Emulation Names - Part 10

Stefane Dallongeville

Stephane Dallongeville is an important name in Sega emulation. Stéphan was born in the city of Amiens, France, in 1979. His first contact with the world of emulation was in 1999, when he discovered the NESticle NES emulator and became interested in creating an emulator. As his passion has always been the Mega Drive, he started with it.

Gens Website and GitHub

Gens (Sega Genesis, Sega CD and 32X)

His project was named Gens and was released in 1999. At the time, he created a 68k debugger called C68K. A debugger is a program that tests other programs for defects. In this case, it was used in Neill Corlett's Starscream, modified by Stef and added to the project in 2000. Starscream was modified in the project until its completion in 2002. In 2000, he added the MD YM2612 sound chip. In 2001, he added support for the Sega CD, being the pioneer in the emulation of this add-on. In 2002, he added support for the 32X.

Documentation CZ80 (Z80), PCM RF5C164, YM2612, SH2, C68K (68k) and SCSP

In 2002, Stef also creates emulators of the MD's SN76489 and Sega CD's RF5C164 PCM sound chips, the Z80, called CZ80, and the 32X SH2 processor, and adds them to the project. With the end of the project in 2002, he began working on the Sega Saturn SCSP sound chip, used in the Saturnin and Satourne emulators in 2003 and Yabause in 2005. Stef's C68K disassembler was used in the DreamNeoCD emulators, the NeoCD/SDL port from Neo Geo to Dreamcast in 2004, Yabause for Sega Saturn in 2005, used as the basis for the creation of Chui's FAME/C 68k for the Mega Drive Picodrive in 2005, Final Burn Alpha 2012, the FBA port for LibRetro in 2012 and the CrabEmu multi-emulator for Sega 8 and 16 bits, ColecoVision and NES in 2013. The Z80 emulator, CZ80, was used in the DreamNeoCD emulators in 2004 and Picodrive in 2005. And the SH2 emulator was used on the Sega Saturn SSE in 2002. When Gens ended in 2002, he started rewriting the emulator, but this release never happened. His project ended up being continued by third parties.

SGDK (SMD Game Development Kit)

In 2003, she became interested in programming for the Mega Drive, and began developing SGDK, a development kit for creating games for the console. Her kit helped creators from all over the world build their games, including Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Brazilians and others. Stef continues to update her kit to this day.

Bow Medical and Logica

Institut Pasteur: Team, Website and Icy (Software)

In his professional life, he attended the University of Picardy Jules Verne in Amiens, France, from 2000 to 2002, earning a master's degree in Computer Science. In 2003, he joined Bow Medical in Amiens as a research engineer, using his knowledge of Delphi, HL7, Microsoft Access, MySQL and Oracle Database, mostly database management systems. In 2007, he left the company and joined Logica (now CGI) as an analyst engineer, using his knowledge of Java, Delphi and SAP ERP, all focused on software development. In 2009, he joined the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, again as a research engineer, applying his knowledge of Bioinformatics, VTK, Maven, Image Processing and Java, working mainly on the development of imaging software. In 2011, he developed a free and open-source biological image analysis software called Icy, developed in partnership with the Bioimage Analysis Laboratory at the Pasteur Institute and the France BioImaging research center.

Incepto and European Nintendo

In 2022, he left the Institute after 13 years of work and joined Incepto in Paris, France, as a senior software engineer, working part-time. To use it, he used his knowledge of AI, in several JavaScript-related tools, such as Maven, Angular, VTK, Java, TypeScript, React.js, Node.js and the JavaScript language itself. In 2024, he joined Nintendo Europe, also in Paris, as a software development engineer. A true ploftwist, let's face it, since he dedicated a good part of his life to creating software and documentation based on Sega (laughs). In his list of skills for the position, he highlighted C++ programming language, knowledge of emulation and reverse engineering, as well as software design, which indicates that he most likely worked with emulation of Nintendo hardware, such as video game consoles and handhelds, for example. As of the closing of this article, he still works at Nintendo.

Emulators:

Gens (1999)

Debuggers:

C68K (2000)

Chips:

YM2612 (2000), SN76489 (2002), RF5C164 PCM (2002)

Processors:

CZ80 (2002), SH2 (2002), SCSP (YMF292) (2003)

Programs:

SGDK (2003), Icy (2011)

David Michel

Magic Engine (PCE)

David Michel is a Frenchman who became known for creating the Magic Engine emulator for the PC Engine in 1997. His emulator helped other projects, such as TGemu in 2001, also for the PC Engine. His console documentation, MagicKit, also helped the aforementioned project.

Magic Kit: Documentation and Assembler; and PC Engine Documentation

MagicKit served as a tool for emulating the console and creating games for it. The kit also included the NES console. In 1998, he was one of the creators of the xNes NES emulator, considered one of the milestones in NES emulation, and the one that brought console emulation to MESS.

Brad Oliver

The Bradman and The Brad Hole Websites

L. Brad Oliver, also known as The Bradman and later as hoserama99, is an American born in 1971 in Oklahoma, the capital. He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. His first experience was around the age of 11, when he created a program that simulated a rocket in the form of text flying out of the screen, on his TRS-80 computer. Having grown up in the 1980s wave of video games and arcades, he was fascinated by games of this type.

Gob Viewer (Macintosh)

In 1996, already specialized in Macintosh programming, he developed some programs, such as Dark Forge, to open INF files of application information, and Gob Viewer, which extracts and creates .GOB files of games produced by LucasFilm. In 1997, he graduated in Computer Science from Arizona State University, in Tempe.

Macintosh: Alpha Centauri, Alien Crossfire, Age of Empires 2 and Monopoly Casino

Macintosh: Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed , Risk II, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds , Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force

Macintosh: Centipede, Halo: Combat Evolved; Windows: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

In 1999, he joined Westlake Interactive, where he worked on the production of several games, such as Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire, Age of Empires 2 and Monopoly Casino, both in 1999, Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed, American McGee's Alice and Risk II in 2000, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force Expansion Pack, Centipede in 2001, converted Sid Meier's Civilization III for MacOS and Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast in 2002, among others. Most of them he participated in the conversion to MacOS. In 2003, already outside Westlake, he was in the production of the game Halo: Combat Evolved for MacOS and in 2008, he was a software engineer on the Windows version of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows in 2008, among others. In 2001, I lived in Glendale, Arizona, and in 2002 I was already in Austin, Texas.

MacMAME

He entered the emulation scene in 1997, participating in the MAME arcade project. Brad was one of the first major contributors to the project. He worked on the project from 1997 to 2001, from 2003 to 2007, and returned twelve years later in 2019, leaving in the same year. Between 2000 and 2001, he played very little role in the project, as he had been at Westlake since 1999. He returned to the project with greater force in 2003, when he left the game developer. One of his first contributions was the port for the MacOS system in 1997, known as MacMAME, made alongside Aaron Giles. In late 2002, he released the version for MacOS X and in early 2006, he released the latest version of his port. The following year, his port was replaced by Dave Dribin's, called MAME OS X. Also in 1997, he modified the simulator for the DVG and AVG chips on Atari arcade boards created by Eric Smith in 1991, alongside Aaron Giles and others.

Playchoice-10, Taito F2, Nintendo VS and Bally Midway MCR I/II/III Documentation

Also in 1997, he created emulators for the Bally Midway MCR 1, 2 and 3 boards with Christopher Kirmse and Aaron Giles. He also added the Taito F2 boards in 1998 (which was the basis for the Taito B and Z drivers created in 2001), Atari Football in 1999 and Nintendo VS in 2001. Both the Nintendo VS, and the Playchoice-10 (released in 2000 by Ernesto Corvi), were based on parts of the NES code that Brad submitted to the MESS project. Over time, Brad made bug fixes for boards such as Arcadia, Model 3, Seibu SPU, Namco System FL, Namco System 22, Sega System 32, Sega System 24, Brezzasoft Crystal System and others, bug fixes and others in the 6808 sound processor of the Williams 6809 board, the SE3208 CPU of the Brezzasoft Crystal System board and others. It also rewrites much of the NES's graphics PPU chipset. In addition, it is the one that adds support for 4 analog joypads to the project.

Documentation Atari DVG/AVG, Taito B/Z (based on Taito F2), Atari Football and Pokey Chip Emulator

In addition to games, I brought to the project Superman, Super Mouse, Centipede, Lupin III, Major Havoc, Arkanoid, Mr. Do's Castle, Rastan Saga, Super Bubble Bobble, Arkanoid, Major Havoc, Commando (Sega), Lupin III, Sea Wolf, Centipede (rev 1), Growl, Treasure Hunt, Bubble Bobble Star Wars (revision 2), Naughty Boy, Jack the Giant Killer (set 1), Major Havoc (prototype), Vanguard, Pop Flamer, Espial, and others, in addition to many games from the MCR I, II and III, Atari Vector and Sega Vector boards. Another of his roles in the project was in the sound part of games, such as adding partial sound to Mario Bros in 1997 and sound support for the games Naughty Boy, Pop Flamer and Espiral, adding music to the game Phoenix and correcting sound in the game Donkey Kong, both in 1998. He also corrected the graphics in several games, such as Donkey Kong Jr. in 1997, Millipede and Swimmer in 1998 and Jack the Giant Killer in 1999. In addition, he also worked a lot on the technical side and joypad support.

MESS Documentation

Outside the MAME project, also in 1997, he participated in the game Hexen II and the modification of Quake in OpenGL, GLQuake, in addition to having ported the emulator Nemesis Emulator by Johan Köhler to MacOS, running the 1985 game Nemesis by Konami, among others. In 1998, he was on the NES project, xNes, alongside Richard Bannister from MESS and Chuck Mason from MAME. In the project, Brad helped with the coding. Also in 1998, he joined the MESS project, and took Bannister's place in its coordination. In the project, he was responsible for adding the NES, Master System, and GameGear consoles in 1998, the Apple II PC in 1999 and the PAL versions of the NES and the Famicom in 2000. He also made improvements to the Apple II and NES in 1999 and 2003, respectively. He stayed on the project until 2006. Parallel to MESS, he helped with the arcade project, Raine in 1999, correcting sprites for the Taito F2 games Growl and The Ninja Kids.

Games at Westlake Interactive:

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999) Macintosh

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999) Macintosh

Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire (1999) Macintosh

Monopoly Casino (1999) Macintosh

American McGee's Alice (2000) Macintosh

Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force Expansion Pack (2001) Macintosh

Sid Meier's Civilization III (2001) Macintosh

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (2001) Macintosh

Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast (2002) Macintosh

Games at Electronic Arts, Inc.:

Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed (2000) Windows

Games on MacSoft:

Risk II (2000) Macintosh

Centipede 3D (2001) Macintosh

Halo: Combat Evolved (2003) Macintosh

Games on Activision Publishing, Inc.:

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008) Windows

MAME Drivers

Bally Midway MCR 1 (1997) [with Christopher Kirmse and Aaron Giles]

Bally Midway MCR 2 (1997) [with Christopher Kirmse and Aaron Giles]

Bally Midway MCR 3 (1997) [with Christopher Kirmse and Aaron Giles]

Taito F2 System (1998) [with Andrew Prime]

Atari Football hardware (1999) [with Mike Balfour and Patrick Lawrence]

Nintendo VS UniSystem and DualSystem (2001)

MAME Modifications/Corrections

DVG and AVG simulators (1997)

SPU 6808: Williams 6809 (1999)

Sega System 24 (2003)

Sega System 32 (2005)

Arcadia (2005)

Model 3 (2005)

Seibu SPI (2005)

Namco System FL (2005)

Namco System 22 (2005)

TMS99xx (2005)

SemiCom (2005)

Brezzasoft Crystal System (2005)

CPU SE3208: Brezzasoft Crystal System (2005)

MAME Rewrites

PPU Chipset: NES (2006)

MAME Sound Chip

Pokey Chip Emulator: Atari System 1, 2, Unique, 68k, 6205, Gauntlet, Centipede, Star Wars and Missile Command (1997) [alongside Eric Smith and Juergen Buchmueller]

MAME GPU

Atari DVG and Atari AVG Graphics Generators (1997) [created in 1991 by Eric Smith, and added to and modified by Brad and others]

MAME Others

Support for 4 Joypads (2005)

Chuck Mason

Jump 'n Bump (Linux)

Chuck Mason (Charles Edward Mason IV) (also known as ChuckM/Chuckjr/Sabre Wulf), originally from Oviedo, Florida, USA, was a name present in the 1990s in emulation, but he was never famous, although he had several participations in the scene. In 1997, he created a website called Emu alongside his friend Steven Fuller (Rubin_/Relnev), with whom he began developing several projects.

Simple IPS Patcher and CWAN (Windows)

CWAN (Gameboy)

One of his first creations was the port of the Simple IPS Patcher program for Linux in 1997, to apply changes to ROMs. In the same year, he created the game Checkers Without A Name (CWAN) for Windows, an online checkers game. In 1999, he recreated the same game for Gameboy. In 1998, he created the Semu emulator for Sega Saturn for MS-DOS and Linux and was part of the xNes emulator team, porting the emulator to Linux.

Semu (Sega Saturn)

Website and Snessor (Linux) (SNES)

Also in 1998, he created a port of the SNES music ripper SNESSOR from DOS to Linux, ripping in .WAV and .SND formats. In 1999, he began a project with Steven Fuller to emulate the Gameboy, called GameBoy Emulator (GBE) for MS-DOS, Linux and Dreamcast. In 2000, he changed the name to XGB, as there was already a project of the same name by Jim Geffre started in 1998. Chuck's project developed a version for MS-DOS, and had third-party versions for Linux (by Bung's), Windows (by Jeff Miller) and Amiga (AmiDog). The project existed until 2000.

XNes Port Linux (NES) and GBE - Gameboy Emulator (GB)

Gleam! (Dreamcast) (NES)

In 2000, he created the Gleam! project to emulate NES on the Dreamcast, being the first emulator to be developed for the console. The project did not last long, and was not continued by third parties. In 2001, he ported the MS-DOS game Jump 'n Bump to Linux. In 2001, Chuck joined the Icculus website, alongside his friend Relnev, helping in some projects for the platform, such as the port of the game Aliens Vs. Predator from Rebellion Developments to Linux in 2001, implementing initial support for OpenGL, and the port of the game FreeSpace 2 called Descent FreeSpace 2 in 2002, for the MorphOS system, also implementing support for OpenGL (alongside his friend Relnev), among others.

SourceForge and LibGBA

In addition to all the projects mentioned, Chuck also had an account on SourceForge, created in 2000, where he posted several of his projects, such as XGB, already mentioned here, LibGBA in 2001, a very complete library for developing games or software for the GBA, which should be used with the GCC and BinUtils tools, configured to work with the ARM7 core, used in the portable, Gamu in 2001, an emulation project for the GBA that never progressed, GTK + OpenVerse (GOV) in 2001, was the project of a portable version of the client used on the openverse.org website, which acted as a multimedia chat for sharing graphics, sounds and texts, and functions such as drawing, for the POSIX standard, which allows the execution of programs on Linux, BSD and UNIX systems, MMazeGL in 2001, probably an OpenGL maze game that he was developing, and NNC in 2002, a game created by three students from the University of Florida State (FSU), which was scheduled to be an aerial shooter, written in C++ and fully cross-platform, but was also never released. 

College Hoops 2K6 and 2K7 (PS2), All-Pro Football 2K8 (PS3), Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution and Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer (XBox 360)

In his professional life, in 2005, he began working at Visual Concepts in Novato, California, a company where his friend Steven Fuller had worked since 2004. At the company, he worked as an engineer, working on the titles College Hoops 2K6 in 2005 and College Hoops NCAA 2K7 in 2006 for Playstation 2 (alongside Steven, who worked as an engineer), and All-Pro Football 2K8 in 2007 for Playstation 3. In 2008, he went to Darkside Game Studios, in Coral Springs, Florida, where he worked in the same year on the game Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution for Xbox 360, supporting the company Firaxis Games that developed the title, and worked as a programmer on the port of the game Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer in 2009 for Xbox 360. After this period, no more was heard from Chuck.

Programs:

Simple IPS Patcher (Linux) (1997), SNESSOR (Linux) (1998)

Emulators:

Semu (1998), xNes (Linux) (1998), GBX (1999), Gleam! (Dreamcast) (2000)

Games:

Windows: Checkers Without A Name (CWAN) (1997)

GB: CWAN (1999)

Linux: Jump 'n Bump (Linux) (2001)

PS2: College Hoops 2K6 (2005), College Hoops NCAA 2K7 (2006)

PS3: All-Pro Football 2K8 (2007)

Xbox 360: Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution (2008), Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer (2009)

Libraries:

LibGBA (2001)