Are you still holding on to your PSP? With Sony officially closing the PSP store, you can still get games for your device by using emulators for PSP. This method, however, will get you non-PSP games.
Here is a guide on how to install and play emulators for PSP.
what are emulators?
Emulators are programs that let you run apps that don’t normally work on a certain device. Typically, an emulator is used to play video games that are not native to the device. An emulator can also be used to run a different operating system on a computer, say run Windows on Mac or vice versa.
Can you run emulators for PSP?
You can run an emulator for PSP but you cannot just install it without changing its firmware first. More on this later.
What Emulators Work on PSP?
There are various emulators for PSP. Some are multi-systems that can run games from across platforms like the RetroArch and e[mulator] – PSP. Other emulators for PSP are for specific brands of gaming consoles. Examples are Picodrive for Sega; Nester J for Nintendo/Famicom; and Atari 800 PSP for Atari 130XE / 800 / 800XL.
will Gameboy emulators work on pSP?
Yes, Gameboy emulators work on PSP. Master Gameboy is an emulator for the original Gameboy. There are also several Gameboy Advance emulators like GPSP that work on PSP.
How to Play and Install Emulators for PSP?
To play non-PSP games on a PSP console, you need three things: a PSP running custom firmware; an emulator software installed on your PSP; and ROM (read-only memory) files of the games installed on your PSP.
how to Put an emulator On PSP?
As mentioned, you cannot just install an emulator for PSP. First, you must mod your PSP. This can be done by installing custom firmware like Pro C on your PSP. After doing this, you can proceed to install an emulator for PSP.
How To Mod A Psp To Play Emulators?
The first step you need to do to put an emulator on your PSP is to mod or jailbreak it. Without jailbreaking, you cannot run an emulator for your PSP. This entails installing custom firmware on your device. Below are the steps for modding your PSP.
- Find the model number of your PSP. For older PSPs, you need to open the battery compartment and at the right of the Sony Logo, you will see PSP-XXXX. The last four numbers indicate the model. For PSP Go, you need to flip open the display and look at the upper left-hand corner. You should see N1XXX.
- Make sure that your PSP is updated to 6.60 before installing the custom firmware. Skip this step if your PSP already has the latest official firmware. See the instructions in the next section below on how to update your PSP to the latest official firmware.
- Download Pro CFW.
- Extract the file to the desired location on your PC. You will find two folders named PSP and SE Plugins inside your extracted folder.
- Insert a memory card on your PSP. Connect your PSP device to your computer via USB. Copy the folder SE Plugins to your PSP Drive.
- On your PSP Drive, go to the PSP folder and then open Game.
- Go back to the extracted folder on your PC and open the PSP folder then Game. Inside the Game folder, you will find another three folders. Copy these into the Game folder in your PSP drive.
- Go back to your PSP console then go to Game>Memory Stick and then launch the Pro C update.
- An options menu will launch. Just press x to launch the custom firmware.
- Press x to restart the device.
- After installing the Pro C, you need to install the Pro CIPL flasher. . You don’t need to download this separately as Pro C comes with this already.
- On your PSP, go to Game>Memory Stick, find the CIPL flasher for Pro C, and then launch it. This will permanently add the custom firmware into your system.
How to Update PSP to the Latest Official Firmware
- Download the PSP official firmware. Since you won’t find it anymore on the official Sony site, you can just Google it as some websites like Wololo.net and archive.org have made it available for download.
- Extract the downloaded files into a folder on your computer. Inside the extracted folder, find the folder named Update.
- Connect your PSP to your computer via a USB cable. Go to your PSP drive and go to PSP>Game.
- Copy the Update folder into the Game folder.
- You may now disconnect your PSP from your computer. To continue updating to the latest firmware, go to Game>Memory stick. You will see the update version 6.60. Press x to start the launch.
- Once it is loaded, just follow the prompts for the installation to complete.
- Restart your device.
How to install an emulator On PSP?
After installing custom firmware on your PSP, you can now proceed to install an emulator for PSP. There are a lot of emulators for PSP and the procedures for installation will be different for each one. But generally speaking, you have to download the emulator of your choice from the internet, unpack the files on your computer, and copy the right files into the right folder on your PSP drive, usually the PSP>Games folder.
The following sections discuss the installation methods of various emulators for PSP.
How to install the Pico Drive Sega emulator for PSP?
If you want to play Sega games like Sonic the Hedgehog and the unsanitized version of Mortal Kombat on your PSP, you can use an emulator to do that. As mentioned, Pico Drive is one of the popular Sega emulators for PSP.
You can install Picodrive by copying the Picodrive folder into the PSP>Games folder of your PSP drive. But before you do that, you need to copy ROMS files into your Picodrive folder.
How To Emulate NES On PSP?
You need NES emulators for PSP such as Nester J to emulate Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games on PSP.
Installing Nester J is quite similar to the method above. You need to copy ROM files into the Nester J folder that you have downloaded. Then you need to copy the appropriate Nester J folder into the PSP drive, particularly into the PSP>Games folder. Watch the video below to learn how to install Nester J on PSP.
How To Put SNES Emulator On Psp?
SNES stands for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This is the later version of the NES, also known as Famicom in Japan. The games for both consoles are not cross-compatible. But famous franchises from NES like the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda were also released for SNES.
The video below will teach you how to install SNES 9X TYL emulator for PSP. The steps discussed in this video are quite similar to the ones above.
how to install Gameboy advance emulator on PSP?
This is for the GPSP emulator. Your PSP must be running a custom firmware first and then do the following steps.
- Download the GPSP emulator on your computer.
- Get ROM files of the games you want to play. Copy the game files into the downloaded emulator folder in this location-gpSP > GBA > ROM.
- Attach your PSP to your computer.
- Copy the downloaded emulator file (which now contains the ROM files) from your computer. Open the PSP folder on your PSP drive/stick then open the Game folder. Paste the emulator file into this folder.
- Disconnect your PSP from your computer by pressing the O button on your PSP.
- Browse the PSP menu to the game section. You will see the emulator there.
How To Install Retroarch on your PSP?
Retroarch is a great emulator because it lets you play games from across different platforms. Installing Retroarch is a bit different from the other methods discussed above. For many emulators, you need to copy the ROM files into the emulator folder before copying the latter into the PSP memory stick. For Retroarch, you need to copy the Retroarch folder into the PSP and then launch it so that it will create appropriate folders. Then you go connect back to your computer and then copy the ROM files and System folders and put them into the newly created folders.
Watch the tutorial below for a more in-depth explanation.
How To Play Ps1 Games On Psp?
The good thing about PSP is that it is powerful enough to play PS1 games.
In this case, you don’t need an emulator to play PS1 games on PSP. But you can’t just copy your PS1 games on PSP either.
To play PS1 games on PSP, you still need to install custom software on your device. You also need to install software that will convert PS1 games to the right format. Watch the tutorial below to learn how you can play PS1 games on your PSP console.
Tips on Installing Emulators on Your PSP
Here are some things you can do to make sure your installation will be a success. You don’t want your PC or your PSP shutting down in the middle of the installation so see to it that:
- Your PSP battery is fully charged.
- Your cable is working properly.
- Your computer is reliable.
Are Emulators Legal?
Emulators themselves are legal. But downloading ROMs from websites is illegal unless the software you are downloading is considered DRM free.
Some of the videos above tell you where to get ROMs of vintage games. Do note however that most of them are technically illegal copies of the game so download them at your own risk. Companies usually come after the websites that are distributing the software and are less likely to pursue individuals who download them. That said, you must be aware of the risks involved in downloading ROM files of games from these websites.
How can You Get Legal ROM files of games?
You can still play emulated games legally if you can get yourself legal copies of a game. If you used to have a game console that doesn’t work anymore but you still have the titles with you, you can legally make a backup copy for your own use. For very old games, you will need a ROM dumper like INLRetro and Retrode to transfer the games from the cartridges to your computer.
You can also look for second-hand original games from eBay and Facebook Marketplace. You can also ask your friends if they are willing to let go of the games that they still have.
Keep in mind that if you decide to sell your original game, you must either sell the backup copy with it or destroy it.
How to Emulate PSP Games?
What if you want to play PSP games but you don’t have your console anymore? You can emulate PSP games on virtually any device such as android and IOS devices, PC, Mac, and Switch using PPSSPP. The software is available here.
Watch the video to learn how to emulate PSP games on your computer.
To Sum Up
- If you love vintage games and you still have your PSP, you can add vintage games to your portable console by using an emulator.
- Before you can play emulated games on your PSP, you need to do the following:
- Install custom firmware on your PSP. Make sure you have the latest official firmware on your PSP before installing custom firmware.
- Download and install an emulator on your PSP. Installation procedures for emulators will be different for each one. But usually, you need to copy the right files of the emulator into the right folder on your PSP drive, typically the PSP>Games folder.
- Add emulated games on your PSP. Typically, you add the games to the appropriate folder on the emulator files you have downloaded before you actually install the emulator on your PSP. This is usually in PSP/GAMES folder, but some emulators require the creation of a separate folder or directory.
I hope that this guide has helped answer your questions about how to put emulators on PSP.
