In this post, I’m going to be talking about MeSNEmu, a simple emulator created by Lucas Mendes Menge that offers Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) to iPhone and iPad users. You may know it as SiOS; this emulator will bring the good old’ retro games like Pokemon and Super Mario World to your iOS device. This package also includes the Super Famicom (based on SNES9X) as well.
Usually, things like this require a jailbroken device, or sometimes users have to pay for a signing service like BuildStore. However, the tutorial below is dedicated entirely to everyone. That being said, you can build it on your own or install it for free using Cydia Impactor.
Before we jump the gun, let’s learn how MeSNEmu comes to fruition. Lucas developed this project as a hobby so that he can have a “stable and modern SNES emulator for iOS.” He also mentioned that developers with legitimate certificates could quick compiled the source code of this emulator straight from Xcode for their own goods.
How to Build MeSNEmu using Xcode
- Download the source code from Github
- Launch Xcode on your Mac OS X and open MeSNEmu.xcodeproj
- Under Build Settings, look for Code Signing Identity and change it to your own
- Select your iPhone or iPad in the Scheme selector
- Choose Product > Profile > Deploy
When done, open the emulator, and you should see nothing except for a header and the Settings button on the top right-hand corner. Before you do anything, look for ROMs online and use iTunes to install it.
Update #1: I found a new fork of MeSNEmu and this one seems to support iOS 9.3 as well as force touch shortcuts to launch your roms right from the home screen.
How to Sideload MeSNEmu
- On your computer, download this .IPA file and Cydia Impactor tool
- Connect your iOS device using a USB cable
- Drag and drop the MeSNEmu.ipa to Impactor
- Enter your Apple ID and password
You may find yourself unable to open the emulator due to a popup that says “Untrusted developer…”. This can easily be fixed after you go through this post.
This method is for users with no Xcode experience or doesn’t have a Mac at all. Keep in mind that the version might no be up to date since it’s not being maintained by the actual developer.
Just like you, I’m a big fan of Nintendo games that’s why I’m always reviewing apps like MeSNEmu. To find more emulators that are compatible with your iPhone and iPad (no jailbreak required) see the list below.
- Happy Chick emulator developed by Xiaoji001
- Delta emulator by @rileytestut
- iNDS emulator (both IPA and tweak are included)
- 3 amazing PSP emulators for iOS
Let me know in the comment section below if you need any help.
Jon says
For some reason, my phone won’t install this emulator. It won’t install ANY emulator. Is there anything I can do to make this work? And before you bring up a date trick, I tried that…repeatedly.
*sigh* I just wanna play Final Fantasy V…
Ethan the Yoshi says
These things are killing me! All I want is madden 97 for the SNES, and what do I get on an emulator? Madden 97 for the Genesis! And everything else isn’t working!
Hank Scorpio says
Worked great! Hopefully they update the emulator for 64 bit before iOS 11.