Our first thought when we heard the news that there was an NES emulator in the works for the Sidekick series of text machines was one of pure, unabashed elation. The classic Hiptop form factor is pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered for effective old-skool gaming, after all -- and let's be honest, any time Nintendo playtime comes to a new platform is cause for immediate and overindulgent celebration. Our second thought was, "wait, what?" It's pretty unclear how the emulator would be loaded with legally-obtained ROMs and we have our doubts that Nintendo signed away the rights to any binaries, so we're a little confused about the word that this would be officially offered through the Danger's Software Catalog. Let's all cross our fingers, continue to pay our T-Mobile bills on time, and hope that tomorrow might bring countless hours of Skate or Die while we're... you know, actually skating or something.

Update: While not technically fake, it turns out that this 80s-vintage action is going to remain a pipe dream (and no, we're not talking about the NES game Pipe Dream, either). Danger's developer tools allow arbitrary Java to be loaded into the Hiptop emulator -- not just approved stuff, obviously -- so odds are that someone loaded an NES emulator (like, say, vNes) and went to town with the screen shots. Official offering through the Catalog, though? Not so much. Thanks, Jim!

We've seen a lot of phones float our way over the years, and some of them have had emulation capability, but it's rare when you see a mobile phone-maker actually advocating that you pirate ROMs for their device. Of course, that's exactly what Fly Mobile is doing when it comes to its MC100 handset. The phone has all kinds of regular features we're sure you'd be interested in, like a 240 x 320 display, AAC, MP3 and MPEG4 playback, a microSD slot, and that handsome, "noble" dark brown finish. It all sounds good, but we know there's only one set of qualities you'll be laying down cash for: the phone's ability to play SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and NES ROMs. Just remember, your favorites "can be freele [sic] downloaded frim [sic] Internet." $270 and it's yours.

[Via Mobile Magazine]

Well, well, would you look at that, Lenono's i909 gaming phone. Oh the specs are ok -- 2 megapixel camera, microSD, and 2.4-inch, 262k, QVGA display on a 15.5-mm candybar -- but it's the on-board NES emulator and snap-on D-pad which has our attention. Sure, we've seen these mashups before, but they never do get old, eh Game King? China only, for now.

Considering that Doom runs smooth as butter on Nokia's 770, the OLPC XO, and the iPod, you knew it was only a matter of time before this classic made its way over to the iPhone. Just in time for the weekend, Doom is now available for Apple's first handset. And just in case blasting through pixelated fiends wears you out, why not check out the new and improved NES emulator? We won't waste anymore of your precious iPhone gaming time here, now get your downloads on below!

Update: So you can't exactly -- what's the word we're looking for -- "play" Doom quite yet, it seems the controller ain't working. It's a promising sign, though!

Read - id Software Doom on iPhone
Read - iPhone NES v0.20.1 + Games

Yeah, the floodgates have opened, and we promise not to bug you with every new app to come down the pipe, but we figured you'd want to know when you can get your Mario on. Video is after the break.

[Via TUAW]

Oh my -- we're fallin' in love. Our always-inventive pals in Taiwan have developed a "PDA Phone" called the Century Sutra 1688 that comes complete with a gamepad controller (not Bluetooth, darn) and an NES emulation system. If you're fond of "Super Mario Brothers" and "The Legend of Zelda" from the NES craziness of the 80s, you'd probably hand over a month's paycheck for one of these beauties just to take a trip down memory lane. We know we would. The gamepad for Windows Mobile isn't exactly a new concept, but add in NES emulation -- even though there are a ton of portable NES emulators out there -- and we're sold.

While mobile companies are doing their best to make cellphones as sleek and futuristic as possible, retro junkies keep taking them apart and turning them into ironic, yet functional, pieces of art like these. The first mod, from Grooveking.com, makes an old Motorolla DynaTAC 8000X or "Zack Morris phone" into a Bluetooth headset, that'll get 8-times the juice of a normal battery. The second project, from DIYHappy.com, takes an old NES controller (which has already gotten the Bluetooth treatment in the past) and fills it with the guts of a Nokia 3200 – yes, the American Idol phone. You need a little technical know-how to make these for yourself, but after you get the hang of it, all of your gadgets might end up crammed into NES controllers. Sadly, the Nokia 3200 doesn't have Bluetooth so you won't be able to use these two devices together, but we look forward to the future when our Xbox 360 controllers and Treos are turned into seemlessly-integrated retro kitsch.