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WHAT I
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If you’re not convinced by the next-gen
consoles (or just like to leave the house
sometimes), allow nostalgia to step in
with retro gaming options for your phoneO Crazy Taxi Classic
Ya ya ya ya ya! Forget tiresome
racers that want you to stay on
the road; Crazy Taxi’s time-attack
antics have you blaze around LA,
soaring into the air and scaring
the wits out of your fare as the
Offspring blares from the radio.
This remastered take on a
Sega Dreamcast classic works
superbly on the touchscreen
as you commit the map to
memory and delve into its strange
selection of mini-games.
£free or £1.99 / Android, iOS
O Antstream
A streaming service for retro
games sounds mad, but this one
has a solid selection of classics
including Space Invaders, Bubble
Bobble, Double Dragon and
Manic Miner. Beyond beating
your own scores, there are
community leaderboards and
tournaments. The touch controls
are smart, and there’s support
for physical controllers like the
iPega 9087 and Razer Kishi. Top
stuff for a bout of ’80s gaming.
£9.99/m / Android
O Doom
Wolfenstein 3D put first-person
shooters on the map, but for
most people Doom defined
the genre. As you blasted and
sometimes chainsawed your
way through swathes of
demons, you realised games
would never be the same again.
Now this seminal shooter’s
on your phone, complete with
controller support, widescreen
visuals, countless foes and
buckets of pixelated gore.
£4.79 / Android O £4.99 / iOSO Reset Collection
Many retro gamers have as
much fun rifling through boxes
as actually playing. Re se t gets
this and transforms your digital
collection into browsable box
art. Settle on a title and the app
displays a description and a clip
of the game in action; confirm
your selection and it opens in
your emulator of choice. If you
have a carefully curated games
selection, this launcher tops the
high-score table.
£4.59 / AndroidO RetroArch
Google Play is stuffed full of
emulators for every ancient
gaming system you can think
of, and we don’t have space to
cover them all. You might not
have space for them on your
homescreen either — in which
case, try Re tro Arc h. It’s a faff to
get working, but take some time
and you’ll have one app that’ll
play pretty much anything from
the first few decades of video
gaming’s history.
£free / AndroidO Vectrex
With Apple not being keen on
emulators, Vectrex is a rarity
on the App Store. It beautifully
recreates the only vector-display
console ever made for the home
market, and bundles 25 games.
On the larger display of an iPad,
the visuals shine; and the care
and attention to detail — such
as the wonderful 3D games
room — make us wish creators
of more workmanlike fare would
take a similar approach.
£4.99/m (GameClub) / iOSAPPS