The guys behind the Nintendo Emulator for the iPhone have done it again, rolling out another version that's yet again full of fixes and tweaks to improve your retro-gaming happy. Yes, folks, it's NES.app v1.6.2, fresh and ready for download onto your nifty Apple gadget. Let's get to the changelog, and see what's been improved for this release:

1.6.0    
[nervegas]

• Cleaned up compiler warnings
• Fixed sound envelope decay (Punchout, Pinball, Kung Fu)
• Fixed volume control restoring music and sounds in many games
• More tweaks to Palette A
• Added "CPU Clock" advanced option, see README
• More work on auto frame-skip
• Fixed triangle sound channel
• Added bass boost option

1.6.1   
[nervegas]

• Jacked up volume
• Compiled with debug on; no debug seems to mess up colors

1.6.2   
[nervegas]

• Addressed crashing issues on orientation change

Whew! Certainly a lot of changes made since the previous update. One very notable change is the tweaks to the audio, and we all know that you can't play any of the Nintendo Entertainment Games properly without enjoying that sweet, sweet retro sound. If you find yourself liking the NES.app, why not pop on over to the team's webpage and showing your appreciation? It's for a good cause.

Be forewarned that Apple's Software v.1.1.1 will hinder all your efforts to use NES.app. If you haven't updated your iPhone software already and wish to continue using NES.app, don't upgrade at all.

Download: NES.app v1.6.2

The Apple iPhone can certainly do a lot of things, but homebrew developers NerveGas and Jordan wanted the nifty little gadget to play Nintendo Entertainment System games. And that's what they just did with their latest project, NES.app, a Nintendo Emulator for the iPhone.

Of course, such an ambitious project has its own bumps and potholes - which is why we're thankful that they're rolling out version after version, fixing bugs and polishing features as they do. This latest version, NES.app version 1.5.0, is no different, with a lot of improvements concerning the button display, as well as a new feature for RPGs.

Without further ado, then - to the changelog!

1.5.0    
[nervegas]

• Fixed navbar so buttons update when in landscape mode
• Use fclose() instead of close() in LoadROM
• Added "Sensory Pad" preference option, good for RPGs I guess
• Cleaned up controller selection code and filenames
• Enlarged "A & B" hot spot in portrait mode
• Tweaked color palette for optimal display on iPhone
• Stabilized frame skip, less jerkiness, fewer changes
• Added color palette preferences option (old palette = C) 
  

[jordan]  

• Optimized scanline rendering routine

Download: NES.app v1.5.0

The updates are coming pretty fast for NES.app. After releasing version 1.4.1 earlier today, the team behind the NES emulator for the Apple iPhone have released version 1.4.2.

One of the big additions in this update is a new scanline fix done by incrementing before rendering. According to nervegas, this may be a hack, but it does clear up the palette in Rad Racer, Rad Racer 2 and Asterix. Here's the complete changelog:

• [nervegas] Added Jordan's Sprite Y code to nonproduction work copy
• [nervegas] Backed up "stable" production code to NESCoreProduction.c
• [nervegas] Force four-screen mirroring when detected (Rad Racer 2)
• [nervegas] Scanline fix by incrementing before rendering
• This might be a hack, but appears to have something to do with the junk scanline before rendering; winds up fixing Rad Racer, Rad Racer 2, and Asterix's palette.
• [nervegas] Tweaked right directional pad hot sot in landscape/full

The download below includes a full readme, so check that out before you install this app. If you want to learn more about installing third-party apps on your iPhone, check out this previous QJ.NET article.

Download: NES.app v1.4.2

With barely two days since their last update, homebrew developers nervegas and jordan deliver to the iPhone the latest version of their old-school NES emulator, NES.app v1.4.1. After the addition of the two-player support during their last update, the two developers have now concentrated on making their application run smoother than ever.

This latest update mainly focuses a lot of mapper IRQ fixes for several games. Here we have the detailed breakdown of the different fixes the two developers have put into the game's latest version. If you're interested in reliving some good old retro games on your iPhone then just visit QJ.net's download area through the link below.

1.4.1    
[nervegas]

• Updated mapper 118, added save-state (Pro Sport Hockey)
• Updated mapper 119, rendering issues still exist however
• Cleanup mapper 1 (unnecessary reset)
• Cleanup IRQs in mapper 4
• Began work on list of unsupported mappers (5, 13, 21, 119)
• More mapper 4 IRQ fixes (Rolling Thunder issues again)
• Step 10 instead of 8 before NMI for GI Joe, Bad Dudes

[jordan]   

• Mapper 4 fixes (fixes Star Wars, TMNT 3)
• Mapper 0 fix for games without VROM (BurgerTime)

Download: NES.app v1.4.1

You've got to hand it to the boys at NES.app, they really work hard in giving everyone a fool-proof and up-to-date version of their NES emulator for the iPhone. With the advent of the new iPod series, we might be seeing this little application on it sooner or later.

Until then though, developers nervegas and jordan have cleaned up several flags in the application as well as compensated for some overclocking instances. They've also finally managed to add support for a second player controller. Here's the complete list of the changelog for the current build for NES.app v1.4.0:

1.4.0    
[nervegas]

• Added HSyncs for overclocked situations (DMA, etc)
• Added 512 clocks for DMA writes
• Fixed vblank flag (set @ 240), rolling thunder levels fix
• Fixed vblank end = scanline 261 (0-indexed)
• Added support for player 2 controller (touch top gray bar)

[jordan]   

• Added 8-step CPU cycle between IRQ and NMI
• Moved CPU step to before sprite hit, fixed minor rendering

[nervegas]

• Added "mid-button hot spot" allowing both A/B to be pressed by rolling the thumb from one button to the middle of both.

Download: NES.app v1.4.0

After the release of the new iPod touch, it won't be long before the NES.app will be finding its way into the device. Meanwhile, the NES.app has gone through some major revisions since the last update and is looking the better for it.

The latest release has undergone revision from nervegas and developer jordan. Changes include fixes to the controls and rendering, and a switch to a new core. Here's the changelog since version v1.2.0:

1.3.0
(nervegas)

• Forked InfoNES/pNESx to separate NESCore project
• Fixed scrolling and nametable issues - many games that
• previously had problems now render properly, or mostly:
• Rad Racer, SMB3, Zelda, Zelda 2, Megaman 3 and 6,
• Toki (Game Screen), RC Pro-Am (Dashboard), Rolling
• Thunder, GI Joe, others.
• New core: http://iphone.natetrue.com/nescore/

(jordan)

• Reworked PPU registers to function properly

1.3.1
(jordan)

• Switch to CPU timing instead of PPU timing
• Cleaned up scrolling code
• Kung Fu and others render properly now

1.3.2
(nervegas)

• Allow A & B to be simultaneously pressed
• NOTE: Only two buttons can be pressed at a time per Apple
• Rewrote save state / wiring routines for better compatibility
• Added mapper state hooks for seamless mapper state save
• NOTE: Saved games from prior versions are incompatible
• When auto-frameskip, set default skip to 1 when restoring
• Suspend emulator when changing orientation to avoid crashing
• Fixed Game Genie code entry

NES.app v1.3.2 can be downloaded below and as always, users are encouraged to go through the readme file before using the program.

Download: NES.app v1.3.2

If you've been following  NES.app revisions, then you might like to know that there's another minor revision to the Nintendo Entertainment System emulator for your iPhone. Improved compatibility from version 1.2.0 has just been backed by improvements to speed and sound synchronization, as well as a patched-up scanline processing.

Of course, the program is still a work in progress, and coder nervegas has other issues to sort through in the application, including the broken PPU scrolling code in the InfoNES Core. The developer, together with nightwatch, bwhitman, and dshadow, has revamped the core in other aspects, however.

The download has been provided below for version 1.2.1, although we'd like to remind interested readers to read through the bundled documentation before using the application.

Download: NES.app v1.2.1

Having problems running some NES games on your iPhone's NES.app v1.1.3 emulator? We're reporting that developer nervgas has released yet another update for the said application, which boosts it to version 1.2.0. nervgas states that problems were encountered with v1.4.0, which prompted a series of fixes to follow. The latest release (v1.2.0) features improved game compatibility, and several bug fixes:

• 1.1.4
• Quiet triangle and noise audio channels when PCM completes
• Minor tweaks to mapper 4
• Added build switch for -DDEBUG
• Simplified Map4 IRQs
• Fixed save state for mapper 4 games
• Added junk-cell fix for scrolling
• 1.1.5
• broke 1.1.4 by missing a patch to mapper 4
• 1.2.0
• More PPU fixes; made these games work:
• GI Joe
• Rolling Thunder
• Round Ball
• Spy Hunter
• ... more ?
• Got rid of flickering in Zelda 2
• Final Fantasy 1/2 appear to also work, but not sure when that happened
  

Installation and usage instructions for NES.app should be available in the readme bundled up with the file. Users can also opt to visit nervgas' site for other important details.

Download: NES.app v1.2.0

iPhone owners keen on keeping their mobile's repertoire of applications up-to-date may want to know that nervegas once again released a new version of NES.app. This latest release for this NES system Emulator for the iPhone hosts plenty of new fixes, given that it's now at version 1.1.3. Here's the full changelog:

•  1.1.1
• Cached game genie codes to speed up preferences scrolling
• Allow drag to select/start to continue original movement
• Use of preferences file v1.1 to avoid conflicts
• Code cleanup and slight optimization of pAPU
• Updated controller images to use correct lighting/shading
• 6502 Read/Write Operatons:
• $2003h should not be incremented after $2004h read
• Add PPU_R3 to Sprite DMA destination address
• Removed unnecessary Game Genie memory check
• Additional optimizations to m6502_rw routines
• Split off two CPU cores (k6502 and m6502) and makefiles
• k6502 is InfoNES' native core, and is more accurate
• m6502 is iNES' core, and is faster
• 1.1.2
• Fixed memory reading issues breaking Toki, maybe others
• 1.1.3
• Optimized mapper 4 (MMC3) speeds up many games
• Optimized mapper 9 (MMC2) slight speedup of punchout
• Added "IRQ Enable" witch to disable inerrupts (see README)
  

As with all of NES.app's previous releases, we advise users to open up the readme included in the file bundle for further information and details.

Download: NES.app v1.1.3

After numerous and speedy revisions and improvements, nervegas has released v1.0.0 of the iPhone NES emulator. NES.app v1.0.0 has experienced a few tweaks here and there from the previous build and is back on the toolchain v0.20.

For those of you unfamiliar with the NES.app, it's a program that lets your iPhone play NES games. For those of you familiar with the application or simply interested in seeing the changelog from the previous version (RC4), here it is:

• Back to toolchain v0.20
• Fixed PCM wave channel (Zelda sword, Punchout Cheering, etc)
• Fixed buzzing on audio channels 1 & 2
• Fixed game genie entry screen
• Added "PCM Sound" preference to turn off PCM if problems
• Fixed delete swipe to highlight correct table cell
• Replaced reset button for mute button

As always, users are encouraged to see the readme file included in the download before using the program.

Download: NES.app v1.0.0