A few days ago, I was fortunate enough to get a chance to interview one of the Wii scene's best emulator authors. Chris Smith (aka raz0red) has released Wii ports of Stella, Atari800, ProSystem Emulator, and Handy/SDL. He also does a podcast (along with two good friends) called Twitch Asylum Video Game Radio.
On the show, they discuss both modern and classic gaming and spotlight aspects of the gaming industry that seem to be lacking in today's mainstream media. So far, eighteen of these podcasts exist; the last one aired in March of 2008. All of them can be downloaded from the Twitch Asylum website.
Embeded to the right of this text is episode two. We choose to embed this episode as a sample of the podcast because it features a review of "Once Upon Atari", a DVD documentary that takes a look back on the lives of the early Atari VCS developers and also features an interview with Howard Scott Warshaw, a game programmer best known for the Atari 2600 games "Yar's Revenge" and "E.T.". To play the full podcast (which first aired in February of 2006) click the play button to the right once to start the buffer and again to start playing the MP3.
All four of raz0red's emulators are still in active development and can be downloaded from the Twitch Asylum Forums. The forums are a great place to go to get community based technical support for any issues you might have or discuss anything related to the emulators or webcast. WiiBrew.org, a wiki dedicated to homebrew on the Nintendo Wii, provides up to date documentation, screenshots, and other important information about each emulator port.
Likewise, all four of raz0red's emulator ports have their own pages here on Bazzie Bizzle.com. These include our Wii2600, WiiXL, Wii7800, and WiiHandy/SDL pages. These pages provide mirror downloads as well as the ability to rate or comment on each emulator.
Much like our first interview, this interview was done via email. In it, raz0red and I discuss several different topics including his interests, the Twitch Asylum podcast, what he has planned for the near future, and of course his emulator ports.
Jay: Hi Chris, Thanks for taking the time to do this interview.
raz0red: No problem, happy to do it.
Jay: Can you tell us about yourself, like where you're from, your marital status, hobbies, education level, and profession?
raz0red: Sure, I currently reside in a small suburb outside of Portland, Oregon (I have lived in Oregon all of my life). I have a very wonderful and understanding wife, Amy, who lets me get away with way too much hobby time. As for education, I attended Oregon State University where I received a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science.
Professionally, I am a software architect/engineer at a small startup security company. Most of my time is spent doing design and implementation for all aspects of our system (front-end/web, middle-tier, and back-end/database).
As far as hobbies go; arcade game restoration, collecting classic computers and consoles, and messing with emulators. I also really enjoy reading and learning about the history of computers and video games.
Jay: How did you become interested in computers and programming?
raz0red: Well, I think it all started the first time I saw a Space Invaders arcade game at a local restaurant. I was really fascinated with it, and wanted to know how it worked. About that same time, my elementary school purchased an Apple II and I was immediately hooked with learning how to program it and playing games. Due to the expense of Apple computers, my parents bought me a VIC-20, which was upgraded to a 64, then an Amiga, etc. I was pretty much non-stop into bulletin boards, programming, etc.
Jay: What are your top three favorite game systems and what's your favorite game for each one?
raz0red: Ah, that is a pretty tough question, but I will give it a shot.
Well, my favorite console I would have to say is the Atari 2600/VCS with my favorite game being Pitfall!. Second, I will go with the Super Nintendo with Super Mario World being my favorite for it. Third, I guess I will go with the Nintendo 64 with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time being my favorite.
Jay: What was the first gaming system you ever owned?
raz0red: The Atari 2600/VCS, my first and still my favorite. ;-)
Jay: What's your favorite emulator?
raz0red: Definitely MAME with Daphne being a very close second. Not only does MAME emulate the arcade games that I have such fond memories of, but I really like the way it is designed with its ability to quickly plug together different architectural components. As for Daphne, I have always been very fond of Laserdisc games and it really delivers on that nostalgic experience.
Jay: What emulators do you use or have installed? (include Wii, PC, and anything else you want)
raz0red: Oh man, there are way too many to list. If there is an emulator for a classic console you can assume it is on my Wii, PSP, and PC.
Jay: I hear you like to restore old arcade machines, you ever build a MAME cabinet?
raz0red: Yeah, I currently have a cocktail MAME cabinet. We also built a standup MAME cabinet at work.
Jay: What advice would you give a person who's considering writing or porting an emulator?
Some sreenshots taken by raz0red for use on WiiBrew.org (click to enlarge)
raz0red: I think the best advice to give is to not get frustrated and enjoy it. It is fascinating to learn how the architectures of classic consoles operate. I would also recommend that they start by porting something as the effort required is trivial compared to the amount of work it takes to write an emulator from scratch.
Jay: Out of all four emulators you have released for Wii, which was your favorite?
raz0red: I don't know if I really have a favorite, but I think I have had the most fun porting ProSystem (Atari 7800) to the Wii. It isn't quite as mature as the other emulators and it gave me a chance to implement some new features (light gun support, high score cart support, bug fixes) instead of just doing a straight port.
Jay: You've done ports of emulators for Atari's 2600, 5200 & 8-bit computers, 7800, and the Lynx. Any plans to work with the Jaguar?
raz0red: I am definitely interested in porting the Jaguar to the Wii, but I haven't been able to decide which project to port. Project Tempest seems pretty decent, but the source code for the latest versions hasn't been released publicly (at least I couldn't locate them). Virtual Jaguar is still under heavy development and hasn't been optimized. I may just go ahead and port Virtual Jaguar for fun, and see how it performs.
Jay: What is the most powerful system you think can be emulated on the Wii?
raz0red: There are so many talented people in the Wii homebrew scene that I wouldn't really want to venture a guess. I do believe that we will see full speed PSX emulation at some point.
Jay: Any top secret projects you care to announce or hint about? ;)
raz0red: No, nothing too top secret right now. I really just want to enhance my current ports. There are a number of features I would like to add to each of them. Also, I have been working on a new front-end as the current one is weak at best.
Jay: Have you ever worked on an emulator for any platform besides the Wii? Any plans to do so in the future?
raz0red: The only emulators I have released publicly have been on the Wii, but I have messed with quite a number of Windows emulators. I may be releasing some enhancements I made to a couple of Windows emulators in the near future.
Jay: Would you describe Twitch Asylum Video Game Radio, what's it all about?
raz0red: Well, Twitch Asylum Radio was started by a group of my friends when we were all working at the same software company. We found that we spent a lot of time debating different aspects of both classic and modern gaming. So, we decided to create a podcast as a place to focus those discussions. As we created more episodes, the focus shifted more and more toward the history of video games (which is what I really enjoy learning and talking about).
Jay: Can you tell us a bit about the other Twitch Asylum Inmates, Tom Good and Patrick "Woody" Woodworth?
raz0red: Tom is a lot like myself, he has a long history of owning and playing with classic consoles and computers. While I had a Commodore he had an Apple so we complement each other very well in being able to cover what is was like, "back in the day". As far as Woody goes... Well... he is sort of indescribable.
Jay: When can we expect to hear episode #19?
raz0red: Well, it has been over a year since our last episode, so I think most people believe we will never produce another episode. I won't promise anything, but I will say that I talk to the guys all the time and we are all eager to do something again.
Jay: Can you give us a hint about what might be discussed on the next show?
raz0red: During the last year, I have spent quite a bit of time reading different computer and video game history books, so I definitely think we will touch on one of those in addition to conducting a related interview.
Jay: What type of contests have you had on the Twitch Asylum forums and are there any going on now?
raz0red: We really haven't had too many contests. I think we gave away a copy of The King of Kong, but that is the last contest I can remember. When we get our next episode out, you can expect something however.
Jay: Well, thank you for your time Chris and good luck with your great emulators. We'll be looking out for the next episode of Twitch Asylum.
raz0red: Thanks for taking the time to interview me and good luck with the site!
