NES emulator for PSP with Wi-Fi multiplayer
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jul 5th 2006 at 1:55PM }
Sporting a newly downgraded PSP and looking for things to do with it? We're talking about apps that need kernel access that only 1.0 or 1.5 PSPs can bring. Well, there's a new beta of the NesterJ NES emulator that features -- get this -- WiFi network play (adhoc only). In addition to letting you rock multiplayer NES games (we're thinking of you, Contra), it's a great sign of the sort of thing we could expect from other retro-upgrades. How about WiFi multiplayer in the Wii virtual console? How about some of those 7000 PSone games rocking WiFi multiplayer support?
[Thanks, PSPFan]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Markster @ Jul 5th 2006 2:10PM
I always felt it was unfortunate that Nintendo didn't incorporate wi-fi compatibility with GBA games in the DS. It would hardly be impossible to emulate link-cable connections over wi-fi.
But, I guess this gets covered by their "DS and GBA do not compete" philosophy, and if I ever want to play multiplayer GBA, I better whip out $60 to buy one and a cable.
Pip @ Jul 5th 2006 2:15PM
Why is Joystiq condoning piracy by posting this? All of those NES games are owned by companies and they will be making bank off those when they are released on the Wii.
robert semp @ Jul 5th 2006 2:15PM
This news is so anchient id rather play my supermario kart wifi on the Snes emulator
Lee @ Jul 5th 2006 2:19PM
Hardly condoning piracy, it's only illegal for those that don't have the games.
Not often the case, but just because something can be used as piracy doesn't mean it, by nature, is piracy-rific.
I'm just thinking of the SNES possibilities...
Jason W @ Jul 5th 2006 2:29PM
That would be nice if my DS had that as an option now. I already have most NES games on my DS now, it would be great for some multiplayer as well.
mike @ Jul 5th 2006 2:30PM
. Hardly condoning piracy, it's only illegal for those that don't have the games.
--
Look up 'disingenuous'...
Lee @ Jul 5th 2006 2:43PM
Mike, cute that you deem that word uncommon enough to warrant a dictionary, but still, my point stands.
The main thrust of this post is talking about Wii possibilities, and using new technology with older games.
There's nothing inherently illegal with the program, condoning piracy is furthest from the obvious intent of this post.
Oh, and robert semp, what SNES emulator for PSP sports wifi exactly?
C. Grant @ Jul 5th 2006 2:43PM
Or it could be condoning creative work being done by the development community where it's notably absent by mainstream developers and publishers. I think publishers are a lot more worried about current games being pirated than they are about an old copy of Rescue Rangers being played co-op by someone with a 1.0 or 1.5 PSP.
That said, we agree the introduction of the Wii VC will introduct a new dynamic since many of these games will then be available to purchase (why I noted it in my post). Again, will the small fraction of gamers who do play illegal ROMS over an emulator make a significant dent in what could be a very lucrative market for Nintendo and Co.? Remains to be seen. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
vaylen @ Jul 5th 2006 2:47PM
I guess all those news media that were reporting on 9/11 were condoning terrorism. Reporting on a thing is not the same as condoning a thing. I for one applaud Joystiq giving us new breakthroughs in the field of video games, no matter their moral implications.
Tim @ Jul 5th 2006 2:59PM
SnesPSP_TYL supports wi-fi adhoc for PSP.
http://yoyofr92.free.fr/psp/snespsp.html
idioteraser @ Jul 5th 2006 3:19PM
You know it just goes to show how pathetic the psp actually is when this is considered to be news.
If people want the old retro titles to be wifi multiplayer contact the frigging developers and request it. Do a petition. Explain that people would quite willing to rebuy the game at full price on a modern platform if it has wifi capabilities with another game owner or do the single cart game sharing with other DSs. All you do when you do homebrew is piss off the developers who often work on such things. If you want to be a programmer get in the frigging field and work for the company to show off your efforts. Stop pirating other people's work.
Why do pspfanboys miss out on the fact that the psp is so lackluster it's fans have to pirate Nintendo games on it to make it worthwhile to them?
As for gba games not having wifi it's a hardware issue as well as software. If you close your ds the gba game doesn't go into sleep mode for example. It's a hardware limitation.
The ZeroCorpse @ Jul 5th 2006 3:20PM
Yay! You can now play 20-year-old games on your $250 twenty-first century system! That totally justifies owning one, now!
You could probably do the same thing with a Gameboy Color or any number of NES-on-a-chip portables like the VG Pocket, with a little work... And a lot less money.
crono141 @ Jul 5th 2006 3:21PM
Does anyone else find it funny that the only good use for a PSP is playing Nintendo games?
Thats why I traded mine in for a free lite.
idioteraser @ Jul 5th 2006 3:21PM
Btw it is still piracy even if you own the game. You are not allowed to make copies under copyright law since you aren't the owner of the program. Only the game developers or company that owns the rights can make backups.
MetaHuman @ Jul 5th 2006 3:22PM
@ Vaylen
News coverage isn't meant to condone anything. However, you have news networks that DO blame government offices for not taking action, overcoverage through sensationalism resulting with citizens act and think in anger rather than reason. People like respect the 'Freedom of the Press' but there ARE responsibilities, which are grounded on morals.
As for letting people who pirate videogames/distribute copyrighted ROMS or people who use them go, the issue itself is not alarming as many are good people who usually just can't find that old game, but I concerned as to how far this leniancy and complacency towards aping copyrighted material starts to have an effect on the CREATIVE end of games. Why should these people have work if the same thing can be had for free? What good is their work if it can be copied without their permission? What good is their opinion or ideas if it means convenience and satsifaction only for the end user?
Yes, I'm being a bit biased because I think it's a little unfair for these BUSINESSES, of all things, as well as the people that drive these businesses. My questions aren't really for coming to any certain conclusion but to actually promote consideration for the other side.
striderhayasa @ Jul 5th 2006 3:24PM
Am I the only that sees the irony of it all?
The best gaming news for the PSP for the day is the announcement of playing NES games on Wifi with a downgraded firmware hack and emulation?
All of that tech under the hood and the constant comparisons of technology between DS and PSP and the best we can talk about is 8-bit emulation with some Wifi support? LMAO! How anyone can even use "legal" in their comments about this is beyond me.
IslandLife @ Jul 5th 2006 3:56PM
The only irony I see is that a lot of people who were touting this feature in another "$250" console are now calling it lame because it's on the PSP.
Ameen @ Jul 5th 2006 4:05PM
SNES Emulator, hey that adds a lot of games to the PSP and more games(7000 PSone titles) coming to it by 2007. And possible integration with PlayStation 3 and GPS(PSP-290), a Camera(Eye Toy),VoIP chat service,Macromedia Flash compatibility and a new RSS Channel function to save and playback internet radio and video content, Internet Radio and Video Streaming, are these not something that the DS can do. DS fanboys, Stop yapping and open your eyes to the reality. And who cares about piracy, unless you are a RIAA bitch. The PSP may not be the market leader but has great potential, even greater than the DS.
Hugh Jeffner @ Jul 5th 2006 4:29PM
All this proves is that gaming is still about the games -- and PSP owners are willing to risk breaking the law and ripping off other people to play good games.
Jason W @ Jul 5th 2006 4:30PM
I have a little add on cart from movieadvance.com .
It plays movies, books, mp3s, gba, nes and snes games. It cost 20 bucks and was a great add on to any gba, nds or nds lite. Just make sure you own the games you play on it. Oh and get version 2. It last great with the batery life of the DSlite. Watch movies all day long and still play a few hours of games.
crono141 @ Jul 5th 2006 4:31PM
Great potential
Shitty execution.
Add "PSP" to the list of handhelds Nintendo has PWNED!!!
Sorry, I was feeling incredibly silly for a moment.
All I see is gamegear VS gameboy all over again. One was technically far superior, but had crummy games, short battery life, and was heavy as hell. It was beaten by technology 2 or 3 years older, but hella cheaper.
the_game_master @ Jul 5th 2006 4:36PM
I remember in 2005, I posted onto the PSP boards on playstation.com of how my $100 PDA could emulate NES games with ease, and they all laughed.
A year later I would buy myself a DS Lite.
Now I come here and see joystiq promoting NES emulation for PSP.
Who's laughing now, ha ha ha!! ha!! ha!! NES emulation.
PoSP users have to resort to Nintendo classics for enjoyment. Paaaaaaaaaahh!!!!!!
Jay @ Jul 5th 2006 5:11PM
In regards to the first posts
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp
It's illegal to link to emulators, it's illegal to backup your own games or possess the equipment to backup games. etc etc
Just thought this should bury some of those myths about owning games lets you own the rom. it doesnt.
crono141 @ Jul 5th 2006 5:23PM
Oh sure, like linking to CORPORATE NINTENDO settles the legality of anything.
How about linking to a court case or copyright law, its got a little bit more legal chutzpa behind it.
And if emulating is so illegal, then how come every emulation site under the sun hasn't been shut down?
And backing up your own software is part of the rights of a consumer once they have purchased the content on a disk. I went over this in a DRM discussion earlier. You are purchasing software on a medium, and you can do whatever you want to once you get it home short of giving it away on the internet, that includes any kinds of backups and moving to a new media type.
Consumer rights people!
striderhayasa @ Jul 5th 2006 5:29PM
@ islandlife
what you fail to realize is DS doesn't need to emulate PS games to genrate interest. VC is a different story because if features Nintendo's own back catalog as well as Sega and Hudson who aren't direct competitors to Nintendo.
The_game_master put it perfectly.
I had a clod at Game Camp try and brag about a similar feature awhile ago when he started downloading ROMs to his PSP. It's ridiculous. If PSP was going to be a glorified NES then WTF was the $250 price tag for?
Lee @ Jul 5th 2006 5:42PM
Looks like the Nintendo fanboys were a bit quicker to comment than the PSP ones. Let's see...
Here's a good one, write to the developers if you want wifi on retro games, haha, what was this guy on?
Someone who thinks that you could do this on a gameboy color, "for less money", yeah, I'd like to see you Wifi up a GBC, honestly, I'll be cracking up.
Then a bunch of anti-piracy comments and more than a few "having to resort" to Nintendo emulation.
Sigh, I don't like doing this, I have a Lite and a PSP, and I don't like sounding almost as much as fanboyish as you people, but it's hardly a resort with the games that are joining the system's library, it's not the joke it was several months ago. The screen is that much more gorgeous, and homebrew allows full-resolution playback of 2 hour movies using about 20% of the stock battery (God-bless pmp), lots of original creative homebrew games as well as ports from various platforms, and the browsing/streaming media options are awesome.
Don't get me wrong, the DS has a far better library, but it still doesn't mean I use it more, if it was just PSP games and UMD-video (haha, what a joke) I'd use it far less, but with this homebrew (more than just 20year old NES games) it just makes it so much more versatile. THAT's why people are excited about the downgrader, it makes a whole load of PSPs far more worthwhile owning.
Besides, I assume you people all have DSs and are just here to make people feel bad about having PSPs? Really that bored? Because trust me, that is getting harder and harder to do. =D
And thanks for the SNES-TYL info, had I known it had that I'd be using it a lot more. =P Just makes me wonder why this is news then when that already supports Wifi? Ah well.
Lee @ Jul 5th 2006 5:48PM
"what you fail to realize is DS doesn't need to emulate PS games to genrate interest. VC is a different story because if features Nintendo's own back catalog as well as Sega and Hudson who aren't direct competitors to Nintendo."
But the PSP will emulate PS, as well as Nintendo's whole back catalogue, as well as loads more. It doesn't need to, there's a wealth of other useful homebrew that doesn't touch Nintendo's stuff, it's just a bonus. We're all talking as a side to it's main function playing PSP-games of course, it's far from $250 for an emulation machine given some excellent titles recently and to-be released.
robert semp @ Jul 5th 2006 5:48PM
please all you DS fanboys dont judge the psp homebrew and the psp itself on the nes emulator Nes is one of the many games consoles that can be emulated and the psp has most consoles up to the n64 either running already or in development. People underestimate how good the psp is . If only sony unlocked homebrew legally then we would see who market leader would be.
AC @ Jul 5th 2006 5:51PM
I agree with many of the people here. The most exciting news for the PSP is NES emulation? Doesn't the PSP have any good games, Sony?????!!! That's sad, fanboy or not. This just further proves that Nintendo makes great software. Give credit where credit is due. Now back to playing with my DS games.....
AC @ Jul 5th 2006 5:56PM
You're wrong #28, Sony couldn't 'unlock homebrew legally' because those games belong to Nintendo. If you're so interested in playing Nintendo games, then you should start showing your support for Nintendo, instead of stealing their games and hatin!
Lee @ Jul 5th 2006 6:06PM
AC, not very much of homebrew is illegal. Sony would easily be able to unlock homebrew, their worry isn't people playing NES games (lol), it's running PSP games from their memory stick.
If they allowed homebrew yet somehow restricted PSP piracy, then that would rock, and it'd further PSP development, but that never has happened and never will. Too many homebrew devs are pirates. =P
the_game_master @ Jul 5th 2006 7:08PM
not to mention the DS can do the same thing as the PSP in regards to retro game emulation
Max Media Dock
PoSP news flopped again :D
one man @ Jul 5th 2006 9:16PM
I have a PSP and a DS Lite so I am not a fanboy of any one system. I do find myself playing my PSP more often because of emulation. I can play games from every system from Atari 2600 to GBA. I have a 4gb chip and have 1000's of games so it's like having everything in one package. Now it may not be legal but oh well I guess I will have to live with that. If they want to come and get me then fine come on I'm sooo scared. Also all the people saying wow I can play 20yr old games on my $250 system. Isn't that what everyone is excited about with the Wii? The Wii is going to play NES and SNES games online and cost ~$250 plus the price of each game you download. So why would I want to buy another system and buy the games just to do what I can with now my PSP? Sorry but that is just a Wii bit stupid.
Lee @ Jul 5th 2006 10:39PM
game_master, if you think the DS can do what the PSP can in terms of emulation alone? Then I'm laughing. Let alone the wifi support and other homebrew.
Just go and play your DS, PSP posts shouldn't be filled with Nintendo boys who are here purely to give derogatory comments towards the PSP.
idioteraser @ Jul 5th 2006 11:33PM
It takes time and effort to shut web sites. They have to present the case. You see tons of child pornography websites that have been active for months or years before being shut down by the police.
Look at any game company line about ROMS. They will tell you it is indeed illegal and a copyright violation. SEGA, SONY, Microsoft all say the same thing. Look in the game manuals the warning is right there you are not allowed to make copies it is illegal.
Just like Napster and pirate radio stations it takes time and effort to shut them down. You think it is easy to take down a website doing something illegal that isn't considered pressing by the police?
Get some perspective on how the police and courts do stuff. It can often take two years for a mugging to go to trial even if they catch the criminal the same night.
Copyright law says it is illegal. You do not own the rights to the software you just bought a licensed copy.
Jedite @ Jul 6th 2006 7:43AM
I've long wondered why Nintendo didn't try this first. Why not make GBA games like Final Fight and Contra wi-fi compatibile on the DS, let's get some shmups like Gradius or Darius in the mix. Always having someone to play those 2-player action games from the days of yore really add to the replay value. I hope Nintendo doesn't drop the ball w/ this idea on the Wii. Virtual Console wi-fi compatibile. THe world has to play Arkaniod Doh it Again on SNES 2-player simo. I can't explain why, but once your done you'll feel like you've know the person you're playing w/ your whole life. Really try it sometime, it's powerful.
Martin @ Jul 6th 2006 8:00AM
I really wonder how much money Sony is losing with the PSP when people buy only the system, and use it to play free games. It is sad when a ratio is 2 systems for every 1 software sold.
Martin @ Jul 6th 2006 8:00AM
I really wonder how much money Sony is losing with the PSP when people buy only the system, and use it to play free games. It is sad when a ratio is 2 systems for every 1 software sold.
crono141 @ Jul 6th 2006 12:55PM
Idioteraser:
You counter my argument of unreliable source from nintendo corporate by... referencing other corporate entities that say the same thing?
Look, if you want to believe that all you are purchasing is a license, go right ahead. But the truth is: No matter what kind of EULA or whatever they make you sign, (or agree too), you have the right to backup and transfer software and music you legally own to another place and medium. If you didn't, then every time you rip a CD that you own you are breaking copyright law. Is that what you are trying to say?
And its easy to shut down websites. You don't have to wait for the cops or the courts to do it, either. All you have to do is have your corporate lawyers send a Cease and Desist letter, threatening a lawsuit. That generally shuts anyone down, because nobody running an EMU site has the money to combat a lawsuit, no matter how frivilous.
Just because Nintendo (or Sega, or Sony, Or Microsoft) says something is illegal (especially when it comes to covering their own asses), doesn't always mean that it is.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!
AC @ Jul 7th 2006 10:08PM
Lee #31, very much of homebrew is illegal. Secondly, I'm sure Sony wouldn't worry about people playing NES games, that would be Nintendo's worry. In any case, the PSP should have more noteworthy news than this if it were to have better software. Nobody can argue with that. If this is the most exciting news, then I don't find the PSP to be exciting at all.
emulators-wii @ Jul 24th 2006 7:34AM
how about cross platform WiFi multilayer for consoles. Like 4 player games between PSP - DS - Wii and say Pocket PC! All are perfectly capable of emulating NES and gaming would be fun. Micromachines anyone.