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Your iPhone can now play classic PlayStation games – here’s how
In This Article
The rise ofretro game emulators on Appleplatforms continues with the arrival of the PSP emulator PPSSPP.
The free emulator can bedownloaded from the App Storefrom today. Previously you’ve only been able to install through unofficial means, but Apple now likes emulators.
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In ablog posttoday, 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, withDelta bringing Game Boy Advance gamesto 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.
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Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He’s based in South Florida, USA. …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
