How to run Touhou 1-5 on Android! (Updated 10/25/2016)

[Sorahai]

There are many shrine maidens who want to play the official Touhou games on Android.

I finally figured out how to get the first official, PC-98 based, Touhou games to run on Android. From "Highly Responsive to Prayers" to "Mystic Square". I wanted to share with the community on how to run these Touhou games on your Android devices so that you can play your favorite danmaku series on the go.

Updated as of 10/25/2016
I have recently discovered an updated build of np2 for android that runs faster and contains fixes. I've tested this build on my Note 5 with near perfect emulation (even with 86 sound!). Testing this same build on my S4 may have had some improvements but is not nearly the speed of my Note 5. I've updated the instructions and is now finally actually playable with recent powerful devices. I will update with new pictures and possibly a video soon.

What you need:
?An Android device (Preferably a powerful one)
?Hard Disk Images of any of the PC-98 based Touhou games.
?Neko Project II for Android (A PC-98 Emulator)

*Please DO NOT pirate the games. Support Zun/Team Shanghai Alice and buy the games. If you need help on creating hard disk images of your legal copy of the Touhou games, search on google.

Steps:
1. Download Neko Project II (np2) for Android from here. Updated and fixed version here, and download the prerequisites from here.

2. Install Neko Project II for Android on your device. You may need to allow Unknown Sources in the Android system settings. Next open np2-data.zip and place the np2 folder in the root of your storage.

3. After creating hard disk images of any of the PC-98 Touhou games, place them in the np2 folder.

4. Run Neko Project II for Android. It may be a little confusing at first, but just follow the steps. Touhou will not run at first without some changes and adjustments.

5. Depending on your device, the emulator might only take up part of the screen. To fix this, either enable magnification gestures in the Android system settings, or if you're rooted, change the resolution of your device. This is because the emulator does not run in full screen (despite the fact there is a setting for it) nor does it have scaling. So if your device has a high resolution screen like mine, the emulator will be small.

Updated version has working fullscreen option.

6. Tap the menu button on the bottom of your device or screen (depending on your device) and tap NP2 menu. A window should appear. Tap on emulate -> configure.

-Slide CPU multiplier to x16
-Set sound rate to 44KHz and buffer to 100 ms (although you can set the buffer to anything if you want)

Updated: Then tap on device -> soundboard. Then select PC-9801-86 for full sound support (although PC-9801-26K might be more suitable for less powerful devices) You may have to enable 86 sound with in each game as with my experience it defaults to 26 sound sometimes.

*Its recommended to disable vsync under the screen tab too, although I haven't notice any difference.

7. Tap reset under the emulate tab or from tapping your menu button then tapping reset.

8. Tap your menu button again, then tap HDD ->SASI1 Open. If you placed your HDD images in the np2 folder as recommended, they should show up on the list. Tap your desired hard disk image of your Touhou game. Reset if needed.

9. The emulator should reset and then you will see the game starting up. If it doesn't work still, completely close the app and reopen it. If it still doesn't work, restart your device and try again.

If you have further problems, feel free to let me know and I'll try my best to my ability to help you with your situation.

Notes:
?The games and sound may run kinda slow, depending on your device.
?I tested this on my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 and AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and I can't guarantee it will run on your android device.
?You don't need root.
?The app is emulating a PC98 running MS-DoS, which explains why the np2 menu looks like an old version of Windows.
?I recommend connecting a wireless keyboard and/or mouse via bluetooth or OTG USB. This is because the software keyboard in the np2 settings is kinda hard to use, takes up most of the screen and has input lag.
?I'm not responsible for any damage that may be done by spell cards from performing this on your device. (It's extremely unlikely, I think there is 0% chance of harm but I will leave this as a precaution)

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Happy Shrine Maidens ^.^

Images:

[Uruwi]

*Please DO NOT pirate the games. Support Zun/Team Shanghai Alice and buy the games. If you need help on creating hard disk images of your legal copy of the Touhou games, search on google.

You know that nowadays it's almost impossible to get legitimate copies of the PC-98 games, right?

Anyway, that was a helpful guide, although I probably won't play any PC-98 Touhou on my Android device soon.

[Sorahai]

You know that nowadays it's almost impossible to get legitimate copies of the PC-98 games, right?

Anyway, that was a helpful guide, although I probably won't play any PC-98 Touhou on my Android device soon.

Yes I do realize that, considering they are no longer produced but still piracy should not be encourage. This goes for all Touhou games and software in general.

I'm glad you found my guide helpful. I admit it currently isn't that great but hopefully down the road a better emulator will exist for Android.

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

I've actually tried the NP2 for Android app, using FMDSP and a collection of PMD/FMP music from various composers' websites. The fact that my HTC One (2013 version) can't even run that at appreciable speeds means that unless smartphones start incorporating 3GHz+ CPUs, we probably won't get close to a good emulation of PC98. The main reason being that most Android devices use ARM-based CPUs while nearly all computers, including the PC98, use Intel-based CPUs. There is extreme overhead when running code not meant for the target processor, which is why current phones struggle with any sort of PC emulation.

Processors that fast in a smartphone would likely be hard to implement due to the power they would use, so unless someone comes up with a good x86-to-ARM recompiler, emulators like these can only stand as a proof-of-concept, similar to the various PC emulators for the PSP or Nintendo Wii.

You know that nowadays it's almost impossible to get legitimate copies of the PC-98 games, right?

Yes, but the copyright still exists and has yet to expire. If anything, I think ZUN should put all the older games, including the PC98 floppy images if possible, up for sale through some sort of digital distribution service. That would probably deter would-be pirates as well as make them easily accessible for people to purchase.

[Sorahai]

I've actually tried the NP2 for Android app, using FMDSP and a collection of PMD/FMP music from various composers' websites. The fact that my HTC One (2013 version) can't even run that at appreciable speeds means that unless smartphones start incorporating 3GHz+ CPUs, we probably won't get close to a good emulation of PC98. The main reason being that most Android devices use ARM-based CPUs while nearly all computers, including the PC98, use Intel-based CPUs. There is extreme overhead when running code not meant for the target processor, which is why current phones struggle with any sort of PC emulation.

Processors that fast in a smartphone would likely be hard to implement due to the power they would use, so unless someone comes up with a good x86-to-ARM recompiler, emulators like these can only stand as a proof-of-concept, similar to the various PC emulators for the PSP or Nintendo Wii.

I'm familiar with all the information about emulation and processor architectures so I get where you are coming from. It would be a break through if that recompiler existed, as emulation would have a huge increase in performance and compatibility. Although we don't need exactly 3GH+ CPUs in order to emulate PC98 well. From my understanding, NP2 is horribly optimized for Android, as its a just a port from the source code of NP2.

Another way to look at this is PPSSPP, a PSP emulator that exist on a lot of platforms, including Android. The PSP's CPU uses the MIPS architecture, and so its not the same as ARM. Yet in the beginning, PPSSPP could barely do anything but now it can emulate like 99% of PSP games smoothly. For example, I can play Project Diva for PSP on my Samsung Galaxy S4 quite well, and I'm sure that would be even better with newer devices. If someone were to make an emulator for PC98 specifically meant to run on Android with good optimization, it could be possible.

As for ARM based processors running at 3GHz +, its not exactly impossible from the power. As we reduce the manufacturing process for processors, they become more power efficient. With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC running at 2.8 GHz, we are almost there. It won't be long till we have phones with 3GHz processors.

As you said though, emulation is very intensive. Although I don't imagine it being to intensive to emulate the CPU in the PC98 on ARM, as long it was optimized to run on ARM and Android. Emulating the Intel 386 @ 33MHz would take some time to get it right, but I'm sure it can be done on the hardware that is in our devices, as your HTC One and my Galaxy S4 uses the same SoC, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600. Although, that's not the only thing that has to be emulated, as all emulators emulate everything in the device they are emulating. So I might be to optimistic about that. It's all about optimization .