On My Nintendo DS: Super Airwolf for the Sega Genesis

Did you know that there's a replica of the helicopter from AIRWOLF on sale at eBay? Anyways, there was also an Airwolf game released on the Sega Genesis. Interestingly, it was released as Crossfire in the United States, while elsewhere it was known as Super Airwolf.

Also interesting was the gameplay. At first I thought the game was a straight-forward shmup ala 1942, where you shoot down planes, tanks and enemy emplacements with your souped-up helicopter. The subsequent land-based commando mission took me by surprise. It was a break from the norm but at the same time, devilishly hard to play.

I took a video of that sequence:



So what are the differences between Crossfire and Super Airwolf? Both are similar gameplay wise but try to spot the differences between the games with the videos I've taken below:





This write-up wouldn't have been possible without jEnesisDS, a Sega Genesis emulator for the Nintendo DS, and the R4DS, a flashcart used to run homebrew applications on the Nintendo DS.

The Rom Report X: 80s Cartoons and Video Games

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

The idea for the 10th Edition of The ROM Report came to me when I was talking to a couple of my colleagues about 80s cartoon series. I remember being glued to the tube and being fed a diet of Thundercats, Transformers, Centurions, and Spiral Zone.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was also a favourite series of mine. I wouldn't really call them turtles, they are more like tortoises but like blondes, turtles seem to be more fun. The cartoon came out in 1987 and the NES game was release in 1989.

It's pretty fun to play, as you can see in the video I've taken earlier of the game.



On the otherhand, I didn't really watch Beetlejuice on TV. However, the video game, released for the NES is a little tough and presents a challenge. See for yourselves:



Now, if you think difficulty levels are over-rated, you have not seen Transformers: Convoy No Nazo. Yup, it's based on the Transformers cartoon series and stars Ultra Magnus.

The game is so tough that I can't even get pass the first level. Here's a video of my attempt:



All 80s inspired games featured in this article can be run on the Nintendo DS with the use of nesDS. Check out the rest of The ROM Report for more information on how to run older generation games on the Nintendo DS.

The ROM Report IX: The Old and the New

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

NES gamers would probably remember Taito's classic The Legend of Kage which was released in 1987 for the North American NES.

The game was a 2D platformer and even though I've played it as a kid, I remembered distinctively that the hero was a ninja that could jump really high, and one of the enemy types wore a hat and shot flames, and was a tough bastard at that.

Anyways, I got the game to run on the Nintendo DS with the help of the nesDS emulator. You might want to check that out, but before that here's a video of the game running on the DS.


Since the theme of this edition of The ROM Report is "the old and the new", lets talk about the sequel to The Legend of Kage. Yup, Kage Densetsu: The Legend of Kage 2 was released in early March 2008 for the Nintendo DS.

The graphics have become much prettier, and along with it, more forgiving gameplay and a rather nice soundtrack as well. The hero, Kage, can still jump really high and comes with a new special power that allows him to duplicate himself.

I'll let the movie do the talking:


Kage Densetsu: The Legend of Kage 2, is available at Play-Asia at a cheaper price than what other imported Japanese games are sold for. Click here for purchase details.

This Week at Nine Over Ten 9/10

My nearly 3-year old nephew had a shot at Speed Racer DS yesterday and while the game confirmed my initial findings that it IS a great game, it's also quite forgiving/accomodating to new players, which is a really good thing as well.

So what to expect this week at Nine Over Ten 9/10?

• A review of a new Sherlock Holmes game!
• A new ROM REPORT!
• A review of Japanese import Kage Densetsu: The Legend of Kage 2
• More highlights on bargains and discounts for video games!
• And many more :)
  

So keep Nine Over Ten 9/10 bookmarked, or better still subscribe to my RSS feed (here) or receive Nine Over Ten 9/10 in your e-mail (here)!

The ROM Report Part VIII - Addendum

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

A big shout out to Pizza Pasta (The New New Era) for a very helpful tip on getting Earthbound Zero to run on the nesDS. I'm quoting his comment verbatim:

You might know this by now but Earthbound Zero is totally playable in NESDS, you just have to mess with it a little on your computer.

All you have to do is open Earthbound Zero in a NES emulator on your computer (I used Nestopia) and get to a point where you can save a file. After you save, transfer the Earthbound Zero SAV file into your NESDS roms folder and you should be able to resume your game in NESDS. Hope this helps.

Yups, it helps! Thanks man. And yeah, portable Mother/Earthbound Zero FTW!!

The ROM Report Part IX - The New Year Edition

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

Welcome to the Ninth Edition of The ROM Report, and a Happy New Year! Today's post is partially inspired by Retrojunk.com, because I really like the site's articles on NES and SNES games.

Without further ado, here are the SNES games that I tested with SNEmulDS running on my R4DS/Nintendo DS:

• Robocop 3 - Runs OK. This action game is rather difficult to play; how do you shoot those grenade tossing bots??
  
  
• Rock 'N Roll Racing - Runs OK. Despite some graphical glitches in the menu, you'll be racing in down the isometric tracks in this rather interesting game.
  
  
• Kirby Super Star - Not OK. Failure to launch.
  
  
• Earthworm Jim - Runs OK. I remember playing an Earthworm Jim game on the PC. Same annoying worm, but OK gameplay.
  
  
• Super Punch Out - Runs OK..but just barely. Graphical glitches abound, including those happening IN-game, but still good for some laughs.

And now, for some NES games that I tested as well with, of course, nesDS:

• Kid Icarus - Runs OK. It's like Ice Climber, but with arrows.
  
  
• Bad Dudes - Runs OK.
  
  
• Super Dodge Ball - Runs OK. Some graphical glitches here and there.
  
  
• Master Blaster - Runs OK. Is that a car that you drive around with a cannon attach on top, or is it a tank? It jumps pretty high too.

On a related note, yours truly intends to get a brand new PSP Slim & Lite. Wouldn't it be nice to have The ROM Report on the PSP? But that would mean getting a modded PSP. On the basis of supporting original games, that would be a bother, but in terms of unlocking the true potential of the device, a modded PSP is a must.

So, to have a modded PSP or otherwise, that is the question.

The Rom Report Part VIII - Earthbound Zero Edition

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

Welcome back to The Rom Report, currently in Issue Eight. Here's where you'll find what retro games from the NES, SNES, Genesis, and Gameboy eras will work on a modern day device such as the Nintendo DS with the help of homebrew emulator software!

I came across this back-issue of Retro Gamer at a local magazine shop and I bought it for just RM 10 (3 USD). It is a pretty good read, better than some of the retro games websites that I usually visit online.

As such, this issue of The ROM Report is inspired by that magazine issue which featured the NES on the cover. Later on, you'll find a substantial number of NES games featured on this edition of The Rom Report.

As usual, I'm using the R4DS Slot-1 solution to run a variety of emulators required to run all these retro games on the Nintendo DS. The emulators are:

• SNEmulDS - For SNES Games
• nesDS - For NES Games
• Lameboy - For GameBoy Color Games
• jEnesisDS - For Sega Genesis Games

For a full list of emulators, please refer to The Rom Report Part VI.

Before I get on with the results, I'll need to re-iterate that emulators are not perfect, therefore even if a game might seem to run excellently on an emulator, I'll say that the game "runs okay". On the other hand, "not okay" is a catch-all phrase for games that cannot run on the emulator or are unplayable due to major glitches.

With that out of the way, here are the games that I've tried out:

• Adventures of Lolo (NES) - Runs OK. This is a puzzle game in the vein of Bomberman. You play as a rotund purple creature in a quest to rescue his princess (Lala). Curiously, Lolo and Lala appear as the bad guys in some Kirby games. Both games are developed by HAL Laboratory Inc.
  
  
• Balloon Fight (NES) - Runs OK. For all you retro gamers out there, this is a classic on the NES, along with Excitebike and Ice Climber.
  
  
• Castlevania III - Dracula's Curse - Runs OK. Looks prettier than Castlevania II but with graphical glitches on and off.
  
  
• Crystalis (Gameboy Color) - Runs OK. SNKs Zelda killer does in fact play a bit like the Zelda of old, but in a sci-fi setting.
  
  
• Crystalis (NES) - Runs OK. This is the same game which was ported to the Gameboy Color.
  
  
• Dragon's Lair (SNES) - Runs OK. Another platform hack and slash and like Rastan Saga II, I really like the graphics.
  
  
• Earthbound Zero (NES) - Not OK. This is a major disappointment as I couldn't get the Demiforce version of Earthbound Zero, which is the English version of Mother 1, to run on nesDS.
  
  
• Frogger (SNES) - Runs OK. I'm actually pleasantly surprised at what pretty graphics the SNES is capable of, and Frogger is a good example. Played on a smaller screen like that of the DS serves to accentuate the graphics even more.
  
  
• Ikari Warrios (NES) - Runs OK. SNK's offering on the NES feels like a pushover in the starting 30 seconds but quickly ramps up the difficulty. Apparently the game was inspired by Rambo.
  
  
• Maniac Mansion (NES) - Runs OK. Lucasfilm Games' (now LucasArts) "point and click" adventure game was heavily censored when ported over to the NES to conform to Nintendo's policy. For a list of what was left-out, read the Expurgation of Maniac Mansion. As for the "point and click" part, you use the d-pad to move a cursor on the screen.
  
  
• Popeye (NES) - Runs OK. An arcade conversion for the NES, it's pretty fun to play on the DS. I used to play this alot on the NES clone called Micro Genius.
  
  
• Rastan Saga II (Genesis) - Runs OK. A platform hack and slash, I actually liked this game, with its colourful pallete and rather fun gameplay. Best played on jEnesisDS and not PicoDriveDS.
  
  
• River City Ransom (NES) - Runs OK. A platform bash-em-up, I like the fact that you can throw weapons (chains, knuckle dusters) at opponents. The graphics remind of me of South Park.
  
  
• Startropics (NES) - Runs OK. Nothing much on this as I'm still adverse to RPGs with really crappy graphics or boring premise.
  
  
• Sweet Home (NES) - Runs OK. Feel's abit like Resident Evil with a haunted castle/mansion and a bunch of people looking for something.
  
  
• Wrecking Crew (NES) - Not OK.

Some of these retro games are available for purchase in their original or updated forms.

• Rastan Saga II is available on the PC-Engine and Sega Mega Drive.
  
  
• Ikari Warriors is available on the Famicom.
  
  
• Mother 1 and 2 (Earthbound Zero and Earthbound respectively) are available as a Japanese language bundle for the GBA.
  
  
• Akumajo Densetsu, the Japanese version of Castlevania III, is available on the Famicom.
  

The ROM Report Part VII - The Excel Sheet Edition - Download It!

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

As some of you might notice from my previous The ROM Report installments, I experiment with quite a number of emulators (SNemulDS, jEnesisDS, Lameboy, StellaDS, MarcaDS) and also quite a number of old-school ROMs (71 of 'em) on my Nintendo DS. To keep track on what works, what doesn't and ultimately what have I tried out, I decided to create a spreadsheet in Excel.

As promised, here's the Excel sheet file, in PDF format uploaded to Rapidshare. Click here to download.

The ROM Report Part VII - The Excel Sheet Edition

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

As some of you might notice from my previous The ROM Report installments, I experiment with quite a number of emulators (SNemulDS, jEnesisDS, Lameboy) and also quite a number of old-school ROMs on my Nintendo DS. To keep track on what works, what doesn't and ultimately what have I tried out, I decided to create a spreadsheet in Excel.

It's a relatively simple one and soon you, dear reader, will be able to download it.

Here's a screen capture of what's in store:

So stay tuned for more update with The Rom Report!

The ROM Report Part VI - Emulators on the Nintendo DS Edition

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

I really liked the "Notable Homebrew" section in the Nintendo DS Homebrew Wikipedia article before it was editted out, with the reason that "Wikipedia is not a list of links". In any case, the list of links from that section can still be retrieved from the revision history.

I'm putting up a portion here for posterity. More specifically, it's a list of emulators.

I've taken the liberty to enhance this list of emulators that run on the Nintendo DS. Included now are the manufacturers of the consoles as well as the year that they were introduced. The format is as such Manufacturer ConsoleName Year : EmulatorName. Emulators that I've tried before have an asterix (*) next to their names.

Feel free to click on the links to find out more about the consoles and also to download the emulators:

• Bandai WonderSwan (1999) : DualSwan
  
• Sega Dreamcast VMU (1998) : VirtuaMUnstaz DS
  
• Nintendo Game Boy (1989) : Goomba
• Nintendo Game Boy Color (1996) / Game Boy (1989) : Goomba Color / Lameboy*
• Texas Instruments TI-85 (1992) : DS85
• Texas Instruments TI-83 (1996) : WabbitDS
• Watara Supervision (1991) : Wasabi
• SNES (1991) : snesDS / Snezzi DS / SNEmulDS*
• Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) (1988) : PicoDriveDS / jEnesis*
  
• NEC PC Engine (1987) : PCEAdvance
• Amstrad CPC 6128 (1985) : Croco DS
• ScummVM : ScummVM DS
• SNK NeoGeo Pocket (1998) : RACE!
• Apple Macintosh Plus (1986) : MiniVMacDS
• Sega Master System (1987) / Sega Game Gear (1990) : SMSAdvance DSMasterPlus
• Sierra Entertainment : GBAGI
• MSX : MSXAdvance
• MSX2 : Penko DS
• Nintendo NES (1983) : NesterDS / PocketNES / nesDS* / midori
• Commodore 64 (1982) : FrodoDS
• ColecoVision (1982) : COLECODS
• Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1982) : DSpec SpeccyDS
• Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128 (1985/86) : ZXDS
• Atari 2600 (1977) : StellaDS*
• Atari ST (1985) : StyxDS
• Arcade/MAME : MarcaDS

I've been trying out StellaDS, an emulator for the Atari 2600, and I can't believe how ugly Mario Bros looked liked 30 years ago. Anyways, it's all very nice getting to play really old games on the DS.

Be warned though that emulators are not perfect, the ones that 'm using have compatibility problems with some games on their respective platforms. Those games either look terribly jumbled up or refuse to run on the emulator.

Click here (or alternatively the picture on the left side of my blog) for The ROM Report Archives.

New R4DS Kernel and Size Woes

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

You know what, I've got alot of ROMs. Not Nintendo DS ROMs, but ROMs for NES, SNES, MAME, Gameboy Color, Sega Genesis, Atari 2600, and even Sega Master System games. Otherwise, how would I be able to write 5 installments of "The ROM Report"?

Anyways, despite the relatively small size of individual ROM, having a tonne of them is making space a valueable commodity in my R4's MicroSD card. Anyone willing to sponsor a new MicroSD card?

Speaking of the R4DS, a new kernel has been released for this particular Slot-1 solution. It has nothing much to offer, except for a fix for Worms Open Warfare 2. Click here to download.

The ROM Report Part V - Running Old Arcade Games on the Nintendo DS with R4DS and MarcaDS (MAME)

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

In this Fifth edition of The Rom Report, we'll look at running something special on the Nintendo DS, with an exceptionally good looking piece of homebrew software and a bunch of ROMs as well.

According to Wikipedia, MAME, which stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software. In plain English it would mean that old arcade games can be played on MAME emulator running on a PC!

All you need to do is to supply the ROM image of the arcade game, by which downloading them is a legal gray area, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Legalities aside, the same thing (running arcade games using a MAME emulator) can be done with the Nintendo DS! The piece of software that I'm about to introduce may just support a paltry sum of 75 games, but it really is a piece of work.

For starters, MarcaDS looks like a piece of commercial software, with the nice intro screen and all. It even apparently supports the use of the Rumble Pak, but the best part is yet to come. It uses BOTH DS screens to display a game! It's something like playing games from this year's Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the Nintendo DS.

Running MarcaDS is pretty easy. Just copy the MarcaDS.nds file to the root directory of your Flash Cart's Trans Flash memory card (Most of the time, it's a MicroSD card). If your Flash Cart's firmware doesn't support auto DLDI patching, it would be a good thing to apply the DLDI patch to the MarcaDS.nds file before attempting to run it.

I've always recommended creating a folder (let's call it MAME) in the Trans Flash memory card, to store games of a specific type. It's a much better way of organizing than just dumping everything in the root directory. Arcade ROMS are stored as ZIP files and you'll have to make sure that the zip file names match the ones listed in the compatibility list.

Here's the entire compatibility list taken from the MarcaDS site. The rest of the site is in French, but you can visit it here.

+----------------------------------+-------+--------------+-------------------------------+
| | | ZipFile | |
| Game Name | Sound | Name | Problems |
+----------------------------------+-------+--------------+-------------------------------+
| 1942 (Set 1) | Yes | 1942.zip | |
| Amidars | No | amidars.zip | |
| Anteater | No | anteater.zip | |
| Arkanoid | Yes | arkatayt.zip | |
| Bagman | Yes | bagman.zip | Partial sound : no voice |
| Bank Panic | Yes | bankp.zip | |
| Battle of Atlantis (set 1) | No | atlantis.zip | |
| Bomb Jack (set 1) | Yes | bombjack.zip | |
| Botanic | Yes | botanic.zip | |
| Calipso | No calipso.zip | |
| Caterpillar Pacman Hack | Yes | ctrpllrp.zip | |
| Cosmic Avenger | Yes | cavenger.zip | |
| Crush Roller (bootleg?) | Yes | crush.zip | |
| Dig Dug (rev 1) | Yes | digdugb.zip | |
| Donkey Kong (US set 1) | No | dkong.zip | |
| Donkey Kong 3 (US) | No | dkong3.zip | |
| Donkey Kong Junior (US) | No | dkongjr.zip | |
| Eyes (Digitrex Techstar) | Yes | eyes.zip | |
| Frogger | Yes | frogger.zip | |
| Galaga (Namco rev. B) | Yes | galaga.zip | No score print |
| Galaxian (Namco set 1) | No | galaxian.zip | No background |
| Galaxian Part 4 | No | galap4.zip | No background |
| Galaxian Part X | No | galapx.zip | No background |
| Galaxy Wars (Universal set 1) | No | galxwars.zip | |
| Green Beret | Yes | gberet.zip | |
| Hangly-Man (set 1) | Yes | hangly.zip | |
| Hexa | Yes | hexa.zip | |
| Invader's Revenge | No | invrvnge.zip | |
| Invader's Revenge (Dutchford) | No | invrvnga.zip | |
| Jr Pacman | Yes | jrpacman.zip | |
| Joyman | Yes | joyman.zip | |
| Jump Shot | Yes | jumpshot.zip | |
| Lady Bug | Yes | ladybug.zip | |
| Le Bagnard (set 1) | Yes | bagnard.zip | Partial sound : no voice |
| Lizard Wizard | Yes | lizwiz.zip | |
| Lost Tomb (easy) | No | losttomb.zip | |
| Lunar Rescue | No | lrescue.zip | |
| Masao (bootleg) | No | masao.zip | |
| Mr. Do! | Yes | mrdo.zip | |
| Mr. Do! (bugfixed) | Yes | mrdofix.zip | |
| Mr Goemon | Yes | mrgoemon.zip | |
| Mr. TNT | Yes | mrtnt.zip | |
| Ms. Pac-Man (bootleg) | Yes | mspacmab.zip | |
| Pac-Man (Midway) | Yes | pacman.zip | |
| Pac-Man (Midway, harder) | Yes | pacmod.zip | |
| Pac-Man Plus | Yes | pacplus.zip | |
| Pengo (set 2 not encrypted) | Yes | pengo2u.zip | |
| Penguin Kun Wars | Yes | pkunwar.zip | Some tiles are missing ? |
| Phoenix (Amstar) | No | phoenix.zip | |
| Pickin | Yes | pickin.zip | |
| Pinball Action (set 1) | No | pbaction.zip | |
| Ping Pong | Yes | pingpong.zip | |
| Piranah (hack) | Yes | piranhah.zip | |
| Ponpoko | Yes | ponpoko.zip | |
| Pooyan | Yes | pooyan.zip | |
| PuckMan (Japan set 1) | Yes | puckman.zip | |
| Rush Attack | Yes | rushatck.zip | |
| Scramble | No | scramble.zip | No background |
| Snap Jack | No | snapjack.zip | |
| Solomon's Key | Yes | solomon.zip | |
| Space Invaders | No | invaders.zip | |
| Space Invaders (Logitec) | No | invaderl.zip | |
| Space Invaders (Model Racing) | No | invadrmr.zip | |
| Space Invaders II | No | invad2ct.zip | |
| Space Invaders Deluxe | No | invaddlx.zip | |
| Space Invaders Part II | No | invadpt2.zip | |
| Space Invaders Part Four | No | invader4.zip | |
| Space Invaders Galactica | No | galap1.zip | |
| Super Bagman | Yes | sbagman.zip | Partial sound : no voice |
| Super Cobra | No | scobra.zip | |
| Super Galaxians | No | superg.zip | |
| Time Pilot | Yes | timeplt.zip | Not playable |
| Video Hustler | Yes | hustler.zip | |
| Vulgus (Set 1) | No | vulgus.zip | |
| Zig Zag (Galaxian hardware set 1)| Yes | zigzag.zip | |
+----------------------------------+-------+--------------+-------------------------------+

In order to download MarcaDS, scroll right down to the bottom of the page, with the latest version being the first on the list of files. Click here for a direct download, but it's best to check back with the previous link provided, for latest updates.

The ROM Report Part IV - Running Gameboy Color Games on the Nintendo DS with R4DS

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

I seem to have more fun playing retro games on the Nintendo DS than my bunch of DS games. The Encyclopedia of Game.Machines has been a great read, full of retro stuff (Play-Asia, USD 29.90)

Normally when it comes to running Gameboy and Gameboy Color on the Nintendo DS, the homebrew programs of choice to run those ROMs would be Goomba and Goomba Color. However, those progams utilise a .gba extension that would require a Slot-2 solution such as a Supercard to run.

I've found a great way for playing GameBoy Color games on the R4DS, or practically any Slot-1 solution such as the M3 and it's called Lameboy. Downloadable via GBATemp, Lameboy is currently in version 0.9 and it's pretty easy to run.

Provided that your R4's firmware is the latest, you would not need to manually apply the DLDI patch on to the Lameboy ROM before running it. The latest R4 firmware will perform an automatic DLDI patch.

So, here are the games that I tried:

• Super Mario Bros. DX: Runs like a charm, with very minimal slowdowns. All Mario goodness in 56 colours.
• Street Fighter Alpha: With just two fire buttons, fighthing is made easier. Just nice for 2D fighthing n00bs like me.
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: Runs pretty fine.
• Metal Gear Solid: Like Link's Awakening, it runs fine too.
• Wacky Races: Framerate problems abound, not recommended unless you have a wish for epilepsy

Here's a tip while running GBC games on Lameboy, press the "Y" button to expand the game's display to almost the entire top screen of the Nintendo DS.

For previous editions of The ROM report:

• The ROM Report Part 1 - SNES Games on the DS
  
• The ROM Report Part 2 - NES Games on the DS
  
• The ROM Report Part 3 - More SNES Games on the DS
  

The Rom Report - Part 3: More SNES Games on the Nintendo DS

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

Welcome to the third installment of The Rom Report! Today we'll look at several SNES games that I've tried to run on the Nintendo DS using SNEmulDS, and without further a do, here's what really works, what works somewhat and what doesn't work at all.

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past -This is a classic on the SNES, and even though it plays well on the SNEmulDS, the sound is totally skewed, with loud static being the order of the day. Recommended but play it with the volume turned off.
  
  
• Metal Warriors - A platformer from LucasArts and Konami featuring mechs, this game is prone to hang at the options screen and actual gameplay lags with a number of graphical glitches. Gamer beware.
  
  
• Prince of Persia - This Broderbund classic looks pretty, but you'll need to adjust the emulator's GFX settings constantly to let the game look the part. There are Minor but manageable graphical glitches both at the title screen and in-game. A difficult game to play notwithstanding, it's hard not to like an old classic like PoP.
  
  
• Prince of Persia 2 - Graphical glitches are somewhat worse compared to its predecessor and the lack of sound makes it a flop on the DS.
  
  
• Samurai Shodown - A personal favourite of mine, this 2D brawler is in the vein of Street Fighter, but with weapons. The graphics are sharp and a marvel to look at despite playing the game on the small DS screen. There's a minor glitch whereby the life bar doesn't seem to show a decrease when hit. No worries though, it starts flashing when you or your opponent is near K.O. Recommended.
  
  
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time - Another personal favourite of mine, this time it's from Konami. Control one of the four Ninja Turtles through 2D platform levels full of enemy ninjas and a boss at every end. Recommended.
  
  
• X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse - This is a rather tough game in terms of difficulty, or maybe it's because of the controls that lag abit. I faced no problems running this game.
  
  
• Zombies Ate My Neighbours - Graphical glitches abound on the main menu but once past that, you'll find the game not hard to love, as it is with the campy title. It's recommended that you set the emulator speed to normal, instead of the default "Fast" to cope with the frantic gameplay.

Side notes: SNEmulDS doesn't really like running .fig files and I wonder why. I've two games, Mechwarrior and Yoshi's Island in .fig format and both don't run properly (no graphics, sound only).

For previous editions of The Rom Report, here's Part 1 and Part 2.

The Rom Report - Part 2: NES Games on the DS

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

As promised, this is Part 2 of the Rom Report, this time featuring NES games run on the Nintendo DS with the help of a Slot-1 Flashcart and a piece of homebrew software called nesDS.

Before I begin, I'll need to clarify that running SNES and NES games on the Nintendo DS are two separate things and you'll require two different homebrew emulator software, SNemulDS for SNES games and nesDS for NES games. The first part of the Rom Report has got the SNES part covered and if you interested in running SNES games, please refer to my guide here.

The NES games I've tried so far are:

• Mappy - This is a really fun game from Namco, where you run about a house as a rat named Mappy, avoiding, if possible, a gang of thieving cats. Don't know who Mappy is? Well I've a 8-bit Dots puzzle depicting him right here.
• Ice Climber - This really is a classic in my book. I used to play this game on my cousin's Micro Genius (a NES clone). On the emulator running on the Nintendo DS, the game is smooth and fast, retaining the sense of excitement and challenge as you try to get your eskimo up the ice mountain.
• Super Mario Bros 3 - If you don't like the SNES make over of Super Mario Bros 3 in Super Mario All-Stars, this is the game for you. The game runs smooth on the emulator but there's just a slight quirkiness with the buttons. I still don't know how progress is saved though, and the emulator (nesDS) lacks a save state function.
• Metroid - Despite having played one of the more recent Metroid games, I can't seem to put a finger on the original Metroid. It is a little boring. But if you were to ask me whether it runs fine, the answer is a definite yes.
  

Overall, the fun factor is there when it comes to these old school games. The only problem is while the emulator, nesDS, can adequately run the games, it is not up to scratch feature wise, lacking the ability to save and load states. Those features are not missing from SNemulDS when it come to running SNES games.

The Rom Report - Part 1: SNES Games on the DS

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

I seem to be spending more time with SNES and NES Roms on my Nintendo DS rather than my 30-odd Nintendo DS games. So here's a report on what really works, what works somewhat, and what doesn't work at all.

The hardware I'm using:

• Dark Blue Nintendo DS
• R4DS Slot-1 Flashcart
• 1 gigabyte Kingston Micro SD card (made in Japan)

The homebrew software I've been using:

• SNEmulDS 0.6 for SNES games
• nesDS for NES games

So lets start with the SNES games that I've been playing:

• Chrono Trigger - Seems to run pretty well. Text alignment is just a teensy-weensy off but otherwise performed well during my brief time with the game.
  
  
• Contra III: The Alien Wars - There were graphical glitches in the main menu, but once I got past that, the game ran smoothly. Difficult games are not really my cup of tea, so, little play time as well.
  
  
• Earthbound - This game is probably the best of the lot, but like most games, it does have some kinks here and there when it is run using the emulator. The first boss fight with Frankie didn't go so well because a graphical glitch prevent me from seeing all the important stuff...only the pyschedelic background was showing.
  
  It was only after I fiddled with the emulator's graphics settings that I was able to continue with the game. And it's so far so good! Definately a must have.
  
  
• F-Zero - I always heard that this game was fast, but maybe the emulator and the small Nintendo DS screen were the cause of speed being lost in translation. It does run fine though.
  
  
• The Lost Vikings - Not working.
  
  
• Super Castlevania IV - A finicky game which runs when it wants to.
  
  
• Super Mario All Stars - This compilation of NES Mario games, re-skinned with graphics to take advantage of SNES hardware is one of my favourite games, along with Earthbound. This compilation consists of the three Mario games release in the US, Super Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3, and the previously unreleased (in the US) Japanese Super Mario Bros 2, now dubbed as Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels.
  
  The save system for Super Mario Bros 3 is abit cooky, and you'll have to replay those levels that you have completed in a particular world again, so don't forget to use the emulator's Save State function instead to save your progress.
  
  
• Super Mario Kart - Not working.

I'm still running some tests on other games, but do stay tune for Part 2!