[General Topics] Menneisyys:
After you've acquired your ROM images (as .ZIP or .7z files - the latter is very common with archives having more than one image - for example, different release versions, languages of the same game are often packed with 7z to GREATLY, in cases, with orders of magnitude (!) decrease the archive's size), decompress them if your emulator doesn't support ZIP archives - for example, of the three most recommended emulators, MorphGear doesn't support ZIP files as can also be seen in the "Compression support" row of the Comparison and game compatibility chart. Then, transfer them to your mobile device. Please consult the "Files" section in the first part of the Comparison and game compatibility chart for more information on whether a given emulator has its own file open dialog. If it doesn't (as is the case with Tala's app), you will need to either install Mad Programmer's File Dialog Changer (FDC), as is explained in my Sierra interpreter review & tutorial. Or, alternatively, store your (if the emulator allows for compression, ZIP'ed) ROM files in a direct subdirectory of your storage card. Otherwise, you can store them anywhere.

Also note that, if you do plan to very often load new ROM's in your emulator, you will want to thoroughly check out the "Remembers last position (with Mad programmer's FDC - that is, when NOT using the standard file dialog)" row in the same section. You will want a solution that always takes you back to the last-used directory so that you don't need to manually switch directories, which can be pretty tedious.

Unfortunately, as can be seen in the chart, n0p's (internally Mad Programmer's FDC-based) solution always starts from the home directory of the app and doesn't remember the last directory you've loaded your files from. Therefore, to make things as fast as possible, consider storing your ZIP archives right in the home directory or n0p's port (that is, in the same directory where you've decompressed n0p's emulator to).

Tala's port (the preferable emulator for Dell Axim x50v / x51v users) always starts from \My Documents, in the built-in storage, if you do install Mad Programmer's FDC. Therefore, if you don't want to move your ROM files in the main storage (because it's already full and/or you'd like to keep your ROM files on a card) but still need quick image switching capabilities, consider disabling FDC or adding Tala's emulator to the exception list of FDC and just stick with the standard file selector dialog of the operating system and just put yuour ROM's in a direct subdirectory of the root of your memory card so that they are displayed at once without your having to manually change directories.

Installation, configuration, running games

All the reviewed emulators can co-exist without problems - this means you can keep any of them on your Windows Mobile (as long as they're compatible - for example, it's pretty useless to keep the OpenGLES (Tala) version of PocketSNES on your mobile if it's not a 2700G-based Dell Axim). Actually, except for MorphGear, they don't even need to be installed: you only transfer the EXE file you dowload off the Web to your mobile device and start it in there. (With the addition that Masterall also requires Tillansoft's tGetFile and n0p's distribution has some other files in the ZIP file you'll also need to transfer to the same directory on your mobile.)

After starting the emulators, starting a game is pretty straightforward: you go to Tools / Load ROM (in all PocketSNES-derivatives) and click a ROM after finding it. After this, the game is started and can be controlled with the D-pad and hardware buttons of your device.

Buttons

The standard button assignment can be changed in Options / Buttons…; this is particularly important on WM devices with few buttons (like the HP iPAQ 2210) because the, by default, eight non-directional buttons (one of them, Start, being assigned to Action - that is, the center of the D-pad or, if present, the jog dial) needs to be assigned to 4, 5 or 6 buttons, depending on the particular WM model. Therefore, you may want to change your button assignment configuration regularly on devices having too few buttons.

To configure your button assignment, just go to the above-mentioned Options / Buttons…, click a SNES controller button (A, B, X, Y, L, R etc) on the screen and press the hardware button you'd like to assign to it.

Note that on devices with double button functionality (HTC Wizard, Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720), in general, you can assign a functionality to the long-pressed state as well (of most buttons). This isn't the case with the WM5-upgraded and, therefore, double button functionality-enabled HP iPAQ hx4700.

You can also make use of the WM5 hardware soft keys (when available).

Finally, if you have a Windows Mobile phone, you can also utilize its red and green phone buttons.