How to Make Your iPhone A Joypad for Windows PC and Mac

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Now you can Turn you iPhone into a Retro Game Controller Joypad and play games on your Windows PC or Mac with it.

ThinkGeek and ION Audio  the people behind the original April Fools prank becomes realproduct iCade arcade cabinet for the iPad have now released a smaller, cheaper gamepad for all iOS and (most) Android devices. The iCade 8-Bitty gamepad resembles a vintage analogue gaming controller such as you'd find on an 8-bit home console like the Nintendo Entertainment System or Sega Master System and hooks up wirelessly to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth.

Whereas the former iCade arcade cabinet was a little pricey at US$99.99 the 8-Bitty is a much more reasonable US$29.99. One factor to bear in mind is that the iCade's game controllers only support a limited number of games a list of which is contained on ThinkGeek's product page. Still, if you love retro games in particular and want to exert a little more control than a touchscreen allows the 8-Bitty might just be for you. In other (completely unrelated) retro gaming news, classic arcade racer Crazy Taxi has gone live on the App Store for iOS overnight. Sega's 1999 title has been the subject of numerous console and PC ports since its arcade heyday and now you can play the universal app on iPhone iPad or iPod touch. Here's hoping for an Android version soon. Before we start talking about downloadable ROMs, there are a few things one should know.

First there are two types of ROMs we're going to discuss: homebrew and official games. Homebrew ROMs are software created by individuals that are designed to run in a given emulator or on an actual retro gaming system. Official games are the cartridges you used to buy for your SNES, Sega Genenis, etc. after they've been converted into a digital file that you can play on your computer. The general rule of ethics when it comes to playing these official games is that you should own a real copy before downloading a ROM (or create your own, personal backup copy) but some companies (like Nintendo) believe this is actually not within your rights as a game owner. In this section we're going to point you to various resources for finding game ROMs.

What you decide to do with this information is your choice. Finding homebrew and game ROMs requires little more than a simple web search. If you're looking for Nintendo 64 ROMs searching for "N64 ROMs" should turn up a variety of resources. You'll then be able to look through the site for the game you want and download it easily. Even though searching is simple let's save you a little trouble. Here are some popular options for seeking out game ROMs…

EmuParadise provides game ROMs for virtually every console ever made, from the Bandai Wonderswan to the Sony Playstation 2. You generally have to click through a few screens to find a download link—which is sometimes not a link but a URL to a MegaUpload page—but the process always results in a download. If you download directly from the site rather than use MegaUpload note that you'll only be able to download one file at a time.

CoolROM is another web-based resource for game ROM downloads that uses file mirrors for storage. It also comes with the bonus of letting you create a download queue (which is essentially a list of links, not a true queue) of ROMs you want to download.Set Up Your Emulator and Start Playing Your Games. You've got your emulators and you've got your ROMs, but now what? Playing a game is as simple as opening a ROM in its respective emulator but there are a few things you should know before you jump in for the first time.

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