Zodttd has worked up an operational Playstation One emulator for the Palm Pre, as you can see above. Sound, rotation, scaling aren't quite working yet, but the good news is that it's actually beating out the iPhone 3GS in performance so far. It's all part of the psx4all project and it's hot. We can't wait to see this thing get a wider release.
If the PSOne isn't old school enough for you, how about some MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)? Nebula (who has previously worked up the Pre as a Webserver) has one up and running and sound here is working, albeit choppily.
All we need now is a full-fledged Turbografx-16 emulator and the circle will be complete. Actually, all kidding aside, this is all great work and makes us hopeful for the day when Palm can release a 2nd SDK that allows for more direct-to-the-metal coding so official emulators can get working.
[YouTube link for MAME Emulator]
[YouTube link for Playstation Emulator]
Thanks to everybody who sent this in!
Comments
you might wanna fix the headline...."Pre gets "Playsatation" and Mame Emulators"
Funny...didn't someone over at Engadget comment that a Playstation emulator was "impossible" on the Pre?
Nice to see this stuff progressing.
I think the impossible issue wasn't "on the Pre", but "under WebOS".
This demo was running under Linux on a rooted Pre. The emulator had direct hardware access, not mediated through WebOS.
One can hope that the reason for the SDK delay is incorporation of more "direct-to-the-metal" capabilities from the opening gate.
Interesting thought, but that might make some programmers lazy, allowing them to code complex acrobatics they already know to accomplish basic things instead of learning the simpler, built-in webOS method.
Regardless of when, I hope they do deepen the SDK eventually.
Not too interested in the PSX emulator, but while at the bowling alley the other night eating a hot dog and greasy french fries between games and listening to their late 70s/early 80s background music, I realized the only thing missing was a nice game of Moon Cresta or Scramble. Assuming this can be launched from the phone without sshing into it, I'll definitely be giving this a go.
Hope someone comes up with an Atari 2600 emulator as well, since it's the first portable device I've owned with a resolution that lends itself well to the Atari -- double the horizontal resolution (while leaving the vertical resolution as is; the Atari had rectangular pixels) and it'll be a perfect 320 pixels wide. I guess if no one ports Stella in the next couple weeks I might even be able to do it myself.
wipeout XL--shows off the vibrancy of the Pre display!
Indeed.
Like the previous poster, I didn't care about the PS emulation... until I saw Wipeout XL. Excellent example of how "outdated" games/consoles can shine on mobile phones. I've never had a "regular" mobile game that compared to the 80's games I've played on my Palm devices.
It does look pretty sweet and I look forward to trying it sometime, but Wipeout only held my attention for a couple of days when it came out and the early 80s stuff grabbed me for a lot longer. They're both good 5-minutes-at-a-time experiences.
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