Emulator:Windows Mobile : MorphGear 2.4.0.9SmartGear 0.12PocketEngine 1.0 beta 1XPCE ver0.22bfEngine v0.1bYameCE 0.38gDesktop Windows (and, in cases, other OS’es): Ootake 1.03Magic Engine v1.0.0 pr10Yame 0.38Xe (Build: Nov 1, 2006)
VerdictNot the fastest and fully compatible, but at least supports Landscape and has no known bugs (except for being incompatible with some titles). What is more, it’s free.Very fast and, unlike with NES emulation, Landscape-capable. Also, it runs all the three Bonk titles. However, it’s not VGA-compliant and, of course, doesn’t support on-screen tap areas.Unfortunately, the Button 1 bug (upon pressing Button 1 to bring up the GUI it crashes the mobile completely on all the supported platforms) makes it very hard to use on WM2003+. Unfortunately, it doesn't support loading / saving game states either, which means you'll need to restart your games from the beginning, which, unless they offer explicit RAM-backed load/save capabilities, is really awkward with some titles. Otherwise, it’d be excellent, mostly because of the Landscape support and sufficiently large on-screen tap areas (in Landscape).The awfully desynched sound makes this a bad choice – unless you are ready to play without sound.Pretty useless: bad compatibility ratio; has no soundUseless on ARM because of the lacking PE support and the impossibility of getting earlier, on ARM, PE-capable version. 0.38g is only usable on MIPS (preferably an E-750 overclocked to 280 MHz.)Bonk’s (Big) Adventure don’t work (Revenge does); everything else too; not compatible with Hi-ResAble to run everything. Too bad it’s commercial.As with the WM port, it doesn’t emulate the three Bonk games; otherwise, all is OK, including high-res stuffEmulates everything, including high-res stuff. Recommended! Also contains support for several other consoles.
OS compatibilityWM2003+WM2003+PPC2k+ ARM (GAPI needed); in WM2003+, the menu button doesn’t work. That is, it’s only under pre-WM2003 OS’es that it’s usable. On the iPAQ 3660, only overclock to 221 MHzWM2003+AllUnfortunately, only the MIPS version (as of 0.38g) has PE support. ARM builds don’t. You may want to WindowsXP/2000/VistaWindows and Mac OS 8/9/OS X ClassicWindows (at the link)Windows / Linux
Price?freeCommercial; price unknownfreefreefreefreefree€15 EUR / $19 USDfreefree
Last modified?01/24/200703/27/200602/10/200103/06/200610/12/200106/06/20022007.05.1104/02/200511/02/2001Nov 1, 2006
QVGA?++++++n/an/an/an/a
VGA?+-++++n/an/an/an/a
Speed on a Dell Axim x51v underclocked to 208 MHz (tested with 1943 Kai)?Pretty much unplayable, even with sound disabledJust great, even with enabled sound! In no way worse than at 624 MHz!Pretty much unplayable with sound; better without soundnothing particularnothing particularnothing particularn/an/an/an/a
Landscape?++ (as opposed to NES emulation, where it doesn’t work), both right- and left-handed. Note that the latter mode will result in display splitting problems, as opposed to the (much more commonly used) right-hand mode + (menu-based switching)+ (built-in support for changing)--n/an/an/an/a
Sound: Supported?+++ (a bit more distorted than with MG)+; awfully desynched (see for example the in-game music of Bomberman '94 (J) and compare it to, say, MG). Unfortunately, disabling auto frameskip in Option / Display in order to get it synched doesn’t work.-+ (but you will want to switch out on a MIPS device because of the speed.)++++
Stereo?-; no setting / tuning capabilities in Settings+ (needs to be enabled by hand)++n/a+++++
File handling: ZIP++-+--++++
Save / load game state9 slots; can save/load any timeWhen enabled in Options / Settings / Auto Load/Save, it'll automatically save / reload the game state upon loading a ROM. Unfortunately, if you load another ROM in the meantime, this won't work. Also, enabling this feature will cause for example Bonk 3 - Bonk's Big Adventure not to load. Therefore, you may want to disable this feature if you encounter unloadable gams. The same stands for resetting a game: if you don't assin the Reset functinality to a hardware button (beause, say, there are too few - less than 5 - of them), quickly unticking this checkbox and reloading the ROM will be the solution.-One state per ROM (File / Save State and Load State)-5 states (File / Save State and Load State)++++
Controls: on-screen tap areasOnly in Portrait; uselessly small on VGA-+ (also in Landscape)Only in Portrait (at the bottom)--n/an/an/an/a
Buttons reassignable?++-+n/t+; you MUST assign them as is, for example, in this screenshot (showing the Casio). The meaning of the fields can be seen in the desktop version of Yame ++-+
Non-standard graphics demos: Hi-Res demoMessed upNot hi-res, but at least not so messed up as MGn/tn/tn/tn/t- 1 2 + (with double the vertical size) 1 2 + 1 2 + (with double the vertical size) 1 2
512cols++n/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/t
Bomberman Rasters-+ (flawless)n/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/t
Greyscale_Test- (uses non-greyscale colors)- (uses non-greyscale colors)n/tn/tn/tn/t- - - -
Slideshow-Outrun++n/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/t
SplitResOnly the first demo is OK (more or less); the others only show new contents in the upper third areaBall is not split (unlike with MG); other demos exhibit the same problems as with MGn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/t
WavyPCE+ +n/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/tn/t
Game tests: 1943 Kai (J)++++++ (everything tested on my MIPS Casio Cassiopeia)++++
Afterburner II++++++++++
Bomberman '94 (J)++++++++++
Bonk's Adventure (U)- (crashes MG at once)+- (black screen)- (black screen)- (illegal op, immediate crash)As with the desktop Yame, - (blue screen)-+ -+
Bonk's Revenge (U)- (after starting a game from the menu, stops at showing the sky with stars)++++As with the desktop Yame, - (blue screen) + + -+
Bonk 3 - Bonk's Big Adventure (U)- (black screen; crashes the entire device completely; reset needed)+- (black screen)- (black screen)- (illegal op, immediate crash)As with the desktop Yame, - (blue screen)-+ -+
F1 dream (J)++++- (black screen)+++++
Operation Wolf++++; REALLY awful in-game sounds- (after starting the 1-player mode)+++++
Shinobi- (severe in-game bitmap problems)- (in-game bitmap problems: even worse than with MG)- (severe in-game bitmap problems)- (severe in-game bitmap problems)- (severe in-game bitmap problems)+ (as with the desktop Yame)++++
Street Fighter II Champion Edition (J)- (severe in-game bitmap problems) - (severe in-game bitmap problems)- (severe in-game bitmap problems)- (severe in-game bitmap problems)- (severe in-game bitmap problems)+ (as with the desktop Yame)++++
Turrican+- (unplayable: the main sprite doesn’t land on the platform but falls down off it)++- (black screen)+++++