REVIEW: New, VGA-compatible SNES emulator, PocketSNES, out!!

Menneisyys · 02-06-07, 04:59 AM

The previous version of PocketSNES, the undoubtedly best Pocket PC Nintendo SNES emulator, released last August, had a big flaw: it didn’t support VGA devices.

Anyone that has ever tried to load games into the SNES emulator on any VGA device knows it won’t load anything (see for example this), regardless of the operating system (WM2003SE or WM5). The situation is only partly remedied by the existence of the OpenGL ES-specific (that is, currently, only Dell Axim x50v/x51v-compatible) build available here (also see this thread): for other VGA Pocket PC’s, up to now, it was impossible to run PocketSNES.

Now, with the new version, VGA Pocket PC’s are also supported. (Available, again, here (see the link at the top); use for example WinZip to extract the contents of the archive.)

Note that it’s (still) based on the Snes9x 1.39 core, just like the previous one (and the OpenGL-ES version). Its version has also remained the same; that is, 1.12.200 – that is, the only addition it has is VGA-compliance. (Note that the previous version was already WM5-compliant, unlike what the blurb states.)

Compatibility

It runs on all my QVGA and VGA devices without problems. The only problem I had on my test devices was some rendering problem at gamestarts on my WM5 (2.01)-upgraded HP iPAQ hx4700; later in the game, when full-screen animations took place, this problem went away.

Speed?

On VGA devices, the speed is adequate but in no way perfect, particularly if you enable sound emulation. It’s only with OpenGL-ES-enabled devices that the emulator runs pretty well. As the new version doesn’t contain OpenGL-ES support, you’ll want to stick with the earlier, above-linked, OpenGL-ES-specific version for the time being.

On some QVGA devices, the emulator runs much faster than on VGA models, even on some slower / older QVGA models. For example, my 3.5-years-old HP iPAQ 2210 runs games with much better sound emulation (no stuttering, albeit, of course, low-quality sound) than my Pocket Loox 720, hx4700 and the Dell Axim x51v (the latter without the OpenGL-ES version). It should, however, be pointed out that the emulator (as with the previous version) is completely useless on the HTC Wizard – even after overclocking.

Hi-Res support?

The original SNES supports 512×224 and 512×448 video modes. However, very few titles did actually use these modes (partiuclarly the latter); this is why I wasn’t able to test them either. I don’t think they’re supported as there’re so few changes in the core – I don’t think the high resolution capabilities are now supported.

Verdict

If you have a VGA device NOT sporting any kind of 3D accelerator (currently, the Dell Axim x50v/x51v) and want to give SNES games a try, check out the new version. Otherwise, I don’t see much point in upgrading – particularly not from the much faster OpenGL-ES version. That is, if you have a 2700G-based Pocket PC (x50v/x51v), it's in no way worth switching to the new version - the OpenGL-ES version is so much faster.

imported_hyedipin · 02-06-07, 09:23 AM

Hi, good write up, but how about controls? I always found that any kind of gaming emulator on PPC platform to lack proper controls and playability with what's on the face of PPC, unless you bought a "game controller" or something similar, especially with SNES, which has shoulder buttons.