If you take a second to launch the iOS App Store and check out the
top paid and free charts, it becomes immediately apparent how successful
mobile based gaming has become on Apple’s range of iOS devices. We’ve
seen time and time again that some of the biggest app launches that
attract the most attention come from established and independent game
developers and have managed to thrust mobile based gaming directly into
the limelight.
Games like Infinity Blade that are based around the Unreal Engine
have shown us exactly what developers are capable of producing for the
iPhone and iPad, but that doesn’t mean that every release is going to be
that polished. Different genres of games call for different graphics
and implementations and thankfully the App Store has all categories
covered ranging from 2D top-down classics to advanced multiplayer 3D
creations. But what about those who want to maybe try some of the old
classics from Sony’s fantastic PSP?
Where there’s a will there is most definitely always a way, so let us introduce you to the multi-platform
PPSSPP
Emulator that allows PSP games to be emulated on the Apple mobile
hardware. If playing those wonderful PSP games on your jailbroken iPhone
or iPad appeals to you, read on for a simple step-by-step process to
get up and running.
Installing the PPSSPP Emulator
NOTE: The installation of the emulator requires a jailbroken iPhone,
iPod touch and iPad. This package will not work on stock iOS devices
running an unmodified version of iOS.
Step 1: Launch
Cydia, navigate to the
Manage tab before selecting
Sources and then
Edit. Select the
Add button from the top left corner and enter the following third-party repository:
cydia.myrepospace.com/theavenger.
Step 2: Wait for the repository to refresh and bring in the hosted packages. Search for PPSSPP before selecting the one returned result and selecting install.
Step 3: When the package has finished installing select the
Return to Cydia option. Exit Cydia and you will notice a new PPSSPP icon on the home screen of the device.
Step 4: Select the PPSSPP icon from the home screen to launch the PSP emulator on the jailbroken device.
The default installation of the PPSSPP emulator will come in the form
of a fully functioning shell application, meaning that the ability to
play PSP games is there but no actual PSP ISOs are present. Users will
be required to dump their own PSP games and turn them into .ISO or .CSO
files in order for the emulator to interact with them. Alternatively,
there are a number of free homebrew type games that are available
online.
Putting .ISO or .CSO files onto the device
Before being able to play PSP games through the emulator it is
necessary to copy one or more .ISO or .CSO files across to a directory
on the device. When the emulator is launched it has a ‘Load…’ option
that allows us to point it to the directory of installed games.
NOTE: Dumping already owned games and formatting them into the
correct format for the emulator is outside of the scope of this guide
and therefore isn’t covered. The next steps assume that this has already
been carried out.
Step 1: The default directory that the emulator looks to for games on the jailbroken device is
/var/mobile/Documents. This folder will be more than likely be initially empty and requires us to provide it with some game data.
Step 2: Because the PSP game files are likely to be
larger than 450MB in size it makes good sense to copy them to the device
using a wired connection and a program like
iExplorer or
Cyberduck.
Connecting through wireless through SSH is also an option but data
transfer will likely take a lot longer. Copy the game file to a familiar
directory on the device.
Step 3: Load the PPSSPP Emulator, select the
Load…
option from the right hand menu and then navigate to the directory
where the file was copied in step 2. Launch and play the game.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO TUTORIAL
