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PSX4droid brings thousands of emulated PlayStation games to your Android phone
Note: just like the NES emulator, it's almost pointless to play PlayStation games on a phone without multi-touch capabilities. PSX4android will work on your Android 1.6 phone, but don't try to play anything more complicated than Tetris clones.
First things first, PSX4droid isn't a free app: it costs $5.99 on the Android Market. That said, given how gaming experience will vary wildly depending on what phone you own, I would recommend you torrent PSX4droid first before spending money on something that might not work. There's also a non-exhaustive list of compatible phones that you can check beforehand. In general, if you have one of the newer 1GHz+ Android 2.0-or-later smartphones, PSX4droid should work.
Update: you can also buy something from the Android Market and get a full refund within 24 hours -- so you can do that instead.
OK, now on with the actual review!
Then you need to find some game ROMs! Unlike NES and Sega games, PlayStation games are pretty big (the size of a CD!) This means that ROM sites don't tend to host the files themselves, so to find PlayStation ROMs you're going to have to trawl through MegaUpload, RapidShare and lots of ad-ridden pages to find your games. Couple in the fact that not every game works on the emulator, and you can see how playing PlayStation games on your Android might be more effort than it's worth. Still, if you want to push ahead, here are some good ROM sites:
- CoolROM (requires free membership)
- DopeRoms (slow direct downloads)
- EmuParadise (has direct downloads!)
- Romulation (requires free membership)
I won't lie to you, the gaming experience really isn't great -- at least on my Android 1.6 phone. With a newer HTC or Motorola smartphone (one with a hardware keyboard!) it might be better, but I bet it still pales in comparison to the real thing. On my phone the graphics were OK (around 10-15 FPS), but the audio sucked (very crackly) -- probably because the 3D graphics were sucking up all available processing power.
There are two special input methods worth checking out: the Nintendo Wiimote (or indeed any Bluetooth gamepad), and the capability of using the phone's internal 'tilt' sensor. You can push 'up' on the on-screen gamepad while tilting your phone to the left, and your character moves diagonally! The Bluetooth input method is much more exciting -- you get the Wiimote's complete functionality! -- but it seems to require Android 2.0, and even then it doesn't work on HTC phones.
With all that said, I actually managed to play through the first few combat sequences in Final Fantasy VII. PSX4droid might not be as smooth as the NES or Sega emulators, but given a year or two and 3GHz processors in our mobile phones, the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP might seem a little redundant.
PSX4droid Tech Specs
- Installed Size -- 1.35MB, but PlayStation ROMs vary from hundreds of megabytes to a couple of gigabytes (Final Fantasy!)
- Speed/Responsiveness -- Interface-wise, fine. Actual game experience will vary wildly depending on what phone you have (tested with Android 1.6 @ 600MHz, LG GT 540 Swift)
- User Interface -- I still can't really fathom why anyone would use a flat, on-screen display for playing games. Give me BUTTONS!
- Configurability & Extensibility -- Lots and lots of options, from how games are displayed through to shortcut keys and the placement of the on-screen gamepad
- License -- Commercial, costs $5.99
Comments
34
Subscribe to commentsJoshAug 6th 2010 12:19PM
...did DLS just tell me to pirate?
Sebastian AnthonyAug 6th 2010 12:26PM
Nuh uh!
DiRTAug 6th 2010 12:29PM
Indeed.
"Blah. Blah. Blah. ...if you own the original games... Blah. Blah. Blah."
Whatever. This is not how to play your PSX games on the go, like buying the game downloads for your PSP.
Sebastian AnthonyAug 6th 2010 12:39PM
Yep, very true!
Maybe I should turn on my PSP... I last played Lumines on it about... ooh... five years ago.
Brad LinderAug 6th 2010 12:34PM
The Android Market lets you try any app for 24 hours. If you don't like it you can return it. There's no reason to pirate the app just to see if it works.
Sebastian AnthonyAug 6th 2010 12:37PM
So I can see! Odd that it's in the small print on the actual Purchase page, rather than an actual 'try it now' button on the app's Market page.
WilliamNighthawkAug 7th 2010 5:15AM
Are you really whining over a single post? Half the people that read this site have probably pirated tons of applications. Especially if you're just pirating it to try it out. You sound like one of those people who go tell police that someone just jay-walked. Stop living inside your bubble of rules and live a little. The only reason I'd remove the bios is so that my site doesn't get shut down, but I'd also subtly hint to where to get it.
Nice article, Sebastian.
DrakkenfyreAug 7th 2010 6:31AM
Half those people don't work for Download Squad. I don't care what you download in your free time. But putting up links to pirated material on a site will get you fired at best, the entire site sued at worst. Think more about the whole site and not what you do in your free time.
DrakkenfyreAug 6th 2010 1:49PM
Here's an app that is pointless due to control limitations, costs money, and here are a bunch of links to illegal downloads.
Nice article.
Sebastian AnthonyAug 6th 2010 2:09PM
Next you'll be saying that no-CD cracks are illegal too!
DrakkenfyreAug 6th 2010 2:21PM
You give a link to the Playstation BIOS, which is illegal.
You recommend pirating the app to see if it works before you buy.
You give links to sites with illegal content.
The "only legal if you own the cart argument" is flawed. By offering the original ROM you are breaking the law because you are not the original holder. You are safe but the site is not. You are still linking to sites with illegal content.
Don't even try the no CD argument. Completely different. Now, if you were to offer up a site with a game and a site WITH the CD crack, it would be the same.
How anyone posts articles advocating piracy AND providing links escaping the ire of the companies in question, I don't know.
I bet the author of this app would love that you give a review, then say go steal it first.
Sebastian AnthonyAug 6th 2010 2:34PM
I think we'll just have to agree to disagree :) I have quite different beliefs when it comes to what is usually considered 'iffy' in the world of digital rights.
DrakkenfyreAug 6th 2010 4:15PM
What you believe and what the companies who owns these rights believe are two different things. If you persist on posting links to illegal (by US definition) content on a US-based site, don't be surprised to be let go if it comes under heat.
OskieeAug 6th 2010 2:08PM
Im already about 1/4 through FF7 playing on a Samsung Vibrant. If you disable the sound :O( It plays a lot smoother.
disclaimer: I still have and own my original copy of FF7, i am not stealing :OP
Sebastian AnthonyAug 6th 2010 2:10PM
Ahhhh, I hadn't even thought to turn the sound off! Which is odd, because I noticed that the sound was always OK for a second or two after coming out of the menu -- and then it would break up, as the CPU was taken for graphics rendering.
Good to know, re: legality :)
Tired_Aug 6th 2010 3:43PM
You guys must hate your own website. Sony could sue your pants off for posting that PSX BIOS link. Too bad, I rather enjoyed reading this site.
Sebastian AnthonyAug 6th 2010 3:45PM
OK OK! I have changed the link.
DrakkenfyreAug 6th 2010 6:56PM
One of these days he is going to post something illegal, and the original company is going to come down and stomp the hell out of Download Squad, and he won't be working here anymore.
I don't want to see anyone fired, but posting illegal things simply because "what you believe" is different isn't going to help. Breaking copyright is breaking copyright. And Sony WILL sue your ass, as will several other big-names in the game business.
As much as I hate the RIAA, you may believe sharing MP3's are ok, but that won't stop them suing you. Sharing copyrighted software (in this case, the BIOS) is a serious, serious flag for "Sue me". There are games out there where the original company will no longer seek copyright claims, or gave them up completely. Atari games are a good example. Some of the companies flat-out gave up the copyright, and say download away. Others no longer exist, or don't care to persue copyright violations. But Sony? Oh yes, Sony will sue you in a heartbeat, and so will many of the companies dealing with them.
His articles like this frequently contain "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" bits, but providing a link straight to a pirate download, and links to pirate sites with "Remember, it's not legal unless you own the original game" is crossing the line. As someone representing a site like this he should be a little more professional and how his actions reflect on the rest of the bloggers and the site. Reguardless of what he thinks, the links are illegal, and when it comes to copyright law, it's what the country of origin and the rights holder thinks that counts, not him.
Brainy142Aug 6th 2010 6:34PM
lol, my rom site kicks yours :P.
with that out of the way GO emulation!!!
I support emulation :D keep the old memories alive.
MessyDesktopsAug 6th 2010 8:24PM
"First things first, PSX4droid isn't a free app: it costs $5.99 on the Android Market. That said, given how gaming experience will vary wildly depending on what phone you own, I would recommend you torrent PSX4droid first before spending money on something that might not work."
"Update: you can also buy something from the Android Market and get a full refund within 24 hours -- so you can do that instead."
"So I can see! Odd that it's in the small print on the actual Purchase page, rather than an actual 'try it now' button on the app's Market page."
Oh the irony!