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Classic Games And Emulators On The Zodiac
Pong dead, but not buried
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by Scott Raulinaitis, Editor - 11/24/2003 - 1:28pm EST
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I would imagine that everyone who pre-ordered a Zodiac (up till the day before it "officially began shipping") should have received it by now. Initial user reviews, like the reviews from major publications that preceded the release, seem to be mostly glowing. But there's still one thing lacking: Games.
While there are only a handful of Zodiac-optimized games available for sale on Tapwave's site, thanks to game console and computer emulator developers, the library of classic games could be significant.
None of these seem to be ready for prime-time just yet, but at least some of these developers are hard at work tuning their software for the Zodiac. One unexpected hurdle involved conflicts in licensing agreements between Tapwave and the open source GPL. Fortunately, Tapwave recognizes the value in having these emulators run well on the Zodiac and they're working to relax the legal mumbo-jumbo to ensure that the lawyers don't get in the way.
So, let's take a look at what emulators are coming and just how they're coming along...
Atari 2600
It's not quite a full-blown emulator, but Aaron Ardiri of Mobile Wizardry is the man behind the Atari Retro Pack, which is expected to go on sale in early 2004. The pack consists of seven Atari 2600 games, optimized for the Zodiac. While the Atari 2600 was originally played on a large (for the time) TV, even on the Zodiac's comparitively small screen, I have to wonder if these games will really still be any fun to play.
Commodore 64
My C=64 years are a blur for some reason. I know that I owned one, but I'll be darned if I can remember for how long and exactly what I did with it. Frodo, a C=64 emulator, was originally developed by Christian Bauer and is available for a wide variety of platforms. The source code was recently adapted to Palm OS5 by Johan Forsberg, but support for the Zodiac's controls is still nonexistent. The C=64 was a full-fledged computer, which could make for some interesting uses for this emulator. Tapwave's site lists several C=64 gaming bundles as coming in December. It's unclear whether the developer behind Frodo for Palm OS5 is the same one behind these Tapwave-optimized releases.
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Mario on the Zodiac? Kalem Soft has had its NesEm software available for Palm OS5 for some time now, but Zodiac support is still lacking. I never owned an NES, though I did own the Super Nintendo. The combination of medium-res graphics, modest processing requirements, and a huge gaming library could make this a really nice emulator to have for the Zodiac. So be sure and let this developer know that there's a demand for this.
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| Sega Master System emulator |
Sega Game Gear and SMS
Kalem Soft also just recently began beta testing Gizmo and Gizmo Ultra. The former emulates the Sega Game Gear, while the latter also adds Sega Master System support. I owned both of these system (and as you probably noticed in my recent Zodiac photo gallery, I still own the Game Gear). I was never overly thrilled with most of the Game Gear games, but I did really enjoy Sonic the Hedgehog on it. Of course, with recent rumors of a standalone Sonic game coming to the Zodiac, I could probably get my fix from that.
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| XCade arcade game emulator |
XCade multiple arcade game emulator
Jeff Mitchell (aka Skeezix) of Codejedi ported his XCade arcade game emulator (which pre-dates MAME, by the way) to Palm OS5 a while back. Fortunately for us, he's also the proud new father of a Tapwave Zodiac. As such, he's furiously working to tweak XCade for the Zodiac. Most recently, he updated it to support landscape mode to allow for more comfortable use of the Zodiac's controller/button layout. Support for sound is still in the works.
Atari ST
XCade isn't the only thing that Jeff is working on. He also has an Atari ST emulator called CaSTaway which is in beta testing for the Zodiac. I remember the days of the Amiga / Atari ST wars. The Amiga was the computer that really ignited my enthusiasm for graphic design and computing in general. Unfortunately, not everyone was lucky enough to own an Amiga. Some had to settle for the Atari ST instead. Just kidding Jeff.
Sega Genesis
Tapwave's site has lifted the veil on two of the six Sega Genesis games that are coming. First up are Altered Beast and Golden Axe 3. Like the Atari 2600 retro pack, this won't be a full-blown Sega Genesis emulator, but rather individual games optimized for the Zodiac. Nevertheless, whomever is responsible for these seems to be looking to go above and beyond simply porting these games, as Tapwave's site lists these games as offering Bluetooth multi-player, tournament mode, and rumble effects. If these ports go well, tapping into the Genesis library could be a great resource for future games.
And that's not all. There are other emulators available for the Palm OS. You can take a look at Simon Kowalewski's site, palmemu.com, to find out more.
And now for the disclaimer...Most of these emulators will require game ROMs in order to be of any use. Of course, game ROMs are copyrighted and can't be freely distributed. Many of the sites linked to in this article describe the process you'll need to go through in order to legally obtain ROM images for the games you want to play. Another site to check out is StarROMs which legally sells games which will work with the XCade emulator. Discussions about piracy in Tapland's forums will not be tolerated.
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