Ion iCade Jr Turns Your iPhone and iPod into a Mini Arcade Machine

Ion were able to turn a ThinkGeek April Fool joke into an iPad Arcade reality has now turned to the smaller iOS devices in order to expand its iCade concept.

Ion are allowing your iPhone and iPod touch to join in the iCade action with their new iCade Jr miniature cabinet and iCade Mobile gaming controller which will both launch this year.

Just to recap – the iCade is a compact retro-arcade cabinet that turns an iPad into a mini game machine. It equips the gamer with an arcade-style joystick and eight buttons so that you feel like a giant playing classic arcade titles. These include Atari Classics as well as Commodore64 and ZX Spectrum emulators. Now there’s over 100 other compatible games available from the App Store.

Soon you’ll be able to do the same with your iPhone (to make you an even larger giant!) thanks to the iCade Jr’s joystick and arcade-style buttons.

The iPhone connects with the iCade Jr via Bluetooth and then you can make full use of the joystick and buttons. Since the front only includes room for four buttons instead of the eight on the iCade, the iCade Jr adds four buttons on the back that can be used like shoulder buttons on a console controller.

Ion is also releasing the iCade Mobile. Instead of the stand-up arcade machine the Mobile adds a directional pad, four buttons, and four shoulder buttons to an iPhone or iPod touch. Just slip your choice of iDevice into it and you suddenly have a mobile gamer not dissimilar to the Sega Game Gear.

As it syncs through Bluetooth theory has it that it should also work with Android handsets – but I’m not sure how many games on Android have added iCade support.