A new way to load homebrew on official PS2 hardware has cropped up. It’s allows for loading games directly from the memory card, an advancement never before seen on a disc based system.
Most retro handhelds and retro handheld gamers primarily load their games off of included SD cards inside of their devices. It’s a simple process: put game on card, choose game on handheld, play. On official consoles however, the process to load personal backups has always involved a bit more work.
For example, to mod a GameCube, you would need to rely on a soldered-in mod chip or a sea of clunky software. To mod an Xbox, you can use a software mod, but the old-school way of doing it had you flash a custom firmware to the entire system.
PS2 Modding
For the PS2, the process was a bit easier with Free McBoot. Partially because of that ease, software based mods on the PS2 have always been relatively easy and plentiful.
Over the last few years, a few different PS2 specific mods have been released. All of them are additional hardware, but they function as close to plug and play as you can get. 8bitMods had released their MemCard Pro 2 that eliminated the old 8MB data limit of first party memory cards. A Brooks Super Converter can allow for using a PS4 controller on a PS2 with zero noticeable lag.
What is the MMCE?
Now, Tito from Macho Nacho is here to show off the MMCE, a Multi-Purpose Memory Card Emulator feature added to the SD2PSX. The SD2PSX was notable for doing a similar job as the aforementioned MemCard Pro 2: removing the limitations of standard first party memory cards. It does this by creating virtual memory cards for your selected games, making it almost impossible to run out of space if you were to supply it even a 16GB Micro SD card.
The new MMCE feature takes it a step further, however not utilized Free McBoot to “mod” the console and can then launch needed homebrew to run backups. From there, it can also create virtual memory cards for each game played. It’s essentially an all-in-one solution for those looking for a way to easily and reliable store both backups and game saves on original hardware.
Retro handhelds have come an increasingly long way since consoles like the PS2 have launched. We have devices today that can emulate PS2 at numerous integers higher than the default resolution with added filters and post-processing tricks. But the zeal and passion that the PS2 has given so many hackers and modders is still something to marvel at.
The PS2 is one of the best selling consoles of all time. Emulation of the platform is still something gamers today fawn and yearn for in new handhelds, and the titles released on the system still stand out as pivotal releases that have cult followings all these years later. And now, with devices like the SD2PSX, MemCard Pro 2, and the new MMCE protocol, those games can continue to inspire future generations of gamers.
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