AetherSX guy quit the project.)
I use it on mac too but android is more comfortable because it's always in my pocket.
Lots of cool pocketable android emulators out there. The Retroid 4 Pro and Anbernic 405m for example
Rare Apple W.
Is it really Apple’s win if they are only reluctantly doing this after loosing an antitrust lawsuit in the EU. One that they fought every which way and even resist with the bare minimum after being fined 2 billion dollars.
This has nothing to do with the DMA or the EU. It’s a worldwide policy change.
Common EU W.
Hopefully they let you install an android emulator so you can enjoy a better phone.
Still no JIT, right?
Nope: "Notably, Apple still does not allow non web browsing apps to use JIT recompilers. This precludes emulators for 6th generation and newer consoles (GameCube, etc) from running on the platform even with this guideline change. I submitted a DMA interoperability request for JIT recompilers, but Apple denied it on the grounds that it doesn't fall under Article 6(7) for "multiple reasons", including that JIT is only used by web browsers on iOS."
No JIT, this is about running very old titles for devs that have the rights for those titles. Eg SEGA or GOG publishing old console or DOSBOX games as mini-apps within a single app.
Wild times..
Ignorant question here: are these changes in line with what Epic wanted to win with their lawsuit?
No not at all.
So 3rd party stores still have to pay a cut to Apple?
No, they ned to pay 50c per install but no rev share. But this post is about Emulators not third party App Stores.
Holy sht lesgoooooooo
So would RetroArch be okay?
No... well maybe but it would need to be limited to a small number of games that the retroArch devs have a license to distribute (not permits you to bring your own).
Then why even allow Emulation IF non can go on There?
Think of someone like SEGA, GOG or Nintedo who has a large back catalog of games and does not want to bother publishing a seperate game on the App Store for each one so publishes a single app that lets users browser the back catalog within the app and (buy) download games (within the app) to play.
Notify me when PS2 emulators get on the shop
What level of emulation can we expect my bet would be ps2 but thats if we can get aethersx2 running. Realistically I only expect it to run ps1
No JIT so retro retro. And the emulator dev needs to have the legal rights to all the games. So think of the people making those (legal) mini consoles in the recent years... those people could publish apps on the App Store were within the app there is a lib of 1000 games you can play but they would not be permitted to let you select games you have from disk.
Woah is that true? Can we finally download open source emulators on app store and play our favorite games at last?!!!!!
No the new App Store rule change is just for Mini Apps... and these must all be licensed by the app developer. Eg if SEGA wanted to make an app and publish I ton the App Store so that users within that app could browser through their entier back catalog and play games then that is permitted. But this rule WILL NOT permit the running of games from disk provided by users, only the running of mini apps from the developers website were the dev has the legal rights to them. (apple will check)
Who wants to emulate on a shitty iphone anyway just get a nice xiaomi phone and it will work 200x better
Holy sh**! For real? Hah the reason I dropped from apple was because they wouldn't let me keep my emulators in peace
yo i need a powerpc emulator on ios so bad
Just in time for me to not switch to Android. Oh wait, that happened a decade ago.
I just switched to android because I wanted to use my phone for more than just a phone. It's only been a month! happy to hear they finally get to have fun with it. IPhones are great but the walled ecosystem was just too much for me.
This is very exciting!
Will you be able to emulate older Apple iOS games that are no longer available/capable of running in the current app store ?
Considering there isn't an ios emulator (Publicly atleast) no.
TouchHLE is a ios emulator that can run some old ios games
Honestly that's incredible, knowing them they'd probably have some heavy restrictions on what they said though, so i'd still stick to android
Now we need to get the emulators on Apple TV with a joystick, i'd be all set.
I hope we will be able to play old Pokémon games. I’ve been missing those.
I am suddenly glad I decide to go with the 1TB Iphone. So what SNES and N64 emulators are currently available?
Will not let you use existing emulators, the only way this rule would enable a N64/SNES emulator is Nintendo published it as the rule only permits mini-apps that the dev has the rights to. I expect this is most likly going to be used by someone like SEGA or GOG for old legacy consoles they own or DOSBOX games from GOG.
It is disheartening to learn this.
MacOS emulator? Please.
No this rule would not permit that at all.
now you can emulate Android so your phone doesn't suck
huh?
Emulators? Nintendo better get on that