Want to play Super Nintendo games on your iPad? Now you can, and you can even play with a Wiimote. Lifehacker has published a guide with instructions for Apple iPad owners to turn their tablets into a portable SNES emulator.
The hack does require you to jailbreak your iPad, which is a process that removes installation restrictions and other Apple enforced prohibitions. As expected from this type of behavior, jailbreaking the iPad will void the device’s warranty – and place the device at risk of permanent damage, although that is unlikely.
To help others, the published guide includes the basics of what a person needs and the necessary steps to play video games. Anyone interested needs an iPad, a Nintendo Wiimote or an iPad/iPhone, iPod sync cable, and a separate PC. Using Spirit Jailbreak, the necessary first step includes jailbreaking the iPad to support Cydia.
Once done, iPad owners need to download the snes4iphone app from the Cydia Store: Products section -- a $6 app. Step three covers several different ways to install the necessary ROMs necessary to play SNES game titles.
It's possible to use something besides snes4iphone, but the Lifehacker crew decided to stick with one set of directions. The last step shows users how to sync the Wiimote to the iPad, which can be done using snes4iphone, the guide says.
The Cydia simulator also includes N64, NES, and other emulators for gamers to choose from -- and more than one includes Wiimote support.
A YouTube video tutorial is also available in addition to the text directions.
This looks like a nifty little guide for computer geeks that have a bit of extra time to tinker with their iPads and play SNES games. I don’t know if I’d risk jailbreaking the iPad just to play SNES games, but I’m sure some of you may give it a try.
