Samurai Shodown RPG (eng patched) on NCDZPSP

[Nikokaro]

Hello everyone. I bet many of you didn't even know about the existence of a Neo-Geo CD emulator for PSP: well, it has been around for a long time and it is outstanding.
https://archive.org/details/ncdzpsp-2.3.5.7z
But to play the various games you have to convert the CD images. More precisely, you have to extract the ISO data files into a game folder, inside the roms folder, and then collect them into a zip archive. While you have to convert all the music tracks from WAV to MP3 and place them in the MP3 folder, side by side with the zipped game.

Well, SSRPG works excellently on NCDZPSP, with the only flaw being the relatively long loading times (by today's standards), similar moreover to the loading times of real hardware. Also annoying may be the high encounter rate, which is, moreover, similar to some SNES RPG games. The english translation of this classic RPG game represents a milestone and a memorable achievement (always coveted by fans of the genre but by now unhoped for) on a par with the legendary translations of more than 20 years ago of such titles as Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean or Seiken Densetsu 3 for snes.

Bird's eye view, which personally reminds me of Beyond Oasis for Sega Genesis.
Detailed and colorful old-school graphics, music that recalls the atmosphere of medieval Japan, gameplay typical of classic turn-based jrpg games.
Try it on your PSP and give me your opinion.

 

[nopantsx]

Hello. I'd love to try the SS RPG english patch but I lack the ability to do all those file convertions... I'd like to ask if you could upload It to mega or something like that, and share the link to give the game a try? That would be awesome.

 

[Nikokaro]

Hello. I'd love to try the SS RPG english patch but I lack the ability to do all those file convertions... I'd like to ask if you could upload It to mega or something like that, and share the link to give the game a try? That would be awesome.

Hello. Unfortunately, I cannot upload the whole game for two reasons: it is illegal and it is too large a file for my smartphone internet connection.
However, I can explain the conversion procedure, which is very simple.
Download the prepatched ISO (bin/cue) from the most popular roms site, open it with  CDMAGE (Isobuster or other CD tool) and extract the files contained in track01 (about 3800 files ) into a folder on your PC, then extract the individual 31 WAV tracks into a folder.

Create a zip archive containing all the thousands of data files already extracted and named SSRPG.

Convert the 31 audio tracks to mp3 with fre:ac (VLC or other tool).
As for me, I then turned up the volume of all the audio tracks by 25 percent using  mpTrim (VLC or other) and saved them under another name.
Copy these back to the MP3 folder and rename them like this: track 02.mp3, track 03.mp3 .... track 32.mp3 (I think you can also name them 02.mp3 or track02.mp3 as the NCDZPSP readme explains, but I haven't tried).

Create an SSRPG folder in the roms folder of NCDZPSP and copy inside the SSRPG zip archive containing the thousands of data files and the MP3 folder containing the 31 music tracks. Finally copy the NCDZPSP folder into the GAME folder of the PSP (via data cable or, if you use a micro SD inserted in a Pro Duo Adapter, via SD reader).

As you can see, the procedure is simple, albeit time consuming; it just takes a little patience. If there are any difficulties, please let me know.
Enjoy!

 

[nopantsx]

Hello. Unfortunately, I cannot upload the whole game for two reasons: it is illegal and it is too large a file for my smartphone internet connection.
However, I can explain the conversion procedure, which is very simple.
Download the prepatched ISO (bin/cue) from the most popular roms site, open it with  CDMAGE (Isobuster or other CD tool) and extract the files contained in track01 (about 3800 files ) into a folder on your PC, then extract the individual 31 WAV tracks into a folder.

Create a zip archive containing all the thousands of data files already extracted and named SSRPG.

Convert the 31 audio tracks to mp3 with fre:ac (VLC or other tool).
As for me, I then turned up the volume of all the audio tracks by 25 percent using  mpTrim (VLC or other) and saved them under another name.
Copy these back to the MP3 folder and rename them like this: track 02.mp3, track 03.mp3 .... track 32.mp3 (I think you can also name them 02.mp3 or track02.mp3 as the NCDZPSP readme explains, but I haven't tried).

Create an SSRPG folder in the roms folder of NCDZPSP and copy inside the SSRPG zip archive containing the thousands of data files and the MP3 folder containing the 31 music tracks. Finally copy the NCDZPSP folder into the GAME folder of the PSP (via data cable or, if you use a micro SD inserted in a Pro Duo Adapter, via SD reader).

As you can see, the procedure is simple, albeit time consuming; it just takes a little patience. If there are any difficulties, please let me know.
Enjoy!

It was easier than I think. Thanks a lot!!

 

[dragonz]

Okay, I got this game to work using Adrenaline on my PS Vita. However, is there a solution for the long loading times?

I read that PS One games have a fast forward option by pressing L + Select. I was hoping this would help reduce the long loading screens, but it seems that the Adrenaline emulator only supports this for PS One games and not for other emulators such as NGCDZPSP.

 

[Nikokaro]

Okay, I got this game to work using Adrenaline on my PS Vita. However, is there a solution for the long loading times?

I read that PS One games have a fast forward option by pressing L + Select.

I do not believe so. Pops (psx emulator for psp) has the option of fast loading psx iso, but Neo-Geo CDs games have nothing to do with this; no fast loading option is available on PSP for those.

 

[dragonz]

I do not believe so. Pops (psx emulator for psp) has the option of fast loading psx iso, but Neo-Geo CDs games have nothing to do with this; no fast loading option is available on PSP for those.

I recently installed a PSP emulator on my Switch and transferred neogeoCD emu & Samurai Shodown RPG from my PS Vita. To my surprise, the Switch version has no loading screens at all, which initially seemed like a graphical glitch because the "loading" word does not even appear. However, it turns out that the game loads significantly faster than on the Vita. Both versions are using the same settings and ROMs, so I'm puzzled by how this is possible.

On the other hand, when trying to run Neo Geo CD games on the Switch, I’ve noticed they don't run at full speed like on the Vita. The audio crackles during certain special effects, and overall, the performance feels unstable.

Now I’m faced with a dilemma: should I play the Switch version with no loading screens but unstable performance, or the Vita version, which runs smoothly but has lengthy loading times? Any advice on how to get the vita version running with no loading screens?

 

[Nikokaro]

Now I’m faced with a dilemma: should I play the Switch version with no loading screens but unstable performance, or the Vita version, which runs smoothly but has lengthy loading times? Any advice on how to get the vita version running with no loading screens?

The best thing you could do is play it on the old, dear real hardware, otherwise do as you please; in any case I predict that you will soon get tired of it, both for the very slow gameplay and for the high encoder rate. Let me know then if I'm wrong.

 

[dragonz]

The best thing you could do is play it on the old, dear real hardware, otherwise do as you please; in any case I predict that you will soon get tired of it, both for the very slow gameplay and for the high encoder rate. Let me know then if I'm wrong.

Harsh - I conquered this game ages ago in Japanese! Feeling nostalgic, I’ve always wanted to see a translation. Edit: Additionally, is there a compatible Uni-Bios that would work with this emulator?