iPhone emulation is all everyone is talking about right now (if you’ve got an iPhone at least) and after the success of Delta dropping on the App Store, everyone has been wondering what other console emulators would arrive for us to sink our retro teeth into. So far, PPSSPP has been announced as being in the works, and Provenance promises to bring PS1 and Sega Saturn games to the mix.
Thanks to a post by SnowLatch this morning, we now know that Folium, a new iPhone 3DS emulator is heading our way. We can clearly see Mario Kart 7 playing perfectly while the iPhone owner sits on a train, which means that the emulator should be ready to drop very soon.
According to CentroLeaks on X, you’ll need an iPhone 15 Pro or newer to be able to cope with the processing power required to make 3DS games run on iPhone. Older models won’t be able to cope with recreating games at full speed, meaning you could be in for some glitchy gameplay if you’re still rocking an iPhone 8. CentroLeaks also claims that the app will be the first paid emulator on the App Store too, coming in at $4.99 (and we imagine £4.99 for us Brits).
Nintendo’s Stance On Emulation
Nintendo isn’t afraid to law down the law (literally) when it comes to the uploading and distribution of ROMs of their games. Just recently, Switch emulator creators Yuzu received a hefty slap on the wrist and an even heftier $2.4 million lawsuit for aiding piracy around Tears of the Kingdom. Yuzu also created Citra, a 3DS emulator that many gamers used in one way or another as either an emulator or core, another emulator that is now no more.
While it’s important to remember that emulators aren’t illegal, it’s the practice of sharing illegally acquired ROMs that is. So, how will they take to having the Folium 3DS emulator on the iPhone when they’ve just taken down Citra from the internet? Because the program itself isn’t illegal, we don’t see them doing much about it, but they’ll be keeping a Sauron-esque eye on for anyone trying to upload a Switch emulator that could potentially take revenue away from their current games sales – that’s one thing you can be 100% sure of!
