Update: It has been pulled, you’ll have to jailbreak to get an NES emulator now.
We’re not sure how this one slipped through, but Nescaline, a Nintendo Entertainment System emulator is in the App Store as we speak. Yes, Apple has prohibited emulators in the past as a security measure although it did eventually approve a Commodore64 emulator. Nescaline comes with five homebrew apps but allows you to download NES.roms from the Internet by providing a URL. We’re sure no one will upload any pirated ROMs.
Doesn’t sound very Appley does it? We don’t expect this one to last 24 hours in the App Store. Get it at the App Store now ($6.99)
The developer is Jonathan Zdziarski, who besides being the last guy in the phone book is also the author of O’Reilly’s iPhone forensics. From the developer:
Kick it old school with home-brew games written for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Nescaline allows you to play public domain NES games, five of which are included, or use Nescaline’s download feature to add games to your library from any remote URL.
Features:– Multitouch support; use the directional pad and A+B or many other combinations together.– Works with many zapper-enabled games. Simply touch the screen where you want to shoot.– Save-state allows you to save games in progress and later restore them to the state they were in when you left the game.– Supports both landscape and portrait mode, in both full screen or original resolution– Enter Game Genie codes to enable cheats for your favorite games.– Alternate frame skip, palette, and advanced settings.
Nescaline works well with many freely available home-brew and public domain games, but is not guaranteed to work with all of them. Author does not condone the piracy of commercial games.
For optimal performance, an iPhone 3Gs is recommended, but not required.
NOTE: Nescaline is in no way affiliated with Nintendo of America or its affiliates. Nescaline does not contain any intellectual property or copyrighted material owned by Nintendo of America or its affiliates.
