From 6cedde8be78954065c5ecccb7d9037a707c533e5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: A Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2025 23:25:28 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 1/4] Add section on reverse engineering the MOS 6502 CPU, including a detailed presentation by Michael Steil and an embedded YouTube video. --- pages/hardware/cpu/6502.md | 7 +++++++ 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+) diff --git a/pages/hardware/cpu/6502.md b/pages/hardware/cpu/6502.md index f4b4fdaf..d431114e 100644 --- a/pages/hardware/cpu/6502.md +++ b/pages/hardware/cpu/6502.md @@ -50,6 +50,13 @@ The **Nintendo Entertainment System** (known as the Famicom in Japan) is an 8-bi {% include link-to-other-post.html post="/nes" %} +### Reverse Engineering the MOS 6502 CPU +In this detailed technical presentation from the 27th Chaos Communication Congress, [Michael Steil](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWqBmmPQP40) explores the inner workings of the MOS 6502 processor, the chip powering iconic systems like the Apple II, NES, and Commodore 64. + +The talk breaks down the reverse engineering process into three distinct approaches: top-down (analyzing the instruction set and quirks), bottom-up (using acid decapping and high-resolution die shots to vectorize the transistor netlist), and inside-out (simulating the logic to understand undocumented behaviors and illegal opcodes). This work culminated in the **Visual 6502** project, a transistor-perfect simulation of the hardware. + + + --- ## 6502 in Popular Culture From 63f5c92ff310a9d07a119891190745c82f43d90f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: A Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2025 23:56:11 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 2/4] Add section on reverse engineering iOS games, including touchHLE emulator details and a video showcase of Driver iOS on touchHLE. --- categories/consoles/iOS.md | 14 ++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+) diff --git a/categories/consoles/iOS.md b/categories/consoles/iOS.md index 969cea91..0342a1c9 100644 --- a/categories/consoles/iOS.md +++ b/categories/consoles/iOS.md @@ -46,6 +46,20 @@ The video details critical milestones in the platform's history, including the p --- # Reverse Engineering iOS Games +## touchHLE: High-Level Emulator for Early iOS Games +**touchHLE** is an open-source high-level emulator (HLE) written in **Rust** that runs classic apps from the early iPhone OS era (specifically versions 2.x and 3.x) on modern platforms like Windows, macOS, and Android. + +Created by **hikari-no-yume**, the project focuses on preserving early mobile gaming history by dynamically recompiling ARM code and reimplementing Apple's system frameworks (such as UIKit and OpenGL ES) rather than emulating the full hardware. +This approach allows titles like *Super Monkey Ball* and *Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D* to run with enhanced performance and resolution scaling. + +{% include link-to-other-site.html url="https://github.com/touchHLE/touchHLE" description="hikari-no-yume and contributors have developed touchHLE, a High Level Emulator written in Rust that runs classic iPhone OS 2.x/3.x apps on modern systems by reimplementing the OS frameworks." title="touchHLE: High-level emulator for iPhone OS apps" %} + +### Driver iOS (2009) on touchHLE Emulator +[VortexStory](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dviPm_e33pk) showcases the 2009 Gameloft iOS port of *Driver*, now playable via the high-level emulator touchHLE. The video explores this previously "lost" mobile version through gameplay of the Car Park tutorial and Pursuit mode, demonstrating how file modifications can enable controller support and remove on-screen touch overlays. + + + +--- ## Frida: Dynamic Instrumentation Toolkit **Frida** is a world-class dynamic instrumentation framework created by **Ole André Vadla Ravnås** that allows developers and reverse engineers to inject custom scripts into black-box processes. It enables users to hook functions, trace APIs, and manipulate application behavior in real-time across a wide range of platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and QNX, without requiring source code or recompilation. From a4079eebc089437aaeeedcac572accf8092c8bec Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: A Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 12:11:02 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 3/4] Add compatibility database link and sections for popular iOS 2.x, 3.x, and 5.x games with reviews and developers to iOS.md --- categories/consoles/iOS.md | 43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 43 insertions(+) diff --git a/categories/consoles/iOS.md b/categories/consoles/iOS.md index 0342a1c9..b190e5c2 100644 --- a/categories/consoles/iOS.md +++ b/categories/consoles/iOS.md @@ -54,11 +54,54 @@ This approach allows titles like *Super Monkey Ball* and *Crash Bandicoot Nitro {% include link-to-other-site.html url="https://github.com/touchHLE/touchHLE" description="hikari-no-yume and contributors have developed touchHLE, a High Level Emulator written in Rust that runs classic iPhone OS 2.x/3.x apps on modern systems by reimplementing the OS frameworks." title="touchHLE: High-level emulator for iPhone OS apps" %} +For a full list of game compatibility check out the [touchHLE app compatibility database](https://appdb.touchhle.org/). + ### Driver iOS (2009) on touchHLE Emulator [VortexStory](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dviPm_e33pk) showcases the 2009 Gameloft iOS port of *Driver*, now playable via the high-level emulator touchHLE. The video explores this previously "lost" mobile version through gameplay of the Car Park tutorial and Pursuit mode, demonstrating how file modifications can enable controller support and remove on-screen touch overlays. +### Popular iOS 2.x Games (2008+) +iPhone OS 2 first introduced the App Store and with it came a bunch of "AAA" game studios aiming to tap into the market, some of these games are quite fun and worth playing others are maybe not as fun but could be fun to reverse engineer. + +These games require a minimum of iPhone OS 2.x (latest 2.2.1 recommended) to run and the reviews of these games come from the Bookazine **iPhone Games Directory** Volume 001 from 2009 to give time-period accurate reviews. + +Name | Developer | Review out of 5 +---|---|--- +[Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/413) | Gameloft | 4/5 +[Blades of Fury](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/471) | Gameloft | 5/5 +[Doom Resurrection (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/278) | ID Software | 4/5 +Duke Nukem 3D | MachineWorks Northwest LLC | 3/5 +[Crystal Defenders](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/77) | Square Enix | 3/5 +[Ferrari GT: Evolution (2008)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/116) | Gameloft | 4/5 +[Flight Control](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/650) | Firemint | 5/5 +Flight Of The Amazon Queen | iPhSoft | 3/5 +[Hero of Sparta](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/452) | Gameloft | 4/5 +[Kroll](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/491) | Digital Legends Entertainment | 3/5 +[Lemonade Tycoon (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/53) | EA | 4/5 +[Metal Gear Solid Touch (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/122) | Kojima Productions | 4/5 +[Modern Combat: Sandstorm (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/367) | Gameloft | 4/5 +[Paper Toss (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/318) | Backflip Studios | 4/5 +[Pocket God (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/306) | Bolt Creative | 4/5 +[Resident Evil 4: Mobile Edition](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/91) | Capcom | 3/5 +[Rolando (2008)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/720) | HandCircus | 5/5 +[SimCity](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/250) | EA | 4/5 +Space Ace | Dragon's Lair LLC | 2/5 +The Secret Of Monkey Island Special Edition | LucasArts | 5/5 +[The Sims 3 (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/263) | EA | 4/5 + +### Popular iOS 3.x Games (2009+) +The reviews of these games come from the Bookazine **iPhone Games Directory** Volume 001 from 2009 to give time-period accurate reviews. + +Name | Developer | Review out of 5 +---|---|--- +[Command & Conquer: Red Alert](https://appdb.touchhle.org/) | EA | 3/5 +[Devil Hunter X](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/774) | Corefran technologies Ltd | +[Final Fantasy (2010)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/290) | Square Enix | + +### Popular iOS 5.x Games (2011+) +The best way to check for recommended iOS 5.x games is to check out the Bookazine **iPad and iPhone Games Directory** Volume 1 from 2011 as it gives a great snapshot of exactly what was popular back when iOS 5 was the latest iOS. + --- ## Frida: Dynamic Instrumentation Toolkit **Frida** is a world-class dynamic instrumentation framework created by **Ole André Vadla Ravnås** that allows developers and reverse engineers to inject custom scripts into black-box processes. It enables users to hook functions, trace APIs, and manipulate application behavior in real-time across a wide range of platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and QNX, without requiring source code or recompilation. From 3ef1182b0689d69551c985b41c049bcf3f73f17a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: A Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 22:19:01 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 4/4] Update iOS.md: add notes on ARMv6 compatibility for iPhone OS 2.x games and expand game table to include descriptions. --- categories/consoles/iOS.md | 10 ++++++++-- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/categories/consoles/iOS.md b/categories/consoles/iOS.md index b190e5c2..ed0af406 100644 --- a/categories/consoles/iOS.md +++ b/categories/consoles/iOS.md @@ -64,10 +64,16 @@ For a full list of game compatibility check out the [touchHLE app compatibility ### Popular iOS 2.x Games (2008+) iPhone OS 2 first introduced the App Store and with it came a bunch of "AAA" game studios aiming to tap into the market, some of these games are quite fun and worth playing others are maybe not as fun but could be fun to reverse engineer. +Games released for iPhone OS 2 were compiled for the 32-bit **ARMv6** processor so they will **not** run on 32-bit ARMv7 devices (iPhone 3GS+) or any 64-bit devices. + +They can run on later versions *only* if the developer shipped a dual-architecture binary (ARMv6+ARMv7). Many early App Store games never did this, so some games are ARMv6-only and thus can only run on the iPhone (2G) and iPhone 3G! + + These games require a minimum of iPhone OS 2.x (latest 2.2.1 recommended) to run and the reviews of these games come from the Bookazine **iPhone Games Directory** Volume 001 from 2009 to give time-period accurate reviews. -Name | Developer | Review out of 5 ----|---|--- +Name | Developer | Review out of 5 | Description +---|---|---|--- +Airport Mania | Reflexive Entertainment | 4/5 [Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/413) | Gameloft | 4/5 [Blades of Fury](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/471) | Gameloft | 5/5 [Doom Resurrection (2009)](https://appdb.touchhle.org/apps/278) | ID Software | 4/5