Unfortunately, lately, there was almost nothing to report on when it comes to gaming and running emulators on Windows Mobile – most game / emulator developers have switched to the iPhone. The latter sees several game releases a day (including really high-quality titles like UniWar, Wolf 3D and so on); in the meantime, WinMo is pretty much abandoned.
Therefore, I was really delighted to see famous n0p (still) developing for the platform. His excellent MS-DOS emulator port, DOSBox, has just (yesterday) been updated to the latest (0.72) core (please see THIS if you want to know what MS-DOS emulation is all about; why you may want to use it etc.). This has been a long-asked for update: the core has been out for quite long but, so far, n0p haven’t had the time to release it.
It’s available for download HERE (get the XScale build); note that you’ll need a 7z-compliant unpacker tool – for example, WinZip; if you want to go with a free solution, use the official 7-zip tool – to uncompress it. After that, just copy the uncompressed files to anywhere on your WinMo phone.
Using the new version is done in exactly the same way as the old, 0.63 one. (Nevertheless, the config file has changed a bit; for exaple, the MIDI / MT-32 / GUS emulation section has been completely taken out. (This is pretty much understandable: not even the much less demanding FM synthesis of the Adlib / Sound Blaster work at full speed in most games, let alone the much more CPU-demanding midi…) Therefore, you can just go on with the 0.63-specific sections in my definitive guide to running (MS-)DOS (80x86) programs under Windows Mobile on how the config file can be configured, what famous games the emulator is compatible with etc.
Speaking of compatibility (and speed), I’ve played quite a bit with the new version. I’ve tested Companions of Xanth, directly comparing it to how the old version (0.63) runs the title, to see whether there’s any speed increase. There is (the background music stuttered definitely less, particularly in the intro animation), but don’t expect miracles.
Also, there still are problems with the mouse emulation. While the latest version of the major alternative MS-DOS emulator, PocketDOS (as of the latest, 12.2 version), has absolutely no problems with titles like the above-mentioned Xanth and, among others, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego when it comes to stylus-based control, both titles can only be operated with dragging in DOSBox. (Too bad PocketDOS is commercial and doesn’t have any kind of Adlib / Sound Blaster emulation.) Unfortunately, it seems DOSBox will always suffer from this problem.
There’s no VGA support either – that is, high-res (EGA / VGA) games will still be rendered in QVGA even on VGA Pocket PC’s. In this regard, PocketDOS is much better too.
In addition to the new core and the somewhat improved speed, there are some (subtle) improvements. For example, now, by default, four virtual keyboard rows are displayed, with the topmost blended into background:
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Aww Yeah, I've been waiting for this for a long time! I'm so happy that n0p didn't forget about Windows Mobile. There's nothing quite like running MS Windows 3.1, and all sorts of cool, old games in front of my iPhone friends just to make them jealous.
Dave
Hi,
I just tried to check out n0p's dos-box site. Unfortunately it not available any more. Could someone post the latest dos-box release for ppc, please, or upload it to some file hoster?
Thanx!
LUPON
Related
Some of you may have already played BS Hacker Replay Unlimited, a Cyberpunk / “hacker” game. It’s not a bad game (on the desktop Windows); I certainly recommend this review on it for more info. (Note that the linked review also reviews another desktop Windows "cyberpunk" game of the same developer.)
Now that Handango has cut the price of the Pocket PC port of the game in half, I’ve decided to give it a go, particularly when it comes to comparing it to the desktop version. There doesn’t seem a review of the Pocket PC version anywhere; PocketGamer.org hasn’t even mentioned it, let alone other Pocket PC gaming-related sites.
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Availability, price
(Current, tested version: 1.211)
The title is available for the original $9.99 on the homepage of the developer and, as has already been pointed out, at half the price, $4.99, on Handango.
Compatibility
All devices starting with Pocket PC 2002. This means, in addition to my Pocket PC 2002 iPAQ 3660, both my two other “problematic” devices have run the game without problems:
the WM5-upgraded HP iPAQ hx4700
the “slow” HTC Wizard (has for example no music or similar problems, unlike, say, SuperTux)
Differences between the desktop and the Windows Mobile version
First, you don’t need to enter any text on the Windows Mobile – everything is icon-based and, therefore, happens much faster (you don't need to enter commands on the keyboard, just click the given icon). The generic speedup also applies to functionality that was definitely slow in the desktop version: for example, cracking passwords, which is done much faster on Windows Mobile than in the desktop version.
However, a LOT of the desktop functionalities have been removed. For example, there are no files on hosts any more, you can only transfer money from them (and trash / BNC them if you deem it necessary – it’s only in this respect that it’s the same as the desktop version). Which is even worse, a LOT of functionality (still) present in the desktop version (ability to upgrade hacker apps; several missions or, for that matter, almost ANYTHING except just money transfer etc.) are severely missing from the PDA version.
The built-in, one-page (!) help (screenshot of it here) is in no way as good as the built-in, several-page tutorial of the desktop version. Apart from the differences between the desktop and the WM version (NO filelists, NO file transfer etc) for example it doesn’t even explain how the different BNC connections affect the trace speed – in this respect (too), it’s really poor.
Music
The music is exactly the same as in the desktop version (pretty repetitive, mono). Unfortunately, the Pocket PC version severely lacks the rather basic, but sometimes (for example, when you click a server to hack on the map) really cool sound effects.
Graphics
QVGA only (sorry, no high-resolution VGA support). However, the developers have managed to squeeze everything into this; that is, almost everything important is displayed, without the need for scrolling (which is, by the way, impossible in the PPC version, unlike on the desktop).
Verdict
If you loved the desktop version because of the great missions and the flexibility, you’ll be REALLY disappointed. In the conversion, all of this has been removed; this makes the game really shallow and uninteresting. I really disliked the PPC port because it’s just the best parts (the missions and the sophisticated file lists and options) that have been removed. You may want to give it a try to see whether you like it though.
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.)
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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.
Lately, I’ve had absolutely no time to test new games because I’ve spent all my time in real-world projects (yeah, I need to do some work to make both ends meet and to be able to purchase all the new gadgets), the Windows Mobile Web Browsing Bible and, of course, the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine’s Annual Best Software Awards I’ve become the Nominations Manager of. So, let me quickly review two of the titles; first,
A REAL Prince of Persia-clone!
You must have heard of Prince of Persia, which, back in 1990 (in addition to Indianapolis 500 and Legend Entertainment’s Spellcasting 101), was one of my favorite games on the IBM PC.
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So far, there was no real Prince clone of the game on Windows Mobile. Up until now, that is; now, well-known (see the review of their Billiard Master 2 and Bowling Master review & comparison in the Windows Mobile Multiplayer Bible) Russian Windows Mobile & Palm OS games developer Mobirate has just started reimplementing the game on Windows Mobile.
The demo can be downloaded HERE and is WM2003+ compatible.
The project is really at the alpha stage and a lot of stuff doesn’t work. The Options screen is completely messed up (the labels are not visible at all and you can only guess what a particular checkbox does) on both VGA and QVGA devices, there’s no Button 1 (I’ve tested this on all my three Pocket PC’s (Dell Axim x51v A12, HP iPAQ 2210, HTC Wizard with AKU3.3 ROM) I’ve deployed the game on). The on-screen controls seem to be non-existent (albeit, after switching some “Off” checkboxes to “On” in Options, the game started to use them – but not the D-pad any more). Furthermore, there are absolutely no sound effects / music. Finally, the game may be pretty slow on some devices: it was barely playable (17-18 fps) on my iPAQ 2210. The HTC Wizard running at 240 MHz fared better (24 fps); finally, the x51v was the best (about 26 fps).
While the lack of for example button support may render the game completely useless (for example, you won’t be able to even do basic stuff like drinking potions), you may still want to give it a try, particularly because the developer is giving away free copies of the final version to the best, most productive betatesters (see the last sentence in readme.txt).
I really hope a (more) playable version follows very soon.
Note that the developer’s homepage doesn’t contain any real information on the game. For example, the image’s link takes you to their game compilation Brain Master. I’ve tried to supply different URL’s (by increasing the document ID referenced by the URL) to find out whether there is a page dedicated to the game; there (still) isn’t. That is, you won’t get any additional info on the game.
(News source: have run into the news upon routinely checking for a new, Microsoft Bluetooth stack-compliant version of Billiard Master 2 and Bowling Master on the developer’s homepage).
Anyone having read my emulator reviews (particularly the NES (Famicom) and the TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine) ones) knows SmartGear is one of the best 8/16-bit gaming console emulator for both the Pocket PC (Windows Mobile 6 Classic / Professional) and Smartphone (Windows Mobile 6 Standard).
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(the About screen)
Just after my publishing my reviews of the previous, 0.12 version, the developer, Larry Bank, released a brand new, 0.24 version of the emulator.
Let us see how it compares to the previous, well-known version! (Please DO read the two above-linked reviews to find out how the old version fared against the competition, what its major strengths and weaknesses are. In here, I do NOT provide you a FULL introduction / tutorial, “only” an up-to-the-point elaboration on the changes.)
Pros
Fortunately, the new version, as opposed to the old one, does save battery life automatically as can clearly be seen in this screenshot. (The previous version, as can be seen in here, didn’t offer any battery saving as it used the CPU close to 100%. This is great news!
When you pause the game, the menu bars will be displayed at once (on all platforms) as can be seen in here. This also means resuming a game after you’ve done some for example settings changes will work, unlike with 0.12.
There’s a new option, Rapid Fire, with freely definable target button (in here, for example, I’ve made it work together with Button B ). This is certainly welcome!
The menus are also easier to handle (here’s the new Settings screen and here’s the old)– for example, instead of the old “Throttle Framerate”, now, “Throttle to 60 fps” is used, which is easier to understand. As can also be seen, there’s a brand new checkbox, Quick & Dirty Rendering, which also results in some speedup, which can prove pretty useful on lowest-end handhelds.
Now, there is some way to change the video size with the newly added “Video Size” option, which allows for using 75, 100, 150%, Fit2Win and Fit2Win*.
With NES emulation, Landscape mode works OK, unlike previously.
Generic speedup / optimizations.
Cons
There is still no VGA support. You can, of course, play with the new “Video Size” settings, but none of them will help (and some, for example, Fit2Win*, will result in the program immediately exiting on some VGA models)
Screen buttons / tap areas are still not supported
The highly useful (as the emulator, unfortunately, still doesn't have any kind of manual state saving / loading) “Auto Load/Save” option can’t be enabled in the trial version, unlike with the previous one, where it worked (almost) flawlessly.
Compatibility-wise, there don’t seem to be changes. As far as the NES emulation is concerned, BattleToads still stops after displaying “1991”; Elite is still having problems and Famicom Wars (MMC4) still displays the “#10 missing” error. PC Engine emulation-wise, Street Fighter II Champion Edition (J) and Shinobi (if it starts at all – it was only on my HTC Wizard that it did) still have the same bitmap problems. The platform bug of Turrican still exists, making the game unplayable.
Several previously flawlessly running PC Engine games just refuse to start. For example, F1 Dream has refused to start on ALL my test devices. Operation Wolf and Afterburner 2 has only started on my QVGA HTC Wizard (but not on any of my VGA devices – not that it’d be any fun to play a game only occupying the upper left quarter of the VGA screen...)
Verdict
While this emulator still has its share of problems (particularly VGA- and generic game / ROM compatibility-wise), it’s clearly got better and his, as usual, highly recommended (particularly for MS Smartphone users). If it runs your particular favorite games, that is.
Nicky Boom was a nice platformer game released for the Commodore Amiga and MS DOS back in 1992 (Wiki page HERE). While, now, fortunately, there are several platformer titles for Windows Mobile (see for example THIS, THIS for a list of newer and THIS of somewhat older titles), few of them are compatible with the MS Smartphone platform (Nicky Boom is; note that I don't know whether it's compatible with low-end / old 176*220 MS Smartphone screens in addition to the now-standard QVGA ones). In addition, the game also has a Palm OS 5 version (only compatible with comparatively new models; that is, most models starting with the T3) and a Symbian S60 and UIQ 3 version is being worked on. It even has an in-browser ActiveX version on the homepage of the developer (click the Play button), DotEmu. A pretty decent demo is available; the full version costs $14.90 for all mobile platforms.
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Note that the game’s homepage doesn’t have a trial version for Palm OS. It IS available at ClickGamer.
While, theoretically, it may be possible to run the original game under Amiga or MS-DOS emulators, I wouldn’t think it’s a good idea. The only Amiga emulator existing for all the mobile platforms, PocketUAE, is very slow and, as it’s long been discontinued, it’s highly unlikely it will ever be fixed. Emulating MS-DOS is far better on Windows Mobile (see the dedicated Bible HERE), but I seriously doubt it’s able to run this title without major at least sound problems and/or without quickly chewing through your battery. The original game having no console versions, you can't rely on much more CPU-efficient and established, commercial console emulators like the almighty SmartGear either.
On Windows Mobile (I haven't tested the game on Palm and the Symbian version hasn't been released as yet), the just-released native version behaves far better: it uses little CPU time, which means it’s quite battery-friendly and runs on even the slowest configurations like the ones based on the old TI OMAP 850, the “heart” of many popular models like the HTC Touch, Wizard and so on.
As it’s just a traditional side-scrolling platform game, there isn’t much to talk about, game story- or usage-wise.
I had no problems running / playing it. Make sure you give it a try! I think I'll also nominate it for this year's Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards contest.
Cons
* Mono music only
* Some stuttering now and then if autofire is enabled. The latter isn’t a CPU usage issue as it stays pretty low even with autofire enabled
Pros
* Much better and, what is even more important, battery-friendly than running the original game under a MS-DOS or an Amiga emulator
* Very good CPU usage: ~28% on 624 MHz PXA-310-based, VGA HP iPAQ 210 and ~60% on the 195 MHz TI OMAP 850-based QVGA HTC Wizard, even with autofire on
BTW, speaking of other platformers, a bad piece of news: the long-awaited Prehistoric: Road to Hollywood (see THIS) will be never completed / released: Bonanza Interactive has gone out of business in the meantime.