Retro Gaming on Android

 
Inspired by this video on Android Gaming by Armando Ferreira, I set about turning my Nexus 7 into a totally awesome Nintendo gaming device. Something which would surely make all my iPhone and iPad using friends jealous

As described in the video, you will need to download and install emulator apps for the consoles which you would like to run, and also the games (called roms).

To install these apps you will need to allow your phone or tablet be able to install applications not from the Google Play store. On the Nexus 7 this is located in Settings -> Security, and checking the box next to “Unknown sources”.

Next is emulator installation. During my childhood I was brought up on Nintendo consoles. SNES being my first console, then later Nintendo 64, and for portable gaming it was Gameboy. Wouldn’t it be marvelous to relive the classics on a fancy Android tablet some 17 years later? Hell yes! Of course other console emulators are available such as PS1 and Sega however for this article I’ve decided to stick with Nintendo.

Super Nintendo

For SNES gaming I found SNesoid to be the best emulator. Simply download and open this apk file from your device to install.

Nintendo 64

Likewise N64oid is a great emulator for Nintendo 64 and made by the same developer as SNesoid.

Gameboy Advance

Finally GameBoid is the emulator I have used for GBA. You will also need a GBA BIOS to use this app so download one here, then extract and put on your device and direct GameBoid to the downloaded .bin file.

Now that you have the emulators installed its time to get games for them to run. I usually find the games by searching “game name rom” in Google but also check sites such as www.coolrom.com
I’m not going to get into the legalities of having such roms but apparently if you own the actual game it’s allowed.

I would create a folder called Roms on your Android device and in this folder have sub folders for each console to store the roms. In this case a SNES, N64 and a GBA folder. Once you’ve downloaded the Rom extract it and put in it’s appropriate folder. When you open up an emulator it will ask you which Rom you would like to play and you simply have to direct it to the right one.

Using the on screen virtual keyboard is OK I guess, but for the serious android gamer you’re going to want to use an external controller such as Phonejoy or attaching a PS3 controller etc. I use a Wiimote (which now has a new lease on life since previously collecting dust with the Wii console). Here is the method to connect the Wiimote:

Step one is to download a pairing app called Wiimote Controller (available in the Play Store).

Next turn on Bluetooth on your Android device and put the Wiimote into pairing mode by pressing 1 & 2 together (the leds will flash).

With the Wiimote in pairing mode open Wiimote Controller app and Press “1. Init and connect”. If the controller is found it will connect and say Done. The next thing you have to do is press “2. Select WiiControllerIME” to change to input method to the remote.

Now before you exit the Wiimote Controller app (I’m sure you’re very excited to start gaming with the Wiimote), press the Option button (looks like three vertical dots) and press Preferences. Tick the button that says “Switch after disconnect”. This will then automatically switch to your previous keyboard when you disconnect the Wiimote. It will save you some fiddling after you have finished your gaming session.

If you have trouble pairing the Wiimote check out the video on this site for Wiimote Controller - http://android.ccpcreations.com/wiicontroller

Once successfully paired you will have to enable the bluetooth device in the emulator and map the keys.

Do this by launching one of the emulators and clicking the Options button. Under Settings go into Other Settings. Tick the “Use input method” check box to enable use bluetooth gamepads.

Make sure Use Input Method is checked

Now go back and then into Input Settings. Turn off Virtual keypad and then click Key mappings. From here you can change the mappings by selecting a key then pressing the corresponding button on the Wiimote.

Key Mapping a Wiimote

That’s it! You’re ready to game. Back out into the game and confirm the keys are mapped correctly. They might require a bit more tweaking depending on the game but other than that enjoy retro gaming on Android!

Professor doesn’t know if I’m a boy or a girl :S

An annoyance I found was when playing with the Wiimote, the Android screen would still auto lock after a few minutes. To get around this I added a toggle button to keep the screen always on (and flick it off when I’m finished gaming). This can be accomplished with a widget such as Widgetsoid and setting a toggle to “Always on”.

To complete the ultimate Android retro gaming experience I thought it would be awesome to hook my Nexus 7 up to a television and play the games on a big screen. Unfortunately I haven’t yet found a way to do this. Apparently the HDMI adaptor for connecting will not work as their is no MHL support. If anyone has found a way to connect their Nexus 7 to a TV and screen mirror please share via the comments below or email me using the form on the contact page.

• Tweet
• Pin It