Earlier this year we got rather excited over the release of an app which allowed you to play GameBoy Advance games on your iOS device, completely free of charge and without jailbreaking your device. That was all well and good, and has killed hundreds of commuter hours to date, but in a remarkable display of just how rapidly technology is advancing we are now presented with NDS4iOS – a Nintendo DS emulator for your iPhone, iPod or iPad.
Yep, a full-on DS emulator. It makes sense doesn’t it? The defining feature of the handheld console upon its release in 2004/2005 was its touch-screen, which brought a totally new dimension to gameplay. Of course in the years since touchscreen devices became the norm, and so touchscreen gaming became a rather common commodity. Now that we have iPhones capable of handling DS-level graphics, why wouldn’t this app exist?
Those of you familiar with GBA4iOS will know the deal already. You simply need to head to the developer’s website and download the NDS4iOS app. Within that app you simply click the little ‘+’ icon in the top-right hand corner of the homescreen to download ‘ROMs’ of old DS titles, and away you go. The fact that you don’t need to jailbreak your device to do so is explained in our article on GBA4iOS. It’s a little convoluted, but it is essentially allowed to exist because it operates outside the stringent laws of the Apple iOS App Store.
Of course, this is all only legal if you previously purchased and owned the titles you decide to download. So under no circumstance should you follow this link in your mobile browser and download it. It’s definitely not extremely fun, and definitely not a ridiculously cool innovation for the mobile gaming platform.
