The rise of retro game emulators on Apple platforms continues with the arrival of the PSP emulator PPSSPP.
The free emulator can be downloaded from the App Store from today. Previously you’ve only been able to install through unofficial means, but Apple now likes emulators.
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In a blog post today, the developer said: “After nearly 12 years, PPSSPP has finally been approved for the iOS App Store! Thanks to Apple for relaxing their policies, allowing retro games console emulators on the store.”
Henrik Rydgård says that App Store rules pertaining to the JIT compiler (which ensures games run smoothly on the unintended platform) will mean CPU emulation performance is reduced, but it shouldn’t cause any issues with running PSP games on the iPhone at full speed. Modern iPhones are so much more powerful than the PSP, they could probably handle them at about 50% of the CPU/GPU capabilities of the near-20-year-old PSP.
“Fortunately, iOS devices are generally fast enough to run nearly all PSP games at full speed anyway, as the PSP CPU is not that expensive to emulate, thanks to our efficient IR-based caching interpreter, which also has further room for improvement,” the developer says.
Also missing out of the gate is support for the Magic Keyboard for iPad, which isn’t that big of a deal because of the wide range of Bluetooth controller support on iOS and iPad OS. Naturally there are no games included, so it’ll be a case of loading ROMs onto the device, or converting existing games to compatible .ISO or .CSO files.
Once you’ve fulfilled the criteria (legally, of course), you’ll be able to enjoy classics from yesteryear like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, GTA: Vice City Stories, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, and Gran Turismo PSP.
PPSSPP is the latest emulator to land on the App Store, with Delta bringing Game Boy Advance games to the platform, while the popular and longstanding multi-platform emulator RetroArch also arrived this week.
Which ROMs are you most enjoying revisiting on iPhone? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
