Old Hardware Emulated - The Continued Evolution Of Symbian (Games)


Games would quickly dominate the Symbian platform. It only made sense as the Nokia handhelds found their way into the hands on millions around the globe. Combined this with the universal nature of the J2ME runtime and the thousands upon thousands of developers who were already familiar with the Java programming language, it would only be a short time before games would dominate the platform.


I was able to get a taste of these games as most of them have been archived on well...Archive.org. Most of these games were loaded onto the SDK which supported the J2ME environment. However, compatibility greatly differed as many of these games usually conformed to different screen sizes, depending on the phone. Not all Symbian phones were created equal. 

Many of the games expected a very small screen size, and thus, didn't scale well to the screen resolution of the device that I was using (240 by 320 pixel resolution). Despite that though, they were many games that did scale to the correct resolution.


Their was a massive assortment of games for Symbian. If one wanted ports of those classic arcade hits, then their would be no disappointment. Their would be various Pac-Man ports, along with classics like Xevious and Chase H.Q. Their were ports of the various card games for those who wanted their solitaire fix. If one wanted to be that shady street pharmacist, then their is Dopewars to satisfy that craving. Racing games are always popular, and their was no shortage of them on Symbian as well. I've played the Symbian port of V-Rally, which was popular on the PalmOS. 


Their were various Tetris games that were on Symbian as well. Their were also games based on popular franchises or icons of popular culture. I've really enjoyed the SpongeBob Bolwing game. Call Of Duty was released on Symbian as well. Granted, this was a top-down arcade shooter. Did one really expected a full-blown FPS on a smartphone in the middle 2000's. 


On the whole, one would find plenty of enjoyment under Symbian. These games would keep anyone preoccupied while riding on a bus or subway. One gets a continued glimpse into the evolution of mobile/smartphone gaming.

Articles of Interest
Wikipedia : Symbian - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbian
Wikipedia : S60 (Software Platform) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S60_(software_platform)
Wikipedia : Nokia 7650 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_7650
Wikipedia : Nokia 3650 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_3650
Wikipedia : Java Platform, Micro Edition - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Platform,_Micro_Edition
Wikipedia : Motorola Razr - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Razr
Nokia Symbian 3 Developers Library: Supported file types (SDK) - https://docs.huihoo.com/symbian/nokia-symbian3-developers-library-v0.8/GUID-919E32B1-1316-4B09-B668-...

Software Sites/Archives
[ The J2ME Archives ] Over 5000 Mobile Games : https://archive.org/details/Over5000MobileGames
[The J2ME Archives] 1000 J2ME Games Pack : https://archive.org/details/1000_J2ME_Games_Pack
Mobiles24 : https://www.mobiles24.co/downloads
mobyWare : http://www.mobyware.org/s60-5th-edition-symbian-1-9-4-device-games-download-1763-all-1-date.html
phoneky : https://phoneky.com/symbian-games/
MobileHeart : http://www.mobileheart.com/cell-phone-softwares/Symbian-Series-60-softwares-39.aspx

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