A5200DS Phoenix Edition

From GameBrew
Revision as of 01:49, 2 May 2023 by HydeWing (talk | contribs)
A5200DS Phoenix Edition
A5200dswav2.png
General
AuthorDave Bernazzani (wavemotion)
TypeConsole
Version3.4
LicenseMixed
Last Updated2023/05/01
Links
Download
Website
Source

a5200DS is an Atari VCS 5200 console emulator. It is based on A5200DS by Alekmaul.

Features

  • Most things you should expect from an emulator.
  • Most games run at full speed on a DSi or above.
  • For the DS Lite/Phat many games will play, but there may be some lag in sound/speed for the more complex games.
  • Bankswitching carts up to 128K are supported. Bounty Bob Strikes Back is supported (though needs a DSi or better to run smoothly).

Two Flavors

  • The normal a5200ds.nds file will run on an original DS (Lite/Phat) as well as the DSi (or 2DS, 3DS / XL/LL).
  • The special a5200dsi.nds file uses a different way of fetching memory that is 10% slower on non-bankswitch carts (which is almost all games available) but is an order of magnitude faster when it comes to bankswitching carts (anything bigger than 32K). The DSi can afford the 10% hit on normal carts to gain this blazing speed on bankswitching. This build will run the mighty Bosconian port (128K AtariMax version) at full speed with the new bankswitch handling.

Installation

To use this emulator, you must use NTSC compatible roms with a52/bin format.

You also need the 5200.rom rom bios in the same folder as A5200DS.NDS (alternate locations it can be /roms/bios/ or /data/bios/) to use this emulator properly.

There is a built-in open-source replacement BIOS which will work for some games but doesn't have full compatibility so it is still strongly recommended you use 5200.bin.

User guide

When the emulator starts, click on the cartridge slot to choose a file.

Compatibility List

Missing

Most things are playing fine on a DSi. Most of the original commercial games (like Missile Command, Space Invaders, Centipede) will generally run fine on the older DS-LITE or DS-PHAT. Bosconian (128k AtariMax SD Supercart) is too slow to be playable... or is it? If you have a DSi or above and are running with Unlaunch or Twilight Menu++ (both of which will unlock the faster 2X CPU of the DSi), you can try the special a5200dsi.nds build to make Bosconian (and everything else) run smoothly.

Sound is passable. I'm not super pleased with the fidelity but it's come a long way.

Check updates on the author website.

Controls

Up/Down - Choose file

A - Load file

A5200:

D-Pad - Joystick

A - Fire button 1

B - Shift button (Fire button 2)

X - FPS Display Toggle

Y - Full Speed Toggle

R - * button (often starts game)

L - # button (often changes game selection)

Start - Start button

Select - Pause button

L/R+Up/Dwon - Scaling

L+R+A hold for 1 se - Swap LCD screens

Use stylus on buttons for other actions on bottom screen.

Screenshots

a5200dswav3.pnga5200dswav4.png

Changelog

V3.4 2023/05/01

  • Another frame or two of performance from memory optmizations.
  • Removed lots of obsoleted code to streamline the build.
  • Added a new DSi special build that will finally run Bosconian at full speed with speech as long as you are in DSi (2x CPU) mode.
  • Added tweaks and support for latest homebrew carts like Rob-N-Banks.

V3.3a 2023/04/30

  • v3.3a hotfix for sound pops. Sorry!
  • Improved screen blend so it leaves less visible artifacts.
  • Improved sound mute so it eliminates most of the little pops.
  • Built with latest libnds to keep things fresh.

V3.2 2021/12/12

  • Reverted back to ARM7 SoundLib (a few games missing key sounds).

V3.1 2021/11/30

  • Switched to maxmod audio library for improved sound.
  • Try to start in /roms or /roms/a5200 if possible.

V3.0 2021/11/04

  • New sound core to eliminate zingers.
  • 5200.rom bios can be in /roms/bios or /data/bios.

Release notes.

Credits

External links

Retrieved from ‘https://www.gamebrew.org/index.php?title=A5200DS_Phoenix_Edition&oldid=122736’

Advertising: