An Introduction to AppleCE

[ By: Henry Kong ]

Emulators started to sprout up when personal computers become powerful enough to run an engine within its engine in post-Apple ][ days. One of the first emulators to float around the BBS and early days of the Internet was the Apple ][ computer. Since then, emulators have made great strides in bringing all kinds of computers, consoles and gadgets on the PC. Perhaps the most astonishing emulator is the Multi Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) which runs more than 2,000 arcade machine ROMs including the NeoGeo games.

With the induction of the iPAQ into the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest PDA currently available at 206 MHz, the day has come for PPC's to go into the emulator business. While is is a simple matter (even for the Palm OS) to emulate a Game Boy handheld, it takes more muscles to grind out emulators for SNES, Quake or NeoGeo.

In my previous write-up on PPC emulators, I have listed half a dozen or so emulators that I enjoyed and are running up to speed with sound, virtual pads etc. After posting that article, I was surprised to learn that the Apple ][ emulator for PPC's has been ported for the iPAQ. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't too keen on it as the first screenshots of the emulator reminded me of the C64 emulator.

The screen appears too busy and rather miniscule. I recall how many of the Apple ][ games are totally keyboard-driven, so appeared unplayable on the chicklet-like (only smaller and more compacted together) virtual keyboard. Also, I have played a lot on the PC version of the Apple ][ emulator and have lost any interest in it. Boy, was I wrong.

It has only been some 36 hours since I spotted the announcement at my two top favorite PPC sites in the world (the other is Pocket PC Thoughts), PocketGamer.org and I am completely sold on it. This write-up not only take the reader through the emulator but introduces him to some of my beloved mementos of my cherished Apple ][ days.

Getting started on the Apple ][ emulator is pretty much a no-brainer. Download the emulator from the AppleCE site and unzip all 3 files in the same directory anywhere on the PPC. Hey, they even got the Applesoft ROM for you.

All you need is to hunt down your favorite games. Using search engines like Yahoo or Google, typing in 'apple pinball dsk' will get you the bull's eye every time. Or you can use the link on the readme file and download to your heart's content. All Apple ][ files must be in dsk format and in colour. They can be stored under the My Documents folder on your Pocket PC itself, or on a storage card. Not every game will run; some running games are not playable, but many play great.

Tapping on the AppleCe.exe, you are rewarded with the nice modified Apple logo as per the above screen. The readme is careful to give you a brief and most helpful guide on what goes where, and which to tap etc, so print that out to refer to as you go along.

To run your stuff, hit on disk drive one and load 'em up. Some games requires two diskettes, so load disk drive two if necessary. To boot up these games, tape on the ][ icon. Then wait. Sometimes the waiting is unbearable because well, you don't know if that dsk works, is corrupt or what. Patience is the key here. However reading this article will save you the time of going through this ordeal.

Since Apple ][ games are for no longer of any commercial value, it is great to see dsk with several games packed into one as the above screenshot. If nostalgia is your game, then you will be thrilled to see some of the graphics of a bygone era on your latest hot-shot PPC as in the next screenshot.

Even games like Pick-a-Dilly-Pair work superbly, with all the 'advanced' animations (for those days) and crackling noises they call jingles. It is the only game that is completely playable on the virtual keyboard. It is really good fun, and I recommend this to kids from 3 to 93.

As an avid pinball hustler, one that finds it difficult to enter an arcade parlor without having a go at those shining silver balls, I enjoy pinball games of every kind. In my humble opinion, David's Midnight Magic (above) and Bill Budge's Pinball are amongst the best. Night Mission Pinball (below) made a splash when it was released with all kinds of features and then some. I didn't like it as much as the game pretty well plays on its own (with so many things to bump on) and there is not that much human control.

Perhaps the most popular game for the Apple ][ was Apple Invaders, a very well executed port of the most popular arcade game of that time. Creative Computing, an early leader in personal computing brought this Japanese program into the homes of thousands of Apple ][ owners.

Personally, my favorite Apple ][ game is Dung Beetles. I am surprised that no one ever stole this game and ported it for any system or platform that I know of, while a trillion variations of Pacman is strewed all over the wayside.

Dung Beetles is a spin-off of Pacman. But that's all the similarities you will find. It is a large maze with plenty of activities from dung beetles moving all over the sack of rice. Your mission is to gobble up the dots before any of 'em crossed your path. If so much as one of 'em touches you, you're dead! The end. "We've got you!" screams these wandering pests.

It's quite an accomplishment to complete the game, especially wherever you go, you leave a trail of your smelly socks on your path. I didn't know that dung beetles have bloodhound instincts, but once these insects got a whiff of your scents, they will follow you like a leech.

The game starts by pressing the centre of the iPAQ's joypad, moves smoothly and has a great sense of humour. The gameplay is super, it does not take long to start up, but then, you may not last any longer. It is the kind of game that you'll want to have another go, even if the bath is overflowing or kettle boiling over. If this is the only game the emulator can run, it is worth it. I'll pay a hundred bucks for it! (Would you believe $9.99?)

But that's not all. The Apple ][ emulator runs lots and lots of other games, runs them smoothly, even with the iPAQ's clumsy joypad and buttons. Here's a partial list to save you time trial-testing everyone of the thousands available:

• Arcade 2 - a few oldies but goodies

• Break Through - a nice playable Breakout game

• Bug Attack - plays every bit as good on the iPAQ as the original Apple ][

• Ceiling Zero - a mindless frantic space shoot 'em up

• Jawbreaker - a dot-eating game that is really funny

• Pegasus ][ - the really capable Apple ][ version of Scramble

• Sabotage - a nifty blast 'em all stress-reliever

• Stellar 7 - wire-frame vector graphics for Apple ][

• Typhoon - the largest swarming, most challenging Galaxian ever

• Wavy Navy - a nice twist to Space Invaders

AppleCe: Better Than Ever!

[ Update: Sunday, March 12 ]

Hats off to Eric Chong for his continued efforts to fine-tune his already super Apple ][ emulator. The latest version allows portrait mode - very nice when you have installed an iLid, whose cover gets into the way of landscape play. There are also several improvements, the most important being the Joystick control. In my opinion, Eric has made the CE version better than the Windows version in this area. What joy it was to see the first PC pinball that plays as good as it looks, Raster Blaster running the way a pinball table should - left and right buttons as flippers.

My cup runneth over when finally, Serpentine plays as superbly as Dung Beetles with full joypad control on the iPAQ. I must have spent many late nights on this game when Apple ][ was all the rage.

Tip: The rule of thumb with emulators is that you gets what you pays for - nothing! So don't fret too much if emulators are not everything you want 'em to be. If a dsk or rom don't run, put it aside. When an update comes up - test it again. There is a good chance that it will work.

Many thanks to Henry Kong for this article. Be sure to check out his excellent website on the 3 C's: Computer, Church & Cuisine. Don't miss his Windows CE section for plenty more Pocket PC related stuff!