Despite Apple's approval for emulating games from earlier Nintendo consoles, a recent report indicates that GameCube and Wii games may not find their way to the iPhone App Store due to technical hurdles. 

OatmealDome, a well-known Nintendo hacker and data miner, explains in a blog post why emulation on iPhones struggles with GameCube and Wii games. This issue arises because PCs use a technology known as just-in-time (JIT) compilation for emulation, which Apple does not allow on its devices due to security concerns related to the execution of external code. Without JIT compilation, the quality of emulation suffers significantly. OatmealDome shared videos demonstrating the stark differences in performance between emulation with and without JIT. In the latter case, the games run so poorly that they become essentially unplayable.

This revelation comes amid the soaring popularity of the Nintendo game emulator app Delta, which currently ranks among the top five most downloaded free apps in the UK's iPhone App Store. Delta allows users to play games from the NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS on iPhones, posing a considerable dilemma for Nintendo due to copyright issues.

While enthusiasts may hope for broader emulation capabilities on iPhones, technical limitations related to JIT compilation remain a significant barrier to bringing GameCube and Wii games to Apple's platform.