Software and games for old handhelds & consoles
AAhead is a small independent homebrew label. We make calm, local‑first apps and original games, then carry them to hardware most software has forgotten — currently the PSP and the Anbernic R36S. Button‑driven and offline by default, with no accounts, feed, or notifications. Music has one optional network action: an explicit missing‑cover fetch through a proxy you configure yourself.
Built for the pocket computer Sony almost let the PSP become — and for the handhelds keeping that spirit alive.
Available now: AAhead Music 0.2.1 and the Hell Is Fuel 0.9 pre‑alpha preview for PSP. Reader remains in recovery and the R36S shell is still in validation.
One small set of apps, carried to several kinds of old hardware. The status here is honest — if a platform is not marked shipping, its build is not done yet.
| Platform | Screen / runtime | Status |
|---|---|---|
| PSP & PSP Go | 480×272 · custom firmware | AAhead Music 0.2.1 shipping; Hell Is Fuel 0.9 preview; Reader in recovery |
| Anbernic R36S | 640×480 · validated dArkOS / ArkOS base | Hardware validation in progress |
| Other Linux handhelds (muOS, etc.) | Not release-targeted | Paused until flagship release |
| Sega Dreamcast | Not release-targeted | Paused until current products ship |
Descend into the seventh circle carrying the last living flame. Draw a burning path through the horde, recall it through everything behind you, and feed the fire before Hell puts it out.
| Platform | Status | Release | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSP / PSP Go | Playable pre-alpha, real PSP Go validated | Download 0.9 | |
AAhead Reader is being prepared as an EPUB, TXT, CBZ, and PDF reader for PSP. Its modern MuPDF 1.28 backend passes local development QA and is excluded from distributable builds until an AGPLv3-compliant package or Artifex commercial license is selected. Physical buttons, persistent progress, cached covers, themes, bookmarks, and a UI built for the real 480×272 screen.
| Platform | Status | Release | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSP / PSP Go | Separate package, checksum, and PSP hardware matrix pending | No recovery package published | |
AAhead Music is a local‑first PSP music player: fast library browsing, XMB‑era clarity, playlists, album art, audiobooks, pocket playback, EarPods controls, and seven hardware‑qualified audio families.
| Platform | Status | Release | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSP / PSP Go | Hardware-qualified on PSP Go / ARK-4 | Download 0.2.1 | |
AAhead Shell gives the Anbernic R36S a real face: a console‑grade launcher over RetroArch with curated cover art, editorial descriptions, per‑game cheats, display presets, and save‑state browsing — the machine kept hidden, the games brought forward.
| Platform | Status | Release | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R36S · validated dArkOS / ArkOS base | Internal hardware validation | No public build | |
The incomplete v0.1.0 prerelease was withdrawn. The next downloadable build will be the verified, rollback-safe v1.0 product.
PSP — AAhead Music
You need a PSP or PSP Go running custom firmware. The release is an ordinary ZIP — no installer.
- Download the verified ZIP on a computer and verify its SHA‑256.
- Copy the PSP folder to the root of your Memory Stick, merging with the one already there.
- On a standard PSP, launch from Game > Memory Stick. On a PSP Go installed to internal storage, use Game > System Storage.
Use a computer and USB/Memory Stick transfer, or open http://psp.aahead.site/ in the legacy PSP browser. The package still needs to be placed under PSP/GAME.
PSP — Hell Is Fuel
The game uses the same copy‑and‑launch installation. Keep EBOOT.PBP, title.raw, and music.raw together under PSP/GAME/HellIsFuel. See the game page for controls and current pre‑alpha status.
R36S — AAhead Shell
There is no public R36S package while device acceptance is in progress. The V1 launcher is self‑contained and does not require PortMaster. Verified install, rollback, and recovery instructions will ship with the accepted package.
AAhead-Music-v0.2.1.zip
b0f04458f6b8d566dd85145c94b7d760
704a8469cc9044d81c02f45f0286634a
Hell-Is-Fuel-PSP-v0.9-pre-alpha.zip
9da53df9db1d25d126607993bfd23bd2
3774a34831477803b7132b4b7b4d978c
Machine-readable list: SHA256SUMS.TXT.
VALIDHTML 4.01NOJAVASCRIPT!BEST ONA REAL PSPLOCALFIRSTPOWERED BYCFW