Watch Steve Jobs unveil a PS1 emulator for Mac

For years, Apple blocked developers from publishing console game emulators on the App Store, but that changed earlier this year due to antitrust investigations in the EU. Interestingly, years before all this App Store drama, Steve Jobs once proudly introduced a PlayStation emulator for the Mac at one of Apple’s events.

The year was 1999 and Apple was about to announce upgrades to the iMac G3 and the new Power Mac G3 at the Macworld Expo. During the event, Steve Jobs often emphasized that Macs are great gaming devices too, but there’s one particular demo that’s worth revisiting.

Jobs presented Connectix’s Virtual Game Station (VGS) on stage with Phil Schiller. It was the first PlayStation emulator that could run games at full speed on any platform. VGS came to the Mac first, and to show it off, Schiller played Crash Bandicoot: Warped live at the keynote.

“Our goal is to have the best gaming machine in the world,” Jobs said as he compared the Mac to the original PlayStation, then considered the world’s most popular gaming console. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could play some of these titles too?” said Jobs before the VGS announcement. “It’s just a phenomenal idea,” Schiller said later.

VGS cost $49 and was officially only compatible with original PlayStation game CDs. Unsurprisingly, Sony didn’t like the idea and filed a lawsuit against Connectix for copyright infringement. The plot twist? Connectix won the case and Sony then had to purchase the emulation software to shut down the company.

Years later, Apple completely changed its policies regarding game emulation. The App Store banned emulation software from the start. That’s why it’s so interesting to see Jobs and Schiller get excited about a game emulator. But of course we’re talking about the same era when Macs shipped with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Now game emulators are finally allowed in the App Store, even if Apple doesn’t say much about it – and there are plenty of them available to download.

Are there any other memorable moments from the Apple keynotes that you remember? Let us know in the comments section below.

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