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Gaming on your iPhone has never been as good as it is right now. With Apple allowing emulators on the App Store this year, there are endless classic games at your fingertips while accessories like the Backbone One, which is reduced for Prime Day, let you ditch the annoying touchscreen controls.
Retro Gaming Brought Countless Classic Games to the iPhone
Earlier this year, Apple allowed the first retro game emulators onto the App Store. It started with Delta, which lets you emulate a range of classic Nintendo systems, from the NES to the N64, to the Game Boy, to the Nintendo DS. And since that time, we’ve seen a wave of other emulators hit the store as well, including PPSSPP (for PSP emulation) and RetroArch for a huge selection of older consoles like Atari and Sega consoles.
These emulators don’t come with any game ROMs; you need to provide those yourself, for legal reasons. But once you manage that, you’ll have no shortage of absolutely incredible games available to emulate on your iPhone. Think of any classic game from your childhood (or before) and you’ll be able to play it in full, for free, on your iPhone, be it Pokémon, Zelda, Sonic, Mario, or countless others.
Mobile gaming has had its ups and downs over the years, and there are absolutely modern mobile games that are still worth your time, but they can be hard to find and are often hamstrung by ads, in-app purchases, and the limitations of touchscreen controls. That isn’t a problem when you’re emulating timeless classics, especially if you pair these emulators with a Prime Day purchase.
The Backbone One Turns Your iPhone Into a Handheld Console
We’ve already written before about our love of the Backbone One. By fitting around your smartphone, it provides physical controls to use instead of fiddly touchscreen alternatives. Not only does this avoid you blocking the screen with your fingers while playing, but it’s a far more pleasant experience whenever you’re playing a game that was initially developed for a controller, just like all those classic games I was just talking about.
The Backbone One is currently reduced for Prime Day, so you can pick it up for just $70, instead of its typical $100 price tag. The Backbone isn’t the only smartphone-cradle-controller of its kind, either. There are other great options, like the Razer Kishi V2, which is also on sale for Prime Day.
With a snap-on controller around your phone, and a few emulators downloaded and ready to go, iPhone gaming can rival that of dedicated handheld consoles like the Switch or Steam Deck. Of course, you won’t have such modern titles to choose from (unless you buy modern AAA games from the App Store), but you’ll have no shortage of critically acclaimed games to try, and you’ll have only spent a tiny fraction of the cost.
Backbone One
$70 $100 Save $30
This Backbone One is modeled after the DualSense’s button layout and even its colors, making it a great fit for PS Remote Play (and really any game if you like the PS-style layout).
