Emulation Names - Part 14

Notaz

PicoDrive (Windows)

Notaz (also known as Gražvydas Ignotas = Beautiful Stranger) is known in the Mega Drive and PSX emulation scene for handhelds and in emulator ports for GP2X and Wiz. He appeared on the emulation scene in 2005, when he started to take care of Dave's Motorola 68k microprocessor emulator, called Cyclone 68k, which was created for Dave's Mega Drive emulator for GP32, Picodrive. After the end of Picodrive, Notaz also took over the project and released it for the UIQ2 handheld in late 2005 (at the time called PicodriveN, and PicoDrive from late 2006).

PicodriveN (UIQ2)

PicoDrive (UIQ3)

From then on, several ports emerged from the project, such as for GP2X and UIQ3 in 2006, for GizMondo and PSP in 2007, Windows in 2008, GP2X Wiz in 2009 and Pandora in 2010. From the 2007 version onwards, it also began to support 32X and Sega CD and replace the Cyclone 68k with FAME/C, created by his friend Chui especially for the Picodrive. Around 2010, it also added support for SMS. In 2008, it brought support to the Picodrive of the SVP (Sega Virtua Processor) coprocessor, used to run the game Virtua Racing, which in its original version came in a special cartridge to generate 3D graphics.

PicoDrive (GP2X)

Cyclone 68000

Developed by friends Exophase and Rokas, it was the first emulation of this coprocessor that ran 100%, and because of that, it innovated the scene, being taken to several other emulators, such as Kega Fusion and MESS, still in 2008. Also in 2008, he released the SVP documentation. While still developing Picodrive, he created another project, PCSX ReARMed, a fork of PCSX-Reloaded, which in turn is a fork of the PCSX emulator for PSX. This happened at the end of 2010 alongside Exophase.

PCSX ReARMed / PlayStation Classic

PicoDrive (PSP)

It was developed for portable devices using ARM technology and special video plug-ins. It was such a well-crafted emulator that Sony itself used it in 2018 when launching its Playstation Classic. In 2020, it also became part of the RetroArch multi-emulator. The PCSX ReARMed and Picodrive projects ended in 2015 and 2019, respectively. Although these emulators are no longer being released, Notaz continues to work actively on both projects.

gpSP (LibRetro and Steam)

Notaz's Website

In addition to the Mega Drive and PSX projects, he made several ports of emulators, such as FCE Ultra for NES in 2006 for GP2X as gpfce, Snes9x for UIQ2 in 2006 (through the OpenSnes9xGP port for GP32), gpSP for GBA from Exophase for GP2X Wiz in 2007 (also with an improved version for common GP2X in 2007, and integrated into RetroArch in 2018 and Steam in 2021), UAE4ALL for Amiga 500 from Chui for GP2X in 2007, gpSP for GBA for the Pandora systems in 2011, Caanoo in 2012 and Raspberry PI in 2013 (this one alongside DPRCZ) and Mupen64Plus for N64 for Pandora in 2013. Notaz would have participated in the creation of UAE4ALL for Pandora in 2008, working on the graphics of the game, but I was never able to confirm this for sure.

Gshot

GP2X Emulators: GPFCE (NES), uae4allgp2x ( Amiga 500 ) and gameplaySP2X (GBA); Docs: Mega Everdrive and Sega Pico; Apps: USB Gamepad Test and Ginge

In addition, he also created some applications, such as USB Gamepad Test to test USB controls on the GP2X in 2007, Gshot which captures the GP2X screen in 2008, Ginge, to run GP2X games and programs and Wiz on ARM Linux platforms in 2010 (does not emulate the CPU), among others. He also built other content, such as documentation for Sega's Sega Pico console in 2008 and the Mega Everdrive which runs MD games on the console via SD card, apparently in 2014, among others. 

GP2X

SVP (Sega Virtua Processor)

He also ported the Dreamcast game Noiz2sa to GP2X and Wix in 2009, originally made by the emulator Chui. In addition to his own projects, he also contributed to other projects. For example, for MESS in 2008, adding PicoDrive emulation along with SVP support. In the same year, he also added SVP to MAME through his contribution to MESS. In 2013, he made modifications to the SH-2 processor also in MAME, present in the Sega Saturn and 32X consoles. In this specific case, it comes from his work with the 32X in Picodrive.

GitHub

Mupen64Plus For Pandora, Mega Everdrive, Mega Everdrive Pro and IA32R-Tools

On his GitHub (created in 2008), he posted his main projects, such as Ginge, Picodrive, PCSX ReARMed, Cyclone 68k, but he also posted other projects, such as LibPicoFe in 2006, the PicoDrive emulator frontend reused to be used in other projects, the GBA emulator, the Megadrive page in 2008, with all kinds of information and tools for the console, among them the USB communication tools for Mega Everdrive (2013) and Mega Everdrive Pro (2023), gpSP with ARM Linux architecture in 2009, SDL OMAP in 2010, making the SDL library work in applications that run on systems with OMAP processors (e.g. Nokia, Motorola and Galaxy from the 2000s and 2010s), IA32R-Tools in 2013, which are tools for building binaries in 32-bit architecture (executable before 64-bit architecture). bits), a fork of the N64 emulator Mupen64Plus for Pandora in 2013, alongside ptitSeb, bringing ARM compatibility, NEON video optimization, and 2D and 3D rendering via GLES 1.1 or 2.0 (OpenGL for portables), and Corsair MI in 2016, a tool that allows reading power supply monitoring information from Corsair RMi and HXi series PCs. In addition, he also posted some emulators that he would like to work on forks, such as MAME, Genesis Plus GX, RetroArch, and the RetroPie operating system, used on the Raspberry PI (retro video games), but which he never released. There were 36 projects in total posted on the platform.

Saturn USB DataLink, Android Pandora and USB Krikzz FlashKit-MD

On his website, outside of GitHub, in addition to most of the programs mentioned above, he also posts some unreleased ones, such as Android Pandora in 2012, a modified version of Android to run on the Pandora system, a tool for the Saturn USB DataLink, used on the Sega Saturn, in 2014, a USB communication tool for Krikzz's FlashKit-MD in 2017, a 4mb cartridge to insert Mega Drive games, among others.

Emulators:

Cyclone 68k (2005), PicodriveN/Picodrive (Portables) (2005), FCE Ultra (GP2X) (2006), gpSP (GP2X Wiz) (2007), UAE4ALL (GP2X) (2007), gpSP (ARM Linux) (2009), PCSX ReARMed (2010), gpSP (Pandora) (2011), gpSP (Caanoo) (2012), gpSP (Raspberry PI) (2013) (alongside DPRCZ), Mupen64Plus (Pandora) (2013)

Tools:

SDL OMAP (2010), Tool For USB Communication With Mega Everdrive (2013), IA32R-Tools (2013), Tool for Saturn USB DataLink Device (2014), Corsair MI (2016), Tool for USB Serial Communication With Krikzz's FlashKit-MD (2017), Tool For USB Communication With Mega Everdrive Pro (2023)

Programs:

LibPicoFe (2006), USB Gamepad Test (2007), Gshot (2008), Ginge (2010), IA32R Tools (2013), Corsair MI (2016)

Documentation:

Sega Pico (2008), Mega Everdrive (2014)

GP2X Game Ports:

Noiz2sa (2009)

Zeromus

Daniel April, known as Zeromus (a nickname based on the final master of the same name from the game Final Fantasy IV), has been involved in several important emulation projects. Zeromus lives in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. In 1998, he created the website Zeromus.com, a website specializing in web services, such as software programming and CGI, and website hosting. His website was online until 1999. In 2001, he created a personal website, a kind of blog, which he closed around 2010/2011. In early 2002, he helped Chad Austin, known as Aegis, with the Corona Image software, an API for use in programs that capture images in PNG format and load images in JPEG, BMP and PCX formats. The API was available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

Verge-RPG, Lua Scripting and VergeC

FCEUX (NES)

In 2004, he joined the Verge-RPG project, a game creation website using the Verge program, created in 1997 by Benjamin Eirich and Brian Peterson, a simple engine for developing 2D games in the style of Phantasy Star (Mega Drive) and Final Fantasy (SNES) in the VerceC programming language. Zeromus contributed to the project, among others, in the Verge 3 version, created in 2007, creating the Lua programming language in 2020, alongside Overkill, innovating the way of creating software in the program. In the world of emulation, he began in 2006, when he decided to bring together all the unofficial versions of FCEU together with Sebastian Porst, creating FCE Ultra X, or just FCEUX.

DeSmuME (NDS)

PSXjin

The emulator has versions for the main operating systems, including Windows, Linux and Mac. He works on the project to this day, with the last version having been released in 2021. In 2009, he became part of the DeSmuME Nintendo DS emulator team. He remained on the project until its end in 2015. Also in 2009, he contributed to the Yabause-RR project, a Sega Saturn emulator aimed at recording gameplay. The emulator is part of the original Yabause project. In 2011, he created PSXJin for PSX, a continuation of the PCSX fork, PCSX-ReRecording, aimed at recording gameplay, with some substantial improvements. The project ended months later in the same year.

BizHawk

In 2011, he helped with the SNES9X-RR project, an SNES emulator designed for recording gameplay. In 2012, he created the BizHawk multi-emulator alongside other colleagues, such as Adelikat, who helped him with the PSXJin project. Adelikat had been running the TASVideos website since 2005, where he and friends posted gameplays of Nintendo and Sega console games using emulators. On the project's website, he also posted emulator downloads, updates and releases. Until he decided to actually create his own emulator. Zeromus was the project's administrator and main developer, and implemented the NES emulator (probably FCEUX), ported from Mednafen, the PSX emulator, created from scratch, the TI83Hawk emulator of the TI-83 Calculator, contributed to the Atari 2600 and SNES emulators, among others.

devkitPro, MidMod Sound System and AdPlug

BizHawk runs the main 8-, 16- and 32-bit systems from Sega, Nintendo, Sony, Atari, SNK and Bandai, as well as old computers. The project continues to this day. Outside of its projects, in 2018 it helped with a version of the Nestopia UE NES emulator. In addition to emulation projects, it also helped from 2006 to 2010 with the AdPlug project, which creates the sound library used in OPL2 boards (like AdLib, for example). It is basically the board's MIDI sound player, faithfully playing music created for these boards. This Plug can be used with the real or emulated board. It works on MS-DOS and UNIX systems (like Linux and others) and on players like Winamp and XMMS. Taking it to the world of gaming, among the arcades that used OPL2 chips are boards from Toaplan, SNK and Data East, among others.

DragonWarrior3 (Reverse Engineering)

Websites Personal, SourceForge, GitHub, Vidéotron, Zeromus Communications and TASVideos/BizHawk

He has also been involved in personal projects, such as the reverse engineering and reconstruction of the SNES game Dragon Warrior 3 (Dragon Quest III) in 2017. He helped with the MikMod Sound System programs, a player for the .MOD, .XS3M, .IT and .XM formats in 1999 and devkitPro in 2010, a tool for creating homebrew software and games for systems such as GBA, NDS, N3DS, GameCube, Wii, GP32 and PSP. He was part of the main team working on the PhotoBundler software, some kind of image viewer, and the pr2.code software team, a set of utilities and libraries for game development in C# and C++, such as an MP3 decoder, FLAC compressor, RAR decompressor, among others, both in 2013. Neither program was ever released. Zeromus also posted several projects on his GitHub. Among them, the source code for version 6.0 of the N64 emulator, Project64 in 2012, Biz-Stella in 2012, the emulator's source code ready to be compiled and transformed into an executable, and with all the necessary libraries for this already included, Chipifier in 2017, a project of 8-bit musical samples, created by the Deflemark program and to be run on the PC Engine through the SoX program with the help of .NET 4.0, among others. Some of his projects mentioned here previously were also posted on his GitHub, such as Dragon Warrior 3 and Verge 3, in addition to forks and fixes not developed or released, for emulators such as Nestopia, mGBA, Kat2500, Bliss32, MAME, Dolphin, RetroArch, Mednafen and BizHawk. In total, he had 59 projects published on the platform. To this day, he updates his projects. In his personal life, he works at the Canadian cable TV service, Vidéotron.

Programs:

MikMod Sound System (1999), Corona Image (2002), AdPlug (2006), Verge 3 (2007), devkitPro (2010)

Emulators:

FCE Ultra X (2006), DeSmuME (2009), Yabause-RR (2009), PSXJin (2011), SNES9X-RR (2011)

Source Codes:

Project64 6.0 (2012), Biz-Stella (2012)

Games:

Dragon Warrior 3 (2017)

Others:

Chipifier (2017)

Franxis

Franxis is a Spaniard who lives in the Madrid area of ​​Spain. He is a developer of games and programs for the GP32, GP2X and Wix handhelds and a creator of PSX emulators for handhelds. He started programming as a child, creating small games on his Amastrad CPC. From 1999 to 2003, he ran a website about emulation called Emudek. Between 2002 and 2003, he also frequented Foros Zonared, a Spanish forum about video games. In 2004, he created RetroVibes, a compilation of demos in mp3 format created on a computer between 1991 and 1996.

Emudek, Foros Zonared and RetroVibes

Columns GP32

In the same year, he made his first port to GP32 of the game Columns, which he had ported to MS-DOS in 1996 while he was still in college, most likely from the arcade version. He managed to make this port in just one weekend. Excited, he went on to port the Multipac emulator, a precursor to the classic MAME, which emulated several versions of Pac-Man. In one month he managed to make this port. This was at the end of 2004. All of this served as a test for his most anticipated port: MAME. Which happened in 2005.

MultiPac GP32

MAME GP32

At the time, he used the port in his graduation project in his telecommunications course at university. At the end of 2005, he released MAME GP2X, for the portable of the same name, which is the continuation of the GP32. This version, based on the same MAME 0.34 used in the port for GP32, brings many new features, such as support for 64MB of RAM, 1,204 games, support for stereo sound and 4 USB controls, among others. His emulator is ported to several other devices, such as PSP, Gizmondo, Dreamcast, Linux, Pocket PCs and others.

MAME 4 ALL

PSX 4 ALL

The first of these ports was MAME4ALL in 2006 by Chui, which was a fusion between Franxis' project and Chui's project for the Dreamcast console and Linux and Windows systems. At the time, Franxis and Chui were part of a project called PSX4ALL, a PSX project for various systems, and inspired by this name, Chui named his port MAME4ALL. Chui even helped with Franxis' original project between 2006 and 2007. This port by Chui became so well-known that it received several ports for consoles and portables.

MAME GP2X

The latest version of Franxis' MAME GP2X was released in 2007. In 2006, he joined ZodTTD's PSX4ALL project, which focused on ARM technology for handhelds, and which Franxis already had some experience with. The emulator was initially created for PowerPCs and the GP2X handheld. It was later ported to iOS, Pandora and Android. In 2008, Franxis created another port of MAME for handhelds, this time under the name MAME4ALL, with permission from his friend Chui.

Website

It was first released for GP2X, porting it to Wiz in 2009 and Caanoo in 2011, all evolutions of GP32. This new MAME update came with 2,270 games and was built on top of MAME version 0.37. It was also ported to several systems, such as Android, iOS, GP32, Caanoo (third-party version), Pandora, Dingoo, among others. Its latest version was released in 2012.

PCSX 4 ALL

EmuForge: Fox68k, Puck, Franxis and Chui (RetroMadrid 2012)

In 2010, he created the PCSX4ALL project with Chui for the Wix and Caanoo handhelds, taking the PSX4ALL technology and combining it with the PCSX-Reloaded emulator for Windows, a branch of PCSX and one of the best PSX emulators. In 2012, the project ended. In the same year, he participated in the RetroMadrid 2012 event, an event for old video games, where he was at the EmuForce stand, organized by the AUIC group. At the event, he launched his new version of MAME4ALL for GP2X Wiz. After 2012, Franxis no longer worked in the emulation world.

Songs:

RetroVibes (2004)

Games:

Columns (MS-DOS) (1996), Columns (GP32) (2004), Multipac (GP32) (2004), MAME (GP32) (2005), MAME (GP2X) (2005), PSX4ALL (2006), MAME4ALL (GP2X ) (2008), PCSX4ALL (2010)