Now there’s a PS1 emulator rising up the iPhone App Store charts

A month on from a Nintendo game emulator topping the iPhone App Store charts, a newly-released PS1 emulator now looks set to do similar.

Gamma, a free PS1 emulator for iPhone and iPad, was released this week. And, just as with the Delta emulator for Nintendo consoles and handhelds, it is taking advantage of Apple’s recent change in App Store policy that officially greenlights game emulator apps for the first time.

The Gamma app is the work of developer ZodTTD, and like Delta had previously existed for years as a download for those who jailbreak their iPhones. Now, due to Apple’s policy change, it has been released for general use – and it’s currently the second-most popular entertainment app on the App Store (behind TikTok).

As with other emulators, the app itself does not contain copyrighted game data and instead requires downloaded ROMs that can be found widely across the internet.

Apple has previously suggested its stance on emulators is to allow apps which play ‘retro’ console games – although no specific definition of what this means has been set out.

Delta, which is still seventh in the App Store entertainment app chart, emulates NES, SNES and N64 home consoles, as well as Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS handhelds. Later models of the DS were only formally discontinued in 2013, suggesting this definition allows for hardware emulation up to and including consoles around 10 years old.

That said, Nintendo hacker and dataminer OatmealDome has subsequently demonstrated that GameCube and Wii emulation on iPhone is unlikely anyway, due to technical constraints.

Sony still monetizes its back catalog through its PlayStation Plus subscription service, with dozens of PS1 games included. Eurogamer has contacted Sony for comment.

Last month, an initial game emulator was pulled by Apple from the App Store – but only after it transpired the emulator itself had been based on pirated code.

Eurogamer previously contacted Nintendo for its stance on app store emulators, and was pointed to industry body Video Games Europe for a response.

“The industry is committed to protecting the creativity developers and hard work of video games,” a Video Games Europe spokesperson said. “Illegal circumvention of copyright protections or engaging in copyright piracy stifles innovation and hampers the development of the entertainment experiences that are enjoyed by millions of players around the world.”