Game problems FAQ

Here's a list of notable games that can be problematic. Solutions are provided to the best of our ability.

Nintendo

Game Boy / Color

Pinball Deluxe

This game hangs on most emulators. SameBoy is one of the only emulators known to be capable of running this game.

Game Boy Advance

Wario Ware Twisted, Yoshi Topsy Turvy, Koro Koro Puzzle

Motion control emulation for these games were not implemented until myBoy and mGBA added them. Patched ROMs exist that allow these games to be played with the D-Pad.

Boktai series

Relies on a solar sensor to recharge an in-game gauge that affects gameplay. ROM patches were made to change the solar sensor level with the D-Pad but proper emulation was not implemented until NO$GBA and mGBA added it.

Famicom/Classic NES Series

Throws a Gamepak Error at start-up. It was actually an anti-piracy/emulation tactic. Emulation of the needed behavior was implemented in mGBA.

Mother 3

Sound battles rely on precise timing. Using a flashcart or a 3DS Virtual Console injection would fix that problem because direct access to the actual hardware fixes those timings.

Nintendo DS

iQue (Chinese DS) games

Throws a glowing error at start-up "Only for iQue". It's a rudimentary form of regional lock that can only be circumvented by opening the ROM with a hex editor and changing one byte at a specific address at the moment.

DSi

Some games outright crash, or show the wrong text (like Shantae showing "Localisation not found"). This can be solved by using a NAND dump. The Camera is still not emulated.

Mag Slide Kid

Has an add-on that no emulator has implemented. Wait for a fix.

Slot-2 (GBA bonuses) not working

Some games like Lunar Knight and Mega Man Star Force removed this feature during localization, so play the Japanese versions instead. Solar sensor bonus in Lunar Knight (aka Boktai DS), however is emulated in melonDS. Read this post for more info.

Pokémon issues

Specifically Gen 4 (3), Gen 2 remakes (2), and Gen 5 (4).

• These games rely on cartridge reading speeds more than usual for other games. This causes crashes at start-up that can be circumvented with ARDS cheats in No$GBA, or cause frequent freezes every half hour or so on DeSmuME (meaning the in-game battery save feature is far more preferable to save states). melonDS recently solved the cartridge reading speed emulation and fixes were ported to other emulators.
• There's also anti-piracy for good measure, which can be disabled with Action Replay codes, and graphical glitches.
• Unemulated features like the Pokewalk, the Typing with the Pokemon bluetooth keyboard and Download Play event cards.
• The emulation runs in standard DS clock speed mode on most DS emulators, meaning it doesn't take advantage of the DSi enhancements, though No$GBA recently implemented that partially.
• The Wi-Fi connectivity features remained under-developed as the devs wanted with their creative differences. Local multiplayer needed for trading monsters between two copies (but also used in other games) isn't possible. This recently got resurrected as a functional WIP feature in melonDS.
• Online multiplayer was functional in as early as 0.9.7, but rumors spread about a Nintendo letter stating that all forms of multiplayer (even local) were illegal, meaning forks were spread on file sharing sites more than through fork developers themselves. Despite Nintendo's servers going down in 2014, alternative servers covering only the downloadable content still exist. On the bright side, save editors still exist.

DeSmuME-libretro is currently playing catch-up with graphical fixes and some freezing bugs here and there.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Tengai Makyou Zero

The Japanese version of the regular and limited edition releases used to require external graphical packs. This requirement is no longer present in all emulators but ZSNES and an obscure Snes9x Android port used for a Chinese fan-translation. It's fairly supported on all emulators. The game will run a cartridge check the first time it boots. Press either A or B depending on what it shows on screen, and then when it shows you a new message in Japanese, soft reset the emulator. You'll need to do 2 checks like this. After that, an .rtc file is created, and all subsequent boot-ups of the games will play normally.

The English fan-translation so far runs on higan / bsnes, requiring an xml file named the same as the patched ROM, and a manifest.bml file, all under the same directory. The game can be opened from the ROM on standalone higan, and from manifest.bml from RetroArch. Modified builds of Snes9x for Windows (1.5.4) and GX Wii (Source) can boot the ROM alone.

GameCube

Star Wars: Rogue Leader/Rebel Strike

The games are playable, but suffer from some random hangs and other issues. Click here for Rogue Leader info, and here for Rebel Strike info.

Sony

PS1

Metal Gear Solid

Rewrites BIOS commands in order to work; a simulated one won't cut it. Do not use the simulated BIOS in PCSX-R. These will just give a blank screen. If you are using a real BIOS and it is still not working, try different ones.

If the game stutters, enable the relevant fix in your sound plugin.

Trying to fight Psycho Mantis on an emulator that can't change controller ports? Die enough times and you will be given another method: shooting statues.

PS2

Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3

Needs a very high end CPU to run at full speed.

Shadow of the Colossus

Needs a very high end CPU to run at full speed.

Sly 2 and 3

Needs a very high end CPU to run at full speed.

PSP

DanganRonpa

Use the latest version of PPSSPP to resolve any problem its had before.

Go to Game Settings > Graphics. Users of Nvidia GPUs should select "Read Framebuffers to Memory (GPU)" under "Rendering Mode". If you use an AMD GPU or Android device, select "Read Framebuffers to Memory (CPU)".

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

In the level "Peace Walker battle 2", one of the last bosses in the game, the boss's life cannot be depleted from the last 2 bars, making it unbeatable. Use the latest version of PPSSPP to resolve this.

Test Drive Unlimited

Needs a very high-end device to run it decently on Android.