Sonic R PSP

A port of Sonic R (the 1998 PC version) to the PSP, built on top of jnmartin84's Sonic R decompilation.

This repository does not contain the game. You need your own copy of the Sonic R PC CD: its files and its music are converted, on your own computer, into the folder the PSP reads. Do not share that folder or the SONICR.PAK inside it.

Credits and license

• Sonic R: Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team, published by SEGA.
• Sonic R decompilation: jnmartin84. The game code in src/sdl is based on it, and the decompilation itself is not mine; src/sdl is no longer identical to it, since the port changed it (see src/sdl/ORIGIN.md).
• Egg Robo texture fix (applied to your data when the Memory Stick folder is made): InvisibleUp, from CheatFreak47's SRUpdater.
• PSP port (what this repository adds): ghurone.

The code follows the decompilation's license, src/sdl/LICENSE: it may be downloaded, built and changed, but never sold, in any form, with or without the game's data.

What the port does

• 60 fps: the game runs its logic at 30 Hz, as on PC, and the PSP draws an extra frame halfway between two ticks (cameras, characters, poses, decorations and particles interpolated). 30 fps is still an option.
• Drawing on the GE (the PSP's graphics chip): the track, the ground, the characters (skinned on the GE) and the fog.
• Widescreen (16:9) in one-player races, with the HUD at the screen's edges, or 4:3 as on PC.
• A longer draw distance than the PC's (up to 2x "Very Far"). This, the FPS and the screen shape are set in Options → Graphics.
• Music in ATRAC3, decoded by the PSP's Media Engine and streamed from the Memory Stick.
• All the game's data in a single file (SONICR.PAK): a race's files load in about 1.5 s.
• Fixes for bugs the decompilation had, checked against the original SONICR.EXE: the menus remember the chosen character and course, Radiant Emerald's start sign is back over the track, the robots' exhaust flame flickers again.
• Faster menu cursors.

Download

The releases have a ready-made EBOOT.PBP. It is only the game's program: the game itself still comes from your own CD. Follow the steps below but skip step 3 (and pspdev), and give step 4 the EBOOT you downloaded:

python tools/make_ms_folder.py --eboot "C:\path\to\EBOOT.PBP"

Requirements

• A PSP with custom firmware (CFW), to run homebrew. The port is made to fit in a PSP-1000's 32MB too, but that was only checked by simulating its memory on a later PSP, not yet on a real PSP-1000.
• The Sonic R PC CD, as a .bin/.cue dump (tested with the USA disc) or the disc itself.
• Python 3 (no extra packages).
• atracdenc 0.2.3, the ATRAC3 encoder, for the music. Put atracdenc.exe in tools/atracdenc/, have it on the PATH, or point to it with --atracdenc.
• pspdev (toolchain and pspsdk), only to build the EBOOT yourself, plus make and a POSIX shell (find, cp, mkdir): Linux, macOS, WSL, or on Windows the native pspdev with MSYS2's tools on the PATH.

How to build

Every command runs from the repository's root.

1. Extract the CD

From a .bin/.cue dump (one .bin per track, as Redump's, or a single .bin):

python tools/extract_cd.py "C:\path\to\Sonic R (USA).cue"

This writes the disc's files to sonic-r-cd-rip/ and its audio tracks (the music) to sonic-r-cd-rip/MUSIC/track2.wav ... track21.wav.

From the disc itself: copy all of its files into sonic-r-cd-rip/, then rip audio tracks 2 to 21 with any CD ripper as 44.1kHz 16-bit stereo WAV, named track2.wav ... track21.wav, into sonic-r-cd-rip/MUSIC/.

2. Convert the music

python tools/convert_music.py

This converts the 20 WAVs to ATRAC3 in build/MUSIC/. Tracks already converted are skipped, so this runs once.

3. Build the EBOOT

With the pspdev toolchain on the PATH:

make -j8

This builds build/EBOOT.PBP. To give the game an icon, a background or a sound in the PSP's menu, put them in assets/ before running make (see assets/README.md).

4. Assemble the Memory Stick folder

python tools/make_ms_folder.py

This builds dist/PSP/GAME/SonicR/ with the EBOOT, SONICR.PAK (the game's data, with the Egg Robo fix and the announcer's replay lines cut from your CD's sound files), MUSIC/, and the empty SAVE/ and GHOST/ folders where the game keeps your saves and time-attack ghosts.

5. Copy it to the PSP

1. Connect the PSP to the computer..
2. Copy the SonicR folder from dist/PSP/GAME/ into the PSP/GAME/ folder on that drive.

To update the game, run steps 3 and 4 again and copy the folder the same way. If you've played already, don't replace the SAVE and GHOST folders on the PSP: they hold your saves and time-attack ghosts.

In game

• Select + L + R takes a screenshot (shot000.bmp, shot001.bmp, ... next to the EBOOT).
• Options → Graphics: FPS (30 or 60), Draw Distance (1x, 1.5x or 2x "Very Far") and Screen (4:3 or 16:9).

Repository layout

• src/sdl/: the game code. It started as a copy of the decompilation's SDL build (source/sdl/src, as of 2026-09-18) and has since been changed by the port: PSP hooks, 60 fps, faster loads and menus, and bug fixes. src/sdl/ORIGIN.md lists the changes.
• src/psp/: the PSP's own renderer (GE), platform layer, sound, 60 fps interpolation and options page. It replaces the desktop renderer, platform and sound in src/sdl, the same way the decompilation does for its Dreamcast build.
• tools/: extract_cd.py, convert_music.py and make_ms_folder.py (steps 1, 2 and 4).
• assets/: where your own icon, background and sound for the PSP's menu go (none included).

Development builds

make takes a few switches. Run rm -rf build/obj when switching between a debug and a release build (not rm -rf build: the converted music is in build/MUSIC).

Switch	What it does
DEBUG_LOG=1	The game's debug log, written to log.txt next to the EBOOT.
BUILD_PRX=1	Builds build/SonicR.prx to run under PSPLink.
DEMO=n	With DEBUG_LOG=1: the title screen's attract mode always plays demo n (0 Island ... 8 Radiant Emerald), to test a track without unlocking it.
UNLOCK=1	Every character (but Super Sonic) and Radiant Emerald selectable, in memory only.
SIM24=1	Caps the heap at what a PSP-1000 leaves, to test its memory on a later PSP.
PROF=1	Section timers in the log.
GPROF=1	A sampled profile (gmon.out), read with psp-gprof.

The Makefile's comments describe each one in more detail.