The "dumb" phone homebrew scene is kind of insane

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Remember "dumb" phones? For many of us, this was our first proper taste of futuristic tech — their VGA screens, built-in cameras, and internet capabilities made them look like gadgets from the latest James Bond movies. It kind of sucks that many fell by the wayside just as fast as they had arrived because they were tools in an arms race that would eventually bring us the next evolution of the product: "smart" (more like dumbass) phones.

But just because the vast majority of us moved past these things without a second thought doesn't mean everyone did. Indeed, there's been a group of crazily passionate fans and developers who refused to give up, like the Gauls from Asterix, and created (and have maintained) an insanely impressive homebrew scene for them. They've managed to port tons of classics to the limited hardware available to them.

Check out some of the things they have managed to make:

Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011.

Sonic the Hedgehog.

Super Mario Bros. (ft. The Great Giana Sisters).

Mafia II.

Counter-Strike 2.

Fallout.

Command & Conquer.

The Sims.

And many, many more.

 

[bombatomba77]

In a way it's kind of a shame the iPhone steamrolled the competition so quickly. I would have loved to see how gaming could have evolved on the platform as a whole, given time and competition. However, instead we got Angry Birds and that open world Oblivion-style game, Aralon (anyone remember that?).

 

[shaggi]

Pretty impressive. Sadly, i don't have a "dumb" phone anymore.

 

[skramz]

jeeesus! nostalgia!

once got "gta iv" on my ericsson, only to realise i was playing a re-skinned version of saints row 2.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

In a way it's kind of a shame the iPhone steamrolled the competition so quickly. I would have loved to see how gaming could have evolved on the platform as a whole, given time and competition. However, instead we got Angry Birds and that open world Oblivion-style game, Aralon (anyone remember that?).

I think we moved away from these devises (with their near-universal programming languages and creative uses of hardware) way too quickly.

Developers like GameLoft did nothing short of sorcery with the medium and it's been ages since I last saw anything even remotely comparable in any modern devise.