Popular Delta Retro Game Emulator Coming to iPad

Game emulator Delta has made a splash on iPhone following Apple's recently announced App Store support for retro game emulators, and now the developer Riley Testut has confirmed that Delta is almost ready for its iPad debut.


In a post shared on Threads over the weekend, Testut said the iPad version is "near completion," with just controller skins to finish and some bug fixes to iron out.

Testut explained that Delta for iPad had not originally been a development priority because the plan was to limit the emulator's launch to the EU via alternative app marketplace AltStore PAL, which doesn't support iPad.

However, in a reversal of a years-old policy, Apple earlier this month announced that it would allow retro game emulators on the ‌App Store‌. Delta was therefore made available on the App Store as a free download in the United States and other countries on April 17, with users supporting the developer via Patreon.

Delta has been hugely popular since its debut on the App Store and the emulator has been a constant presence in the Top Charts, with users flocking to play retro games that originally appeared on NES, SNES, N64, Nintendo DS, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance.


Delta works with popular game controllers, and supports cheats, save states, backups, syncing, and more. Other features include an option to fast forward, a "hold" button for games where a button needs to be consistently held, support for Haptic Touch, and box art for imported games. Local multiplayer gaming is available on iPhone, and up to four players can participate. A future version of Delta will also include SEGA Genesis support, according to Testut.

iPad support will arrive when Delta 1.6 hits the App Store, but Patreon supporters don't have to wait and can grab Delta 1.6 now.

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Top Rated Comments

colmaclean Avatar
15 months ago
An Apple TV version would be super, sweet and awesome.

I know you can currently use Airplay, but native support would always be better.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
acctman Avatar
15 months ago
Developers: Apple is taking to much money it’s unfair.

Apple: Fine take payment yourself and we’ll allow side loading

Developers: People are stealing our apps and side loading for free

Apple: What did you think would happen, enjoy


I’m using Delta and sadly I’ve installed a bunch of rom for games I’ve never owned.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
truthsteve Avatar
15 months ago
cool, now that 90% of all iOS pro-sideloading people can now do the one thing they wanted to sideload for (playing illegal roms), we can drop this sideloading issue in USA.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Xavier Avatar
15 months ago
It's been fun playing some old retro games. Apple TV would be the ultimate though!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Madmic23 Avatar
15 months ago
Any chance we can get an Apple TV version next? :)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
skottichan Avatar
15 months ago
Been enjoying this and fell back into Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on my iPad, I'm hoping the iPad specific version will have a full screen mode for those of us wanting to use a controller.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)