MorphGear 2.0

What is MorphGear (formerly PocketGB)? It’s an emulator for your Pocket PC to play a variety of games. These games were originally written for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Gameboy, Super Nintendo, SEGA GameGear, SEGA MasterSystem, and NEC TurboGrafx-16 game systems. Many of you may have owned one or more of these machines in the 90’s. Some of you may still have one in a closet somewhere. An emulator is a software program that emulates (or pretends) to be the original system. Over the past few years many different types of emulators have been written. For example, MA.M.E. (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) was designed to run the ROMS from the old arcade machines like Space Invaders and Pac-Man (just to name a couple). MorphGear was designed to run the ROMS from the home game systems that most of us were addicted to in the past ten years.

Okay… now you ask how can I fit that big cartridge from my NES system into one of my Pocket PC slots? Well.. you can’t. However you can find the ROMS on the Internet (if you search carefully). Is it legal? Well… yes it is. If you own the original cartridge for a game system, you can legally own a back up copy of the ROM. Everyone has the right to have a back-up of the software they purchase. Don’t ask me where to download these ROMS, I’ll just ignore any requests. Now that we have that information out of the way… lets get on with the review.

The current version (or the one I’m reviewing) is version 2.0.1.6. They are constantly working and updating the program to make it faster and more reliable. Just two weeks ago, the available version was 2.0.0.3. It’s obvious that this is a work in progress. Several modules are very usable. To upgrade to a new version, just install the new version over the old one. MorphGear will give you free updates for a one year period. The way they are marketing the software is by modules. Each module supports a particular system. So… for example if you are looking for a Nintendo Gameboy Emulator, you can register only that module. Currently they have four modules that can be registered. The NEC TurboGrafx-16 and Super Nintendo modules are free at the moment. SEGA Genesis has just been added as a free module, but it is very slow at the moment.

Each module gives you several options from the screen size to frame skipping. Frame skipping is required sometimes to speed up the game to normal speed. Sound options are also available. In some cases, it’s best to turn off the sound to get a better speed out of your device. You can also configure the buttons using the menu. Sometimes it’s easier to use a different button configuration other than the default. The program is also able to use ‘skins’, meaning you can change the way it looks by default.

The NES module seems quite stable. It worked with most of the ROMS I tried. With the frame skipping set to 3, it seems just as fast as the real NES system. If a game won’t run, it might be a bad ROM. Try a different ROM. I tried Super Mario and Donkey Kong and both worked flawlessly.

The Gameboy module will play regular Gameboy and Color Gameboy games. They also have a Gameboy Advance module, but it’s really slow at the moment. They need to work out some optimization routines to get that module running at full speed. It’s sad that the Super Nintendo System doesn’t run anywhere close to playable speed. Some of the best games available were created for that system.

The SEGA GameGear (that was Sega’s hand-held game system) runs Sonic beautifully. I’ve forgotten how much fun (and frustrating) that game can be. The SEGA MasterSystem was the home based game machine. Games like Sonic made this a hit with the kids. The NEC TurboGrafx and SEGA Genesis systems were not as popular as the other units, however they did have a few good games.

MorphGear requires a lot of memory to run properly. The application takes a little more than 4 Megs of storage space and even more for the games. You must have enough free RAM to load the program (and DLL files) along with the game ROM. I would recommend having a minimum of 15 Megs free of program space available. Even then, some modules may have difficulty allocating space.

One question that is asked frequently is why does the emulator run so slowly? Think about it… You have a fast machine (206 MHz ARM or 400 MHz X-Scale processor). The original equipment did everything using a CPU and special chips that were designed for that purpose. An emulator is written 100% in software and must pretend to be a different device. All this takes up processing time. It’s amazing that they can do it in the first place. Emulators have come a long way in the past ten years. My first emulator ran so slow it was impossible. Today, they have been improved beyond belief.

Some iPAQ devices have a problem when pressing two buttons at once. The designers didn’t create the device with that feature. To make the system more playable, MorphGear is designed with a Virtual Game Pad. Just press the buttons on the screen and you can press more than one button at the same time. This is required to run and jump when playing Super Mario (just to mention one game). Skins are available for a variety of button displays. Some are easier than others when it comes to using the directional keys.

Final comments:
If you are into running emulators, download a copy of the program and give it a shot. You can purchase only the modules that you are comfortable with. There are several free games for these systems available on the MorphGear website. The program will run in Un-Registered mode with a flashing message on the screen. My suggestion to the programmer would be to let the emulator run naturally and put the un-registered message on the screen after 5 minutes of playing time. This would allow a user to test the emulator at full speed (the flashing message does decrease frames per minute by 1 or 2). I would also suggest a combo deal for people who want to buy more than one module. By the time you finish getting all four modules, it would set you back $80. Each of the four modules cost $20. Actually, there is a significant discount for those purchasing multiple modules. Please visit the eSellerate website for more information (on the purchase page).

There are some other emulators out there that will play games for these systems, however it’s very handy to have everything rolled into one. For the die-hard emulation fan, MorphGear is a good option. Keep in mind this program is constantly being updated and improved. I was able to get a little more speed out of the emulator by over-clocking my iPAQ. If they keep up the optimization of the modules, it won’t be long before the slower modules will be up to speed.

Several versions of MorphGear are available. You can download a special version for Pocket PC 2003, Pocket PC 2000/2002 or Handheld PC’s. They also have a Windows PC version for free. It currently emulates SNES, Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 systems.

Pros:

• Several emulators built in to one program. No need to remember which program supports which ROMS
• Very playable Gameboy , NES, GameGear and MasterSystem modules
• Only pay for the module you want. Run the other modules in demo mode
• Use the virtual button pad to press more than one button
• Ability to ZIP the games (each game separately) to save space
• Additional skins for the on screen buttons

Cons:

• Expensive if you want to buy all four modules at $20 each (but even programmers have to eat)
• SNES Emulator is too slow to play
• Requires lots of free RAM and storage space

MorphGear was tested on a Compaq iPAQ 3955 (at 400/472/500 MHz) with a 256 Meg SD card
Special thanks to Aaron Oneal for allowing us to review a full working copy of the emulator.
 

Members of

 
Windows Mobile and Pocket PC are registered Trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Contact the with questions about this site

All Trademarks are owned by their respective companies
All content on this site, video, graphic and text is copyrighted and may not be reproduced without expressed written consent.

Copyright © 2001-2007 Pocket PC Louisville
All rights reserved.