Feasablity of PSX emulation on N64?

[Vixi]

I'm curious about whether it might be possible to get PSX games to run on N64.

The idea in my head is the MIPS III processor should be able to natively run MIPS I instructions and have some overhead to translate graphical functions (like DXVK translates Direct X to Vulkan)

The translation code could load from a boot cartridge while CDs run from a CD drive adapted to connect to the 64DD port in a 3D printed shell.

Think this could work?

 

[CrashMidnick]

I think this is the wrong forum.

 

[emmanu888]

The N64 already struggles with SNES emulation. PS1 would be utterly impossible.

 

[KiiWii]

Saturn games are being ported to N64, and some PSX games too.

Emulation of those systems; no chance, too little overhead.

Source ports; very possible.

I have someone interested to try port SFIII to N64, so fingers crossed that might work out

 

[Marc_LFD]

Saturn games are being ported to N64, and some PSX games too.

Emulation of those systems; no chance, too little overhead.

Source ports; very possible.

I have someone interested to try port SFIII to N64, so fingers crossed that might work out

Damn, I'd love to see Tekken 3 and Gran Turismo 2 on the N64.

Wow, we might eventually have Tekken 64 and Gran Turismo 64.

 

[Vixi]

Saturn games are being ported to N64, and some PSX games too.

Emulation of those systems; no chance, too little overhead.

Source ports; very possible.

I have someone interested to try port SFIII to N64, so fingers crossed that might work out

What about using a custom bios which replaces the PS1 gpu calls with N64 ones?

 

[Flame]

What about using a custom bios which replaces the PS1 gpu calls with N64 ones?

N64 with PS1 bios. is called a PS1.

 

[sexually_inactive]

I imagine you would need a flash cart with a powerful CPU on the cartridge, similar to some of the later DS flash carts and the SNES SA-1 chip. The cartridge would do the emulation and feed a video stream to the N64 to play.

 

[depaul]

The advancement of AI could speed up porting old games across systems. But I don't think it's possible between PS1 - N64

 

[KiiWii]

What about using a custom bios which replaces the PS1 gpu calls with N64 ones?

The n64 doesn’t use a BIOS.

 

[Vixi]

The n64 doesn’t use a BIOS.

PS1 does, and the N64's CPU is backwards compatible with the PS1 CPU, so a PS1 BIOS programmed to work with the RCP instead of the PS1 GPU should run on N64.

 

[ChibiMofo]

The advancement of AI could speed up porting old games across systems. But I don't think it's possible between PS1 - N64

Porting between PS1 and N64 is easy, and was done in the 1990s. Resident Evil 2 is a famous example, and others include Rayman 2 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

Emulation will not be possible regardless of advances in AI.

 

[Vixi]

Porting between PS1 and N64 is easy, and was done in the 1990s. Resident Evil 2 is a famous example, and others include Rayman 2 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

Emulation will not be possible regardless of advances in AI.

How is it that Windows games often run better in an emulator for Linux than native Windows?

 

[ChibiMofo]

PS1 does, and the N64's CPU is backwards compatible with the PS1 CPU, so a PS1 BIOS programmed to work with the RCP instead of the PS1 GPU should run on N64.

PS1 games contain binary instructions specifically for the Sony GTE, which the N64 CPU cannot understand. And while both the 32-bit R3000 in the PS1 and the 64-bit R4000 in the N64 chips can technically support both Little-Endian and Big-Endian, the PS1 CPU is locked to Little-Endian format (storing the least significant byte of a variable first). The Nintendo 64 operates in Big-Endian format. This means even if the instructions match, the data bytes are read in the exact reverse order, turning valid program instructions into complete garbage data.

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 11:58 AM

How is it that Windows games often run better in an emulator for Linux than native Windows?

I cannot believe you are seriously asking that question. The layer that allows Linux to run Windows apps is running on a PC that has both enough power and -- very important -- enough memory to do that. And it is the Windows overhead that everyone knows about that is the reason SOME games run a few frames faster on Linux, when they run at all on Linux.

The N64 has a measly 4MB of RAM. It should be obvious to you how hopeless PS1 on N64 is. There is a ZERO % chance than any N64 will EVER run PS1 games under emulation.

 

[Vixi]

PS1 games contain binary instructions specifically for the Sony GTE, which the N64 CPU cannot understand. And while both the 32-bit R3000 in the PS1 and the 64-bit R4000 in the N64 chips can technically support both Little-Endian and Big-Endian, the PS1 CPU is locked to Little-Endian format (storing the least significant byte of a variable first). The Nintendo 64 operates in Big-Endian format. This means even if the instructions match, the data bytes are read in the exact reverse order, turning valid program instructions into complete garbage data.

Thank you for the technical explanation.

I cannot believe you are seriously asking that question. The layer that allows Linux to run Windows apps is running on a PC that has both enough power and -- very important -- enough memory to do that. The N64 has a measly 4MB of RAM. It should be obvious to you how hopeless PS1 on N64 is. There is a ZERO % chance than any N64 will EVER run PS1 games under emulation

Less powerful hardware is known for getting a bigger performance boost through emulation over running native Windows. And my N64 has 8MB of RAM.

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 12:40 PM

Two possible solutions I can think of for the big/small endian problem.

1. Byteswap the data as it's loaded in.
2. If that's impractical, put 1GB of RAM on the cartridge or CD attachment and byteswap the disc into said RAM before booting the game (modern CD drives only need 1.5 minutes to read a whole CD)

If the latter is done, then the game's instructions could also be pre translated at this step if on the fly translation doesn't work. The RAM could remain powered by a battery while the console is off so that these steps don't need to be repeated until the disc is changed.

3. Same as 2 but the games get stored onto an SSD with the CD only acting as a license from that point like a modern console, so that I don't have to wait 1.5+ minutes each time I switch discs.

 

[KiiWii]

This thread is nuts.

 

[SDA]

Disc-based games running on a cartridge-based system? Sure why not?

No, seriously, this is a terrible idea.

 

[Givemesteak]

Disc-based games running on a cartridge-based system? Sure why not?

No, seriously, this is a terrible idea.

We are talking about doing that now in 2026 where any cheap MicroSD card would exceed the speed and storage size of a PS1 CD with ease..

The problem would not be Cartridge vs CD if done today.
The problem would be the emulation aspect.

However I am pretty sure that pretty much any PS1 game could work on the N64 hardware if you compiled a native port.
The N64 is generally more powerful hardware than the PS1 in pretty much every way.
What held it back (back in the day) was the limited storage on the N64 cartridges.
But today I am sure we could easily overcome those limitations.

 

[VmprHntrD]

Disc-based games running on a cartridge-based system? Sure why not?

No, seriously, this is a terrible idea.

I know it's not what you're meaning by this, but Capcom would love to laugh and point out that Mega Man Legends and Resident Evil 2 were ported late in life to N64. While the voice quality on both took a considerable hit, as did the FMV clarity on RE2, the core games are there and intact. Not just that changes were made to enhance them a bit with some quality of life improvements in places.



On topic though, N64 will never emulate a PS1 game, it's probabl doable in so far as wanting some 1FPS shitshow, but that's not what I'd call doable, just viewable. Source ports, very very doable and being done as others said already with Saturn games as it is now. Source ports from decomp and recomp in the last year have made big strides and seeing some impressive game dumps of N64 titles into other formats.

 

[SDA]

I know it's not what you're meaning by this, but Capcom would love to laugh and point out that Mega Man Legends and Resident Evil 2 were ported late in life to N64. While the voice quality on both took a considerable hit, as did the FMV clarity on RE2, the core games are there and intact. Not just that changes were made to enhance them a bit with some quality of life improvements in places.

Mega Man 64 has had quite some stuff removed to make the game fit on the cartridge. Fans still consider it the inferior version regardless.