The iPhone is fast becoming home to many forms of retro gaming applications, but one of the most promising – a licensed Commodore 64 emulator – has failed to make it past Apple’s labyrinthine App Store approvals process. It’s a big disappointment to those who want to enjoy a bit of gaming nostalgia from their handset, which is more than up to the task. More importantly, it’s yet more proof that something is completely wrong with the App Store approval system.
The Commodore 64 emulator App, named C64, is the work of developer Manomio. Manomio isn’t a stranger to creating retro gaming Apps. Its first effort for the iTunes Store was an iPhone version of retro classic Flashback, which went down well with iPhone gamers.
With that success behind it, Manomio decided to go several steps further, beginning work on a power C64 emulator, which would not only have promised a lot more games, but also the chance to run Commodore BASIC and program your own 8-bit games. “We got in contact with Commodore and Kiloo, who already had the license for Commodore64 brand, and we signed a deal with them to publish it,” reveals Manomio’s Brian Lyscarz.
Now, Apple has rules in the SDK agreement about allowing an App to launch executable code by itself, a necessary precaution in the eternal war against spammers and malicious software developers. That said, there’s more to this than a disgruntled iPhone dev trying to push through an illegal App.
“We contacted developer relations at Apple and explained our project – how we would use an add-on mechanism to sell new games from the App Store that could be installed into the emulator using only published APIs, and got a mail back saying it didn’t see any problems in us making apps emulating the Commodore64 and selling it on the App Store,” says Lyscrarz.
Furthermore there are other Apps in the store that already act as emulators, and SEGA’s Golden Axe and Sonic games are essentially emulators running ROMs already packaged in.
Here’s hoping that Apple pays attention to how users feel about emulator software on their handsets and finds a way of getting the now completed C64 App through its bizarre approval process.
Out TBA | £TBA | C64 and Manomio (via PocketGamer)
