StellaWii - Atari2600 Emulator for Nintendo Wii

[wraggster]

Nuvalo (http://wiibrew.org/wiki/StellaWii) has released a new atari 2600 emulator for the Nintendo Wii:


/ Stella atari 2600 emulator for Wii
///////////////////////////////////////////////


Introduction:
--------------

This project is based on the atari 2600 opensource emulator called stella. You can
find the original sources on its sourceforge page:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=41847

This version uses the same sources than the original. It uses wii-linux to run on a
wii, cwiid for wiimote interface, and the SDL libraries for this system.

What you need:
--------------

- A console ready to run homebrew
- Wiimote
- SDCard


Installation:
--------------

- Copy the "app" and "stella" directories (and its contents) to the root of yout SDCard.

- Put your roms inside the "stella" directory, in the root of your sdcard

- Put the SDCard on the front slot sdcard adapter of your wii

- Launch the Homebrew channel, and load the Stella´s .dol file



Instructions:
-------------



When the program starts, it tells you to press the "1" and "2" buttons of your wiimote. Wait until the emulator
starts, an then press 1 and 2 at the same time, until the wiimote's leds starts to blink (you can press them at any moment).
Here is the button relation between the wiimote and the keyboard:

[A]: Enter (select an option or the rom)
[Home]: Escape (to return to "roms select" menu)
[B]: Tabulator (to navigate through the menu buttons)
[-]: F1 (Reset) (in a game)
[+]: F2 (Select) (in a game)

First player: Wiimote
[1]: Pad button
[Digital pad]: Arrows

Second player: Nunchuck
[C]: Pad button
[Analog pad]: Arrows

Thanks to
----------

- The gc-linux team for their effort in porting linux to the wii console
- The stella team, for their great emulator
- The CWiid develeoppers, for their great applications to interface the wiimote

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments

[zillion94]

Well it looks like it loads in theory. I have a problem with the linux based emulators- no matter which video cables I use, my tv is 480I max (maybe 480p, I forget) and it always displays scrambled like an 80's cable tv channel I didn't subscribe to. :)

I have the same issue when trying to hook a PC up to my TV- bios level is fine, but when the gfx kicks in after Windows loads, forget it.

[zillion94]

Oops- by the way, anyone know a fix for that (other than the obvious get a new tv)? :)

[sean.aaron]

I'd really like to see some emulators run native on Wii; not just using Wii Linux as this seems to cause problems (see SDLMAME on Wii).

I might give this a shot, but I'd prefer 2600 games on VC or a fat disc a la Activision Anthology on GBA.

[DKing]

Seemed to work fine on the few games I tried. Would rather be able to use a gamecube or classic controller though. Using the wiimote in horozonal mode almost makes my hands sore after not so long.

[sean.aaron]

Well, it has the usual ambiguous directions. So, does "put ROMs in stella directory" mean put my ROMs directory in the stella directory or put the ROM files directly into the stella directory without any intervening subdirectory?

I'll probably give this a try later in the week; hopefully it will work better than SDLMAME...now I just need a 5200/800 emulator (and a working MAME) and I'll be set!

[sean.aaron]

Well, I put my ROMs in a folder called ROMs in the stella root directory and all is well. The front-end allows you to navigate the directory structure below /stella, so you can put your ROMs in any subfolder you'd like.

Really great piece of work here, nuvalo. I never played Stella on my Mac, but I think I'll get some mileage out of it on the Wii so thanks! Playing Yars Revenge again after however many decades was pretty cool. Now I just need to go through my ROMs and get rid of the crap ones!

Looking forward to an Atari 5200/800 emulator (probably easier to do just 5200 and not deal with floppy/tape drives/keyboards on the latter).

I have high hopes of the next SDLMAME update since we have wiimote support working in Stella -- bring on Classic Controller and wiimote support!

[semipcgeek]

I've been wanting a good 2600 emulator for the wii for the longest time. Having used Stella before on the PC, I hope this one isn't a let down. However, someone mentioned that support for other controller types would be ideal. I would have to agree, especially for two people even. 4 player would also be great, who remembers Warlords??!! Anyways, I can't see player 2 using nunchuck..... classic controller would be better.

Now to add some tidbits: It's a little awkward to exit out, since I wasn't sure on how to access the buttons on the bottom. Keep pressing B and you'll eventually get it. Actually, the buttons were off the screen, on the bottom, so some sort of resizing would be nice. Also, if you have a whole bunch, it is highly recommended that you break your roms into smaller directories. I've divided them by letter and it seems happier that way.