Provenance plans to bring Sony & Sega console emulation to the App Store

Retro game players may soon have more options to emulate old game consoles on the iPhone, with Provenance aiming to support systems from Sony and Sega as well as Nintendo.

Following App Store rule changes allowing emulators to be submitted, the gold rush for retro gaming on iPhone and iPad has gotten underway. While Delta's arrival was welcomed by gamers, it does limit the selection of games that could be played to just those made for Nintendo's consoles.

The team behind Provenance EMU, a multi-system emulator, is looking into submitting its own app to the App Store, reports iMore. Project lead Joseph Mattiello explained the team is "working on a release," and are investigating the rules that Apple changed to ensure the app is compliant.

Provenance emulates games, but does so for a wider array of systems than what Delta can handle. For Nintendo games, Provenance extends support beyond the standard NES, SNES, Game Boy Color and Nintendo 64 to more unusual areas, such as the Virtual Boy and the Famicom Disk System.

More importantly, it also supports other platform families, such as the Sega Master System, Genesis, and Saturn, and the Sony PlayStation. The team also said that support for some newer consoles is also on the way, including the Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation 2.

Mattiello and his team has been working in Provenance since 2016. It has been available to users by sideloading or by building from the latest source, processes which require an Apple developer account and is typically beyond what most iPhone users will do to install an app.

As Apple opened up the App Store by removing restrictions against emulators, this enabled emulator creators to distribute their tools via more conventional channels and to a wider audience.