New Game Boy Emulator for Palm Pilot

Though many thought it couldn't be done, a small firm called Gambit Studios has developed an emulator for the popular Palm Pilot series. Called "Liberty," the emulator will run almost any monochrome Game Boy title on a Palm Pilot. Though there are some compatibility issues - some games won't work on some variations of the Pilot - the emulator runs smoothly for the most part. Users can remap the buttons at the bottom of their Pilots to suit the games, which can be uploaded to the Pilot via the HotSync Cradle. The emulator will only run games that are 32K or smaller. Gambit Studios is distributing a freeware version of the emulator on its web site.

A full version can be downloaded for US$16.95, and a package that comes with Liberty and a utility to over-clock a Palm Pilot can be purchased for US$22.95. Games that are best supported are RPGs and puzzle titles, or ones that don't have significant amounts of screen scrolling. Naturally, games that require dexterity on the traditional Game Boy controls don't fare very well on Palm Pilots.

GameSpot spoke with Michael Ethetton, president of Gambit Studios, about Liberty. Surprisingly, Ethetton is not concerned about a lawsuit from Nintendo. He told GameSpot that "earlier court decisions regarding the Bleem! and Connectix emulators have ruled that emulators are not illegal [and] we think we can prevail." He also said that there are plenty of freeware Game Boy-based titles that are already available at various sites on the Internet.

Nintendo, on the other hand, vehemently disagrees. Gamespot contacted Reilly Brennan, a Nintendo senior media representative, who told us, "Nintendo does not condone emulators in general." Nintendo considers all of its games - regardless of release date or availability - to be covered by copyright laws and will actively pursue anyone who infringes them."

Oddly enough, officials at Palm had not heard of the emulator, but it did say that an official statement will be forthcoming.