RSS Feeds
Phones
Native LucasArts Games Emulation Makes iPhone Absolutely Perfect
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 12:25 AM on November 27, 2007
After a long wait, here is the application that makes the iPhone absolutely perfect: ScummVM, the emulation engine that allows you to play LucasArts and Sierra graphic adventures, is now fully working on the iPhone. After trying it I can tell you that if there's a platform designed to play these kind of games,it's the iPhone. In fact, these are the only games that truly feel at home on the iPhone, thanks to its great touchscreen support, even better than Apple's native software:
ScummVM fully supports multi-touch to simulate the behaviour of the mouse using gestures. With a single tap you left click, but for a right click you hold one finger and tap with another. To toggle click and drag, which is necessary in some games like Monkey Island 3, you "hold one finger on screen, swipe another up from bottom to top". Then you can drag something, lift your finger to drop it and it will automatically switch back to normal. Quite ingenious and easy.
Fully supported gamesDay of the Tentacle (a must)
The Dig
Flight of the Amazon Queen
Full Throttle
Gobliiins
Gobliins 2
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (a must too)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (this one too)
King's Quest 3
Loom
Maniac Mansion
Monkey Island 1: The Secret of Monkey Island (best game ever)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (ok, maybe this is the best game ever)
Sam & Max Hit the Road (another must-have)
Simon the Sorcerer 1
Simon the Sorcerer 2
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
While the games play great, there are a couple of minor issues. Since the resolution of the iPhone is higher than the native resolution of these games, the graphics don't use the full screen, keeping its original pixel size. Some of the more modern games, like Monkey Island 3, still have some performance problems. Other than that this is an almost-perfect port.
I wonder if the LucasArts people will see this and decide to partner with Apple to release updated and higher resolution versions of—at least—the Monkey Island, Indy and Sam&Max series. Or maybe Blizzard can release the good old Starcraft or Warcraft, two games that will play perfectly in this platform. Call me a nostalgic, but I would get them all. [ScummVM Wiki]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
jesusdiaz
Posted 2:50 PM 26/11/07
@ProjectMoonlightCafe: Yeah. I added it. He's holding an iPhone too.
Damn, my finest photoshop EVAH and nobody notices it.
jesusdiaz
ProjectMoonlightCafe
Posted 2:29 PM 26/11/07
Is that an iPhone in his inventory?
I am Rubber, you are Glue.
ProjectMoonlightCafe
arkowi
Posted 2:23 PM 26/11/07
what about space quest?
arkowi
dingus
Posted 1:46 PM 26/11/07
@omg-ponies: Run you pigeons! It's Robert Frost!
dingus
Jesse Mrozowski
Posted 1:12 PM 26/11/07
@Lukewpnunn: There's been a sequel or rather a series of sequels out for about a year now. [www.telltalegames.com]
If I'm going to pay for official copies, I'd rather pay for copies on the DS.
Jesse Mrozowski
OrtizDupri
Posted 1:08 PM 26/11/07
@LUKEWPNUNN : www.telltalegames.com . Sam & Max 3D adventure game series - "Season One" is out in stores, and "Season Two" just started. Each "episode" is about 3-4 hours of play.
OrtizDupri
EMoShunz
Posted 12:37 PM 26/11/07
@zoesch: aaahhh, making it harder to decide, ipod touch, or mac mini....
EMoShunz
Lukewpnunn
Posted 12:35 PM 26/11/07
What ever happened to the Sam & Max sequel?
I'd love to see a 3D Sam & Max adventure game....
Lukewpnunn
jesusdiaz
Posted 12:14 PM 26/11/07
@Buford T. Justice: MAME already exists on the iPhone. But unlike MAME, the user interface for graphic adventures is perfect for the iPhone.
jesusdiaz
quiksilver180
Posted 12:05 PM 26/11/07
Day of the Tentacle! YES! That was so back in the day, and yet so cool.
quiksilver180
bmwfanatic
Posted 12:03 PM 26/11/07
I can't get Grim Fandango to work for more than 5 minutes on my XP PC, much less an iPhone.
bmwfanatic
LucasArts Games Emulation on iPhone on Ozymandias
Posted 12:03 PM 26/11/07
LucasArts Games Emulation on iPhone on Ozymandias
daizaru
Posted 12:02 PM 26/11/07
I picked up a Nokia 770 almost entirely for ScummVM. A little over a hundred bucks, runs every game with perfect speed, sound and video cut scenes even. Plays older titles like DotT with pixel doubling, and newer ones like Monkey 3 at resolution - all full screen. If you have an iPhone this is good news, but there are cheap alternatives that do it better if that's what you're after.
daizaru
MrBlahBlah
Posted 11:59 AM 26/11/07
I would seriously buy it if it supported Grim Fandango.
MrBlahBlah
nachobel
Posted 11:27 AM 26/11/07
wow
that's hot.
nachobel
HoldenCfld
Posted 11:01 AM 26/11/07
Loom was amazing, I used to play that game for hours and hours.
HoldenCfld
chasema
Posted 11:01 AM 26/11/07
Oh yeah. Monkey Island, too. I love that game.
chasema
chasema
Posted 10:48 AM 26/11/07
OMFG. Day of the Tentacle!? The Last Crusade!? Sam and Max Hit the Road!?! Are you effing kidding me!? I've been trying to get these games working on my newer computer for years! I just peed myself. A lot.
chasema
Buford T. Justice
Posted 10:47 AM 26/11/07
Scummvm??? No, NOT the end-all-be-all. That would be MAME. Gimme MAME for the iPhone and I will enshrine the damn phone.
Buford T. Justice
Myrkur
Posted 10:36 AM 26/11/07
been able to play this on my nokia for ages, icrap grabbing headlines for this is lame.
ScummVM rocks.
Myrkur
manguero
Posted 10:30 AM 26/11/07
lol, maybe it's "better" now, but far from "perfect."
manguero
grem28
Posted 10:26 AM 26/11/07
On a window machine, how do i get the games on my iphone?
grem28
Lautaro
Posted 10:22 AM 26/11/07
Well, hanswurst0815 is right. There are plenty of emulation for the existing devices. The Palm Centro, suports even Quake. But of course, iPhone supports Doom with no sound, who can beat that!
Lautaro
zoesch
Posted 10:20 AM 26/11/07
@EMoShunz:
Yes it does... and just in time for another inter-oceanic trip :)
zoesch
ConstyXIV
Posted 10:19 AM 26/11/07
@thistle.john:
Legitimately, I believe you can get two of them off the SCUMMVM website. Otherwise, scour eBay for the original CDs or sacrifice a goat to appease LucasArts for a re-release.
Illegitimately, I'll leave it to you to figure that out.
ConstyXIV
BurstAneurysm
Posted 10:11 AM 26/11/07
@thistle.john: Look Harder.
This might be the reason to re-jailbreak.
Scummvm is fucking great!
BurstAneurysm
thistle.john
Posted 9:54 AM 26/11/07
cant find them!
thistle.john
jesusdiaz
Posted 9:44 AM 26/11/07
They are online. Use Google.
jesusdiaz
thistle.john
Posted 9:40 AM 26/11/07
where do you get the games from? dont understand!!!
thistle.john
The Sword Master
Posted 9:22 AM 26/11/07
"Monkey Island 1: The Secret of Monkey Island (best game ever)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (ok, maybe this is the best game ever)"
YES!
The Sword Master
Raven.Nights
Posted 9:18 AM 26/11/07
Aw man, The Dig. I love that game.
Raven.Nights
hanswurst0815
Posted 9:14 AM 26/11/07
@jesusdiaz: Of course it's news, I just couldn't find any mention of availability for other devices...
I've only played Scumm games with ScummVM on WinXP and WiMo so far and must say, they play perfect.
hanswurst0815
EMoShunz
Posted 9:11 AM 26/11/07
will it work on the ipod touch?
EMoShunz
CColdsmoke
Posted 9:10 AM 26/11/07
Can I set the Zak McKracken theme song as a ringtone?
CColdsmoke
jesusdiaz
Posted 9:03 AM 26/11/07
@hanswurst0815: The availability is news.
And yes, it's available on the PSP and other portable platform. And it plays like crap. It's also available in the DS, but the screen is way too small and the hack is out of reach for most people. Unlike this one.
Other than that,
• These games play perfectly in the iPhone because of its point-and-click nature and the size of the iPhone screen. S
• The port is particularly good in supporting the touchscreen, with gestures.
• And finally, I'm a Lucasarts graphic adventures and well-known iPhone nutter.
jesusdiaz
hanswurst0815
Posted 8:55 AM 26/11/07
I'm a bit confused why this should be such great news. ScummVM is available for a lot more portable devices like the DS, the PSP, devices with SymbianOS, PalmOS, and WiMo as well. Most of these have touchscreen capability and Multitouch doesn't make sense when it comes to games that where originally controlled by a mouse. Scumm games feel at home on the iPhone just as well as on any other touchscreen device.
In other words: You are all a bunch of Apple fanboys.
hanswurst0815
detox84
Posted 8:55 AM 26/11/07
I Can't Pick That Up
detox84
spaceman37
Posted 8:50 AM 26/11/07
I want a Neo-Geo emulator!
But seriously, Monkey Island! very cool.. even Full Throttle!
spaceman37
vinchbr
Posted 8:45 AM 26/11/07
now all i have to do is, get me a friggin iphone =D
hate living abroad....
did they make genesis and snes emulators already?
playing toe jam & earl, ff series, chrono trigger on the iphone would be priceless...
vinchbr
omg-ponies
Posted 8:41 AM 26/11/07
All they need now is the greatest video game ever created:
GRIM FANDANGO
omg-ponies
The Sword Master
Posted 4:23 PM 26/11/07
Wow, what a fantastic photoshop! Love the little pixelly iPhones.
The Sword Master
Bing0011
Posted 7:01 PM 26/11/07
Could someone help me figure out how to put the actual games on my iPhone? I installed the scummVM, but the only version of Monkey Island 1 I could find was in .zip form, and the .exe requested a CD.
Bing0011
eXo
Posted 9:56 PM 26/11/07
bingo - try reading the scummvm readme instead of expecting everyone else to do it for you.
You do not RUN the game's exe, you load the game up in scummvm and run it from there. ...
eXo
nczuma
Posted 10:16 AM 26/11/07
@thistle.john:
To get the games you don't look for iPhone games, you gotta look for abandonware or old dos games. Scummvm is pretty much an emulator for games modern computers can no longer play. I don't know how to install any of it on an iPhone (don't have one) but I'm sure there are pointers out there.
On another note. Sam & Max, Grim Fandango, and Full Throttle, are my absolute favorite Point-and-click adventures!
nczuma
Midknight
Posted 11:26 PM 27/11/07
Please tell me that this will let me run some of the old Microprose and Sierra games too! XCOM, Sword of the Samurai and Liesure Suit Larry are calling me.
Midknight
The Brain
Posted 1:29 AM 28/11/07
OMG, Finally games for the iPhone that are as bad as the games for the Mac.
Midknight: XCOM is available for Windows Mobile (just do a search). It's free and it looks and works exactly like the original.
The Brain
brettt
Posted 12:43 AM 30/11/07
nice typo. x-rated article.
brettt
mmfy
Posted 10:50 AM 30/11/07
King's Quest?!! Hope so!!! *runs off to use installer on iTouch*
mmfy
iomatic
Posted 12:52 PM 30/11/07
@hanswurst0815: Hataz please to goes away!
iomatic