Dusan Belic asked me to write an article about emulator applications available for the newest S60 3rd Edition phones from Nokia. As I have written some of these emulators myself, this article is inevitably going to become a shameless self-promotion job, but let us first look at what emulators are and what makes the 3rd Edition such a good platform for them.
Remember all those console games you used to play as a kid? The Mario Brothers, Zelda, Sonic Hedgehog, Outrun, and many other games came on a cartridge and plugged into a gray (or black, in the case of SEGA) box, providing for hours of fun. The box, or console, was a little computer with TV for display and a pair of joypads for keyboard.
As time passed, consoles became bigger, faster, and pricier. They have got 3D graphics and HDTV output. Yet, most people would agree that the games did not become more fun. A lot of people still miss their childhood experience of playing Mario Brothers on an old TV. For these people, there is emulation.
An emulator is a program that runs on your computer (or, in our case, your cell phone) and makes the old software (i.e. Zelda or some other game) believe that it is running on the original hardware. The games are read from their original cartridges, tapes, or disks and stored in files which the emulator loads. There are all kind of legal aspects about doing that, but it is generally believed that once you own the actual cartridge, you have the right of playing the game on any platform you wish.
There are dozens of emulators available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux platforms. Unfortunately, Symbian phones cannot boast the same variety. Their hardware is quite slow, screen resolutions limited, and porting applications to them is a pain. Fortunately, this changes with new phones hitting the market. The new OMAP chipset provides higher clock speeds, screen resolutions, and better overall performance. Most old computers and gaming consoles had 256×192 screen resolution which is bigger than the 176×208 resolution available in the first S60 phones. The new phones come with resolutions of 320×240 and even 352×416, so they can render 256×192 game screens without losing any pixels. In addition, the 3rd Edition of S60 makes it simpler to port emulators from other platforms. Let us look at some emulators available for the 3rd Edition phones.
MSX and MSX2
We will start with MSX and MSX2 families of home computers popular in Europe and Japan circa 1984. Much like PC, MSX was a standard rather than a brand, meaning that many companies produced MSX-compatible computers. All these machines were based on the Z80 CPU and a TMS9918 video processor chip (VDP) from Texas Instruments (upgraded to 9938 in MSX2).
It just happened that MSX was the first computer I got a chance to program. Thus, long time ago, moved by sentimental reasons, I have written an MSX/MSX2 emulator called fMSX. fMSX has become very popular among MSX fans and been ported to many different platforms, from MSDOS to Windows, MacOS, and even Sony PlayStation.
In 2003, Juha Riihimaki has ported fMSX to S60 phones, including the 3rd Edition phones. You can download his fMSX port for free. The MSX software can still be found at a few large sites, such as Komkon and Funet. As it is not being sold any more, it is generally believed acceptable to use it, unless the original authors complain.
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum is another 8bit home computer wildly popular among its former users, especially the British crowd. Thousands of games and other applications have been written for Spectrum. Dozens of addons have been made for it. The machine itself has gone through several upgrades and been licensed to third-party companies who manufactured it long after the original production stopped.
ZX Spectrum was one of the first computers to be emulated. As result, there are many different Spectrum emulators, including some for the 1st and 2nd Editions of S60. The only ZX Spectrum emulator that currently works on the 3rd Edition phones is Speccy written by myself. Just like fMSX, you can download Speccy for free and then search for your favorite old games at the World Of Spectrum site. While some original software makers have withdrawn their works from public access, most authors allow the free use of their old ZX Spectrum products.
ColecoVision
Before there were Nintendo and SEGA, a game company called Coleco came up with its own gaming console called ColecoVision. The ColecoVision was very similar to the MSX computer: it had the same Z80 CPU and the same TMS9918 VDP from Texas Instruments. As result, ColecoVision and MSX share a lot of game titles. Although ColecoVision is just a gaming console, Coleco has later released a hardware upgrade that converts it into a full-fledged home computer, known as Coleco Adam. Unfortunately, with the appearance of technically superior NES and Master System, ColecoVision’s and Adam’s fate has been sealed. These systems slowly withered away.
At some point, I have made a ColecoVision emulator called ColEm. I have later ported ColEm to the 3rd Edition of S60. You can download it for free. As for the games, use Google to search for them, but remember that you ought to own games you play.
Nintendo NES
Nintendo NES (Famicom in Asia) is one of the most popular videogame consoles of all times. It has sold millions of units and its game library includes thousands of titles. The NES has been so popular that a few Asian companies even produced and sold its unauthorized clones. If you are thirty to forty years old, it is a good bet that you have had at least some experience playing an NES game or two.
There is a company called Vampent that produces vNes, a NES emulator for S60 phones. Please note that there are different versions of vNes for different S60 editions. Make sure you download the right one. You can find NES games on the Net using Google but make sure you own the games you download.
SEGA Master System and GameGear
About the same time Nintendo started selling NES, SEGA came out with its own 8bit console, the SEGA Master System (SMS). The SMS has never become as popular as NES, but it had a library of original and very playable games, such as Sonic The Hedgehog and Gain Ground. Just like MSX, the SMS was based on the Z80 CPU and the Texas Instruments VDP, but SEGA expanded VDP with more colors, more sprites, and smooth scrolling to make it compete with NES. Later, SEGA released a handheld version of the SMS, known as the GameGear. Before the appearance of GameBoy Color, the GameGear was the only widely used color handheld on the market.
Following fMSX and ColEm, I have produced the Master System and GameGear emulator called the MasterGear. It emulates both the Master System and GameGear, as well as some older machines from SEGA: the SG-1000, the SC-3000 home computer, and the disk-based SF-7000. I have also ported MasterGear to the 3rd Edition phones, so you can get it here. Just like with other major consoles, you will have to use Google to search for the games and make sure you own the games you play.
Super NES
After its success with NES, Nintendo has released the next console known as the Super NES (or Super Famicom in Asia). The new console had much improved video hardware and a faster 16bit 65816 CPU. The SNES continued the NES success and eventually acquired both the vast game library and the faithful following among Nintendo fans.
The only SNES emulator for S60 is vSun by Vampent. Please note that there are different versions of vSun for different S60 editions. Make sure you download the right one. As for the SNES games, use Google to find them, but make sure you own the games you download.
Nintendo GameBoy
Nintendo GameBoy has been the first widely used handheld gaming console. Although the first GameBoy could only display pictures in four shades of sickly looking green, and the screen resolution was meager 160×144 pixels, the handheld had taken the world by storm. Millions of GameBoys have been sold. Later, Nintendo released an improved version called GameBoy Pocket, the Super GameBoy that let gamers play GameBoy games on a TV, and finally the GameBoy Color equipped with a reflective color LCD.
Back in 1993, I authored the first GameBoy emulator, called the Virtual GameBoy. Over the years, Virtual GameBoy has gone through many updates and ports, including an unreleased port to the 1st Edition of S60, until I have finally ported it to the 3rd Edition. Download it here and see how well you phone can compare with the real thing.
There is another GameBoy emulator from Vampent, called vBoy Please note that there are different versions of vBoy for different S60 editions. Make sure you download the right one. Once again, you will have to use Google to find games and make sure you own the games you download.
Nintendo GameBoy Advance
Nintendo GameBoy Advance (GBA) has been a logical continuation of the GameBoy product line. It replaced a weak Z80 CPU with the 32bit ARM7, while the new video processor was borrowed from the very successfull Super NES and further extended. GBA is notoriously difficult to emulate, as it has complicated video hardware and a 32bit CPU. At least a 400MHz Pentium computer is needed to emulate GBA at a playable speed. Nothing prohibits us from trying though :).
Following Virtual GameBoy, I have written the Virtual GameBoy Advance that emulates GBA. It will run GBA games on any sufficiently fast hardware. While current 3rd Edition phones are based on 150..400MHz ARM chips and thus don’t qualify as “sufficiently fast”, I have ported VGBA to these phones anyway, to see how well it runs. Get a free copy and see how the current version works for yourself. Making VGBA playable on these phones will take a lot of optimization, but I hope that it eventually becomes possible.