emulator: pokketstation
type: libretro
core_classification: official_port
source: "https://github.com/mentalfoundry/pokketstation"
upstream: "https://github.com/mentalfoundry/pokketstation"
profiled_date: "2026-09-03"
source_commit: "11fb6de0139d5cbdbd44e37839571a0bf25e5ab2"
core_version: "v1.11.1"
display_name: "Sony - PocketStation (pokketstation)"
cores: [pokketstation]
systems: [sony-pocketstation]

notes: |
  PocketStation emulator with a portable C core (core/) shared by the libretro
  core, an SDL2 desktop application and a PS Vita port. The libretro core
  reports library_version "0.1"; the project version is the release tag,
  v1.11.1 in the desktop frontend (frontends/desktop/main.c:40).

  load_bios opens <system>/pocketstation.bin, reads 16384 bytes and fails when
  fewer are read; a longer file is accepted and truncated. psemu_load_bios
  copies the image and rejects any size other than PSEMU_BIOS_SIZE.
  retro_load_game returns false when load_bios fails, and psemu_run executes
  nothing while no BIOS is loaded: there is no HLE and no embedded copy.
  Content (.mcr, .mcd, .mcs, .pss) is identified by its bytes, not by the
  extension. 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. 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
  (docs/hardware-notes.md:778-788). SWI 0Fh FlashWriteSerial works on 061
  and locks the CPU on 110.

  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
  (frontends/desktop/main.c:630-668, 1000-1035, 2380-2451). The Vita frontend
  loads no BIOS yet (frontends/vita/main.c:31-33).

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:178-196, frontends/libretro/libretro.c:206-208, core/src/psemu.c:90-97, core/src/psemu.c:458-461, core/src/psemu.c:795-820, 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.