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How to Play Gameboy Advance Games on the PSP

The PSP was not designed to be able to emulate other game consoles. Enthusiasts have found way to modify the PSP's operating system so that it can download and run programs not sanctioned by Sony. A "moded" PSP with firmware 5.03 installed can download and install an emulator program that will let it play GameBoy Advance Games. This also requires downloading and installing public domain GBA games. The process for doing this is straightforward, although it may take some time to find GBA games to play.

Things You'll Need

PSP USB connector cable
Memory stick
Windows-based computer

Instructions

- 1
  Download and install the GBA emulator to the desktop of the computer (see link in Resources). Click on the icon of the GBA emulator when it has finished loading to install it onto the desktop.
- 2
  Insert a memory stick into the memory slot of the PSP. Attach a PSP USB connector cable to the PSP and to a USB port on the computer. Turn on the PSP and navigate to the "USB Mode" setting.
- 3
  Drag the GBA emulator program from the desktop and into the memory stick of the PSP that is inside of "Start", "MyComputer," "Devices." Wait for the GBA emulator to copy to the memory stick.
- 4
  Download the Xboo Package software to the desktop of the computer (see link in Resources). Decompress the file to a folder on the desktop. Drag the "$gba clone BIOS" image file to the root of the memory stick that is inside of "start", "MyComputer", "Devices". Wait for the "$gba clone BIOS" image file to copy to the memory stick.
- 5
  Disconnect the PSP USB connector cable from the PSP and from the USB port of the computer. Navigate back to the home menu on the PSP. Turn the PSP off.
Installing the GBA game
- 6
  Download a public domain GBA game to the computer (see link in Resources). Click on the icon of the downloaded game to install a folder on the desktop.
- 7
  Attach the PSP USB cable to the PSP and to a USB port on the computer. Turn on the PSP and navigate to the "USB Mode" setting from the home menu.
  
  Go to "start", "MyComputer", "Devices" on the computer and locate the icon of the PSP's memory stick.
  
  Open the GBA game folder on the desktop and drag the picture files inside of the "Slim" folder into the "Photo" folder inside of the memory stick. Wait for the picture files to copy to the memory stick.
- 8
  Drag the "h.bin" file from inside of the GBA game folder to the root of the memory stick. Wait for the "h.bin" file to copy to the memory stick.
- 9
  Right-click on the memory stick and select "Eject". Remove the PSP USB connector cable from the PSP and from the USB port of the computer.
  
  Navigate to the home menu on the PSP. Go to "Settings" and select "Restore Default Settings". Press the "X" button to restart the PSP.
- 10
  Navigate to the "Photo" menu on the PSP and select the GBA game folder. Click on one of the picture files to start the PSP rebooting so that the GBA emulator can now be used to play the GBA game.

Sony PSP