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ZX Spectrum emulator iXpectrum released for jailbroken iPhones

Takes you Back to Skool

ZX Spectrum emulator iXpectrum released for jailbroken iPhones
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| iXpectrum

Being an aging gamer who's well and truly stuck in the past, I get very excited about emulators. There was a previous, broken attempt at turning the iPhone into a ZX Spectrum, which quickly disappeared from the App Store for being immensely crap.

Jailbreakers rejoice today as a new and beautifully operational ZX Spectrum emulator has been released on Cydia. The emulator itself is based on the popular gp2xpectrum system, for the open source handheld, and runs all the popular Speccy ROM formats, operates at 100 per cent emulation speed on an iPhone 3G, and even has full sound.

Flipping the iPhone on its side opens the emu up to full landscape display, with a transparent control overlay, and runs any of the Speccy models, including 48K, 128K, +2, +2A and +3.

ROMs are dropped in through SSH, and - if that isn't enough - it even comes with a collection of awesome ZX Spectrum games from contemporary coder Jonathan Cauldwell.

Retro heads will undoubtedly know of Cauldwell's superb work in coding and releasing brand new Spectrum games over the last few years (I even have a cameo in one of his bundled iXpectrum games, Christmas Caper - check me out in the image gallery), and even if you don't load up any classic Spec-chum ROMs, the emulator's worth grabbing for Cauldwell's outstanding efforts alone.

Best of all, iXpectrum is free, and what with all the authorised ROMs over on WorldOfSpectrum.org, this is more than enough reason for any retro gamer to buy - and jailbreak - an iPhone or iPod touch.

If you're very good, we'll run a how to feature on using iXpectrum shortly. In the meantime, go and start living in the past. It's where all the cool kids hang out.

Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.