Welcome to another edition of QuickJump QuickGuide. The collection of articles is growing, and with every issue we release, we'd like to expand the topics that we touch on as well. For this week, we're giving you QJ's personal top picks for The Most Useful PSP homebrew applications. The candidates are many, and the reasons vary. First consideration that we looked at would be the functionality of the said application. And then came the personal preference. Feel free to add in your own faves in the list after the jump!

The JPCSP team has once again released another update for jpcsp, the Java-based PSP emulator for PCs. Sadly, they didn't include a changelog in this release, but it could conceivably be more stability fixes for the demos and such.


Download: jpcsp v0.09 revision 743

Homebrew developer davex dropped by QJ.NET PSP Development Forum and happily announced that the owner of Sega Game Master PSP emulator, Mr Akop (aka uberjack), has finally allowed him to tinker with the program's code and add Rewind and Mirror functions (RM).

You've probably heard or even tried this very same functionality in NesterJ. But for the uninitiated, the Rewind function allows users to warp back in time (within the game, of course) without thinking about saving states.

The mirror functions, on the other hand, "mirrors the look of the game so a left-to right side scroller is now played in reverse. This is really a nifty addition to SMS Plus which was just upgraded to v1.2.3 just a couple of weeks ago.

Before installing this program to your PlayStation Portable units, kindly go over the Readme.txt file included in the download for more information and key mapping to trigger RM.

Download: Unofficial SMSPlusPSP v1.2.3 RM
Visit: QJ PSP Development Forum

Homebrew developer davex has updated his NesterJ mod once again. This time, there's another new mode that'll add another new dimension to your NesterJ experience.

Previous versions of this NesterJ mod added the Rewind and Mirror modes. The former allows players to warp back in time without using save states. The latter inverts the NES emulator's graphics, so a game that normally scrolls from left to right can be made to scroll right to left instead.

This particular update adds a new Rotated mode. It rotates the game screen 180 degrees, so players will also have to physically rotate their PlayStation Portable units. Under Rotated mode, players will have to get used to having the directional pad and the action buttons inverted. Here are a couple more things davex has added in this version:

• Corrects the crashes on ROM changing in previous version.
• Allows you configure rewind parameters in the new "Rewind" menu.

If you have any questions, suggestions or bug reports, click on the Visit link below. Be sure to check out the readme file included in the download for more information.

Download: Unofficial NesterJ NES Emulator 1.11 RM V1.0 update
Visit: QJ.NET PSP Development Forums thread

Looking for a different spin on the NesterJ homebrew NES Emulator for the PSP by Ruka? Developer davex dropped by the QJ.Net Forums earlier to announce an unofficial release of the emulator's v1.11, with this version carrying mods like Rewind, and Mirror mode.

Rewind, as its name implies, will allow players to warp back in time (*ahem*, within the game) in case they made a mistake. It's a bit like saving states, but with less of the hassle. The "Rewind" button is mapped to the R trigger by default, and can be remapped.

Mirror mode inverts the game's graphics; much like how some manga get reversed when they get printed stateside. This new mode should enable sidescroller fans to enjoy their old classics from (quite literally) a different point of view. A third (and more subtle) mode also mentioned is sepia palette, which swaps out the game's color palettes into those you'll find in the GameBoy.

davex explains that this NesterJ revision is being released with the approval of the emulator's original creator, Ruka. Full usage details and explanations are available in the file readme included in the bundle. Also make sure to drop by davex's release thread for more info.

Download: NesterJ NES Emulator 1.11 RM (Rewind and Mirror Mods)
Visit: QJ's PSP Development Forum

It's not like we don't have NES emulators for the PSP. PSP users have had the feature-packed Snes9xTYL and NesterJ emulators for quite some time but that doesn't mean another NES emulator isn't welcome - after all, there hasn't been a new NES emulator in quite some time.

Today, Tinnus has released a proof of concept NES emulator for PSP, a module from his Little John package of emulators for PalmOS. The NES emulator features:

• Full speed (@333Mhz and v-sync ON)
• Full screen
• Full sound at 44 KHz
• Full controls (D-Pad, X = A, O = B)
• Biggest mapper and overall compatibility ever (I'm yet to find a game that doesn't work)

The biggest thing that this emulator doesn't feature is any type of configuration. This could decrease compatibility with certain ROMs, but remember this is a proof of concept, not the final version of the emulator.

Well, why release a POC so early on? Well, remember the Little John package for PalmOS we mentioned earlier? Currently it emulates the NES, SNES, Gameboy/Gameboy Color, Sega Genesis/Megadrive, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Bandai Wonderswan/Wonderswan Color, and the NeoGeo Pocket/NeoGeo Pocket Color for PalmOS - now Tinnus is planning on porting this to the PSP.

That's right, in the future you should be able to play games from all of the listed consoles using just one emulator from the Little John project. We're quite excited about this and we'll be looking out for more releases from Tinnus. Stay tuned.

Download: [Little John NES module POC]

With the addition of a great homebrew community, the PSP is arguably one of the best handheld consoles ever produced. A lot of people would probably disagree with that statement, but before you go complaining through your comments, sit back for a minute and think about it. Sure, the PSP hasn't got the greatest selection of UMD games around, but due to its hardware power, it can play games from many other retro consoles using emulators. The popularity of these emulators is unprecedented on any other portable console and you can see just how many emulators have been released for the PSP over at our QuickJump Download site in the PSP Emulators section.

With new revelations for PSP 2.71 users, more PSP users can now enjoy full use of these emulators, and for this reason we have compiled a list of the Top Five PSP emulators of all time, spanning a wealth of retro consoles.

Check out the top 5 emulators for PSP after the jump!

We're sure you're all already familiar with NesterJ, but just in case the term does not ring a bell, it's actually a NES emulator for the PSP. The last version, v1.30beta2, included a WiFi Network Play. It has been a while since we've heard from Ruka, the creator of this emulator; but that doesn't mean NesterJ is completely out of the limelight.

Today, Flammingcowz presents us with a fw 2.71 version (or DevHook version, as the author named it) of the "near perfect" NES emulator. Using NesterJ v1.11, Flammingcowz - with the help of monkeyboy1916 - was able to compile the Ruka creation to work on an emulated 2.71. If our memory serves us right, this is the very first homebrew on 2.71 of course using DevHook.

You can expect Flammingcowz to come up with more "compiled for 2.71" homebrew applications in the future, as long as he gets permission from the original developers. So you might want to check out his work and leave your comments as to what other apps, games, and emulators you want to see. Enjoy!

Download: [NesterJ v1.11 for DevHook]

Now here's a developer we haven't heard from in a while! 'e' has released the first new version of his e[mulator] for the PSP, bringing it up to version 0.81 today. e[mulator] for PSP is an emulator which combines e’s own eSwan emulator with HuE. eSwan is an emulator for WonderSwan on the PSP, and HuE is an emulator for PC-Engine on the PSP. Here's the changelog that has been kindly translated by QJ's very own Jeff Chen:

Overall
- State management fixed
- Thumbnail auto-generation fixed

WonderSwan
- Horizontal scrolling problem fixed
- HBLANK and VBLANK processing fixed

Famicon
- ROM database processing fixed

Now supported hardware
- PC Engine Super Graphics CDROM2
- WonderSwan
- Famicon (modified and used the source code of NesterJ for PSP)
- GameBoy (modified and used the source code of RIN)

Download: [e[mulator] v0.81 for PSP]

NesterJ, the nearly perfect NES emulator by Ruka, has been making nostalgic PSP owners happy for over a year now and is a staple of PSP homebrew. Today, it has taken a couple more steps towards being the ideal emulator on the PSP.  3 months ago, Ruka had mentioned that he was working on NesterJ v1.20 and intended it to have Ad-Hoc WiFi support for 1.0/1.50 PSP's (kernel access). Thanks to the recent downgrader, this is a great way to experience the joys of homebrew gaming for the PSP!

As if that wasn't enough, Ruka also says that thanks to improvements in GPU processing, there's about a 20% increase in speed - which is saying something since NesterJ already ran a fair share of NES games at full speed with frameskip disabled. Previous problems with sound timing were also fixed, but is still a problem with Network Play.

Courtesy of our own Jeff C., here are the translated details from the changelog:

• Drawing speed up by 20% when using GPU
• Sound processing in single play mode has been modified
• Network communication is still in-development and needs adjustment
• If you don't want to use frameskip during Network Play, set CPU to 333mhz
  
• Misc.

How to start WiFi Network Play:

1. Turn on your WiFi switch and set your PSP to AdHoc Mode (choose the same channel as your co-player)
2. Start NesterJ and choose your ROM
3. Select "Wifi Network Play(Adhoc)"
4. Wait until you get the message "sceNetInit() done" - this means the PSP is in Network Standby
5. Repeat steps 1 - 4 for the second player
   
6. Player 2: Press Circle to send a connection request
7. Player 1: After getting the request from Player 2, press the Circle button
   

Obviously, identical ROMs are needed and if the emulator settings on all the PSP's are not the same, the synchronization might fail.

This is still a beta so it is a bit unstable, but it should give you and a friend a retro-tastic good time, as well be a great way for all the new downgradee's to experience a piece of PSP homebrew history - past, present and future. (Thanks for the heads up, Byte!)

Since this is still a beta, Ruka asks that it not be hosted outside of his site - you can download it from Ruka's homepage below:

Download: [NesterJ for PSP v.1.20beta2] - Digg it!