FPS history on your PSP

I've been toying with the idea to write this for quite some time now, ever since DOSBox was compiled for PSP and I could play Wolfenstein 3D on it, the game that started it all. Just recently a separate build of the game was made for PSP, thus giving me an excuse to finally present the development of 3D first person perspective shooters (abbreviated to FPS) through the looking glass of PSP screen.

I have been growing up with first computers and following the development of video games industry since I was nine. There were many milestones in the industry of digital entertainment since then, but one of them was the moment when first person perspective hit the mainstream. Wolfenstein 3D was a breakthrough, it spread like fire, everyone played it and so from that point on the FPSes have developed into a separate genre. Looking at how these games look nowadays (Call of Duty 4, Crysis) it's hard to imagine how it all started...

So whether you are a young enthusiast who have missed on observing the FPS genre gradually evolve to what they are now, or an old melancholic who would like to take a nostalgic trip to the happy times when both life and games were simpler and more enjoyable - provided that you have PSP, you can now relive the whole experience. From the genre's grand ancestor that is Wolfenstein 3D to lively grandpa Quake, the whole family can can now sit in your pocket and you can revisit them while commuting to work or during that particularly boring lesson.

Wolfenstein 3D

Although technically it was not the first game ever to use first person perspective (some will say Catacomb Abyss was the first, but actually the idea of FPP was something that has begun already in ZX Spectrum era), this is the grandfather of all of them. Wolfenstein 3D was so successful

While the levels were almost 2D with constantly grey untextured floor and ceiling, with all corners being exactly 90 degrees, the 3D illusion created unprecedented sense of immersion. I have mentioned in my post on fear in games how I got shivers from the sound of heavy doors slamming in the distance when I played it as a kid. It just goes to show what impact this game had and it explains while it has spawned a whole army of followers.

The PSP version can be downloaded from here and as an additional bonus it contains Nazi Requiem music in the first menu - I included it on my list of the best game music remixes.

Doom

As a testament to how badly inaccurate my opinions may be sometimes, I should confess that when I first saw Doom on my friend's PC, I said "nah, this is just some sci-fi clone of Wolfenstein, this isn't gonna stick around". Boy, was I wrong.

Doom took the execution of FPS games one step further. The graphics were unparalleled, the monsters suggestively scary, the sounds and the music unsettling. While still relatively 2D - player was not allowed to look up and down yet - Doom's engine allowed for more than just square rooms and constant grey floor. All surfaces were textured, labirynth of walls were running in all directions (all of them vertical, though) , first attempts at water were made, floors were at different heights (just a mathematical illusion in fact) connected with elevators, switches activated moving walls - the immersion factor increased tremendously.

I remember first approaching the window and observed the mountains in the background. At that moment it seemed so real, I felt like I could step forward, enter the game world and go climb this misty peaks and there would be more of the world behind them. My best friend was subconsciously ducking in front of computer when imps hurled fireballs at him. We were both drawn into the world of Doom.

Doom improved on his predecessor in many other aspects, introducing many distinct enemy types, increased number and types of weapons (compared to four simple weapons in Wolfenstein 3D), armors as well as multiplayer (over local network). No wonder it was a huge hit with so many people having played it that it has been remade to almost every platform out there, including Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, mobile phones and of course PSP (get it here).

Hexen and Heretic

Essentially a fantazy shooting frenzy with thin layer of RPG on it, these two games based on Doom engine were quite popular in their time. And while neither of them really was as much of a breaktrough as Doom or later Quake, they have gained quite a following. They have also been remade for the PSP and can be downloaded here (together with older Doom version), so I included them on the list, but more because of their sentimental value than due to merit in shaping the history of FPSs.

Duke Nukem 3D

This game marked my entering into adolescence. I first played it at my friend's place after school and I was stunned by how the graphics shone, how interactive the environment was and how addictive Duke Nukem 3D turned out to be.

The simple fact that Duke would reload his pistol every eight or so shots and that the bullet shells would fly from it was a peak of realism at that time (compared to Doom it indeed was a huge step forward). Being able to use surveillance camera, turn on the movie in the theatre, switch lights on and off, operate different devices was a level of environment interaction unseen before. It also made multiplayer matches so much more fun (strippers!).

Wolfenstein 3D and Doom both included silent protagonist, but Duke Nukem was a talkative guy, commenting the action with catchy one-liners. The fact that our hero would occasionally crack some funny line was a definite novelty.

Even though contrary to its name Duke Nukem 3D was still not full 3D game, player would be allowed to look up and down. The perspective was distorted while doing so, but the illusion of going through a real world was one step ahead of Doom.

Duke Nukem 3D was also very important due to the fact that its engine got licensed and thus players received Blood and Shadow Warrior. The first one was a self-mocking horror pastiche, the other one Hong Kong ninja movies spoof with, both with memorable protagonists cracking cool lines while hacking swarms of enemies to pieces. Unfortunately, they have not been ported to PSP (yet?).

Download Duke Nukem 3D for PSP here.

Quake

I remember that Polish game magazine Secret Service wrote in their review of Quake:

Duke Nukem 3D unveils its secrets slowly and it always has something hidden up its sleeve, while Quake just shows off everything in one mighty blow and after that you are left with just more of the same

It was a little unfair to say that, especially since the two were obviously designed with different philosophies, both in terms on engine and of gameplay. Duke Nukem 3D had more parodistic tone to it, less powerful graphical engine, and many switches and devices to interact with, while Quake was serious, gritty, dark shooter with great gothic visuals and no funny distractions - it was all about pure slaughter in 3D environment.

Quake became the first truly 3D game in which player could turn their head around and look at level architecture. I am of course aware that technically it was still more of a 2.5D, but from the players perspective it was already a marvellous three dimensional world, complete with archways, spires, towers and occasional outdoor fragments. The violet clouds speeding over the horizon were making one hell of an impression. The dynamic lightning, while present, was still more of a hack from technical standpoint, as lightning maps were calculated during level creation, but the flying rockets would brighten up their immediate surroundings.

Quake was among the first games to profit from the hardware graphics acceleration that was just being born (we're talking about 1996). VQuake and GLQuake took advantage of the new graphical possibilities and Quake was the first FPS to use bilinear filtering, dynamic lights and higher colour palette.

Another thing that Quake has done for FPS development was introduction of client-server multiplayer. While it was technically possible to play Duke Nukem 3D over internet in multiplayer mode, it required additional program. It wasn't until Quake that internet FPS carnage has really begun.

It was also one of the first games that required using keyboard and mouse simultaneously. While Duke Nukem 3D and its counterparts could easily be finished without, this was not the case of Quake anymore, since flying enemies in real 3D were hard to shoot down using just keyboard. Although finishing the game without mouse aiming was feasible, it was definitely hard.

The port of Quake on PSP is almost perfect - it is running smoothly, it has mouse mapped to analog stick, it even allows multiplayer over Wi-fi in Ad Hoc mode, all the sounds are there. So you have no excuse not to download it.

Later times

What happened next? Quake II introduced OpenGL to the masses in the flashy galore of colourful lights, as well as popularised rocket jumps (one day it might also be remade for PSP). Half Life demonstrated how powerful a narrative using FPS can be. Unreal Tournament broke the rule that a FPS game must have single player story mode by essentially being just a multiplayer game. Quake III joined this school of thought and introduced great level design. Unreal Tournament 2003 dazed everyone with incredible graphics and its 2004 edition introduced vehicles as well as new story modes. Enemy Territory became first free multiplayer FPS that would include different classes of players. Far Cry raised the bar in graphics department, took players for a walk outside and topped that with pretty smart AI. The story continues...

But while all FPS lovers owe much to each of the aforementioned titles, it's really Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake that have laid the foundations for the genre. Playing them in chronological order give an opportunity to see how much FPS games have progressed over time. And having them all in my pocket on PSP is a marvel of XXI century, which I didn't even imagine when I was playing them as a kid, teenager and student.

PSP Faker

...or how to fake orgasm firmware (yes, I have a sense of humour of a 12 year old, I know).

Remember how I wrote an angry rant on Sony forcing me to pirate their downloadable games? I actually oppose to pirating games and if I like a game, I buy it - yet Sony assumed that since I have Custom Firmware, I already am a thief.


Apparently I was not the only person annoyed by this issue and the help unexpectedly came from Dark Alex himself. He has written a plugin for Custom Firmware that emulates having regular firmware, so that Sony installer can install the game on the PSP when we buy it from Playstation Network Store. You can download it from DA's page or from PSPUpdates.

Beats and flOw didn't impress me, but it seems like I'll have to shell a couple of dollars for that incoming Super Stardust Portable...

On PSN DRM and piracy

The big news is that Sony PSN games DRM was hacked. Don't know what I am talking about? To put it simply in plain English: downloadable titles from Sony online store are now cracked and can be played on any PSP. Although the creators of this hack made it for the use of people owning downloaded titles (their program checks for licence files when decrypting eboot files), apparently some people didn't bother and shared it with everybody.

You might be curious if I am going to bash them or actually enjoy it. Well, it is complicated. Let me elaborate a little more on this topic.


I really wanted to play these titles legally. I went through the whole registration process on the Sony online store, including checking my credit card information, then I installed some silly program to put the downloaded game on my PSP and when I finally wanted to buy Beats! - I was denied the right to do it. Sony didn't like my Custom Firmware and wanted me to revert to their official one, otherwise I wouldn't be able to play the game. Of course I did not do that, but I was cursing Sony under my breath when waving bye-bye to Beats. This really annoyed me. Why can't I play the game if I want to buy it?

I have written numerous times that I do not encourage piracy. Yes, I do download game isos, but I always buy the games I like. I often carry iso images on my Memory Stick after I have already bought the game, too, in order to cut down loading times (such is the case with Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony) or simply not to bother with taking UMD cases with me (Lumines and Every Extend Extra, which I play every now and then in short bursts - their images are relatively small).

Nevertheless, while I admit using and downloading isos (I am too lazy busy to rip them myself), the main point of using Custom Firmware is homebrew. The homebrew applications are the selling point of the PSP for me, enabling additional functionality well beyond the scope of what official PSP firmware can do. They give me freedom of choice in what I want to do with the damn device.

Thanks to homebrew I read books in PDF (a feature that Sony might one day chose to implement in their firmware), I repeat my Kanji lists, I revisit 8-bit games through emulators and I rearrange files on the Memory Stick without using PC (PSPFiler, which I have not yet described on this site). My coworker amuses himself with creating music on the go and uses his PSP as a GPS terminal - while I feel no need for these functions, for him they are what makes PSP his weapon of choice. Oh, and one more thing, very important for a Linux-infected mind like mine (coming from poor country counts too) - it's all free.

Hence, Sony decides to punish me for using Custom Firmware by not allowing me to play their games legally. Well then, tough luck, I will do it illegally. Not my call, but hey, as the French would put it: "Tu l'as voulu, George Dandin".

And Sony obviously didn't learn anything after the very similar thing happened with PS1 emulation that got deciphered by smart hackers, making PSN Store virtually unnecessary, since anyone could just make PSP eboot of their old PS1 game by themselves. The pattern was the same - overly restrictive approach, which in turn resulted in a torrent (actually, many torrents, hint, hint) of converted PS1 games. Since people were asked to pay again for the possibility of playing games they already own and paid for, no wonder they started searching for alternatives, even less legal ones (ahem, I am a bit of a socialist myself, I am afraid it shows here).


This time the case is different, but the outcome is even more annoying. I want to play the game they sell and give them money for it, even though they complicate the procedure of buying it to the point where only really devoted Sony zealot will have the patience to follow it. Sony, however, assumes that since I use Custom Firmware, I am probably pirating their games and won't sell me the game I want, trying to force me to comply and give up on my CF. I am not a pirate, but Sony knows better. Hence, the result is that I actually will be pirating PSN games, because I am denied the right to play them lawfully. Paranoia worth of Kafka.

Therefore my final opinion on the subject is: yes, I am glad someone cracked it. You asked for it Sony. I will definitely download and play them this very afternoon. Personally, I will remember to pay for these titles, should I ever have the chance, for example if Sony changes the procedures for buying PSN games, but for now I will be a filthy pirate (Arrrr!) and everybody doing the same thing is fine in my book.

So people, download and enjoy!

PS. Down with the corporations and so called intellectual property! Working masses will prevail! We shall overcome!

PPS. Ahem, disregard that. I was actually born in the communist Poland, so some residuals of early brainwashing might have remained.

If you don't have money for a tablet...

I know I haven't given much love to Nintendo DS on this webpage. What would you expect, me having a PSP and whatnot. Anyhow, apparently there is a whole homebrew scene on DS too, something that I have shamefully ignored up until now.

The application that has just caught my eye (through Drawn! blog) is called Colors! - it is a homebrew program that changes your DS into a miniature Wacom Cintiq. Well, not really, but close enough. As you might know, I dabble a little in digital drawing and even bought cheapy Toshiba M200 for that purpose. But Nintendo DS is an even cheaper solution to get your feet wet in digital painting, therefore I've found this news interesting enough to bring it to your attention.

Some of the art created with this program looks really neat.

Also, while investigating the topic, I have found two interesting programs that are similar to Colors!, but their purpose is more animation oriented : Inchworm and Animanatee. Be sure to check them out too!

Amstrad CPC on PSP

Long time before I actually got my first personal computer (we would call them microcomputers back then), which would be ZX Spectrum+, my sole contact with the emerging computer science would be to implore my Dad to take me to his work, where his friend, Mariusz Smoczyński, worked on Amstrad Schneider CPC 6128. Thus begins the tale of my digital fascination, born in the green light of the monochrome screen in the 8-bit times.

Fruity Frank - in that innocent times people were
not afraid to give such name to the game...

A little anecdote here. Many years later, when I was still a student at the Technical University of Lodz and had laboratory classes in one of too many laboratories where time has stopped, we were supposed to calculate some viscosity coefficients using ... Amstrad CPC with a prepared and preloaded program. I was the only one who knew machine, so after we had finished our task, I broke the program and wrote some simple animation in Basic that would scroll our names on the screen instead of boring program. Boy, was that nerdy, but you can't beat that feeling.

Ghosts'n'Goblins - there even exists a PSP remake now.
History has made a full circle.

It is therefore understandable that I have a special place in my heart for this machine, like some have for their first girlfriend. Fortunately, the development of everything digital has allowed me to have it in my pocket, more precisely on my trustworthy PSP.

The emulator that allows me to relive my childhood adventures in other worlds is called PSPCAP32 and it's author Zx-81 has just recently released yet another version that has transformed it from a very good emulator into a perfect one.

PSPCAP interface

The emulator runs very fluidly (50fps), has nice interface, is very configurable and user-friendly. It is enough to select a disk with a game (speaking of which - all Amstrad games are legally free) and the game will load automatically. I have not yet found any game that would be incompatible. They are just like I have remembered them and I am flooded with nostalgia (if you have read Barts' News for some time, you already know I have a soft spot for good, old times.).

Green Beret - one of the hardest games back in the day

The only thing I could think of in terms of features I would like to see would be to implement some filter to make the games monochrome, as seen on the green monitors back then. But this is a very bizarre request, stemming from the fact that I played these games this way. Apart from that, PSPCAP provides the ultimate Amstrad experience on the go. Thank you Zx-81!

Drill down

Just when I thought the PSP homebrew scene is dead, I found another gaming gem. The game is called Mr Driller and I was expecting some crappy port of Drill Dozer from Gameboy Advance. Fortunately, I have decided to give it a try first.

The game turned out to be really cool. The idea is simple - player controls a character that has to drill down through multiple coloured layers, while paying attention to their oxygen levels. Air can be regenerated by collecting capsules of oxygen, but they are usually blocked by blocks that are very hard to drill through. When drilling down, player must be very careful not to destroy blocks that support other blocks, which in turn will cause rocky avalanche and flatten our hero down. So simple and yet so amusing.


The game is not perfect - there is no music, sounds are few and far between, animation is simplistic, there are no saves, game can be damn frustrating later on. Still, the most important factor, meaning gameplay, is there. This game is actually fun to play and quite addictive too. As an additional plus, it plays well in short bursts, for example on the bus. Highly recommended!

Post Scriptum for Old Geezers

And now lengthy post scriptum with a personal twist. When I was playing the game, I had a feeling of deja-vu - irritating impression that I have seen it somewhere, some day, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Fortunately, I work with other guys that started their adventure with computers in the eighties, and one of them just glanced at the game and shouted "Kret!".


Kret (meaning The Mole in English) was an old shareware game (for Dos, meaning really old) where idea was somewhat similar. I started looking for the game over the net and finally have found it here. It is abandonware anyways so feel free to give it a try. Mr Driller does not actually steal the idea, it is in fact quite different, but the mechanics of blocks falling and supporting each other looks familiar, which explains my deja-vu.

On a side note in order to make matters even more twisted, there exists a port of DosBox (Dos emulator) for PSP, so I think it should be doable to run Kret on the PSP.

Having tried coding for PSP (for which I unfortunately do not have time recently), I must say that setting up unofficial PSPSDK under Linux or Cygwin was a pain in the backside, especially if I wanted to have some IDE cooperating with it. All this is annoying to the point where I have started using embedded DSL Linux (via QEMU) under Windows with Toolchain set up in the virtual environment.

Apparently I was not the only one to get this idea. Blake1 from QJ.net development forums made 'prepackaged' version of Gentoo with Toolchain and PSPSDK already installed. FOL from PSPUAE has kindly agreed to host the files.

Therefore if you want to start PSP homebrew game development the fastest way possible without too much hassle over the environment setup, download it here and start coding straight away!

PSP Rhythm

I swear I couldn't decide on which aspect of this post I should put more emphasis : great piece of retro music, making me reminiscence about my 8-bit youth, or a great piece of PSP homebrew that allowed the music to be created. Let's make it just a quick note then all of it, before I get all nostalgic and start blabbering about ZX Spectrum and good old days.

PSP Rhythm is a homebrew sequencer program that you can carry around in your PSP and use to create music on the bus. Neat, eh?


The authors, Billy and Louie Iturzaeta, not only gave us the audio tool, but also sponsored a contest in which participants had to create music with PSP Rhythm. As a result, there was quite a couple of interesting songs that were conceived.

The winner was Transforming Landscapes by Turbo Raketti and honestly, it deserved the prize. You can listen to it by clicking below :

As I wrote in the beginning - I like this song a lot. It has this subtle retro feel to it which makes the images of 80's pixelized games appear in my mind. It resonates well with the synthetic sounds of Amiga mods and the first audio renditions of ZX Spectrum that I remember so fondly.

So all in all : great program and great music!

Little programs to help you with Japanese

This post is going to be a little less entertainment-centred than the majority of recent posts, instead of games I will describe a couple of really useful utilities related to Japanese.

I myself am studying Japanese., but I am not very proficient with it yet. I do realise that it is a difficult task, yet my ever-growing infatuation with Japan has driven me to make a significant effort and force my grey cells to memorise convoluted structures, forms and writing of Nihon-go.

Having said that, it is not easy. Especially writing is something that is overwhelming at first. In the beginning katakana, hiragana and kanji seem to be impossible to ever memorise, especially the latter. I already know kana, but I still am struggling with kanji. I think that to master more than a couple hundreds one has to spend some time living in Japan, otherwise it is too hard - but maybe I am just looking for excuses to my own inability to properly memorise kanji.

Being a computer geek (to some extent at least), I couldn't overlook the occasion of boosting my learning process with any digital crutch I could use. The following programs and utilities are the result of my searches - I have found them to be useful and thought I would share the compilation, so that you don't have to look for them yourself.

DreamKana

DreamKana is one of the simplest programs to study kana. But its simplicity is its main advantage, right next to being free of charge (don't we all love free software?). Basically it just displays kana characters and asks user to type in their romaji reading. Simple and effective, I know quite a lot of students that used this while preparing for JLPT Level 4. Also, it doesn't require installation, which together with its small size makes it a perfect candidate for portable tool on your USB pendrive.

LearnKana

This program is very similar to DreamKana, but it is more configurable. Its main advantage is the possibility to choose a specific group of kana that user would like to practice. It also shows the hit/miss ratio (good answers vs bad answers), which gives some idea about how well user has already mastered the material. Nice and simple utility. Apparently there are some new versions that have appeared, but I didn't really have the time to check them.

PSPKanji

I wouldn't be myself if I didn't put some PSP homebrew in here. Essentially, PSPKanji (which I have already described here) allows user to work with kanji flashcards. It also has kana tables available at the press of the button and quiz options for revising purposes. Recent version has some slight graphical glitches, but nevertheless it is a very useful little program (plus it has very nice visual style). Kudos to Sammy who created it!

Wakan

This is a very powerful tool - basically a kanji dictionary with lots of configuration options and customised searches, such as based on radicals. Essential program for everybody seriously studying Japanese (or Chinese, too), especially for JLPT, since Wakan has lists of JLPT kanji for each level. Works well under Linux through Wine - tested it under Ubuntu.

Rikaichan - Firefox plugin

This excellent plugin shows pop-up window with the dictionary definition of given kanji that has been highlighted in the browser window. This greatly simplifies finding the meaning of that kanji, which would otherwise take significantly longer. The description is short, but this is a very powerful tool. Its main problem is that it is dependent on the quality of dictionaries used and Japanese-French dictionary seems to be more accurate than Japanese-English one.

Japanese Katakana Hiragana scroller - Yahoo Widget

Despite its name, this widget only displays hiragana with their romaji readings (well, actually it does English-Portugese/German/French pairs too), and I haven't found a way to force it to display katakana (if you know how to, let me know through comments). User can select refresh intervals, thus being able to have his memory tickled all the time by changing hiragana characters. Personally, I found it very useful while learning kana.

Jenerator - Yahoo Widget

This little widget displays random Japanese words and expressions, many of them taken from common everyday situations. It is not very helpful when revising some particular material, but nevertheless by constant bombarding with kanji allows user to retain some of them. For consideration.

Katakana Stroke Order - Yahoo Widget

This widget presents the correct stroke order for katakana characters. There also exists a very similar widget for hiragana stroke order. Useful when beginning learning kana, but also when user needs to refresh the correct stroke order later on. A very nice little tool.

Yet another homebrew gems!

When I recently dug out the news about the incoming (finally!) release of No Gravity! shooter by Realtech VR group, I also checked their webpage in more detail, which has lead me to discovery of two other games made by them : Ukke and Panic Paradyz. And they are both great!


Ukke is a logical game in which player controls a star that must traverse from the starting square on the left to the ending square on the right, passing through all other squares in the middle in order to activate the exit. The problem is that every couple of seconds a wave passes through the field and if star is not safe on a square, it will die. So each level is split into two parts - at first, player deploys additional squares in sensitive spots to make "islands" on which star may hide before the tide, then player actually controls the star over the level they have created.


This could have come from Tetsuya Mizuguchi himself - it just oozes Q-Entertainment style. Player controls a cube, which represents angel on the highway to heavens. The cube attracts a swarm of little crystal things that represent the souls being led to heavens. The idea is to guide them so that they don't hit anything on the highway, but it is not easy as the swarm has certain inertia and therefore this requires quick reactions and a bit of farseeing skills. The only dissonance is that the exquisite photo of beautiful angel in the menu somehow doesn't fit the simplistic semi-vector style of the game itself.

Both games share great audiovisuals, lots of style, excellent responsiveness and overall sense of quality. I really like the music and, in vein of "Lumines", different kinds of skins for different levels. Even though both games depart from a simple concept, they are very addicting and enjoyable, which is what games should be about - have fun while playing. Also, they have this inexplicable retro charm to them - it's hard to describe this feeling, but they evoke the memories of the gaming days of old.

Altogether - two thumbs up!

No Gravity! update

Just a couple days ago the news appeared on RealTech-VR webpage that No Gravity, great homebrew game that I have described in my hombrew compilation, will probably get released this September. The reason for this long making process that creators give is a major graphical overhaul. Seems like the graphics (which was very good to begin with) got totally reworked. Does this mean this trailer is already outdated?...

A taste of homebrew

PSP's unlocked firmwares give access to the world of home-made entertainment, you all know that. But many people forget that cracked firmware unlocks is more than just playing pirated games, which, sadly, is one of its main uses. Modified firmware allows for running any code unauthorised by Sony, written by anybody having enough skills to use PSPSDK and write something new. In short, it gives the user the freedom of choice concerning what they want to use on their PSP.

My personal favourites are numerous emulators that run on the PSP. Having a single device in my pocket that plays ZX Spectrum, Atari, Commodore, Amstrad, Atari ST, Amiga, Neo Geo, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, and GBA games is something that my geeky mind considers extremely cool. There also is a good number of homebrew utilities available, such as synthetizer (PSP Rhythm), alternative environment (IRShell), PDF reader (Bookr), Kanji flashcards (PSPKanji) and others.

But every now and then a new homebrew game pops up on DC-Emu or PSPUpdates. And by new game I don't mean just yet another implementation of chess or Go, but something fresh and original. I am carefully checking almost every new release, because one can really find some little gems of creativity present out there.

In this lengthy post I would like to present a couple of homebrew games that have captured my attention and gained well-deserved place on my Memory Stick. The list is very subjective and is by no means a compendium of homebrew games - the aim of it was to highlight a couple of games that I consider worthy trying.

And now for the list itself :

SnakeSP 7.1

SnakeSP doesn't exactly qualify under "a novel concept", but I think it is a very promising piece of homebrew. It takes the old idea of snake game and builds up on it in its own way. The influence of flOw is clearly noticeable - both snake's looks and the fact that the creature can grow in two ways (regular segments and 'fast' segments).

The screens don't do it justice. The whole thing about this game is that it has its own particular sense of style, the vector art is really nice and the waves that snake generates give it very trippy and yet futuristic feeling. Also, there is a great music track to it, although the mood gets slightly spoiled by snake's burping.

I am just disappointed that the development of this game has stopped. It was already showing promise and I think that adding some more gameplay features (levels, two player mode, obstacles, moving creatures and whatnot) would really turn it into full fledged game. Nevertheless, I turn it on and play every now and then.

Droplets

Droplets is a logic game, designed and coded by Drakonite from PS2Dev forums. Even though it has both simple mechanics and simple looks, it is a very nice and polished game.

The idea is to add water to droplets occupying the slots of the board. When a droplet has too much water in it, it explodes and disappears, sending drops of water in four directions. These drops can "overload" other droplets thus causing chain reactions.

The game is very relaxing, easy on the eyes and really enjoyable. The only minor drawback is that there is no saving or password system, so if the player fails on the last level, they must start from zero.

Callisto

This is a variation on the subject of classical shoot'em ups. Player's vessel travels from left to right and shoots everything in its way, Callisto is as simple as that. It is, however, very nicely executed. Sound is nothing special, but it doesn't get in the way, graphics are interesting and captivating enough. The main advantage of the game is that it is very well balanced and playable. It is also one of the first full homebrew games on PSP written entirely from scratch. So even if there are prettier games around, don't underestimate this one. You will be pleasantly surprised.

No Gravity

No Gravity is not yet finished, but it deserved a mention. This is essentially a space 3D shoot'em up / simulation kind of game in the vein of Wing Commander, TIE Fighter or Privateer. I won't be saying much about it as far as the gameplay is concerned, because this has never been my kind of game, even though I liked Privateer a lot. There are different kinds of weapons and enemy ships and lots of things are blowing up leaving space debris behind.

What is extraordinary, however, is No Gravity's audiovisual prowess - frankly, I have seen commercial games that are less spectacular in terms of how they look (beautiful flare and lightning effects here) and sound (I love the music with "searching for the sun" voice motive in the backround). This shows how much you can squeeze out of PSP even without official SDK.

Definitely worth a try.

Ozone

Ozone is a strange element on this list, because it is not so much a game but an experience. All of the ten levels are accessible from the very start, there are no points, and playing is just something that happens. It reminds me slightly of a ZX Spectrum game, the name of which has unfortunately slipped my mind (if you happen to know what I mean, let me know through comments).

The game sounds just like Electroplancton on DS (or at least it makes me think of it) - every time the bubble player controls comes in contact with the walls, they make a delicate sound. And since your bubble loses little bubbles of oxygen every time it does that, player usually tries to steer it clear off the walls, but rapid corrections of the course make it bounce even more and the whole symphony starts playing...

With Ozone (which should be called Oxygene, since it's all about oxygen) it's hit or miss - some will love this game, some will immediately hate it. But there is no denying that it stands out and therefore it deserved to be mentioned here.

Biohazard 2

This game made the list not so much because it is so good (which is in fact not true), but more because of the potential I see in it. Biohazard 2 has a fair share of issues - sprites seem to be flickering every now and then, it seems to be impossible to finish the first level, it is very hard, and so on.

Nevertheless, it is one of these games that keep player on their toes. You have to struggle hard to not get eaten from the very first second after starting the level. Sprites are original and have sense of style, sounds are gloom and spooky, and all in all I think that it would be a nice little game if the author sat down and worked some more on it. So I am not too impressed by it, but I mention it here because it promises to be something really interesting. Hope it makes it there.

Pollo Pollo

Pollo Pollo is a Puyo Puyo clone (d'oh), but what makes it interesting is the care for audiovisual aspect of the game. A lot of effort went into everything in this game, from sounds and voices, to fully animated intro. I admit that the effect beats some of the commercial games - I won't name the exact titles, but I have seen worse menus in some recent games.

The only thing that annoyed me a little was the colour scheme - violet blocks are barely distinguishable from dark blue ones for a partially colourblind person such as me (yes, unfortunately - 5 to 10% colour vision impairment, but still).

Nevertheless, this game is a very interesting free alternative for all Puyo Puyo lovers out there.

Trigonometry Wars

Famous Xbox Live! game Geometry Wars was so immensely popular that it spawned a couple ofremakes. My favourite was a PC version called Grid Wars. Its author was threatened with legal action by Microsoft, but you can still find the game on the internet. I loved it for its crazy difficulty and customisation options.

Trigonometry Wars is another remake, this time for the PSP. Unfortunately, it lacks the polish of either of its older brothers. Somehow it is neither as shiny and spectacular as PC or Xbox 360 version, nor as playable. It goes to show that making a good game is really a difficult task and requires getting all the components right.

But putting these bitter remarks on the side, it is the best Geometry Wars clone for the PSP, with customisable controls and decent gameplay, so if you like the original and would like to experience it on the go - give Trigonometry Wars a try.

Cave Story

I am not an expert when it comes to PC version of Cave Story, but the game has a great number of fans and that probably means something. I appreciate its retro style, reminding me of old-school platform games from the past, I am not too fond of the game itself (meaning that it just somehow didn't captivate me), but there is a lot of content here, lots of playing and if you happen to like platform games, this is obligatory position to play. Also, I really think that game's author, Pixel, was very nice to actually allow homebrew coder ufo_z to port his game and ufo_z did a great job porting it to the PSP.

Hexaxis XXI

So far I have written twice about Tim Hackett's Hexaxis - you can read my initial impressions here and my opinion on the newest release here. Although the gameplay itself is not really my thing, I cannot overlook the amount of work that author has put into his game and the originality of the concept. Don't miss this one!

Go! Go! Goo!

I have already presented Go!Go!Goo! here on Bart's News some time ago. Basically, it is a nice game that is almost a copy of an old game called Troddlers. And although copying is the ultimate form of flattery, I consider it would be nice to at least give some credit to the original.

Apart from this qualm, which can be sorted out by authors very quickly (just mention Troddlers in the documentation guys, and I'll shut up once and for all), the game is a great example of homebrew : nice visuals, decent sounds, interesting graphical style, and great fun factor. Go!Go!Goo! has my recommendation (with some meaningful coughing accompanying it, but still).

R-Gear

And yet another game that I have already reviewed, but the compilation wouldn't be complete without one of my favourite homebrew shoot'em ups. Great retro-styled execution, fiendish difficulty level, great music, faithful recreation of great classic (R-Type, in case anyone didn't know) and a touch of humour make R-Gear a must for every homebrew-enabled PSP owner!

EDIT: I have found two excellent games that absolutely should have made the list - I present them in this post.

And so we have reached the end of my lengthy list. This was supposed to be split in many posts, each concerning a single game, but it was getting delayed on and on, so I have finally decided to push it out as a whole megapost.

Maybe you would like to point out an interesting game that I have missed? Maybe you don't agree with some of the reviews? Feel free to let me know your impressions through comments.

Skin your PSP

I have just recently dived into the world of XMB modding. What is it, I hear you ask? Essentially, it is a way of changing the look of how you default PSP interface looks like.

This has always sounded scary to me, since I am very careful with any firmware related operations (fearing bricking). However, it turned out to be really simple - to install a theme, simply copy the contents to the vsh/resource directory after having booted up your PSP into the recovery menu and selected the Advanced > Toggle USB (flash0) option. Voila!

And this is how Barts' PSP looks now...

Of course, if I were you, I would make a backup copy of what was initially there just in case. But maybe you like living on the edge...

The best page out there carrying different themes and icons is EvolveXMB. I really recommend that you have a look at what people post there, because some of these themes are really incredible. You can also download a huge theme pack from QJ.net, however if you use 3.5xM33 firmware, most of them probably won't work.

Emulating Amiga on PSP with PSPUAE 0.63

One of my earliest posts on this blog was about PSPUAE, the Amiga emulator on PSP. Being an avid Amiga fan since childhood, I bought PSP fueled by the desire to play Amiga games on the go. Unfortunately, the reality was not that great back then, which made me somewhat bitter and unpleasant (read here to find out more).

Anyhow, just recently I have got my hands on the newest version of PSPUAE, namely 0.63 nicknamed "Birthday Edition". Happy birthday, PSPUAE!


Right, and now to the essentials: it certainly is nice, but how does it play?

The answer to that is : really good. One year has passed and it was not wasted. There's a lot of things that have changed since I first got a copy of PSPUAE

Most importantly, the authors have significantly improved the speed of emulation with this edition. Although still not sufficient to fully emulate every game in perfect fluidity, PSPUAE definitely has made progress. Many games are emulated almost perfectly, and many more have accelerated and crossed over a threshold from barely playable to playable.

The usability has also improved, in terms of user interface and the customization options available. The menu is more user friendly and I had no problem finding the options I needed.

Another important feature is the use of so called save-states. They allow for loading the state of Amiga memory directly in the emulator, instead of emulating the regular loading process from a fake drive - thus allowing for much faster loading times. It sounds a little complicated, but it boils down to being able to start playing without having to wait for a long time. Certainly a nice feature.

In order to use the emulator, user needs to have KickStart files. Due to copyright issues they are not distributed with the emulator, but they can be found on Google. The emulator itself can be downloaded from a couple of places, such us QJ.Net or its homepage.

A couple of examples of test scenarios (what a nice euphemism for playing games) is presented below :

International Karate Plus - plays great with sound and a little amount of frameskip. Fluid and playable.

WarZone - slight slowdowns, but playable with sound.

Speedball Deluxe - runs smoothly with sound. Impeccable.

SWIV - unfortunately not really playable. Sluggish even with frameskip, less so with no sound.

Another World - no problems here, runs great with sound and music.

My beloved Wolfchild also loads and plays great, with sound and decent framerate, although some frameskipping is necessary. But it finally plays fluidly!

To sum up, this is a very good release of a very good emulator. I hope for some more improvements, but given the complexity of task, I must say I appreciate what we already have. If you have a PSP, this one is a must.

Reminiscing Flashback

I have told you the story of my fascination with Amiga games, maybe even a little too often. One of the unforgettable games of that generation was Flashback from Delphine Software.


Incredibly fluid animation (referenced in one of Kid Paddle comics), great atmosphere, space conspiracy, thrilling story, incredible music - this game had it all. Oh, and insane difficulty, too. Nevertheless, there are some people that still get tears in their eyes when they hear the main theme...

Reminiscence is a homebrew application aimed principally at these people. It is an engine for running Flashback on PSP, sort of an emulator created for emulating but one game. I almost overlooked it in the flood of cool homebrew apps appearing recently and I certainly am glad I didn't.


The cult classic actually looks great on the PSP screen, and even though I don't usually like to play my games in artificially stretched 16:9 (due to the fact that proportions look strange to me then), somehow this format goes well with Flashback.

In order to play Flashback with Reminiscence, you will need to provide the engine with data files, but this is not a problem - you can download the game from House of the Underdogs, or from any other abandonware site. You will also need to download music from Amiga version in mod format, which you can find on UnExoticA.


The game hasn't lost anything in translation and it is a real pleasure to be able to have it in my pocket everywhere and anytime. It is as difficult as always and I have lost the patience to retry same fragment over and over, but it still is very enjoyable, especially for a nostalgic like me. I also think that younger PSP users might actually have fun playing Flashback as well, since it is a game that gets so many thing right, contrary to so many modern products.

So if you are reading this - have a flashback of gaming past and play the damn game!

Hexaxis story continued...