Apple’s App Store approved Saturn emulator Yaba Sanshiro on Saturday, marking the end of a four-month wait after developer Shinya “DevMiyax” Miyamoto applied in April.
“Finally, Yaba Sanshiro was released in the Apple App Store!” Miyamoto said on social media Saturday. “You can play SEGA Saturn games on your iPhone or iPad or Mac. This version only includes basic features to facilitate approval. If there is demand, we will continue to expand it.”
The emulator costs US$4.99 and can be downloaded here. That price mirrors the Pro version for Android phones that’s been on the Google Play store for several years, although unlike the Play Store, there’s no free version with ads available on iPhone at launch.
[Edit: Aug. 12] But on Aug. 12, a free version of the emulator was added to the App Store. Called “Yaba Snashiro 2 Lite,” it displays advertisements and only allows users to install three games.
The Apple version already got an update, as just two days later, Miyamoto announced that he’d added a new game select screen, iOS 16 support, and the ability to change discs and reset a game.
[Edit: Aug. 12] And on Aug. 12, a new version upgraded the emulation core, added support for more file formats — CUE/BIN, CCD/IMG and MDS/MDF — and added safe area support, which brings the user interface’s buttons away from the edges of the screen a bit. When the emulator launched on the App Store, it only supported CHD-formatted games. and its buttons were difficult to press because they were too close to the screen’s edges.
Miyamoto submitted his emulator to the App Store just a day after Apple updated its submission guidelines to include rules for “game emulators” applying to the store. It said 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.”
To maintain compliance with the law, Yaba Sanshiro does not include any games nor the Saturn’s BIOS — but unlike other emulators, it doesn’t need the BIOS to run.
Miyamoto created a video showing users how to rip their own Saturn games from original discs, convert them to CHD format and place them in the Yaba Sanshiro folder on their Apple devices.
While a Windows PC version exists, Miyamoto’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.
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.
Leave a comment