iPod games…no, I don’t mean those you can download directly from the app store onto that glorified iPhone sans the phone bit!
What I mean is the games that were designed for the ‘real’ iPod with a click wheel. With the release of iTunes 7 in September 2006, Apple put up some third party games for download. The iPod already had a selection of inbuilt games, such as Brick, but these were something special, utilising the click wheel albeit often in a somewhat hazard and frustrating-at-times fashion.
Unfortunately, the time of the clickwheel games is long gone and they are no longer available to download, even if you originally purchased them! Now the only way to get some of these at least is to apply a cracked firmware to your ipod and load the games directly onto the iPods storage.
The best way to do this is via a PowerPC application known as ‘alterPod’ you can download below
Step-by-step instructions (for 5g or 5.5g iPod Videos)
- Plug in your iPod. Make sure it is enabled for disk use, and the “Do Not Disconnect” logo is flashing.
- Open up your iPod from the desktop. You may need to enable hidden files and folders (I suggest using Onyx)
- Open up the “iPod_Control” folder.
- Create a “Games_RO” folder into the “iPod_Control” folder. You can then add any of the games here to this folder. Remember to unzip the games first!
- Open up alterPod (it’s a standalone application, no need to install)
- Select the “Firmware” tab.
- Click “choose” under the Restore option and navigate to either “5g Firmware.bin” or “5.5g Firmware.bin” based on weather you have a 5g or a 5.5g iPod. If you choose the wrong one, you will have to boot into disk mode and restore your iPod.
- Once the file is ready click “Restore”
- Eject the iPod when it is done (it will take a minute or two)
- Reset your iPod by holding in the center button and menu button until the apple logo appears
- Go to Extras > Games on your iPod, choose your game, and enjoy.
Screenshots
App Downloads
Game Downloads
How do I install Games on my iPod nano 5th Generation
Sorry, as far as I am aware these will only work on the 5g or 5.5g iPod Video
Thanks for sharing this, I think I can only find it here.
but my one was classic1 it doesn’t work on it, how can I put games on it?
I believe only the fifth generation iPod is compatible with the click wheel games?
there were definitely more than 20 clickwheel games (eg Spore Origins, Song Summoners). is there any chance of the rest becoming available, or are they essentially semi-lost media at this point?
As far as I’m aware these are the only ones to have ever been cracked. The games were tied to the users iTunes account (DRM). I would really love others to be found working but I doubt this will ever happen. You can’t even re-download them from iTunes anymore.
Hey Michael, I’ve tried to install the firmware with iPodWizard, and it worked. The only problem I have is that syncing in macOS is terribly slow. Could it be because my iPod is Widows-formatted/it’s FAT32?
It’s been a while since I had to sync my iPod but I remember it being very slow also. How much are you transferring? iPod drives can be painfully slow…
Nevermind, turns out it was just iTunes on macOS that was weird.
BTW I got the iPod games installed using a handy tool called iPodWizard. It’s for Windows and can read Mac-formatted iPods!
Hello, does this Alterpod only work for mac users? I have a 7g ipod classic and my OS is Windows. Is there a protocol for windows?
Thank you
Hi. Alter pod is only for the PowerPC Mac. There are some software utilities for windows that can use these firmwares but I’m not the best person to advise you. Maybe someone else can help here or try some google searches. Sorry I can’t help more
The links have been updated. Enjoy! 🙂
Thank you so much! I can confirm that they all work.
You’re welcome Jorge. I’m curious how you found this site as I have just started to work on it again?
All fashion google search.
*Old
None of the download links work 🙁 Can you update? PLEASE!