Collection:Game ROM images
Team Captain: David Hedlund
Participants: Jacobk
These complimentary games are sometimes distributed by developers on ROM cartridges, enabling their use on original home video consoles. Additionally, they can be downloaded for use with emulators. Notably, the game SuperTux has been adapted for over ten different video game consoles (and emulators).
ROMs, an acronym for read-only memory, serve as a general term in the emulator and ROM community for cartridge dumps, ISO disc backups, and similar formats. These ROMs can be played on hardware if one has the capability to flash a cartridge, circumvent verification processes, or utilize a "flash cart," which varies depending on the system. In the context of video games, "homebrew" refers to games created by enthusiasts for proprietary video game consoles that are not designed to be user-programmable.
Contents
Amiga
Arcade
Atari
Nintendo
Home consoles
- Super Tilt Bro
- Thwaite
- Falling
- Big City Sliding Blaster
- NESert Golfing
- Doom/FX
- The Last Super
- Web page: https://drludos.itch.io/the-last-super
- Keeping SNES alive
- A note about N64 ROM images: currently any ROM that works on a real N64 depends on some nonfree Nintendo bootloader code, known as IPL3. This software was included on every N64 cartridge release. See https://n64brew.dev/wiki/Libdragon#Licensing and https://n64brew.dev/wiki/Pseultra#A_Note_About_Bootloaders for more details. It may be the case that some N64 emulators do not actually read that part of the ROM, in which case modified ROM images that only work on emulators may be easier to get as fully free software.
- This appears to no longer be the case; see: https://github.com/DragonMinded/libdragon/issues/158#issuecomment-1845585199 and https://n64brew.dev/wiki/Libdragon?diff=5301&oldid=4658
- Portal 64
- Note about nonfree code: https://github.com/mwpenny/portal64-still-alive/blob/master/documentation/n64_library_usage.md
- ClassiCube
- repository: https://github.com/ClassiCube/ClassiCube
- gb64
- repository: https://github.com/lambertjamesd/gb64
Handhelds
- Inheritors of the Oubliette
- Repository: https://github.com/DrLancer-X/inheritors-of-the-oubliette
- Download: https://github.com/DrLancer-X/inheritors-of-the-oubliette/releases/
- Very good reception: https://itch.io/jam/gbajam21/rate/1120414
- Demo: https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=txmvpEtFxZU&t=6083
- Depends on devkitPro
- "devkitPro is the organisation that provides the tools. We are not a software package, we don't have version numbers and the only way to have us compile your code is to pay us (or maybe if you ask nicely when you need help figuring out an issue)" - https://devkitpro.org/wiki/Getting_Started
- Dependencies: "have devkitpro installed with all the GBA dev stuff" - https://github.com/DrLancer-X/inheritors-of-the-oubliette. But where is the source?
- https://devkitpro.org/wiki/Trademarks - "I don't think the devkitpro's trademark policy would make it unsuitable for the FSD." -- Craig
- "devkitPro provided tools and libraries are managed by the rather wonderful Arch Linux pacman" - https://devkitpro.org/wiki/devkitPro_pacman
- SuperTux: https://github.com/Jorengarenar/SuperTux-Advance
Hybrid
To run homebrew games on Nintendo Switch emulators, you do not need the firmware, prod.keys, or title.keys files. Homebrew games are typically developed by hobbyists and can be executed without these official Nintendo files, which are usually required for commercial games. While Atmosphère is a popular custom firmware used to run homebrew on actual consoles, it is not necessary for running homebrew on emulators. This is beneficial because the firmware is nonfree, meaning it is proprietary and not freely available for modification or distribution. By not needing the firmware, users avoid ethical issues associated with using nonfree software, as well as potential legal issues.
Sega
Home consoles
- Sega Dreamcast
- Sega Genesis
Handhelds
- Game Gear
SNK
Sony
Homebrew: "Making games on the PlayStation is possible with any model of the system through the use of a modchip or the double 'Swap Trick'. There is also a softmod/save game exploit called "tonyhax" Requirements consist of a PC, SDK, and a 'Comms Link' device to upload and download files to and from the console." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_(video_games)#PlayStation
- https://archive.org/details/psx-homebrew-library
- https://github.com/Lameguy64/PSn00bSDK: "PSn00bSDK is a 100% free and open source SDK project for the original Sony PlayStation for developing homebrew applications and games for the console."
- SuperTux: https://github.com/headshot2017/supertux-ps2
- Game managers
- Chromium B.S.U.
- GNU FreeDink
- No Gravity
- SuperTux: https://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/threads/16086-SuperTux-PSP-port-(Super-Mario-like-platformer), https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/SuperTux_PSP_by_riviera71, https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/SuperTux_PSP_by_Jomar
Uzebox
- Arkanoid_(Uzebox)
- DrMario_(Uzebox)
- The Uzebox Games and Demos Uzebox wiki page also list potential fully-free games. Note that beside the license we also need to make sure they don't have any nonfree build dependencies (like windows tools to convert graphic files for instance, dependencies on avr-studio, etc). We probably need a way to review that as well somewhere. For Arkanoid I reviewed it in the DistroExecutionEnvironments#Other_execution_environment Libreplanet wiki page. The same info is also on the Parabola Emulator_licensing_issues wiki page.
Todo
- Create pages for each game
- Add to the games: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category/Runs-on/SNES
External links
Super Tux (reference game)
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