While we're a Nintendo site first and foremost, here at Nintendo Life we do occasionally embrace formats produced by other companies - and back in the days of the Nintendo DS, we admit we also dabbled in the world of PlayStation Portable ownership.
Sony's handheld was a massive success, despite the incredible dominance of the DS at the time, and many a PSP owner participated in the dark art of jailbreaking their system in order to install all kinds of naughty stuff - including emulation.
Chris Kohler, author of Power Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave The World An Extra Life, was one such person, and in an updated version of his book he recalls the time in 2005 when he unwittingly introduced Shigeru Miyamoto to the world of PSP-based emulation:
I had an interview with Nintendo executive Perrin Kaplan, and I thought I’d show her something crazy: In the days before E3, hackers had blown the DRM security on Sony’s PSP wide open, and had advanced with astonishing rapidity from getting a rudimentary “Hello, world!” up on the screen to actually running an emulator that played Nintendo’s Game Boy games.
Since the emulator was brand new at the time, I figured I’d be the first person to show Kaplan. What I did not expect is that she would immediately whisk me out of the interview room we were in, telling me that Miyamoto would want to see this! She escorted me over to the room where Miyamoto had just finished up another interview, and brought me inside, and had me show him what I’d brought. And Miyamoto took my Sony PSP and played some bootleg Super Mario Land on it.
“Chris,” he said. “Did you make this?”
No, no, I said. I just got it off the Internet. Kaplan hurried me away again, this time into a secret chamber even deeper in Nintendo’s labyrinth of E3 meeting rooms. As she had me again demonstrate my PSP with its illicit software to one of Nintendo’s hardware designers, my eyes darted around the darkened room, where Revolution consoles in an array of candy colors, ruby red and mint green, were displayed, illuminated by beams of light.
It seems that Nintendo was quite interested in seeing its games emulated on rival hardware, even if the process was totally unofficial. The company has since taken a hardline stance on home-brew applications, locking down its own systems to prevent programs such as emulators from being installed; still, it's amusing to mentally picture Miyamoto happily leaping through Sarasaland on a PlayStation Portable.
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[source kotaku.com]
Comments 40
Fun story!
If that had been me I would have been scared that I'd never make it out alive...
"Miyamoto will want to see this."
Must have been like,
"Oh balls".
Love the psp. My classic emu machine
The Nintendo Ninjas were watching from the shadows
I would've been all like 'oh s***! Oh s***! OH S***!' in my mind being rushed away.
Lol very funny story. Not Nintendo's product so nothing they could do unless they got Sony to send out an update. Which they did, and failed.
PSP is such an amazing system. Can play so many different systems. It sold extremely well due to this. It was a total success over all. Pity about the Vita not doing so well but we never know, could be some truth to the rumour's about PSP 3....
A mint green Wii, eh?!?
I would have been sweating bullets for sure
I wonder what would have happened if he'd said he had made it?
They should see what the 3DS can do
Some GameBoy games are officially on PSP such as Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max.
"Chris... did you make this?" haha!
Sounds like a scene from a video game industry version of 'The Thick of It.'
@ToneDeath Ha ha that is what I thought when I read it.
And this is the real origin of the Virtual Console idea.
"Character is what you are in the dark."
Unquestionably so. Even though the weird, shady world of copyright would beg to differ, the actual people behind their PR personas are driven by pure passion for hardware and technology, and consequentially, for the art that results from said tech.
Even though I've switched to a newer Samsung Galaxy phone, my Xperia Play - as a secondary Android device - is still alive and kicking, and without those pesky phone functionalities getting in the way, as a multitasking console it's more competent than ever. It's a GBA, a GBC, a PS1, an N64, an NDS and a Genesis/Mega Drive all at once. And it's awesome.
That sounds like the birth of the virtual console right there.
I miss Perrin Kaplan. She was fun in interviews. lol.
A little ashamed to admit I also engaged with hacking my PSP. It was done in a store, so I thought it was legit at the time. #JustKidThings Still have my PSP too - though it would never charge properly so, despite the games still being playable and all of them being amazing - I just can't play them anymore. Ah well, my Switch has Disgaea 5 like how my PSP used to have Disgaea 1 so all it needs now is a Dragonball Z game (with an intricate fighting system) and the Naruto 2D fighters and it'll be just like old times.
"order to install all kinds of naughty stuff - including emulation."
Not really as consoles like the Gameboy and NES have had their patent expired. This means it's legal to make and even sell the emulator (minus using Nintendo's name of course).
The Rare Collection on Xbox One is clearly running Nintendo emulators that they coded. All they would have had to do was remove any mention of "Nintendo". Look at Capcom's The Disney Collection. Same case, Capcom are using their own emulator, but removed any mention of Nintendo.
@bluedogrulez probably a dev unit.
The wii and wii u dev kids had amazing colors
Still love my PSP/GBA. Just last night I was re-playing Metroid: Zero Mission...with save states and a decent screen.
Though people kept calling me a Nintendo fanboys what they don't know is that I bought the PS2, PS3, PSP, and PS Vita first before any Nintendo systems like the N64, GameCube, Wii, DS and 3DS. Heck I even bought the PS4 and PS4 Pro before the Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Even better I bought the PS VR before the Virtual Boy, yes I just bought the Virtual Boy last week ago whereas the PSVR is dusting off next to my PS4 Pro atm.
That's actually a neat story though. At that time Nintendo hadn't yet created the Virtual Console and they were probably interested in how they could get their old games out to consumers legally and how well they could run.
Probably asked him if he made it because they would hire him lol
@Gamecubed That's a great point. Yes, there are some people who pirate to steal. But piracy (frequently) is an access problem. Being absolutely candid, I spent many a college evening torrenting movies and TV shows that I couldn't easily get at my local VHS/DVD rental place. Inexpensive streaming ended the need. While Nintendo modernizes at a glacial pace (arguably rivaling the Catholic Church), I think they sort of understand that seamless, cheap, easy access to their classic library is the best defense against piracy.
"Sony's handheld was a massive success"
yeah no. it was a mild success and mostly in japan.
"Chris... did you make this?"
Followed the next day by two Nintendo staff members spotting something on the floor. "It's blood... let's hope it's not Chris'!"
How about Pokemon Vietnamese Crystal for Virtual Console?
LET'S GO TO THE ELF'S WORLD BORT
For those wondering what he meant by "Revolution consoles", that was the codename of the Wii.
The PSP is my favourite ever console. It had great versions of PlayStation exclusives, the best WipEout game ever made which is the only launch title to ever make me go out and buy a console just to play.
The DS was home to some very innovative titles, but I struggle to think of a game that made me grin as much as Locoroco did.
PSP and 3DS are my faves consoles.
So much to play once you have homebrewe'd them.
@Minotaurgamer Since when is 80+ million units a mild success?
i wonder if this is why Nintendo is so driven to stopping emulation of their games now?
@readyletsgo the DS killed the PSP lmao
This is clearly the event that caused Nintendo to come down hard on any emulation and piracy.
@JaxonH Considering all them "stability" patches, they know.
The PSP was a great handheld for the time. I still have mine, fantastic back catalogue of games too.
And so they added the Virtual Console to the Wii, and the rest is history.
lol I'm sure they were already planning it but that would be crazy. I'd imagine they were looking for a way to emulate GB games on the DS but had to wait for the more powerful 3DS to achieve it, which is why they were so interested.
@Minotaurgamer it sold better than 3ds did. Way better..
After that mister Kohler never was seen life again...just joking!
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