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The Chatterbox => Gaming => Topic started by: LunarKeys on September 25, 2008, 08:57:33 PM
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So, for the longest time, I was positive that Sony was the devil and the PSP was something to be ignored. I would play my DS forever and proudly defend Nintendo as the greatest thing that ever happened to games.
Naturally, I grew up eventually. I still think Sony is the devil, but nowadays, I've decided that the PSP is worth trying and have started setting aside cash to purchase a Slim. The problem is, I don't know anything about the system. I was browsing a gaming forum and noticed that the system now has Skype, which got my attention. 'but...but how would that work?! Portable gaming systems don't have headsets!'
And lo and behold, I was wrong. (and a complete dolt, because the DS has the microphone and I forgot entirely until I read the topic)
So, what have I been missing out on? I know the PSP:
- Plays music (I need a replacement for my old iPod - it's first generation and the batteries no longer recharge. I don't want a new one because my playlist is a hundred songs at most)
- Plays games (o rly)
- Able to get the internet (cool)
And, uh, that's about it.
What games are out there? The only 'big' titles I've heard of before are Metal Gear Acid (not really interested) and Lumines (totally interested). I like, uh...strategy, music, puzzles, action/adventure, platformers, etc. Is there software I can get for it? Obviously, there's the emulator community, but I'm fairly sure that falls under the 'uh no illegal stuff' rules. But what about, y'know, stuff like Skype or other random stuff? And what else does it do, etc.
(and thanks for educating a former fanboy)
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Well, I don't have one but here are a few titles that I have seen and liked:
1) Final Fantasy Crisis Core
2) Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
3) i don't know why I can't think of anymore at this time but I may update later.
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I know you like the Final Fantasy's Keys...they remade FFII for the PSP.
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I know you like the Final Fantasy's Keys...they remade FFI for the PSP.
please don't mention FFII...that and FFIV were the most poorly made FFs in the series...II had the worst level up design and IV was just bad altogether (although I kinda liked the story a little).
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I know you like the Final Fantasy's Keys...they remade FFII for the PSP.
Yeah, they're okay.
I forgot that they remade Final Fantasy Tactics, which I've always wanted to play. (as I mentioned in the 'watcha playin' thread, I'm addicted to FFTA2 right now). So that and Lumines are looking excellent. Can't get GTA for a while (banned from the household and I'm currently in no financial position to move back out), so that's a no-go. Crisis Core couldn't hurt.
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Don't forget about homebrew. http://www.pspslimhacks.com/
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Yeah, I was gonna say, the biggest factor for me is the homebrew stuff. I'd love to be able to get all of my SNES games and an emulator and play SNES on a handheld anywhere. That would just kick serious ass.
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Yeah, I was gonna say, the biggest factor for me is the homebrew stuff. I'd love to be able to get all of my SNES games and an emulator and play SNES on a handheld anywhere. That would just kick serious ass.
Sounds like an epic win to me!
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I knew someone that worked at the local EB games that had every single SNES game and an emulator on his hacked PSP, lol. Being able to play SNES games on a handheld screen at higher resolution than they were originally played at (using HQ2X etc.) is just pure win.
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I've got SNES9x on mine. It's great, but you might have to manually set the framerate on some games, games with AI (like racing games and RPGs) run kind of slow whenever the AI is active, and whenever I tried using a save point in FF6 or Chrono Trigger, the emulator froze. So it's not without bugs, but I love playing SMW on it. Also, the GB/GBA emulators I got (MasterBoy and gpSP_kai, respectively) work excellently, if not perfectly.
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If you do end up applying the cracked firmware, check out the PSP port of Cave Story ( http://cavestorypsp.googlepages.com/ ). It's an amazing game, and it looks and plays much better on the PSP than on PC.
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The PSP's good side is pretty much entirely reliant on how easy it is to play homebrew stuff. I wouldn't own it otherwise.
FFT PSP is amazing and the retranslation makes it even better than it already was.
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is a port of the PS1 version and is awesome if you've never played it.
Star Ocean 1 is finally coming out in the US next month and I am REALLY looking forward to it because it's using SO2's engine/skill system. This is good.
I'll post more good games later.
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If you do end up applying the cracked firmware, check out the PSP port of Cave Story ( http://cavestorypsp.googlepages.com/ ). It's an amazing game, and it looks and plays much better on the PSP than on PC.
Holy crap, why did I not know that existed?
Now I really want a PSP :/
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It's also possible to port any PS1 game you want to the PSP, but I've never had any success with it. My friend has, but I haven't. I think it has something to do with the version of CFW I have.
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Wow, that's awesome.
I honestly think that when I can afford to, my next rather large purchase may in fact be a PSP, lol.
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It's also possible to port any PS1 game you want to the PSP, but I've never had any success with it. My friend has, but I haven't. I think it has something to do with the version of CFW I have.
It's really easy to do, at least with the slim. Not every game works though. I backed up and ported over a few games and some stuff like FF7 doesn't work. Games that are also multi-disc don't work if they don't have a save point at the end of the disc (Chrono Cross basically).
Hell, my PSP even looks for the newest hacked firmware when I select the normal system update. It just gets rerouted to Dark Alex's site.
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Awesome, thanks for all the replies.
What I'm looking at doing thus far is purchasing, game-wise:
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
- Lemmings
- Valkyrie Profile
- Lumines
- N+
- Sid Meier's Pirates!
- Jeanne D'Arc
I'll also be installing a SNES and Genesis emulator and probably about fifty games for each, since those two have everything I want, retro-wise.
Then it's just a matter of finding a good game case that can hold the thing and several games. Searches thus far haven't really turned up anything, unfortunately.
Uh...what else am I missing? (again, thanks for all the replies)
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DJ MAX portable 2
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DJ MAX portable 2
Oh right!
Add DJ MAX and (maybe) PIU Zero to the list. lolmusicgames
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piu zero loads very slowly off of the UMD unless you overclock your psp to 333mhz or whatever beware
and get street fighter alpha 3 max
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I'll also be installing a SNES and Genesis emulator and probably about fifty games for each, since those two have everything I want, retro-wise.
SNES emulation on the PSP is not full speed for most games. You'll be fine on earlier, simpler games like Super Mario World, but any game that uses a special chip is definitely a no-no. SuperFX? Forget it, not happening.
Earthbound is mostly-playable. From what I've played of it on my PSP, it runs at between 75 to 95 percent of its normal speed.
Forget about running Super Mario RPG, too. It runs at half-speed if you're lucky. I'm going to take a stab and say that anything with an SA-1 chip in the cartridge (such as Kirby's Dream Land) isn't going to work well.
I haven't tried the full assortment of chip-enhanced games, but that's probably one of the main reasons why the PSP can't quite handle it.
The Genesis, on the other hand, runs great, as does the Sega CD (Sonic CD runs extremely well on the PSP). I don't think I've run into any Genesis games that run at less than full speed.
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Shucks, oh well. Originally I wanted PIU Zero for the NX songs (not like I'll ever pass Chimera or Wi-Ex-Doc-Va CZ on pad, so might as well enjoy them on a PSP). If the load times are obscene (and I heard that it's possible to mess up your save file if you do...whatever it was I don't remember) then I might as well just load the MP3s onto the stick instead.
Ian - Unfortunately, I'll be honest and say 'I don't know a damn thing' about most SNES games. Probably the big ones for me were:
- Super Mario Kart
- Kirby Super Star (can skip - after all, we have Ultra for DS now)
- Tetris Attack
- Yoshi's Island
- Earthbound (hooray for it working at reasonable pace)
If I can't get those to work, I'll just skip it and resume looking for the games on my actual SNES. It'll be a shame, but the Genesis has almost all of the games I'm looking for anyway, so I'll survive.
Hundred bucks set aside! Thanks again for all your help, guys.
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Originally I wanted PIU Zero for the NX songs (not like I'll ever pass Chimera or Wi-Ex-Doc-Va CZ on pad, so might as well enjoy them on a PSP). If the load times are obscene (and I heard that it's possible to mess up your save file if you do...whatever it was I don't remember) then I might as well just load the MP3s onto the stick instead.
I ran into some input issues with Exceed (and, from what I've heard, Zero has them as well). The game just seems to give spurious misses from time to time. Very frustrating.
Ian - Unfortunately, I'll be honest and say 'I don't know a damn thing' about most SNES games.
S'okay. :)
Probably the big ones for me were:
- Super Mario Kart
This uses the DSP-1 chip as a math coprocessor. I'm not sure how well SNES9X on the PSP emulates this particular chip, since I haven't tried to play a game with that chip on it yet.
- Kirby Super Star (can skip - after all, we have Ultra for DS now)
I guess it sort of depends on how much the game uses the chip, but if Kirby Super Star is as cutting edge in the graphics department as its predecessors were there's just no way.
The SA-1 basically acts as a second CPU that functions independently of the SNES's main CPU and has to be emulated separately. I'm not sure if the PSP simply cannot handle it or if the emulator just isn't as optimized as it could be. Either way, games that use it don't run well.
- Tetris Attack
This doesn't use any enhancement chips. I'd have to try it for myself to be sure, but I can't see why there would be a problem running this at a good speed.
- Yoshi's Island
No way in hell.
This game uses the SuperFX 2 chip, the more powerful successor to the version that's used in Star Fox and some other games. It, like the SA-2, is a separate processor that runs independently of the SNES's main CPU, but this thing goes way beyond what the SA-1 can do. I think my framerate was in the single digits when I tried to play Yoshi's Island on my PSP.
On the bright side, you can always grab gpSP -- a GameBoy Advance emulator -- and use your PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE ROM image of Super Mario Advance 3. Almost the same game, slightly reduced resolution, at full speed.
- Earthbound (hooray for it working at reasonable pace)
Earthbound doesn't seem to utilize any enhancement chips, so it's very possible that other games that lack them will be unable to run at full speed. You'll have to try them out for yourself.
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Pretty much anything with Mode 7 or transparencies will destroy the PSP. Earthbound does run fairly well though.
Super Mario Kart runs at something like 5fps.
KSS is slightly better.
Yoshi's Island will destroy the PSP.
As for PIU (or DJMAX), it's very easy to rip and transfer your games onto the memstick (once you have it capable of doing so). Load times are probably cut in half.
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Seems to be more or less on a game by game basis. From the sounds of things, Star Ocean probably won't run, and Tales of Phantasia won't likely run well either.
IIRC SO at least used a chip to decompress graphics on the fly, since I believe they were compressed to save space (It was already a 48mbit cart). I dunno if ToP uses the same system, but they both do some funky things as far as sound is concerned, and won't likely run very well, if they are even playable.
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Yoshi's Island will destroy the PSP.
Literally.
I think mine melted a bit when I tried it. ;)
Seems to be more or less on a game by game basis. From the sounds of things, Star Ocean probably won't run, and Tales of Phantasia won't likely run well either.
It depends mostly on what's inside the cartridge. If there are any expansion chips in the cartridge, forget it. Like Eggman said, Mode 7 is a real killer as well and transparencies are also on the slow side.
The SNES emulator of choice, SNES9X TTL (or something like that), does have some game-specific optimization profiles built into it, so the game running well sort of rides on whether there's a profile available for it. Even games that are optimized sometimes don't run at full speed (I believe Super Metroid is an example of that, though I don't remember for sure if that game has a profile for it).
IIRC SO at least used a chip to decompress graphics on the fly, since I believe they were compressed to save space (It was already a 48mbit cart). I dunno if ToP uses the same system, but they both do some funky things as far as sound is concerned, and won't likely run very well, if they are even playable.
Yeah, both of those games do a lot of on-the-fly decompression to get around the SNES's limitations. That's why it took so long for emulators to actually support those games.
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And even longer for a translation patch, lol.
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I ran into some input issues with Exceed (and, from what I've heard, Zero has them as well). The game just seems to give spurious misses from time to time. Very frustrating.
PAD MISSES
except you're not on a pad
(opinion down here lols)
and its not even the input, its the LAGS from loading a bga + music + steps at the same time lols
more specifically, Moonlight CZ, it is impossible to FC this song because of all of the streams and the big slowdown stream part that the psp cant handle
also get a NES emulator and play Duck tales ( i would give a list of games, but that would take long to type)
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and its not even the input, its the LAGS from loading a bga + music + steps at the same time lols
Thing is, when I ran Exceed the game did that even when it was running smoothly. It was very random about it, too. Very annoying in Sudden Death mode.
DJ MAX Portable is definitely fun, though. The hard charts are a little dumb, to be honest, but pretty much all of the charts that have a 12 rating or lower in DJMP2 are well done.
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Hooray, posts!
Alright, I can do without most of the stuff. I'll stick with Tetris Attack and Earthbound for now, especially since I've never played the latter and am long overdue. Couldn't hurt too much to only have a few games. And, well, if they don't work, they did invent 'delete' for a reason.
And definitely adding DJ MAX Portable to the list. I watched a few videos on YouTube and it looks fantastic. Sucks that I can't have portable IIDX, but oh well, I'm getting an import PS2 soon enough.
Also, I can live without PIU. If all else fails, I'll find a simulator and play that way. (Or just wait until I move up to PA and play on Vyhd's machine, haha)
It's starting to look like that I'll need a good $300 or so for the legit games, haha. This is gonna be an expensive purchase!
Thanks for your help! Any kinds of accessories I should take a look at?
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Screen protector of some sort. I don't use one but I sort of wish I did. The whole thing attracts dust.
Also, definitely look into a GBA emulator. The Mother 3 fan translation will be finished within a month and if you enjoy Earthbound, it should be your next priority.
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Woo, next month? Awesome.
Which reminds me, RPGOne is finally starting back up again, so maybe we'll actually get some work done on the Slayers SNES translation. I've been waiting for that for AGES. Mind you it's one of their lower priority projects I think, but still, it seems to be a good part of the way finished, IIRC.
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Screen protector of some sort. I don't use one but I sort of wish I did.
Seconded. I ended up getting a used, highly scratched up PSP and believe me, the thing looks really ugly when the screen gets scratchy.
Also, definitely look into a GBA emulator.
gpSP, hands down. Exophase r awesum.
Alright, I can do without most of the stuff. I'll stick with Tetris Attack and Earthbound for now, especially since I've never played the latter and am long overdue. Couldn't hurt too much to only have a few games. And, well, if they don't work, they did invent 'delete' for a reason.
Super Mario World works very well. I recommend putting that on there, too, because it be fun. :)
Sucks that I can't have portable IIDX
You can always play 5-key beatmania using the built-in PSX emulation. I played BM 6th for a while with mine and it worked pretty well. :)
Thanks for your help! Any kinds of accessories I should take a look at?
Aside from the screen protector, not really. I think PSPs come with ear bud head phones with a remote on the cord, though I'm not sure of the quality. Be sure to invest in a memory stick as well. It has to be at least 2GB to hold a full-sized UMD (which weighs in at roughly 1.8GB, though very few games are really that large), so you'll want to get one that's at least that big.
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I personally use a 4GB memstick because it has plenty of room for music and converted movies (see Xvid4PSP (http://www.winnydows.com/news.php). As an example, it made an episode of Lain (DivX avi, 640x480) go from 196 MB to 67 MB), as well as emulators and more than one UMD ISO at a time as long as it's not all there at once.
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I don't think I'd be able to watch anything on a PSP like that. I'm WAY too anal about my quality. I can't even stand Xvid any more.
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Heh, the more I think about it, the less practical it would be to put Linux on my PSP and get a keyboard for it now that I have an Eee PC. I thought it'd be cool before, but now it would just be completely impractical. I mean, yeah, it'd be pretty cool to use a PSP as an OS, but seeing how it only has a 333MHz processor, 32MB of RAM, less than 50MB total internal storage, and only 1 USB port, it seems unreasonable. Aside from playing games, there's nothing my PSP can do that my Eee can't.
That said, I still think Linux on a PSP is a cool idea. No idea why.
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My MyBookWorld 1TB storage system runs a VERY stripped down linux. I dunno how much ram it has, but I am actually using it as a web server. And it only has a 333 MHz ARM processor (the exact same thing that is in many cell phones).
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I know it's conceivable, it's just that I already have a really portable Linux system and don't really need another.
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Well, in my case that's not quite so portable. However, it being online 24/7 does make for a nifty web server. Now I just need a domain, and to make sure I've got my port forwarding settings right. But yeah, surprisingly, it runs pretty half decently, unless you're compiling something large. Like PHP :/ God that was painful.
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But yeah, surprisingly, it runs pretty half decently, unless you're compiling something large. Like PHP :/ God that was painful.
distcc (http://distcc.samba.org/). Use it. :) You'd almost certainly have to set up a cross-compiler to get it to work, but it would be worth it for that little thing. Even just getting a cross-compiler set up on your current system and just transferring the binaries would help out a lot.
As far as distcc goes, I used it (with my C2Q system set up as a host, of course) to get kdelibs compiled on my P3-933 desktop system in the basement and rather than taking something like 2-3 hours it took less than 1. My quad-core powerhouse can compile it in 18 minutes flat by itself but the network overhead is a real killer when you're building that much stuff, not to mention that make itself is still running on the slower system.
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Well, PHP was the longest thing I had to build, and it took about 45 minutes, so it wasn't that bad. However, I did have to recompile it a couple times :/
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UPDATE:
The PSP arrived today with one game (Jeanne D'Arc). The graphics are amazing, the sound is incredible, and the system overall seems to be sound. And, of course, the emulators are superb. Genesis overall seems to run smoothly, which SNES lags quite a bit, sadly. Tetris Attack runs at about 50-60%. On the bright side, Kirby's Dreamland 3 runs at about 90%, a more-than acceptable rate. Looks excellent!
The system looks like it was well worth the purchase, and you guys were a big help. Thanks again!