The big picture: Are we witnessing a budding renaissance involving retro gaming on smartphones? It certainly seems that way following Apple’s recent decision to open the App Store up to retro game emulators.

Things got off to a rocky start after an app called iGBA was pulled from the App Store less than a week after its debut over violating spam and copyright violations. The next app to try its luck, an emulator known as Delta, did things the right way and quickly shot to the top of the App Store’s free chart.

The next emulator app to step up is Gamma, a Sony PlayStation emulator. The app was developed by ZodTTD, a well-known developer that has been making similar programs for jailbroken iPhones for as long as third party apps have been around.

Gamma is compatible with the iPhone and iPad, and supports both Bluetooth keyboards and game pads. Optionally, users can customize their onscreen controller skins. Google Drive or Dropbox can be used for file backup and save states, we are told. Gamers will be responsible for supplying their own game ROMs, but conveniently, the app will pull artwork in for any games you add to your library.

Some early users have reportedly a handful of bugs although I suspect these will be squashed and patched out in short order.

The prospect of being able to play classic PlayStation games on an iPhone or iPad on the go is especially appealing. Resident Evil, Destruction Derby, Gran Turismo, or Twisted Metal, anyone? Personally, I would be more interested in connecting a Bluetooth gamepad and linking my phone to my television for some big screen action. Sure, I could accomplish the same with my PlayStation Classic, albeit with a limited library of games. I am more interested in simply seeing what the emulator experience is like on a phone after all these years of waiting for official support.

Gamma is available free of charge right now over on the Apple App Store.

Image credit: Nik