421 replies to this topic

[Parallax20]

Hi everybody,

I've been hunting on the net for good console emulators for the smartphone and came across PicoDrive and PocketSNES. Unfortunately neither of these emulators worked properly on my C550.  So I decided to try and fix it so I could play my favourite games on my phone.  

The biggest change is probably getting it to work at QVGA resolution, which was a definite improvement to the postage stamp size window.  After much tinkering, I think I've reached a milestone and am happy to share it with the rest of the community.

Disclaimer: These programs have been tested on my C550.  I hold no responsibility for any damage caused by running them on your own devices.

Credits:
Full credit should go to the following people for original conversion to smartphone.  Please provide donations to the relevant developers for their efforts, so that more projects like these remain open source and free to everyone.

FileDialogSP.dll by STomski
PicoDrive (original source) by Dave @ finalburn.com
PocketSNES (original source) by SpaceMonkey
PocketGNUboy (original source) by ???
MameCE3 (original source) by Techmaster
PocketNester (original source) by Rick Lei

Fixes/Tweaks:

Update: Now works on all smartphones including QVGA screens

PicoDrive (Genesis)  PicoDrive_QVGA_19_01_06.rar   49.32K   6502 downloads
-QVGA compatible in all screen modes.  (Portrait/Landscape)
-Integrated FileDialogSP.dll by STomski for ROM file selection.
-Game save/restore options
-Added key configuration screen
-Portait mode now uses full width of QVGA screen
- No sound

PocketSNES (Super Nintendo)  PocketSNES_QVGA_04_01_06.rar   424.25K   11443 downloads
- QVGA compatible in all screen modes. (Portrait/Landscape)
- CPU cycle adjustment to increase game speed (lower value equals faster emulation)
- Game save/restore options
- Integrated FileDialogSP.dll by STomski for ROM file selection.
- Fixed screen freeze on startup.
- I have provided two version of the app in this archive.  Version 1.43 core app will have better compatibility but will only work on QVGA phones.  If you have trouble running this please refer to 1.39 version.
- No sound

PocketGnuboy (Gameboy Color)  PocketGnuboy_QVGA_08_01_06.rar   70.24K   7535 downloads
- QVGA compatible in all screen modes. (Portrait/Landscape)
- Integrated FileDialogSP.dll by STomski for ROM file selection.
- Game save/restore options
- Added Extended Config Key option to redefine directional and game keys
- Fixed low res screen position offset
- Enabled GAPI draw mode by default and disabled option in Preferences screen.
- Sound enabled

MameCE3 (M.A.M.E)  MameCE3_QVGA_25_01_06.rar   1.06MB   4686 downloads
- This is a fairly cut down version of the full Mame32.  It supports 200+ games but can be enabled for more depending on hardware emulated.  
- To "OK" the legal notice screen use LEFT->RIGHT directional keys
- Added key configuration screen
- Fix default mame key quirks
- Game screen now shrinks to display size.  Some games may be difficult to view on low-res phones.
- Menu option to turn auto scaling on/off
- Improved screen scaling but still a bit slow.
- Use * and # to adjust frameskip rate.
- Added option to refresh game list
- Sound enabled - but nothing to get too excited about.


PocketNester (NES)  PocketNester_QVGA_14_01_06.rar   138.47K   6824 downloads
- QVGA compatible in all screen modes. (Portrait/Landscape)
- Integrated FileDialogSP.dll by STomski for ROM file selection.
- Game save/restore options
- Added key configuration screen
- Extended Sound options
- Sound enabled

There have been changes to the HTC hardware to disallow volume/record/camera keys to be used as game buttons, please stick to the keypad when redefining your own to avoid problems.

I would appreciate some feedback on your experiences with these emus, whether good or bad.  

Please send enhancement requests to the original developers as I have no plans for doing any more updates to these programs.

Enjoy!

Kien Phan  (Parallax).

Edited by Parallax20, 29 January 2006 - 11:38 AM.

[Seraphic]

You are the man! Well done

Can't wait for Landscape support (if it is possible). Picodrive runs nicely, PocketSNES struggles a bit but its a great effort to get it working on QVGA.

Edited by Seraphic, 29 November 2005 - 02:37 PM.

[arman68]

Woohoo! Can't wait to test those.

[Parallax20]

Seraphic, on Nov 29 2005, 15:26, said:

You are the man! Well done

Can't wait for Landscape support (if it is possible). Picodrive runs nicely, PocketSNES struggles a bit but its a great effort to get it working on QVGA.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I found PocketSNES to be quite playable if you drop the CPU cycle to about 50 and put frameskip to 2.  Tested it on MarioKart and it was great.

Landscape is possible, but I didn't like playing it in that mode when maxh2003 first released it for PicoDrive.  I found the keys to be quite awkward to play side on, hence the exclusion.

[Parallax20]

Sorry CPU adjustment is a red herring.  Leave this at 100.  

Just change frameskip to speed up emulation.  Skip of 2 seems to be a pretty good value.

[Seraphic]

Thanks for the tip - indeed it plays quite nicely when you change the frameskip. Landscape is excellent when playing Sonic games on Picodrive - you can use the right softkey as jump and its really good, would it be possible to make a build with a working landscape mode? That'd be excellent

[MiG:uK]

These Builds Rock, no seriously are really cool.

One question, any chance of a GNUBoy Port  

[Parallax20]

Seraphic, on Nov 29 2005, 20:23, said:

Thanks for the tip - indeed it plays quite nicely when you change the frameskip. Landscape is excellent when playing Sonic games on Picodrive - you can use the right softkey as jump and its really good, would it be possible to make a build with a working landscape mode? That'd be excellent

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK, my nature to please people has gotten the better of me and I've started work on the landscape modes for PocketSNES.  If this works well, I will translate this over to PicoDrive.  

Just to let you know, the OPTIONS key on my version of PicoDrive is actually the Application Exit key.  So use this to cleanly close the application mid game.  Your game state will be saved.  I won't be writing an options page as there really aren't any options to change, apart from the landscape modes, but I will somehow hardcode this feature so you can change screen modes in game.
  
So keep an eye out for the next updates here!

[Jamma14]

Great work parallax! Cheers for this.
Landscape for Picodrive would be sweet too!

O and I know you said no more requests but...    could you include access to the original picodrive menu in the next release (rather than just quitting on a press of the options button). This was good because you could change the framerate and choose when to save/load etc???  

Thanks, James

Edited by Jamma14, 30 November 2005 - 08:05 PM.

[arman68]

MiG:uK, on Nov 29 2005, 20:35, said:

These Builds Rock, no seriously are really cool.

One question, any chance of a GNUBoy Port 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How about PocketGBA http://www.sunbug.net/ or VBAdvanceSE http://www.imasy.or..../emu/index.html ?

[Parallax20]

Hi guys,

OK new update.  

PockSNES now has working landscape modes.  I can also confirm that the CPU setting does indeed speed up the screen frame rate.  I've only tried this on a couple of games and it works a treat.  Depending on the type of game it may have an adverse effect, so use cautiously.

Let me know what you think!

Parallax

[Parallax20]

Jamma14, on Nov 30 2005, 19:01, said:

Great work parallax! Cheers for this.
Landscape for Picodrive would be sweet too!

O and I know you said no more requests but...    could you include access to the original picodrive menu in the next release (rather than just quitting on a press of the options button). This was good because you could change the framerate and choose when to save/load etc??? 

Thanks, James

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jamma14 - the options screen you are refering to wasn't in the source that I downloaded from the finalburn.com website.  I don't think Maxh2003 released that version of the code, hence its not in any of my builds.  I'm not keen on adding extra screens and features, as these requests should go to the original developer(s).  I try to fix what is there to make it work for QVGA smartphones and generally improve its usability.  To be honest, PicoDrive runs pretty quick, so frameskiping isn't quite an issue.  I can't remember any other options...  Landscape mode is the only thing I can think of which might be of use.

Parallax

[Jamma14]

Well I only really used the saving and loading features. The auto save/load at the moment is annoying if I muck up something, so I have to back up my saves. Any chance maybe to configure another few buttons for saving and loading?

[Parallax20]

Jamma14, on Dec 1 2005, 16:35, said:

Well I only really used the saving and loading features. The auto save/load at the moment is annoying if I muck up something, so I have to back up my saves. Any chance maybe to configure another few buttons for saving and loading?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK, here is the updated version of PicoDrive.

Volume Up - changes screen orientation and directional key remap whilst in game. (You guys were right, landscape does look much better! )
Home Key - loads save state
Back Key - saves current state

Hopefully that should be the last of the changes....now go and play!

Again some feedback would be nice!

Parallax.

[Jamma14]

Mate you are a legend!! Cheers for this!!

[Parallax20]

Jamma14, on Dec 1 2005, 18:34, said:

Mate you are a legend!! Cheers for this!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A pleasure mate.  I will modify PicoDrive again to auto save/restore your last screen orientation so you don't have to keep flipping the screen when you first start up a game.  So keep a look out for the next update.

[trevdixon]

WOW!!

Just tried both on them on my imate SP5 and they're fantastic!


Pocket snes is not quite full speed but still enjoyabley playable, but it cannot beat playin sonic in full landscape mode on picodrive :-), its sooo much better than portrait mode.

Jus wish i could use the camera,volume or comunications button on my phone as the jump button for playin sonic, think it would be easier to play, then both hands would be either side of the screen.

Got a 3 hour train journey on saturday, at least i'm not gonna be bored now!

cheers Parallax20

[Emad]

Hmm.. Intriguing.. Will try on my wizard on the morrow..

[MiG:uK]

Quote

OK, here is the updated version of PicoDrive. Attached File  PicoDrive_QVGA_01_12_05.rar ( 51.19k ) Number of downloads: 9


Volume Up - changes screen orientation and directional key remap whilst in game. (You guys were right, landscape does look much better! icon_smile.gif)
Home Key - loads save state
Back Key - saves current state

Hopefully that should be the last of the changes....now go and play!

Again some feedback would be nice! icon_smile.gif

Parallax.

Trully amazing in landscape mode.  

[Emad]

Picodrive works a charm on the Wizard.

Not sure what the equivalents of home and back are for pocket snes :-/