DeSmuME DS emulator hits the PSP

While the DS and PSP aren't without their squabbles in the past, there's the fact that no matter how much you compare the two, there are certain obvious differences in approach that make it a bit of an apple to oranges scenario. That's why it's so intensely awkward to look at the screen above -- a DS emulator on the PSP. It's running a DS homebrew game, GeoWars, and running it pretty slowly at that, but still. DS on a PSP. The DeSmuME emulator was ported by Japanese homebrew developer SofiyaCat, and while we really can't imagine many DS titles that would benefit in any way from playback on the PSP, the sheer triumph over logic on display here has made us total fans of the effort.

[Thanks, zshadow]

[Chuckles McGee @ Aug 10th 2007 5:55PM]

Can it run Doom?

[BananaBoat @ Aug 10th 2007 6:05PM]

One of my mates is big into homebrew/emulators and what not, and he always bashes the PSP for being about useless when it comes to Emulation. PS1 works according to him, and NES works, but nothing else. I think it's safe to say that a retail DS game is never going to run on a PSP.

[paul246 @ Aug 10th 2007 6:20PM]

thats funny cause i have a PS1, SNES, NES, GAMEBOY, GAMEBOY ADVANCE,MAME and many other emulators working perfectly or close to it. theres even a N64 emulator that is constantly getting better and better. i guess your friend doesnt know squat.
oh yeah, theres even an app to run youtube videos directly from youtube as well as a ton of other apps available.
to say that a DS emulator is not possible is premature. there are some DS games that dont really require the touch/dual screen.
ex: pokemon, super mario bros. ds, mario kart, etc.

[Josh Clark @ Aug 10th 2007 6:35PM]

@paul246

True, but my 2 GHz Sempron 64 system can barely run New Super Mario Bros (80-95% in levels without water, 55-70% in the overworld and levels with water). I wouldn't put too much stock in a 333 MHz out-performing it.

And yes, I know that clock speed isn't all that's important, but the comparison is still valid. Unless the emulators show significant improvement, then DS on the PSP will be little more than a fantasy.

[paul246 @ Aug 10th 2007 6:44PM]

@Josh Clark
im not doubting that a computer has more power than a psp. but i know that a DS is not even close to having the horsepower of a psp. and lets not forget the similarities of the DS and PSP. both were built for portable gaming while a computer is not. alot of people also said that the emulators i mentioned wernt possible. but here they are. we also cant forget about the talented psp hombrew community. if anyone can find a way, they can. im just saying "never say never"

[paul246 @ Aug 10th 2007 6:48PM]

@Josh Clark
oh and i hope that youre not saying that a DS is more powerful than your computer? its not about the power, its about the coder.

[mike @ Aug 10th 2007 6:11PM]

useless unless the psp has a touch screen. Now manage to get a psp emulator working for the ds and we have a 2in1 deal going. However I dont think the DS has the technical hardware to acomplish that.

[Shane @ Aug 10th 2007 6:15PM]

SofiyaCat gets serious geek cred for this one but only one question...Why? Triumph over logic indeed...

[flamezheath @ Aug 10th 2007 6:54PM]

Good luck trying to emulate 3D or play commercial ROMs for that matter. It's probably not possible. Play some simple homebrew, that's it.

[Kax02 @ Aug 11th 2007 1:54PM]

paul246 - The youtube comment, it's probably the funniest thing I've seen all day. Thanks for that one.

You do realize that you're trying to talk hardware capability and then you slam Youtube in there. Youtube is simply FLV based video, aka low bitrate compressed video via flash. If the PSP couldn't handle that, there would be no hope.

[paul246 @ Aug 11th 2007 3:17PM]

@Kax02
if thats the funniest thing youve seen today, then you really need to get out more often.
i was simply stating some things that the psp could do. josh was the one talking about power after my reply. so in addition to getting out more, you should really learn to read.
o and can you stream youtube on a DS. NOPE. so i guess that does speak about power when compared to a DS. and as you said "there would be no hope."

[Bobsmith @ Aug 10th 2007 7:00PM]

Completely pointless, even if they get it working flawlessly, as there's only one screen, so to emulate it properly, you'd have to turn it sideways, so it'd be nearly impossible to play even games that don't need the stylus, and most do, and the PSP, of course, has no touch screen.

Just buy a DS, it's a lot cheaper than the PSP, and a lot more fun.

[TheGuy @ Aug 10th 2007 7:18PM]

You wouldn't necessarily have to play-it sideways. It would be neat if you could play-it with horizontal split-screen, with the option of expanding either side to full screen. While the lack of touchscreen would make-it hard to play touchscreen-intensive games, I can imagine it could be done decently on the not-so intensive touchscreen games through use of the analog nub. Not perfect, but the homebrew community continues to impress me so I wouldn't be surprised if they came-up with a practical way to play DS games on the PSP.

[Miles @ Aug 10th 2007 11:19PM]

I'd rather buy a PSP where I have hundreds of great games for things like SNES, Genesis, Turbo Graphix, PSX, etc. than I would want to play the 20-30 great games on the DS.

I had a DS once, I played a bunch of amazing games on it, but for every amazing game it had, there were 10 games that were pointless, stupid, and gimmicky.

I sold all my DS stuff for a PSP to replace the one that broke in 2006.

Sure I am going to miss my Phoenix Wright and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, but I'd like to play games that I know are good, instead of wasting my money getting games that suck.

[Bobsmith @ Aug 11th 2007 1:24PM]

If you read reviews, you can know which games such and which games don't. And the games only get worse when you go to the PSP side of things. And yes, you can play homebrew stuff, if you don't update your firmware. And if you don't, you can't play new games. I had a PSP. I sold it to get a DS. Playing decades old games poorly doesn't interest me much. I can play them on my computer without having to spend $200 on an overly fragile piece of hardware with no battery life and a terrible selection of games. I'll stick with the DS, it won this round of portable gaming wars.

[flamezheath @ Aug 11th 2007 8:38PM]

Exactly. Most of the emulation you're going to do on the PSP is illegal anyway (unless you owned and backed up the original cartridge yourself), and there is a huge drought of good (gasp) native PSP games.

[Ondra Soukup @ Aug 10th 2007 8:49PM]

Why ? Just because they can, no real usage here :)

[Miles @ Aug 10th 2007 11:13PM]

Exactly, proof of concept, proof that you can write code that is efficient enough to emulate it's direct competitor on it's hardware.

PSP may have shotty titles for it, but when you use it for home-brew it's one powerful beast.

[OddManOut @ Aug 10th 2007 7:52PM]

Good Job SofiyaCat. Now let's see you emulate a touchscreen on the PSP...

[SilentStalker @ Aug 10th 2007 8:18PM]

well, it definetly shows which handheld is better...

[Covarr @ Aug 10th 2007 10:53PM]

So, using emulation, they can run DS games on PSP. The next logical step is to use the DS software SNEmulDS so that one can run a SNES game on his DS emulator on his PSP.

[BananaBoat @ Aug 10th 2007 11:05PM]

I checked, thinking that maybe (just maybe) emulation had improved since the last time I talked to my friend. Turns out that SNES still doesn't work for 99% of the games, N64..forget about it, Gameboy does, Gameboy Advance is about as iffy as SNES, and a couple of old computer games (like Doom) will run. So in other words, anyone that tells you SNES runs well, or that N64 runs well (lol) is a filthy liar. Then again, if you've got Battletoads and Doom, what more do you need? Oh right, some original PSP games that don't suck (I own a PSP. I feel your pain!)

[Semorata @ Aug 10th 2007 11:18PM]

You fail at research then.
Most all emulators work except the N64 one.
Snes and Sega Genesis and GBA all run perfectly.
Know what you're talking about before you say something that will make you look foolish.

[paul246 @ Aug 11th 2007 12:43AM]

as i said in a previous reply to your earlier post, SNES is almost perfect on the PSP. how do i know? cause i have it running. do you? i dont think so. so if all the evidence you have are from what you or your friend have read about in some forums, then youre as noobish as the ones who couldnt get it to run right. so stfu and and tell your noob friend to learn how to work a program and actually try it instead of doing what youre doing...making yourself look like an idiot.
and some of the snes games that i have running perfectly on the emulator: contra, super mario land, super off road, street fighter 2, super mario 1,2,3, tetris, smash tv, raiden, 1942, donkey kong country, and about 40 others that i like to play. deal with it.

[BananaBoat @ Aug 10th 2007 11:31PM]

Is it can be thinly veiled lies tiem nao please? Really, go try to play LTTP and attempt to BS the other readers into thinking it runs without massive framerate problems (like all the other SNES games do). But I'm sure you know more than psp news, random d00d ;P

[paul246 @ Aug 11th 2007 12:41AM]

as i said in a previous reply to your earlier post, SNES is almost perfect on the PSP. how do i know? cause i have it running. do you? i dont think so. so if all the evidence you have are from what you or your friend have read about in some forums, then youre as noobish as the ones who couldnt get it to run right. so stfu and and tell your noob friend to learn how to work a program and actually try it instead of doing what youre doing...making yourself look like an idiot.
and some of the snes games that i have running perfectly on the emulator: contra, super mario land, super off road, street fighter 2, super mario 1,2,3, tetris, smash tv, raiden, 1942, donkey kong country, and about 40 others that i like to play. deal with it.

[matjet @ Aug 11th 2007 2:11AM]

Sorry i don't speak gibberish. Try English next time.

[vR @ Aug 11th 2007 1:58AM]

Quite simply, BananaBoat is lying through his teeth. SNES emulation is 100% on a PSP.

[treeki @ Aug 11th 2007 4:55AM]

Actually.. Desmume runs several commercial games, and has done so for quite some time. Yoshi's Island DS and Super Princess Peach come to mind, as some that are quite playable. It depends on what version this guy ported though, and if he ported EVERY feature of the emulator. =P

[BananaBoat @ Aug 11th 2007 1:39PM]

Internet: Serious business since 1994

SNES emulator? Horrible framerates on PSP since 2005 ;P

[paul246 @ Aug 11th 2007 4:18PM]

why are you keep trying to post about an emulator you dont even have?
just for laughs, would you mind posting the links to the bogus info youre reading.
and i dont mean the link between your peni$ and your friends a$$.

[SanzioSan @ Oct 10th 2007 10:35PM]

Actually... the framerate can be fixed by changing the settings. Like frameskip and such... so framerate is fine actually

[FUDS @ Sep 21st 2007 6:46PM]

Can a DS emulate a PSP? No

[bob @ Nov 18th 2007 3:02PM]

Everyone says that if you run homebrew you cannot play umd games. NOT TRUE. You put custom firmware on(e.g. 3.71 m33-3) and you can run homebrew and normal umd games. You can downgrade EVERY firmware using pandora's battery and if you have 3.5 or lower you can downgrade using lumines exploit. I have every emulator out there on my psp(gba, gameboy, n64, nes, snes, even psone) and I can still run a ds game just fine. And, the best games(in my opinion) for the DS do not require the touch screen, (e.g Pokemon diamond/pearl, super mario kart ds, etc.)People said it was impossible to get emulators on the psp. Once this ds emulator is up and running, the ds will be obsolete.