Sega to Launch Official Genesis/Mega Drive Emulator for iPhone and iPod touch

Sega to Launch Official Genesis/Mega Drive Emulator for iPhone and iPod touch

Console emulators have been a firm fixture of the software grey market practically since the dawn of the Internet. A legal loophole regarding back-ups means that emulation software itself is on solid legal ground (to the degree that Steve Jobs once demoed a PlayStation emulator for Mac during a keynote over significant protest by Sony).

Unsurprisingly, emulation is one of the most popular reasons to jailbreak the iPhone. One (former) console-maker has realized that it’s usually smarter to provide a legal alternative rather than try to squash the bootleg edition. According to Gizmodo, Sega is on the verge of launching Ultimate Genesis, a free emulator that includes Space Harrier II and will enable in-app purchases of what will soon be a large library of titles from the dawn of the 16-bit era. It hasn’t shown up in the App Store yet, but based on Sega’s existing iPhone titles, from Sonic the Hedgehog to Super Monkey Ball 2 means it will be worth waiting for.

Ultimate Genesis: Sega’s Official Console Emulator for iPhone [Gizmodo]

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Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

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Posted in iPhone, News, Software |

  • Chris

    Excellent news! Of course we do have emulators in the App Store, i.e. Commodore 64, but this would be the first ‘official’ one.

    If only Nintendo wasn’t an Apple competitor & did the same!

  • Rory Parker

    N64 emulator would making me cry with joy.

  • Greg

    No, Pete, Sega are doing a *Genesis* emulator *for* the iphone. I don’t need an iphone emulator on my iphone. ;)

  • http://www.snubcommunications.com Craig Grannell

    @Rory – No chance. Nintendo’s too interested in reselling Nintendo IP to you on the current Nintendo devices. To be fair, I’m sure Sega would be the same if it was still making hardware.

    @Greg – That was my fault. I amended the heading to remove reference to ‘first’, but the draft didn’t take. The correct headline is now there.