Saturn emulation may be coming to iOS devices after Apple changed their policy on emulators.
Apple updated its App Store submission guidelines Friday to include rules for “game emulators” applying to the store. It says in part that “retro game console emulator apps can offer to download games” and developers “are responsible for all such software offered in your app, including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws.”
That led Miyax, the developer of Saturn emulator Yaba Sanshiro, to apply for App Store.
“Just submit Yaba Sanshiro (SEGA Saturn emulator) to the App Store for review. What’s gonna happen?” Miyax posted on X, formerly Twitter, Saturday.
Having long banned emulators from their platforms, Apple may have changed its stance on them in response to pressure by the European Union and United States over antitrust concerns, as suggested by Emma Roth’s story on The Verge. The E.U. has strongarmed Apple into allowing third-party storefronts recently, and the U.S. filed a lawsuit that accused the company of blocking apps that stream games from the cloud, even though Apple reversed course on that earlier this year.
The knock-on effect of that governmental pressure may work out in Yaba Sanshiro’s favor.
While a Windows PC version exists, Miyax’s focus with Yaba Sanshiro has been on handheld platforms. It’s been available on Android as well as portable PCs running Linux for years, but Apple’s policy — and closed platforms — prevented it from being loaded on iOS.
Officially, that is. In mid-February, Miyax posted a video showing off how to install Yaba Sanshiro on iPhone via AltStore, a program that enables sideloading on iOS. Such dark arts could land users in trouble with Apple, though, so it would be preferable if Yaba Sanshiro could land on the official App Store.
But if it’s rejected, it wouldn’t be the first time a storefront gave Miyax the cold shoulder. In late 2022, Valve turned down Yaba Sanshiro’s application to be added to Steam PC store. Valve called it “not a good fit for Steam” without elaborating further.
Yaba Sanshiro began development in late 2015 as a fork of Yabause, an emulator that is no longer actively worked on, to bring it to Android devices. A PC version was released about a year later, seeing regular updates alongside the Android version, although its last update was in August 2022.
Its name was changed to Yaba Sanshiro 2 in April 2021 after Google blacklisted the original app for including Action Replay cheats.
Danthrax is a contributor to the Shiro Media Group, writing stories for the website when Saturn news breaks. While he was a Sega Genesis kid in the ’90s, he didn’t get a Saturn until 2018. It didn’t take him long to fall in love with the console’s library as well as the fan translation and homebrew scene. He contributed heavily to the Bulk Slash and Stellar Assault SS fan localizations, and has helped as an editor on several other Saturn and Dreamcast fan projects such as Cotton 2, Rainbow Cotton and Sakura Wars Columns 2.
Fantastic !
Can’t wait to see him upload his emulator on the App store, make a free and paid version, then remove it for BS reasons, same reasons that do not stop other emulators from being available, and reupload a pseudo-new version.
This guy is talented, and Yaba sanshiro is the only real viable Saturn emualtor, but he’s done the same trick several times already. I do NOT trust him one bit…