Gaming Emulation on PSP

[sfg]

So, I've looked through the "essentials" topic for emulators, but it's only a list and I want more details if possible because I'm thinking of buying a PSP mainly for emulation.

I'm mainly interested in emulating:

-MAME
-NeoGeo (I think there is one especially for that, asides from MAME, but I'm not sure)
-NeoGeo Pocket & Pocket Color
-NES
-SNES
-GBA
-GB & GBC

but others too if possible.

What I'd like is recommendations for each and also telling me how good the emulators are in terms of speed and compatibility. From your personal experience, please.

 

[hundshamer]

MVS4PSP for Neo Geo arcade runs 100% speed
There's a Neo Geo Cd that works 100% speed
Most NES emulators run at 100% speed with good rom compatablility.
Snes laggs. No matter the build (at least on my phatty).
Masterbay runs Sega master system, Game gear, Gameboy, and Gameboy color at 100% speed
CPS1 and CPS2 for psp is a Capcom Play system runs at 100%
gpSP is 100% for GBA
I use Pico Drive fro Sega and Sega CD
PSP2600 for atari 2600
I forgot the name of it but there is a TG-16/PCEngine emulator that runs roms and TG-16 CD (TG duo) games

Remember that Neo Geo CD, TG-16 CD, Pico drive, MVS, CPS 1 and 2, took me some time to get things running correctly. If you need some help with these just PM me and I'll see what I can do for you.

 

[sfg]

Hmm, that sounds pretty good. Compatibility is also good for those you listed?

Snes laggs. No matter the build (at least on my phatty).

And this... anyone knows if the slim models perform better?

What about a MAME emulator? There are many MAME games which I'd like to play on the PSP.

 

[hundshamer]

compatability is great for the ones I listed. I believe the slim might do a little better because of the extended ram. As far as MAME, there is low compatibility (can't play many "newer" games due to cpu and ram limitations). However the MVS (Neo Geo arcades), CPS1 (Street Fighter 2), and CPS2 (X-men VS Street fighter, Street fighter Alpha) use MAME roms. They are complete arcade ports where you have to push a button to make the emulator tell the ROM you inserted a coin. They all run at 100% speed due to caching some info on the SD card (has to be manually set up).

 

[dib]

SNES runs excellent. I've played Ogre Battle, Secret of Mana, Mario RPG, and tons of others. Secret of Mana had some slowdown in specific areas (with fog effects) that you can trudge through. Everything else so far has worked great.

GBA has some faults. Intensive games like the Camelot games don't work (Golden Sun, Mario Golf). I was playing Final Fantasy IV the other day and the emulator crashed several times, while I can feel some slow response time during battles. Kingdom Hearts FMVs can freeze the emuator. But tons of games do work near perfect like the Metroid, Mario, Castlevania, etc. so it balances out.

I couldn't get anything under MAME to work. Stuff like Ninja Turtles 2 was slow, and I don't think it would even load others I tried like X-Men CotA. Maybe I wasn't doing it right, but I suspect anybody claiming they will work at 100%

 

[hundshamer]

@ dib - When I was saying 100%, I meant speed not ROM compatibility. Why not use CPS2 for X-Men CotA? It works 100% speed with that emulator. What PSP model do you have? It makes a difference as to how you cache the ROMS for CPS1 & CPS2.

 

[nl255]

There is a PS1 compatibility layer (not an emulator, though) that works with most games. It doesn't work with FF8 yet, though GEN is supposedly working on a popsloader that lets you use the PS1 stuff from firmware 6.XX, which is required for decent FF8 support.

 

[sfg]

SNES runs excellent. I've played Ogre Battle, Secret of Mana, Mario RPG, and tons of others. Secret of Mana had some slowdown in specific areas (with fog effects) that you can trudge through. Everything else so far has worked great.

What PSP model?

 

[dib]

I have a PSP 2001. And Final Fantasy 8 works fine if you change the game ID like the compatibility list notes. I've played it through disk 3 before I got bored. The only problem I had was the very beginning of the game required a different popsloader version, and after that I was able to leave it to a later one.

 

[hundshamer]

@ dib-The 2k has more ram than the 1k, which is probably why SNES games are slow for me (lack of ram) and not for you. Have you tried CPS2 yet for X-Men CotA?

@sfg-Which model do you have? If you need some precompiled things PM me.

 

[sfg]

I don't have one yet. But thanks for the offer, I'll contact you if needed, although most likely I'll go for a 2000 just in case it's faster.

I'd get one from Gamestop, but unfortunately I don't think I can see if it's hackable just by looking at it (unless I find a special edition which is known to be hackable) so I'm watching craiglist in the meantime.

 

[manobon]

Do the CPS and MVS emulators run on 3000's? I couldn't get them to work for a while using previous CFW's (they only work on my 2001), so I just deleted them and installed FinalBurnAlpha (which isn't...Terrible, but definitely not great).

They would give the error of needing a higher firmware (like, above 3.71 or something, even though all CFW is at least 5.03).

Any help?

 

[nl255]

I have a PSP 2001. And Final Fantasy 8 works fine if you change the game ID like the compatibility list notes. I've played it through disk 3 before I got bored. The only problem I had was the very beginning of the game required a different popsloader version, and after that I was able to leave it to a later one.

No, with FF8 you have to switch pops versions at several points in the game, which is very annoying and can cause problems if everything doesn't go right. It is much like how in FF7 keeping Aerith/Aeris in your party after Disc 1 (with cheat codes, of course) causes the game to lockup in several places unless you switch her out at the right times.

 

[dib]

@ dib-The 2k has more ram than the 1k, which is probably why SNES games are slow for me (lack of ram) and not for you. Have you tried CPS2 yet for X-Men CotA?

@sfg-Which model do you have? If you need some precompiled things PM me.
Yeah it's working now that I looked around and found that CPS2PSP one. Previously I attempted FBA and this time even MAME4ALL before getting it to work. Those Capcom games do play very well with full speed and audio. Now if I could just find something that plays the few others like The Simpsons and Battletoads.

nl255No, with FF8 you have to switch pops versions at several points in the game, which is very annoying and can cause problems if everything doesn't go right. It is much like how in FF7 keeping Aerith/Aeris in your party after Disc 1 (with cheat codes, of course) causes the game to lockup in several places unless you switch her out at the right times.

So you're _telling me_ that my entire experience playing three disks of FF8 didn't happen at all?

Anyway, you are incorrect because I did play it and there were no lockups except the one I stated when Squall first wakes up in the infirmary. That was the one time I had to switch popsloader versions. The only error occur in the game were graphical corruptions which I traced to a cwcheat code that I created for winning the card game, and that was fixed by not leaving it on during battles and overworld.

FF7 worked perfect for me because I played the official Sony release off the network.