You won’t guess what the number #1 app on the Apple App Store is right now. Delta is a free video game emulator app that allows you to play retro games on your iPhone. It currently hosts a total of six Nintendo consoles, including controller and keyboard support, save states, and even cheat codes.
The six consoles are: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo 64 (N64), Game Boy Color (GBC), Game Boy Advance (GBA), and Nintendo DS (DS).
Running games on Delta works like any other emulator. All you have to do is add the game’s ROM file to your phone, then import it to Delta’s library on the main screen. Soon, you’ll be joining the hundreds of thousands of fans around the world reliving their childhoods with everything from Super Mario Bros to Animal Crossing.
Why Delta is so popular is obvious, but how Delta got here is far more interesting. The app is a spiritual successor to GBA4iOS, a Game Boy Advance emulator from the same developer. Delta had the same concept in mind, but rebuilt from the ground up with modern iOS features and support for more systems.
Although Delta was built with iOS in mind, it wasn’t actually allowed in the App Store when it was first completed. Developer Riley Testut was left with no choice but to find a new way to distribute Delta. When it was clear that no alternatives were available, they built their own solution in the form of AltStore, an alternative app store for non-jailbroken iOS devices.
Fast forward to present day, Apple has made a groundbreaking change to their marketplace policies. Starting early April, game emulators are now allowed on the App Store globally. While iPhone owners in the past have relied on jailbreaking or other workarounds to install certain games or apps on their device, this change opens the gates to emulators like Delta that function on non-jailbroken iOS devices.
Although game emulators on the App Store are still facing a rocky start — with Apple already having to remove a GBA4iOS rip-off from the marketplace — the future of emulators is looking bright. At the very least, it’s making plenty of Nintendo fans very nostalgic and very happy, and we look forward to what consoles the developers will be adding next.
What are your thoughts on Delta, or other game emulators on mobile? Let us know in the comments below!
