Apple doesn't have the most triumphant reputation for vetting the products found in its App Store, and it looks as though another piece of copyrighted material managed to slip through the badly worn net.
Earlier today, a Game Boy Advance emulator smuggled itself into the App Store using a cunning disguise - it dressed up as a baby name generator.
Yes, a new app called Awesome Baby Names was made available, and upon purchasing it for $1.99 / £1.49 users could tap a few hidden buttons to reveal the emulator along with a wealth of Game Boy Advance ROMs.
Obviously, once being alerted the Apple gang swung in and removed the app so it's no longer available. However, it was in there for a decent amount of time so many people managed to get hold of it.
Did any of you catch a glimpse of this one in the App Store?
[source pocketgamer.co.uk, via nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 36
I wish somethong like that happened to Nintendo for once so we could play GBA games on 3DS.
I know!
Wow...
Awesome Quality Control.
@SethNintendo I think the point is that this actually came with ROMs, I think you have to provide your own ROMs for most of the emulator apps on android
That is kinda funny. And I believe some Android emulators have a search function with a database full of roms, but aren't included in the download. Android doesn't really care whats on their store as long as it's not malicious and it doesn't get complaints.
On google play there are around 30 emulators.
Still waiting for GBA games on Wii U and 3DS.
LOL
@Pichuka97 "I wish somethong like that happened to Nintendo for once so we could play GBA games on 3DS."
It did. It's called being a 3DS ambassador. I got 10 free GBA games just for buying my 3DS when it came out (plus 10 free NES games as well). If you missed out, I feel sorry for you, but I guess the early bird catches the GBA games.
Funny how ppl think we that use emulators just want the games for free, when in fact we are first generation users who bought and paid for these games and just want a simple way to select through our various favorites without moving off the couch!!!!
I have My Boy emulator on my phone (without any piracy). Android benefits hooray.
I don't think this is a problem. Half due to the old argument of OOP, lack of profit crap. The other half is without buttons, there's not too much appeal. Metroid Zero Mission is quite difficult to play on a touchscreen.
The first time I saw an emulator, it was an Android, and it had Super Mario 64, Goldeneye 64, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, all a tap away, with a bigger library than I thought possible.
I saw this on the app store (Thanks touch arcade for telling me that) and I must say, I would love to name my baby Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, or maybe, Advance Wars, but all the moms now are naming their baby boys Wario Land 4.
Emulators are a godsend. While I don't condone what most people use them for, I find Dolphin to be quite indispensable - the difference is that I rip my own ROMs of games I own with my Wii. It's so handy for testing codes and other researching purposes. So while putting an emulator on the App Store is stupid, emulators themselves are quite a good thing. Heck, without emulators, Nintendo wouldn't have Virtual Console games. Focus on how ROMs are obtained and not emulators - redistribution is the problem.
Hey nintendo, get back at them! Put an old mac OS emulator on the eshop
@Stark_Nebula The Wii doesn't use ROMs...
@bluerobin2 Apple didn't make it.
@Captain_Balko
I am an Ambassador but it still it would be cool to have all those games at my disposal.
Hey guys, let's not with the anecdotal tales of piracy. If you choose to be a pirate, that's on you, but we don't want to hear about it here. Let's keep the discussion focused on the article at hand, please and thank you!
Most of them are talking about emulation, not piracy.
@sak904: Sadly, the two are often together and the conversation can leap from point A to point B any moment. Even if one can use them to make texture mods (like Mario 64) or some other hero-swapping mods we have seen here on this very same site, some use them for running unauthorized-by-nintendo, still being sold on new consoles (only some of them though), old-cartridge-memory-flash dumps, the so-called ROMs.
Being the emulator disguised as a legit application, and being it the Apple Store, i'm surprised these kinds of mistakes still happen to them. We're not talking about dissasembling the code or something, but this could have been effectively avoided by something as simple as checking the file size. Didn't they suspect anything when it's just a name generator? Assuming the emulator was downloaded along with the ROMs and not until the secret interface was acceded, Either A) Someone was not doing their job properly or B) Apple's App Store mods are just elitist snobs.
As I said in another earlier newspost regarding a various-handhelds-emulator console: what else does Nintendo need to bring GBA games to the eShop?
I'll never play Nintendo (or really any games for that matter) on an emulator. It's just wrong, and not real gaming!
I imagine at this point some Nintendo employee and some Apple employee probably know each other very well.
"Hey, Dave, it's Bill. Yeah, here's the list of things we need you to remove from the App Store. You know the drill.... Talk to you tomorrow."
@Tony_342
I totally see that happening.
Still wish Nintendo would make all the games into VCs. I have plenty of GB and GBC and GBA games that I would gladly pay for again if I could just get them onto my 3DS. Even the Pokemon games would be welcome...
Let me just think of the games... Zelda (Seasons/Ages is on the way but there is still Minish Cap and LttP/4 Swords), Megaman (GBs), Dragon Quests I-III, Dragon Quest Monsters 1&2, Golden Sun 1&2, Kirby, Final Fantasy, Summon Night...
I personally loathe emulators that use properties that do not compensate the owner of the rights to a product. After learning how "innocently" downloading free things like music can very negativly effect an individual that created them, I actually went and bought ever album I had ever downloaded. It cost me nearly $2,500, but it was worth it. Stealing is the term for it, and unless someone creates something and intends for it to be used for free, they deserve to be compinsated. Sorry bout the rant but I feel like people always justify DL things for free buy saying its not "piracy", but it is still stealing.
FYI, I don't lump people that make copies of product they purchased in a legit manner, as long as they use for themselves only.
It's all very strange since the 3DS is 100% compatible with the GBA.
hahahahahahahahaha
@LordGeovanni Four Swords IS on the DSiware. Although, you probably already know that...
I have a gba emulator for both my psp and Wii. It's great. Runs perfectly.
@Captain_Balko
"The early bird catches the worm, but the second mouse devours the cheese."
We have Ambassador titles, but they have improved 3DS models with a lower price tag. Even those that got the 3DS XL.
@Mariomast3r to be a first gen gamer, you would have to be born in the 1970's lol.
jeez I can't believe I missed out on this,
Goodluck trying to play those mofo's with crappy controls.
@kyuubikid213 Or somehow be a hybrid of the two and use one of the workarounds that existed at the time to get ambassador status on a 3DS bought post-price-cut
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