In late April, Apple updated the rules to their app store and for the first time this new language allowed for apps to be officially available for the iPhone and iPad that emulate games. Shortly after the change, the gaming app Delta was released and became massively popular. After reading about Delta, I downloaded it to my phone and I haven’t looked back since.
Now, I’m not going to go into detail on how to get games onto your phone to use with the app. You’re a savvy human who understand how to google, but let me tell you that having a game boy full of 80 games ready to go with me at all times has been a game changer. It’s perfect for little moments of pure joy when you need one. There is something so simple and great about being stuck a waiting room, then knocking out a good twenty minutes playing the game boy version of “Jeopardy” from 1991.
Delta emulates Nintendo systems, mostly from the 1990s. It can play games made for the original Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy and Game Boy color, and also the Nintendo DS. What makes Delta so great is the way it effortless does this, packing it all in a simple, elegant package. You load the game rom file to your phone and it matches it to the right cover art and self-organizes the games by system. You just tap the cover and your game starts, with a touch screen controller that is designed to look like the one for the system that game is for.
Now sometimes playing a video game by touch controls can be a be a bit, well, lacking. Delta makes up for this by having haptic feedback, giving you a little bit of a more tactile experience. What impresses me the most is how natural Game Boy games take to the form. On a iPhone screen they’re roughly the same size, if not a little bit bigger, than the screen of original Game Boy hardware.
The nostalgia aside, it’s far more engaging and entertaining, to me, to open up delta and play some of these games over their modern mobile counterparts. The current apps for “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” are OK, but they feel a bit lacking to me. Tap on delta, tap on the game, and in a minute you’re doing your best to keep up with the computer. It’s comforting, fun, and just a marvel of modern technology to think of the games I use to haul around in a bag on vacations, all being on one device in my pocket.
I’ll tell you what’s shocked me the most out of all the games I’ve been playing. I’ve become mildly addicted to playing golf games. Yep. I am not athletic in real life, I’ve only ever been golfing once, I nearly drove the cart off a cliff that time. Yet there is something so relaxing and enjoyable about playing a few rounds of PGA European Tour from 1994 while I wait when dining alone in a crowded restaurant.
I even did an entire 18 hole round of “Jack Nicklaus Golf” when I was waiting in the green room the other night before I got on stage, mostly as I tend to arrive rather early and had quite a bit of time on my hands. Then after that I played the very bad to OK Game Boy tie-in game for the 1993 action film “Cliffhanger.” A game which is fun in a weird and rather ridiculous way.
That may not seem that impressive or interesting to you, technical wonders are more common and less dazzling these days. For those of us who are depressed elder millennials, it is impressive. It’s also a comfort and in these times when we often feel tired and overwhelmed, there is a pure comfort in being able to just knockout a round of “Tetris" the way you first fell in love with it on your phone. See you next week.
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