Want more of Sony PlayStation Portable homebrew developer dan369's own version of the Legend of Zelda? Then good news, as the latest version of dan369's homebrew rendition with the same title has just been rolled out with quite the new content packed into it. Oh, and it's now also compatible with the PSP Slim & Lite model, so everyone can play regardless of model. Check it out at the full article.

Download: Legend of Zelda Alpha 2
Visit: QJ.NET's PSP Development Forums

Over on the QJ.Net forums, dan369 has released a new homebrew project, called Legend of Zelda alpha 1. As you can probably guess, it's a work-in-progress game featuring Link and Zelda, and runs on its own engine based on Zion's Zelda game. More on this after the jump!

Developer Zion and his team has been in and out of the PSP homebrew scene for the last few months, but he's now back and working on several projects for the PSP homebrew community. His latest release is a nifty on screen keyboard application called Zion OSK v1.1 Beta.

The full article awaits after the jump!

Download: Zion OSK v1.1 Beta

Zion, who also goes by the alias Xx FightStar xX, dropped us a line about a recent update on the homebrew game based off of Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo: Genocide. While the previous version was already astounding as it was, the developer reassures us that this is "the closest and most realistic thing so far to being able to play Halo on your PSP." 'Nuf said, right?

Now as Zion says, Halo: Genocide v1.3 is mainly a bug fix release. A couple of lagging and slowdown issues have been resolved, as well as other minor hiccups. Zion is also asking for help from some of the graphic designers out there. Maybe you want to get into the project? Zion elaborates: "Im looking for a gfx artist to make this either better and add more content to it or turn the game into an original shooter."

Since the developer is requesting that other sites not host the file, we'd have to redirect you to the Read link below. You'd have to register and login to download the file, though.

Visit: PSP Development Forum

Developer hardhat passed by our Forums yesterday to alert us that he's got a preview out for an upcoming release of build 21 of his PSP top down 2D game, Last Call.

As mentioned, the game is a top down 2D game that features 6 playable levels, a full level editor, 3 types of collectibles, over 50 NPCs that interact with you (and even insult you if they feel like it), a sound track, and particle effects when items are gathered.

What's the game about? Well, it's a about a guy named Les who got "ambushed" by his co-workers after his recent promotion. After having one too many drinks, Les now has to go home, and you, the player sorta have to help him. This of course, is when the fun in the game begins. Watch the video at the bottom to have a better idea.

The game was programmed by hardhat and a_nub. The sounds in the game were from WernerVonBraun, meanrabbit.com, and the music was from mono211.com/modsoulbrother/. The game's Graphics was by birdman2078, hardhat, a_nub, Meyitzo, and Zion.

Nice work guys!

Discuss: PSP Development Forums

Homebrew developer Zion dropped by QJ.Net PSP forums and released a very exciting homebrew port of video game title Mario Kart 64. This really is exciting because we all know that a lot of gamers loved this game. As a matter of fact, total sales for Mario Kart 64 reached one million just after one week of being on the market.

Obviously, we here at QJ love that game as well but we should focus on the homebrew game because it is equally as good and as fun. While in 2D, Zion noted that it took him quite a while to perfect this release so give it a try. Some of Super Mario Smash Kart v1.0 features include:

• Three levels
• Scrolling
• Main Menu
• Four computer controlled racers racing against you.
• Character Selection menu that includes : 5 Selectable Characters (Link, Luigi, Kirby, Donkey Kong, and Mario).
• Power-Ups and Missiles - Including Chomp, Shells, Bananas, and Mushrooms.
• Random AI - No race will ever be the same.
• Pause Screen - Ability to pause the game at any time.
• Nice Animation.
• Great soundtrack and sound effects.

Controls and other information can be found in the Readme file. The developer is also responsible for other homebrew projects like DreamChip and canceled venture Wandria: Tears of Fate.

Download: Super Mario Smash Kart v1.0
View: QJ PSP Development Forum

 

Some bittersweet news today folks. According to the latest report, Team ZionMax has discontinued the development of their homebrew RPG Wandria: Tears of Fate until further notice due to real-world circumstances surrounding Team ZionMax founder Zion.

The news of Wandria's cancellation may come as a shock to many, but perhaps not as much as the news that recently entered Zion's life. Malksta, who posted the news report on a forum, noted that Zion's recently given up coding to search for his long-lost brother.

In the meantime, Wandria's unfinished state is now up for download, for people who wanted to see the status of the game itself. The source code will also be released some time in the future for people who may want to continue the work began by Team ZionMax.

In the meantime, let's wish Zion some luck in finding his brother, shall we?

Download: Wandria Alpha

PSP homebrew developer, Zion, has released an updated version of his Chip 8 emulator for the PSP DreamChip. Now on version 4.0, he mentioned that he got the emulator running at 42fps and aside from that, he also placed a visible Fps counter. Just in case you don't know what Chip-8 is, then read on.

Chip-8 is a programming language originally concocted by Joseph Weisbecker for the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 8-bit microcomputers back in the 70s. There was a Chip-8 emulator for the PC coded by TJA and that was used by Zion to come up with a Chip-8 emulator for the PSP.

The coder also divulged that he "still havnt done that filebrowser, as im too busy working with wandria to bother. I just did this to prove to a few people that it can get to full speed without taking out the sdl". Thanks to Zion for this release.

Download: DreamChip v4.0

Homebrew coder Zion has just made an announcement regarding the ongoing Chip-8 emulator project, DreamChip. This PlayStation Portable-based homebrew application has just been updated to version 3.0, and is now available for your downloading pleasure.

Chip-8, for those asking, is a programming language originally created by Joseph Weisbecker for the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 8-bit microcomputers back in the 70s. This particular PSP version was coded from the PC emulator originally coded by TJA of the emutalk forums. Chip-8 carries ported classic games such as Pong, Space Invaders, Tetris, and Pac-Man. Getting back on topic, here are the changes from after version 2.0:

• The emulator now runs in full screen mode.
• Flickering reduced (only seems to affect Pong).
• Input working flawless (no more stickyness).
• Slight Speedup.
• More compatibility (games like Space Invaders now work)
  

Now, in case you guys were wondering what else is under works for version 4.0, Zion listed these:

• More compatibility (a few bugs are hampering a few games)
• Solve Flickering issue (flickering issue will be solved by the next release)
• File Browser (its been low on priority, but i will definitely include in next release)
• Speed (more speed )
  

Be sure to view the README to see how to upload this application to your PSP. DreamChip's source code to the bundle, which is hoped to help other aspiring coders learn the basics of PSP emulating. Lastly, be warned that Zion does not permit unofficial builds of this application. With that said, we thank Zion for this release, and hope you guys enjoy your download.

Download: DreamChip v3.0

After giving us an Alpha release just a few days ago, Zion is back with a bumped up version of his Chip8 emulator for the PSP called DreamChip.

Zion says that he worked really hard on this second release so that he can bring us a version that'll fix the previous bugs that users have reported. He has also tweaked the controls such that it now works great with every game he tested it on.

In addition to that, he says that more ROMs now work including Tetris. He has also decided to include the source code to this release BUT, he also wants to get this message across: "Source code is released under the gpl licence (i think) and is included in the zip file. I do not permit unofficial builds to be released of this emulator."

Hope that's loud and clear for all those who are interested in working on DreamChip. But just in case you're really interested, you can find Zion's contact details, as well as other info, on the readme. Included in his to-do list for the next release is a file browser and a speed up for the games that are currently running a bit slow.

Download: DreamChip v2.0