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With the raw power possessed by some of the latest mobile phones it should come as little surprise to learn that they’re capable of replicating the performance of vintage hardware from years gone by.

We’ve seen a few such emulators on the iPhone lately, but the stricter rules regarding App Store releases mean that such marvels of programming are usually kept out of the hands of the retro-loving public.

Because the Android Marketplace is an altogether less restrictive place to do business, Google-loving gamers have been sampling the joys of emulation for some time now.

However, more often than not these applications are sloppy conversions of existing PC-based programs, ported to Android with all the finesse of a drunken hippo on a pair of broken roller-skates.

Thankfully Nesoid is different; for once, the developer has approached the concept with a little more care and consideration, and while it’s doesn’t quite run games at full-speed (as is rather optimistically promised), the app is still capable of presenting classic Nintendo titles in a manner that makes them enjoyable and highly playable.

Nesoid is literally packed to the rafters with options. However, enabling auto frame skip results in a far more pleasurable experience – albeit one that isn’t quite 100 percent accurate.

Naturally, controlling the action is of paramount importance when you’re playing classic 8-bit titles and Nesoid comes with a full complement of choices. You can alter the display to either stretch to fill the entire screen or expand whilst maintain the all-important aspect ratio, for example.

If you’re a purist you can even view the games at their native resolution, but this reduces the playing area to something akin to a postage stamp and isn’t recommended if you wish to maintain the present quality of your eyesight.

You can also play NES Zapper games using the touchscreen, which means those of you that were hopelessly addicted to Duck Hunt back in the day will be able to relive those happy times (after all these years we still can’t resist trying to shoot the dog when he mocks your rubbish aim).

More obscurely, there’s support for the Game Genie cheat cartridge which means you can make games even easier – providing you have the correct codes, that is.

It’s also possible to adjust the frame skip, which is basically the emulator’s way of ensuring that the overall performance remains acceptable even when it’s struggling with all of the on-screen activity. In basic terms, skipping frames reduces the amount of work the emulator has to do.

It should be noted that while the developer is adamant that Nesoid can run games at full speed with no frame skip (so basically you’re seeing the game as it was intended to be played), we found that it ran unacceptably slow with these settings. If you’re a G1/HTC Dream owner then you can make use of the sliding QWERTY keyboard to create a d-pad (of sorts) and some action buttons.

However, if you’re packing an Android device that lacks a physical keyboard – like the HTC Magic or Hero, for example – then you’re doing to struggle.

Although Nesoid thoughtfully features an on-screen virtual d-pad (along with Start and Select buttons), there are no virtual buttons for 'A' or 'B' which means you can’t actually play anything if you don’t have a physical keypad.

Obviously this is something that the developer will be able to fix in no time at all, but it’s worth bearing in mind that the version we’re reviewing (1.5.1) is essentially useless on any Android phone without a slide-out keyboard.

Naturally, legal matters regarding ROM ownership and copyright mean that unless you actually have a physical copy of each NES game you play on Nesoid, you’re technically breaking the law – which is something we obviously don’t condone.

However, putting aside such serious matters for a moment, Nesoid is definitely an application that retro-fans should try out.