iMAME Arcade Emulator Hits the App Store (For Now) [Update: Pulled]

Wednesday December 21, 2011 2:48 pm PST by Arnold Kim
TouchArcade has spotted the appearance of a free MAME game emulator on the App Store called iMAME. MAME is a popular arcade machine emulator that will run thousands of arcade games if you have the original ROMs.


iMAME running Simpsons with iCade support.

iMAME ships with nine "less than stellar" ROMs to play, but apparently can load arbitrary ROMs using a 3rd party utility such as iExplorer without jailbreaking:
It seems that the same method used to get games into iDOS also works in iMAME. Twitter user @mattlukens mentions, "Yep, add a .zip rom to the Docs folder through PhoneView and it works perfect! Just tried Crime Fighters!" He also provided a screenshot. The clock is really ticking now on Apple pulling this down
Apple has had a bit of a spotty history with emulators on the App Store. While a number of individual emulators do exist on the App Store, Apple has been more restrictive about these open emulators, presumably due to potential legal issues. For example, a full DOS/Windows 3.0 emulator appeared in the App Store at one point but was quickly pulled by Apple.

iMAME is currently available as a free Universal application on the App Store. [Link]

Update: It took Apple two days to get around to it with the holidays, but iMAME has been removed from the App Store.

[ 257 comments ]

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Switz213
105 months ago
Downloaded and saved forever (at least until iOS 6)
Rating: 16 Votes
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wordoflife
105 months ago
Don't think I'll ever use this, but downloaded it just in case.
Rating: 11 Votes
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Number 41
105 months ago
I can put in a folder with Tether titled "Banned 2011 Apps"
Rating: 9 Votes
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iMikeT
105 months ago

Don't think I'll ever use this, but downloaded it just in case.



Haha. Yeah, same here.

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Easiest way is to open "www.macrumors.com" in your iPod Touch's web browser, then click on the "Link" at the end of the article.

arn



I just love how arn is helping out with the deviant behavior. :D
Rating: 7 Votes
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TMar
105 months ago

It's not breaking any of the app store rules. There are many emulators up on the app store. The only app store requirement is that you can only play games bundled with your app. It doesn't cover users jail breaking the phone and loading more.


I guess your reading comprehension isn't so great because in the OP it says you can load more on it with-OUT Jb'ing...
Rating: 6 Votes
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arn
105 months ago

How do I download it? iMame emu isn't in the app store?

Thanks


Direct link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imame/id485639079?mt=8

arn
Rating: 6 Votes
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DerekTS
105 months ago
Download it now while you can!
Rating: 6 Votes
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JPyre
105 months ago
Mk atv2 4gs



720p

Yes, portrait works too.

Believe it or not I own a jamma of this as well so I'm legit :)
Rating: 5 Votes
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mduser63
105 months ago

I think it's gone already. Too late. :(


No, I just finished downloading a copy (after seeing this comment).
Rating: 4 Votes
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iLes
105 months ago
Hi all,

This app is based on my iMame4All Xcode project, which in turn is based on Seleuco's iMame4All for iOS devices port. To find out what works and doesn't work go to my website here: http://www.lesbird.com/iMame4All/iMame4All_Xcode.html (http://www.lesbird.com/iMame4All/iMame4All_Xcode.html) but to sum things up:

1. WiiMote's don't work. They require chip level access to the Bluetooth chipset which will only work on jailbroken devices.
2. You need the ROMs for iMame4All for the GP32X (MAME v37b5). If you can find them they should work.
3. When I created the iMame4All Xcode project I included all of the sound samples for the iMame4All ROM set.

I did not submit this to the App Store, that was done by Jim Van who used my iMame4All Xcode project as a base starting point then trimmed out anything that was not App Store compliant.

For controllers there are 2 options - iCade and iControlPad. Let me explain the difference between them. When you connect your iControlPad or iCade a window will pop up asking which mode you want to use. I highly recommend choosing iCade mode for both controllers (put the iControlPad in iCade emulation mode). The reason is that in iControlPad mode it expects the controller to be in special packet mode. This will allow you to use the dual nubs on the iControlPad to play games like Robotron, however the downside is that there is a lot of data being transmitted over the Bluetooth and iPad 1's and anything less will have a hard time keeping up.

Hope this clears some stuff up.

- Les
Rating: 3 Votes

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