The free Delta game emulator for iPhones is live on Apple’s App Store

The app is the first significant, officially sanctioned game emulator for the iPhone since Apple began allowing them, with console emulation extensive, from the original Nintendo Entertainment System to the Nintendo 64 (and even the Sega Genesis, when you want to play these games). games that Nintendon’t do it).

Delta developer Riley Testut said The edge by email that the application is identical to the version launched with AltStore PAL. The app has on-screen buttons that change their layout and appearance to match the system you’re emulating.

It also supports Bluetooth controllers like the Xbox One Series S or PS5 controllers, and the app lets you customize their layout or set additional buttons for things like quicksave states (essentially allowing you to pause a game whenever you want and load it from that point later) or fast-forward through an old-school game’s all-too-often unavoidable cutscenes or endless stream of startup logos.

Delta even works with some of Nintendo’s more original input methods, like the gyroscope in WarioWare: Twisted! or microphone controls in Nintendo DS games like Phoenix Wright: Ace Lawyer (“OBJECTION!”).

Delta also has other touches, such as automatically retrieving box art from your games and the ability to customize that artwork using its built-in database or your own custom images, and users can import controller skins or create their own. It also supports multiplayer for NES, SNES and N64 (up to four players) as well as AirPlay streaming.

A small number of other emulators beat Delta, including one called iGBA which directly hijacked Testut’s GBA4iOS code and an NES emulator called Bimmy. Both were short-lived, however, with Apple removing iGBA for violating App Store spam and copyright rules and Bimmy developer getting cold feet in light of the recent crackdown emulators by Nintendo.

Notably, the application of Testut is not new. It released Delta version 1.0 in 2019 alongside its original jailbreak alternative AltStore. This means that the app has already seen five years of feature iterations and bug fixes, so it will likely be one of the most polished emulation experiences on iPhone for some time.

Updated April 17, 2024, 12:45 p.m. ET: Updated to reflect that Delta is now live on the App Store.