emulator: pokketstation
type: libretro
core_classification: official_port
source: "https://github.com/mentalfoundry/Pokket"
upstream: "https://github.com/mentalfoundry/Pokket"
profiled_date: "2026-10-17"
source_commit: "de736cee392567d58e842f96afe77f707e694ce5"
core_version: "v1.23"
display_name: "Sony - PocketStation (pokketstation)"
cores: ["pokketstation", "pokket"]
systems: [sony-pocketstation]

notes: |
  PocketStation emulator with a portable C core (core/) shared by the libretro
  core, an SDL2 and Win32 desktop application built on Windows only
  (frontends/desktop/CMakeLists.txt:1-16), a PS Vita port and an Emscripten build.
  The libretro target is pokket_libretro (frontends/libretro/CMakeLists.txt:10-16).
  Both the libretro core and the desktop application report POKKET_VERSION,
  v1.23 from the project() line of the root CMakeLists.txt (CMakeLists.txt:4-5,
  frontends/libretro/libretro.c:189-196).

  read_bios opens <system>/pocketstation.bin, reads 16384 bytes and fails when
  fewer are read; a longer file is accepted and truncated
  (frontends/libretro/libretro.c:545-559). psemu_load_bios copies the image and
  rejects any size other than PSEMU_BIOS_SIZE (core/src/psemu.c:92-99).
  retro_load_game returns false when read_bios fails, and psemu_run executes
  nothing while no BIOS is loaded: there is no HLE and no embedded copy
  (frontends/libretro/libretro.c:586-595, core/src/psemu.c:808-812). The IR
  Link subsystem runs two units in one core and loads the same file into both
  (frontends/libretro/libretro.c:652-693).
  Content (.mcr, .mcs, .pss, .mcd, .bin, .gme) is identified by its bytes,
  not by the extension: a 128 KB image is a full card, a file opening with
  123-456-STD followed by a whole number of 8 KB blocks up to a full card
  is a DexDrive dump whose 3904-byte header is skipped, anything else is tried
  as a single save then as a Title Sector body (core/src/psemu.c:113-140,
  211-234, 326-347). Save RAM is the full 128 KB flash image.

  psemu_settings_offsets_known hashes the loaded image with FNV-1a and compares
  it with 0xB2E46838, the retail 110 revision the project traced; a match
  enables the date, time and volume override writes into kernel RAM
  (core/src/psemu.c:1150-1175). Any 16 KB image boots. Two mask ROM revisions
  are documented: 061, from prototype hardware, and 110, the retail one; the
  ASCII tags at offsets 0x1DFC (C061 or C110) and 0x3FFC (J061 or J110)
  identify them. SWI 0Fh FlashWriteSerial works on 061 and locks the CPU on
  110 (docs/hardware-notes.md:1046-1056).

  The desktop application takes the BIOS path from the command line, then
  from the bios= key of settings.cfg beside the executable, then falls back
  to bios.bin beside the executable; File > Load BIOS opens any path and
  writes it to settings.cfg (frontends/desktop/main.c:653-700, 1216-1254,
  3016-3020, 3071-3091). The Vita frontend loads no BIOS yet
  (frontends/vita/main.c:31-33), and the Emscripten build leaves the BIOS to
  the hosting page (frontends/web/README.md:35).

files:
  - name: "pocketstation.bin"
    description: "PocketStation BIOS ROM, kernel and GUI, 16 KB"
    size: 16384
    required: true
    validation: [size]
    standalone_path: "bios.bin"
    source_ref: "frontends/libretro/libretro.c:545-559, frontends/libretro/libretro.c:586-595, core/src/psemu.c:92-99, core/src/psemu.c:808-812, core/src/psemu.c:1150-1175, core/include/psemu/psemu.h:19"
    note: >
      Read from the frontend system directory. The desktop application reads
      the whole file and psemu_load_bios rejects any size other than 16384;
      the libretro core reads the first 16384 bytes. FNV-1a 0xB2E46838
      identifies the retail 110 revision for the settings overrides only.