While there have been a number of Game Boy emulators for iOS have snuck onto devices in the last year, none of them were officially sanctioned by Nintendo, which lead to their quick disappearance from the scene. But now, a newly published Nintendo patent indicates that The big N could be considering bringing their titles to our favorite mobile devices.
TechCrunch points to a newly published patent filed by Nintendo that shows the company is interested in bringing Game Boy titles to mobile devices through emulation technology.
There are numerous emulators on most platforms, including Macs, PCs, and iOS and Android devices that are able to run the thousands of games available for classic gaming consoles and computers. If Nintendo were to use their patents, it could be a “virtual” goldmine for them.
“A software emulator for emulating a handheld video game platform such as GAME BOY.RTM., GAME BOY COLOR.RTM. and/or GAME BOY ADVANCE.RTM. on a low-capability target platform (e.g., a seat-back display for airline or train use, a personal digital assistant, a cell phone) uses a number of features and optimizations to provide high quality graphics and sound that nearly duplicates the game playing experience on the native platform. Some exemplary features include use of bit BLITing, graphics character reformatting, modeling of a native platform liquid crystal display controller using a sequential state machine, and selective skipping of frame display updates if the game play falls behind what would occur on the native platform.”
Nintendo does make emulated versions of its back catalog available to users of its own consoles and handheld devices, but has yet to show any interest in doing the same for iOS or Android users. Let’s hope this new patent indicates they may have something up their sleeves for the future.
