Emulation and Linux Gaming on the PS3

When I first started reading about installing Yellow Dog Linux I noticed a lot of complaints about the limited memory or the lack of hardware accelerated OpenGL support on the PS3. Fortunately, it turns out that you can do quite a lot with what we have available. The following is a list of various computers and game system emulators*, native Linux games, and source ports that I have used successfully on my PS3:

System -> Emulator

• Amiga -> e-uae
  Games such as Shadow of the Beast, Stunt Car Racer, Adventure Construction Set OK. OS3.X runs fine, too.
• Amstrad CPC -> sdlmess
• Apple II -> sdlmess
• Arcade Games -> sdlmame
  Most games up to the early 90’s / Mortal Kombat run OK.
• Atari 2600 -> stella
• Atari 7800 -> sdlmess
• Atari 800 -> atari800 emulator
• Atari Lynx -> mednafen
• Atari ST -> hatari
• Coleco/Adam -> sdlmess
• Commodore VIC20 -> VICE, sdlmess
• Commodore PET -> sdlmess
• Commodore Plus4 -> sdlmess
• Commodore 64 -> VICE, sdlmess
• Commodore 128 -> VICE, sdlmess
• Fairchild Channel F -> sdlmess
• Gameboy -> mednafen, gnuboy-sdl
• Gameboy Color -> mednafen, gnuboy-sdl
• Gameboy Advanced -> mednafen
• Mac OS 7.5.3 (68K) -> Basilisk II
  68K versions of Warcraft II, Prince of Persia, Lode Runner, Oregon Trail all OK.
• MSX Computer -> openmsx
• NES -> mednafen, fceultra / gfceu
• NeoGeo Pocket Color -> mednafen
• Odyssey 2 -> sdlmess (not 100% accurate)
• Sega Genesis -> sdlmess (partial or no sound in many games), Xe (multi-system)
• Sega Master System -> mednafen, sdlmess (smsj)
• Super Nintendo -> snes9x / snes9express, snes9x-gtk
• TRS-80 -> sdlmess
• TurboGrafx-16 /PC Engine -> mednafen
• PC MS-DOS -> DOSbox, QEMU
• PC Windows 3.1/95/98/2K/XP -> QEMU
  Diablo v1.09 and Starcraft run OK. Diablo II very slow; no in-game sound. Duke Nukem 3D & Rise of the Triad a bit slowly, but playable. Pokerstars online poker client OK. Thief extremely slow/unplayable, but with sound/voices. ( all under Win98 )
• Vectrex -> sdlmess
• ZX Spectrum -> sdlmess

That leaves a few I haven’t been able to run:

• Atari Jaguar (almost runs in sdlmess — not fast enough or 100% accurate)
• Intellivision (should be working in sdlmess, I think, not sure why not)
• Nintendo 64 (if possible would probably require accelerated video)
• Nintendo Gamecube (if possible would require accelerated video)
• Nintendo DS (desmume might work eventually?)
• Sega Saturn (yabause runs very slowly, not playable)
• Playstation (err… what’s the point?)

Haven’t tried yet:

• Apple IIGS

Aside from running emulators …

Java 5 and 6 plugins for Firefox run various Java games well including: Runescape MMORPG, multiplayer games on flyordie.com (online Chess, Reversi, 3D Pool, etc).

Installed Opera and Java 5 plugin OK. Seems a little faster than Firefox but could just be me. See this post by Paul (ppietro) on the Yellow Dog Community Board for setup instructions.

Various native Linux games:

SuperTux, Freeciv, Mega Mario, Rocks’n'Diamonds, Blob Wars: Metal Blob Solid, Pingus, FreedroidRPG, Battle for Wesnoth, Ri-li, Solarwolf

These source ports of early “3D” FPS games can all run smooth on the PS3 without OpenGL:

• Doom 1 & 2, Heretic, Hexen, Strife -> vavoom
• Descent II -> dxx-rebirth
• Duke Nukem 3D -> icculus.org source port
• Rise of the Triad -> icculus.org source port
• Quake II -> icculus.org source port
• Hexen II -> Hammer of Thyrion
• Marathon II + mods -> Aleph One

(Of the above FPS games, I had to compile all from source except for vavoom)

* There are some legal issues surrounding emulation and the use of game and/or system ROM images. A good summary can be found in this Wikipedia entry.