It is possible to play the PS1 version of Diablo on your Android mobile device, by using an emulator application. This might sound strange at first, but I can assure you that good old Diablo makes a very enjoyable mobile game, even by modern standards. As a matter of fact, it’s one of my first choices when it comes to killing time on long flights. According to my experience, you will at least require a device which is -in terms of hardware performance- equal to a Samsung Galaxy S3 to run it smoothly. You can find all the necessary files in this download, or alternatively in our Downloads-section.
I’m careful to point out, that it is NOT necessary to either root and/or jailbreak your android device to make this work. This however isn’t true for iOS devices, for that reason I won’t cover them in the following tutorial:
° After you’ve downloaded the ‘.rar archive’, extract it and transfer its content folder ‘Diablo_ Emulator_Iso_Bios’ to your android device. It doesn’t matter if you transfer it to your system memory, or an add-on storage card.
° Now execute the ‘ePSXe-2.0.1.apk’ file, which will start the setup process of the PS1 emulator application ‘ePSXe 2.0.1’. Take not that you will have to setup your android device, so it will allow you to install applications from ‘Unknown sources’. Simply go to Settings > Security and check the ‘Unknown Sources option’.
° Up next start ‘ePSXe 2.0.1’ for the first time and make a couple of one-time adjustments. Some of these might already be taken by default.
° Go into the ‘Preferences’ menu then select the ‘BIOS file’ option. Now simply navigate to the ‘Diablo_ Emulator_Iso_Bios’ folder and pick the ‘SCPH1001.BIN’ file.
° Still in the ‘Preferences’ menu make the following adjustments: ‘Screen Ratio’ = WideScreen, ‘Screen Colour Depth’ = 32, ‘Video Renderer’ = Hardware, ‘Internal Resolution’ = 1x, ‘Video Filtering‘ = Enabled, ‘Filter for 2D Games’ = 2xsai (I only recommend the last two options on modern devices. They will make the game look noticeably better, but hardware requirements will increase quite a bit. In case you experience low FPS, simply leave them at their default settings.)
° Now exit the ‘Preferences’ menu and enter the ‘Run Game’ menu. Once again navigate to the ‘Diablo_ Emulator_Iso_Bios’ folder and pick the ‘Diablo.iso’ file.
° You will notice the game starting immediately. Once inside the game (the intro is already considered ingame) you can take further options by pressing the ‘Back Button’ on your device. These options involve brightness adjustments, as well as the transparency and the layout of your virtual gamepad. You can also load and save your current progress of the game, by selecting either ‘LoadState’ or ‘SaveState’. This is a very handy feature, since the in-build PS1-Memory-Card save function is very slow and fiddly.
° You are basically all set now.
Please take note that the PS1 versions differs from the PC version in quite a few aspects. For example, the melee monsters on dungeon level 16 are skeletons instead of knights. Also a couple of graphical improvements have been added; such as enhanced lightning, birds in town, and character reflections in the water of the town river. It is also possible to adjust the game speed via the options menu. This way we can finally make the character run faster. Unfortunately, there are also a couple of bugs present. The most annoying one is that you can’t transfer unique items from one game to another. They will always disappear into thin air, each time you start a new game. Too bad PS1 games never received any updates.
Below are some screenshots of mobile PS1 Diablo:
(Note: click to enlarge)
