Old school PC gamers may remember back in the days before 3D Accelerators that Epic, now known for the Unreal Engine and the bloody chainsaw mess that is the Gears of War series, used to make a bunch of cool 2D games as Epic MegaGames. There was the unique game creation kit ZZT, the fun Sonic-inspired platformer Jazz Jackrabbit (that saw a brief resurrection on the GBA in 2002), the robot fighting game that featured upgrading mechanics One Must Fall 2097, and the fondly-remembered RPG-inspired shoot ‘em up Tyrian, still the finest example of a western-developed shmup around. Tyrian has long since been released to the public domain, and the game has seen updates to keep it running on modern systems as well as ports to other platforms. The DS and PSP have both seen homebrew ports, but now legitimate iPhone and iPod touch owners can play the game, as Tyrian has been released for the App Store for $1.99.

What’s interesting about the iPhone port is that you have to download the game files from within the app, as due to licensing rules they cannot be bundled with the App Store version (because the developer is charging for the iPhone port?) – it doesn’t seem like a problem, but I’m surprised it was allowed given the tight control Apple likes to exercise over apps on the App Store, and also given the whole fracas over the recent Hottest Girls app and nudity being added in apparently after the fact (an incident which friends of the site, KRAPPS, have covered brilliantly) that Apple would approve an app where a 4.6 MB download would be required – but  maybe this is the approval team doing their job and allowing developers to require external downloads when necessary.

A minor caveat for early adopters via the Touch Arcade forums – there are apparently menu issues and so the full game mode may not be entirely playable as you may be unable to upgrade your ship until the update is approved.