Nintendo 3DS emulator in the App Store - but for how much longer?
Developer Jarrod Norwell is selling a new player for ROMs from three Nintendo devices. Are the Japanese taking action against it?
Folium on the iPhone.
(Image: Jarrod Norwell)
Next emulator for the iPhone: Folium is the name of an app released this month that allows you to play games for three portable consoles from Nintendo. The software is not optimized for iPads and can be loaded with ROMs from Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. In contrast to the emulators previously available on iOS, such as Retroarch, developer Jarrod Norwell is charging for the app: he would like a one-off purchase of 5.99 euros.
Other consoles to be supported soon
According to the developer, Folium is a "high performing multi-system emulator". In addition to the three Nintendo devices, it would also like to support other systems in the future. As usual, the necessary ROMs and system files are not supplied, as this would otherwise violate copyright law. Nintendo has already taken action against the Switch emulator Yuzu in the past, which cost its developer 2.4 million US dollars- including the surrender of its domain. It remains unclear whether there is a risk with Folium because the app is not free.
There may also be problems in terms of speed. Apple does not yet allow emulators to use JIT (just-in-time) compilation. For this reason, it is best to have a newer iPhone model with a fast SoC to compensate for this when using the emulator. So far, only Safari is allowed to use JIT technology. At least other browsers could follow suit here, as Apple could be required to do so by EU regulations.
Rating currently still mediocre
With iOS paid apps, it is always problematic that you first have to buy them before you can try them out. So you can't try out Folium with your favorite game on your iPhone. The app's rating is currently 3.5 out of 5 possible stars in the midfield (German App Store, 18 ratings).
One of the complaints is that some games do not emulate music and systems sometimes do not boot. The problem here is that the developer cannot help users if they are tampering with illegal ROMs and system files. It is probably advisable to wait until further updates are available before making a purchase. Delta, another popular emulator, is currently only available in the EU via the provider's own app store.
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