The GekiHEN Wishlist: Stuff I’d Like to See on Vita (Part III)
(If you want to take a look at the earlier parts of this article, you can do so here and here for Part I and II respectively)
I have to apologize for the delay in this second part of this series of articles, but real life got in the way of research – and I need to do a lot of research for this articles: specs, games, engines and their states (playable or not) and then take a look at some of you guys’ suggestions in the comments and then research those. It is a very fun but time-consuming work and as you guys might have noticed, last month had so many releases I would spend entire days writing about 3-4 articles per day trying to cope with all the releases (not taking into account personal projects). Now that releases have calmed down for a bit, I can actually come back to this.
As usual I have taken one or two suggestions from the comments from users and will be giving credit where it’s due but I may forget a person or another so I apologize in advance. Also I’m glad to point out that, for those who haven’t been following the news, another two items in this list can be crossed out since the last release: PCSX-R and the original Prince of Persia. I won’t dare suggesting that my articles helped this in any way (PCSX-R at the very least, was always coming no matter what) but I like making these articles in the hopes that a developer will maybe stumble upon them and get an idea. And if you guys remember, it worked for Tyrian 2000, so I will try and keep doing my part in this. Now let’s get on with this list, shall we?
Wagic The Homebrew?!:
How about starting with an entry that could get me “fired”? There is a reason this game hadn’t really covered Wagic yet, despite it being one of the most beloved homebrews in the PSP homebrew scene (and created by this website’s very own Wololo). That reason is that I really never could get into it no matter how hard I tried. I can’t deny all its mechanical greatness and awesome modability, but the UI always rubbed me the wrong way… never really clicked with me. Despite that, I can see why it one of the most beloved and played homebrews to this day and for that reason only, it is worthy of an update to the PS Vita. Thanks to users Yskar and Unfor for reminding me of this.
SmashGPSP:
Looking for the source code for this homebrew was a labor fueled only by love because it was hard as heck to find the most up-to-date source code for this. Most websites who hosted this from back in the day such as QJ.net and PSPHomebrew (where this website got its download) are all dead or totally broken. After a good while of googling around I was able to secure both the source code linked in the title and the latest binary will all assets included. They have been uploaded to one of my personal clouds for safekeeping just in case and for anyone willing to use them.
For those not in the know, SmashGPSP is an homebrew developed for the old GP32 and the PSP by developer mATkEUpon. It is a 2D Super Smash Bros. clone that was made with moddability in mind since anyone could add-in characters and levels at will for others to use. This was the source of its popularity and what made so many people play it. Hopefully my digging of the source code will get us to re-experience this on our PS Vitas.
Another World II Heart of the Alien:
Recently you might have caught wind of the port of PC cult classic Another World to the Vita. Well, imagine my surprise when I discovered that the game had a sequel!… that for some reason was exclusive to the SEGA CD. This might be the reason why no one knows about this game, barely anyone bought the thing! Yes, I know that some great games came out for the most famous Genesis add-on (at least it wasn’t the 32x, right?) such as Popful Mail, Sonic CD and Snatcher but most of it was FMV trash from the time when game developers thought that the future of the industry was really badly acted “movie-games”.
From all I’ve been able to gather, the game was a tried and true sequel to the original Another World that weaved a new tale on top of the original game’s mechanics. If you ask me that sounds like a game I’d love to play! The original Another World was really good so I’d love to give the sequel a whirl on my Vita.
Fade to Black:
Another sequel I never knew existed, Fade to Black is the sequel to the game Flashback (that was recently ported to the PS Vita) that managed to pass under my radar for all this time, simply because of the fact that it doesn’t have anything in the name tying it to its predecessor. Unlike its predecessor who was released to almost every platform available at the time, Fade to Black was released only for DOS and PS1 with planned version for the N64 and Sega Saturn getting cancelled. The game was very well received among critics at the time with some citing that despite the blocky 3D transition, the game blended action and puzzling very well.
A second sequel for this series was planned with the name Flashback Legends and was going to be released for the Gameboy Advance. Delphine Software however went bankrupt before that could happen so this third game planned which was going to go back to the 2D roots of the series was never released. There is however a prototype ROM floating around the internet with an English translation (the original prototype was French-only) so if you’re willing to google it, you should be able to find it easily. The more you know!
Jazz Jackrabbit:
Jazz Jackrabbit is one of those games that somehow manages to live through the ages and stay in the hearts and minds of those who grew up playing it (although I haven’t) and it was the one the first games in the career of (in)famous game designer Cliff Blezsinski. It is a run-and-gun shooter – in the vein of games link Contra – released for MS-DOS back in 1994. It was very well received to the point it had 2 sequels and a remake in 2002. The best way to play the game in modern systems is to use the open-source version of its engine called OpenJazz which has had version for a great number of platforms including the PSP, by the hands of the developer deniska.
Ikemen:
Does anyone here remember how cool OpenMugen was on the PSP? I know I am not the only one since this one was a suggestion by users Enigma Hall and holofonoro in the last article’s comment section. For those not in the know, like I was, Ikemen Mugen – or just Ikemen – is a fork of Mugen that allows for multiplayer action! For those who don’t know what M.U.G.E.N. is, it an open-source 2D fighting game engine in which you can add whatever characters you want from a choice of thousands of community created characters. It is probably one of the most popular open-source projects in the internet and has been around for years. There was a version released for the PSP back in its day, but bringing Mugen to the next-gen of the Sony portable console family with an online component would be the greatest!
That’s it for Part III of this article series! This is the one I had the most fun writing for sure, mostly because of how it got me to go in search of the source for SmashGPSP which I loved to do. Researching is one of the funnest things I can imagine so it felt quite rewarding to do something like that for someone other than myself… hopefully. The promised poll for an article will be coming at a later date since I still have lots of games and ports I want to cover which should take at least another article or two.
As usual, I will be trying to interacting as much as possible with you guys in the comments, but it may not always be possible. I do end up reading all your comments though, even if it’s just before writing the next article in this series like I did this time. So fire away down there and let’s hope developers see some of these suggestions and bring them to us!
You can find me on Twitter here where I usually rant about anti-consumer BS, give opinions on games or interact with other people as social media was meant to be. You can also check my recently-started YT gaming channel here if you want, where I mostly do Lets Plays (PC).
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Still can’t believe how good retroarch for vita has gotten.
mugen on the vita or pstv with online??
would be superb. ^_^.
I might even try on the psvita thru vhbl.
I don’t know what can make me happier… A Port of Jazz Jackrabbit or a Port of something like mugen.
I still own my copy of Fade to Black. For some reason this game stuck with me. Most likely because it was the first of its kind and left its mark on me. Its funny though, I also remember it being really hard to control with a Resident Evil type of movement. Even so it is still great.
About dos ports f someone can make the old mechwarrior work please. Dont hesitate.
My Wishlist:
– Beavis and Butthead – Virtual Stupidity
– Duke Nukem 3D
– Sim City 2000
– The Sims (the original Sims for PC)
– Aquaria
Chicken Invaders
Magic Ball
How about Porting VLC?
+1 to this
More plugins, like a good screenshots plugin like on PSP => perfect screenshot in bmp or png
Its always homebrew games homebrew games and more homebrew games with these lists, yes its cool but the vita needs more system hacks first , like a cfw for example, though I realize its a stretch, its seems like the logical next step,
also I would love to see system settings hacks such as the ability to disable the stupid freaking AVLS audio thing permanently, I know im not the only one annoyed by that stupid thing,
Maybe the ability to copy content to the vita through vita shell without ftp?? I dont understand how that one isnt a no brainer, sheesh ftp is slow and annoying, ive been dealing with it since the original xbox days!
My point is that while homebrew games are cool, system hacks and customization is more important imo.
Can’t believe nobody mentioned Blood the fps PC game… the best. Now I know that Blood was not open-sourced, so probably we’ll only see Blood in Dosbox, and it will run VERY bad – even 2ghz quad core android phones have trouble running it in Dosbox. But it’s ok to dream about a native port, right? 😉
What abouut an MMO? Something like Ultima Online or similar! With the touch keyboard of Ps Vita It would be Easy to cooperate!
I don’t know if It’s feasible tough..
A program to read PDF on the Vita would be nice 🙂
If you want to reinstall henkaku while off line and without access to wifi then first make a system backup with the internal memory having the offline version of henkaku installed, but turn off your vita first, because with the latest henkaku your vita will be spoofed to 3.61 so make sure your vita has the offline henkaku installed but not activated just installed so your vita is on 3.60 when you make the backup.
I would like to see a VPN client
PLEASE MAKE A CHROMATIC GUITAR TUNER
Or maybe any dev could release an actual offline installer of henkaku that actually installs henkaku while your vita is offline, so for example if you can go somewhere and have access to wifi then you can visit henkaku.xyz. and get your 3.60 modded with henkaku and once you go home where there is no wifi you can still install OFFLINE henkaku, I mean the exploit gets installed without an internet connection and yes you still have to use the email app to run the exploit. Maybe I am crazy but it seems like common sense to me that an OFFLINE installer should be able to install the exploit while your vita is OFFLINE.
better than nothing amirite?
but yeah. An actual offline installer would be choice.
I Would love some Vita Wagic in 2016. 😉
xash3d – port Half-Life for arm
I would love to see a working version of Dangerous Dave for the Vita. That was the game I grew up playing on a floppy drive. So many good memories there.
I love fade to black. It was my first ps1 game and I was much much too young to understand it. I do remember it fondly for it’s creepy atmosphere and excellent sound design. I wanted to give it another chance but emulation for fade to black is inaccurate and warps the perspective of the corridors.
What I’d like to see on vita is a ps2 emulator. If only because I want Gradius 5 on the go, along with a plethora of *** ps2 style action games that I love to mess around in.
Would like a ui change,
Get rid of the bubbles and let us change the way we launch stuff.
I would love to have cspsp on the vita it was so much fun playing online this top-down counter strike shooter, playing this on the vita would be so great
great pcsx-rearmed again !
but what about pcsx2 !!!! lol
at least i would wish.
It would be nice to see Sonic Robo Blast 2 on Vita!
Its basically DOOM mod and prBoom should hadle it.
It has PSP port but with slowdowns. With Vita’s hardware and second analog stick makes it perfect place to play!
Also it would be nice to have a BOR Engine port. There are plenty interesting games on that engine like Golden Axe Myth for example.
Cool. But how about some PSP backups first, eh? It still not possible on HENkaku.
The PS Vita just doesn’t seem complete without any PSP iso/cso loading.
…and maybe PS1, sure, why not. But PSP first!
RetroArch Pscx-armed its already out buddy! play your ps1 isos there
as for PSP back ups @TheFlow find out about the psp emu from a native side, so other people are working on it :D, you will be playing psp backups in no time!
PSP / PS1 bubbles!
Why not a remapping plugin like macrofire on psp ? I would like to play Ratchet & Clank trilogy HD without need to use the rear touchpad…
What about some app that decrypt the PSN updates and allows the installation of original updates?
A decent web browser and how about a youtube client which allows you to watch videos longer than an hour!!!! Remotejoy style app for sharing vita screen with other devices and vice versa? Game cartridge slot should be hacked to support SD cards. Fully fledged vita custom firmware and a full speed Sega Saturn emulator, ahem… please?!?!?
i would like to see open bor come to vita or the zelda homebrew
http://www.robinmckelvie.com/krakow-the-new-prague-by-robin-mckelvie-in-the-list-magazine/