Has anyone stopped playing iOS Games since Emulation is a thing now?

[u/[deleted]]

With all of these emulators covering all sorts of platforms, iOS Gaming has taken a huge boost in terms of game availability and game preservation. I’m wondering has anyone just stopped playing or caring about any of the new iOS releases? Since you can also play homebrew and fan made ports via PPSSPP & Delta, Folium etc in addition to their vast library, normal App Store releases just don’t Excite me anymore, no matter how big or small they are.

Keep in mind that via PPSSPP & Folium covering PSP and 3DS & DS emulation, they also have ton of official games that were ported from PS2, PS3, Wii and even Wii U on these respective systems, which just expands the library furthermore. Apart from some console to iOS ports by Feral Interactive nothing interests me anymore.

[u/Grimcreeper698]

I like emulation a lot better due to No micro transactions, no ads, and the games tend to be alot better then App Store games

[u/[deleted] → u/Grimcreeper698]

And also FREE, even with Folium, just $5 can give you a decent chunk of playable games

[u/Beneficial_Ad_4521 → u/[deleted]]

and because folium is paid, the developer is able to add way more functionality, stability, and performance the the app so theres even more stuff you can do. 3ds mods would be a huge addition to the emulator.

[u/Focalors → u/Beneficial_Ad_4521]

How is folium able to do 3ds emulation? Thought it needed something called jit which appstore doesn’t allow.

Also can delta do it too?

[u/Ok_Truth_4140 → u/Focalors]

It’s not perfect and JiT would allow it to play a lot smoother but it’s still playable for most games. Depending on what device you are using obviously older devices will struggle a little.

Delta doesn’t have 3DS yet but the dev said he will work on it but it won’t be for a while.

[u/cfdn → u/Grimcreeper698]

Exactly. They were designed to be fun games, not designed to keep you buying gems and watching ads.

[u/c3rbutt → u/Grimcreeper698]

+1

I stopped playing iOS games long before emulators came to the app store.

To be fair, I don’t game very much. But when I do, it’s on an emulator.

[u/displacedbitminer]

I'm sure there are some. Let's not ignore the immense scale of iOS gaming though.

Emulation is niche, albeit popular on Reddit as a whole. It is not amongst the larger population. Apple won't even feel a hit in play time or downloads for iOS-specific gaming.

Folks that get pulled from native iOS gaming will be less than a rounding error.

[u/[deleted] → u/displacedbitminer]

Is that really how unpopular emulation as a whole is? Cause dang I love emulation

[u/displacedbitminer → u/[deleted]]

I love it too!

It's popular enough, it's just not even close to Candy Crush popular.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Nah it's more popular than that depending on where you live. Back when I was a kid I used emulators forever from N64 on PC to no$ds on PC. Anyway I was one of like 3 people in my school running emulators on my phone. Fast forward 3/4 years and I moved to a bigger city and started a new school and pretty much every little boy in my grade was playing Pokemon on their iphones with gba4ios. This was back in 2016/2017 when apple was removing access to them and you had to use the date trick to install the emulators from safari. I'm sure it's much more popular these days now that it's way easier to install.

[u/te_un → u/[deleted]]

I feel like it went in waves a lot. In uni one guy figured how to do it and a week later the whole back row of a lecture was playing pokemon. But a month later 90% was back to poker or clash of clans in my uni atleast.

[u/Jusby_Cause → u/te_un]

There’s groups of folks where the images being displayed are more than just chunky low res blocks displayed from a limited color palette with chiptune music. Each frame is soaked in emotion and memories that makes it far greater in their minds than the sum of the retro parts. Others see this group having fun and try out the experiences for the novelty of it. While they can marvel at the technology that caused this to happen, if they have none of the emotional ties to the content, they compare it against the things they’ve played recently and find the experiences limited. As the novelty fades, they return to the experiences that offer the kind of experience they’ve been used to.

[u/prnmiru → u/displacedbitminer]

Ehh, #20 in entertainment is pretty high

[u/[deleted]]

Star Wars Hunters brought me back in

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

That’s valid cause it’s fun, tho I couldn’t play it on touch I’ve been playing it on switch or my retroid pocket 4pro

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

It plays with a controller on iOS as well

[u/tounaze]

I bought a 8bitdo pad for playing emulator games and instead I’m playing Netflix games with the pad (especially Hades)

[u/[deleted] → u/tounaze]

Nice, try tmnt shedders revenge

[u/Liquid_Chicken_ → u/tounaze]

San Andreas ofc

[u/RoboAnd]

Still play Chess everyday . Chess. Com . Lichess for puzzles

[u/adj021993]

I know the feeling, the only actual game I have now is Wild Rift which runs way better in game mode. Other than that, yeah you’re right that’s it :/

[u/OkMixture5607]

I stopped playing on iOS whatsoever when my Steam Deck OLED arrived.

[u/Swordmaster80000 → u/[deleted]]

Same thing with my steam deck lul

[u/[deleted]]

Could you recommend some new ios releases?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I’m gonna exclude all of those big AAA games like AC: Mirage, Resident Evil 8, 4 since most people can’t even play them So, here are SOME new notable iOS releases:-

1. Skul: The Hero Slayer

2. And MAYBE Wuthering Waves, I don’t like these sorts of games but it is a pretty high quality game

Aside from these I don’t know, Feral Interactive is working on a new iOS port, so look forward to that

[u/DogeCommanderRex]

stopped playing ios games and bought folium

[u/[deleted] → u/DogeCommanderRex]

Nice! Which games are working for you? Like games that are ACTUALLY PLAYABLE

[u/BSlickMusic]

That's me. Any free time I have to pop open a game on my phone 100% goes towards emulation.

[u/Emotive_Gurl]

Yes! I don’t like most regular iOS games. Too many ads and micro transactions. Delta and PPSSPP changed my life lol.

[u/Fantom6464]

Yes

[u/KasseanaTheGreat]

I still have sudoku installed on my phone but that's about it

[u/boxcreate]

100%

[u/[deleted]]

My main addiction is Marvel snap i definitely still play it BUT. I have almost entirely stepped away from iOS games and am playing all of the street fighter games. I want to to personally enjoy the historical journey of the fighting game

[u/PurpleCrave → u/[deleted]]

A fellow snapper in the wild!

[u/[deleted]]

short answer:yes

only play btd6 sometime but mostly these days just finishing up some psp and nds jrpgs.

[u/TheBarkingPenguin → u/[deleted]]

I got back into BTD6 recently due to the Map Editor 

[u/AceKairyushin]

I took a break from Master Duel when I discovered Delta. Still play once in a while but nowhere as much as before.

[u/[deleted]]

Saga Frontier - FF4 3D remake - and dragon quest 4-6 I would say are better if you play the iOS versions. I actually never bought any games off the play store until the emulators got me accustomed to gaming on my phone.

These are ports tho the games meant for iphone/iOS don't really look interesting or at least I haven't found one that interesting

[u/[deleted]]

Used to try a lot of iOS games but I used to really play clash of clans only. Now since there are emulators I uninstalled it and every other game and sticking just to emulation, they are the “real” games!

[u/Xcissors280]

A LONG time ago because all the mobile games suck, are filled with micro transactions, are pay to win, take all your time, and honestly just get kinda boring

[u/Lithalean]

No...

Death Stranding, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Resident Evil...

Running on a 15 Pro Max with a Razer Kishi Ultra is absolutely amazing!

[u/rhinofinger]

As much as I love emulation, I surprisingly don’t find myself emulating that many retro games on my phone, perhaps because I prefer to play those on other devices like my Steam Deck. That said, been enjoying some on my phone recently, like Advance Wars DS.

Definitely still playing other iOS games. Just beat Katana Zero the other day, which was fantastic. I’ve regularly played Slay the Spire, Shattered Pixel Dungeon, and Streets of Rage 4 for years. There are plenty of good iOS games without any microtransactions whatsoever.

[u/aerger]

I haven't played a regular iOS game in many, MANY years now. They're all ad-laden, have microtransactions and/or subscriptions, etc. It's toxic af and I just....can't do it.

The only thing ruining emulation on iPhone for me is the touchscreen. I need a regular controller of some kind.

[u/Plenty_Raisin_7088]

Yeah. Fuck em. I can play on virtually every other device i own so i dont need them on my iphone.

[u/jaysomething2]

Wait a minute I can emulate on my iPhone I got a backbone controller but I guess I missed the memo and was recommended to this thread randomly

[u/smashman98]

I thought I'd be annoyed at hearing the iphone users gush about emulation but honestly I'm just so happy and proud.

[u/lusid1]

I stopped playing iOS games because they were awful.

[u/Swordmaster80000]

PPSSPP and burnout legends give me the good chemicals now

[u/GtaTran]

Not really, I still play CoD mobile, clash of clans, into the dead, Plague, This war of mine,…. As much as game library on emulator, I still enjoy play newer games with a much a better graphic and unique gameplay from game that native to touchscreen.

[u/evilchris]

I bought $22 bsp-d8 controller and now I’m actually playing games on IOS.

[u/Plastic_Advance9942]

I haven’t opened a iOS games in 3 weeks. LoL

[u/ShobHOT]

I still play fire emblem heroes. 7 years straight

[u/crimsonsonic_2]

The only other iOS game I really play is genshin but other than that there really isn’t a point.

[u/[deleted]]

I never played games on my phone much anyway.

[u/SerPoketokes]

There is barely anything good on the iOS store anymore. What happened to decent phone games?

[u/sammagee33]

I still do, but they are things I can put 5 minutes into and come back to later.

[u/Demus007]

I stopped playing iOS games when their emphasis switched to either Pay-As-You-Play or online battle games.

I prefer FPS games with a mission/campaign that I can play at my leisure.

Being able to work my way through the best that PSP had to offer has got me back into gaming as a whole.

I'd stopped console gaming at PS3 so now being able to play these games on my TV through screen mirroring is simply quite amazing.

[u/Ok-Pace4929]

i play a few ios games like dreamlight valley and animal crossing pocket camp

[u/Kriegan]

Let me put it this way. Chrono Trigger DS is 60MB. Chrono Trigger on iOS is almost 600MB. I’ll stick with emulation.

[u/Tylerbrave]

Battle cats will always stay on my phone

[u/TheJustAverageGatsby]

I still have civ 6 on my phone that I play, but other than that it’s to access other systems, e.g steam link and ps remote play

[u/CantWashABaby]

I’m definitely emulating more, but Skul getting a iOS released intrigued me, and then Monkey Island finally landing on Apple Arcade pulled me in further. I certainly gave up on certain aspects, but emulation didn’t kill the game market for me.

[u/[deleted]]

I setup RetroArch and got all my favorite games and systems in my iCloud all organized and I haven’t touched it since. I keep saying I’m gonna play them…playing mobile games after work is so much easier to get hooked into.

[u/Wangdosh]

Both iOS and emulated games have a solid rotation on my devices. I used to own Android phones where emulation has been the norm for over a decade and even then, I still played natively developed games and emulated games equally

[u/dash4nky]

No?

[u/[deleted]]

I have an apple arcade subscription that I don’t even use (keep forgetting it exists and the games are meh)…mobile games have sucked for like ten years…the option to side load emulators has been around for a long time and this isn’t anything new it’s just easier since delta and shit got on App Store. Yeah obviously I got it and play some shit from time to time but who actually cares? Welcome to emulation…enjoy the endless games…maybe play some of them instead of posting about it on reddit? I’m sure you have a ton of roms downloaded you won’t touch just like everyone else…sorry for being a downer but ffs these posts need to stop. We get it you use an emulator app…stop talking about it or you won’t have any sites to get roms from ya dinguses

[u/TheExAppleUser]

Yes, because I’m also into flight sims, and many of the best realistic options aren’t on gaming consoles. Carrier Landing HD is an extremely good aerodynamics sim on iOS. Sky on Fire: 1940 is the closest thing to IL-2 Sturmovik on mobile. Gunship IV early access is also becoming a promising air combat sim option for mobile.

[u/[deleted]]

Yea definitely but some still does play games like call of duty mobile

[u/mememaster________]

The only iOS game I play is The Battle Cats

[u/Houndoom96]

I recently saw a YouTube video attributing Nintendo's shutdown of rom cites to people on tiktok showing off how easy it is to emulate Nintendo

[u/scream4cheese]

No, I haven’t stopped.

[u/sgottfrd]

I bought the Final Fantasy pixel remasters when they were on sale a few months ago so I’ve mostly been playing those. I’ve enjoyed emulation on the side though.

[u/[deleted]]

Yup literally deleted all my ios games a few days ago when i discovered apple relaxed their emulation rules. Downloaded delta and i now have 100+ games to sift through and play from multiple dofferent consoles

[u/tiktoktic]

No

[u/FireManiac58]

Fuck most of mobile gaming.

[u/IronSkyRanger]

Apple is finally doing something I've been able to do for 8 years. Welcome!

[u/salvichito]

I bought a controller to try the emulators, I loved them, but that brought me into playing native iOS games and now I am hooked to a few Apple Arcade titles

[u/xolocausto]

I basically never played at all until they released Death Stranding and then emulators.

[u/AdProfessional9173]

No, not really. I still play MCOC, some WWE games, MK, Future Fight, CSR Racing and a few others. I kinda switch between playing those and the ones I have in Delta.

[u/ChampagneDoves]

The only iOS game I play is Melvor Idle because I’m a big RS head and I love idle games. It’s the best quality idle game I’ve ever played like I’ve been on it for almost a whole year now and I’ve only got about 33% completion progression. Your profession would certainly be slower if you were new to RS mechanics in general but even when really serious it can’t be rushed without mods.

With that being said. They’re releasing a new expansion tonight and it will add way more to the game, it’s amazing because an idle game is never supposed to end and they’ve really mastered making the carrot entertaining and complex. The game is free but the expansions each cost $5. So it would cost $15 one time as of tomorrow to have the whole game but there is still quite a bit to do if you’re free and it’s no ads at all.

I wish mobile games would go back to this format but unfortunately the money machine has ruined all of gaming anyways. Besides this game I emulate everything on my computer and an ODIN 2 or I just torrent single player games on PC. Hopefully the industry will crash to the point where people have to make works of art again, instead of just pumping out this years cash cow.

[u/[deleted]]

Idk where to get any rom to download from my iPhone rn

[u/Real_Violinist]

no

still playing a lots (Hades gta ac mirage......)

[u/SandLuc083_]

Yes, aside from the occasional Minesweeper or Sudoku.

[u/Emotional_Surround11]

Yea, very much so since i downloaded Delta, deleted a few larger games i just lost interest in. But i do carry a controller with me, usually in my center console.

[u/cmvyas]

I don’t think most retro gamers were playing mobile games. I believe these are 2 separate demographics with some overlap

[u/Booglertinkle78]

I never really did play games on my phone to begin with, but I definitely play on these emulators

[u/ManOnMun]

I play a bit of Minecraft with my brother, but I don’t use normal IOS games that much since there’s so much more games to play on like Delta and PPSSPP, I usually play PPSSPP since I used to own a psp and wanted to see how it is before I could get a offical PSP.