Getting Started Guide

Hello everyone, I am a former moderator of this page, and a friend of brokenhyperlink, who moderates it at the moment. I've been asked to write this guide to help out newcomers. This will hopefully cover the basics and some more when it comes to feature phone gaming and emulation.

# Basic Info

While the rules may not be the most clear about it for the sake of brevity, but this game (especially part one) and actually various other games had many versions of it for different devices. For example you could have versions for Nokia phones, Samsung phones and so on; and Nokia and Samsung themselves had many different models with some versions of the game made for those.

The phones also had screens of different screen resolutions, and due to lack of proper graphical scaling, 2D game developers had to make a ton of versions not only for the different phones with their hardware and Java implementations, but also different sets of graphics for varying screen sizes. It must've been awful to develop for, but that's besides the point.

In addition, J2ME is now an outdated platform, and the Sonic games (with the exception of Sonic Runners Adventure) are no longer sold. This means that if you didn't buy the game when it was available, you would have to rely on JAR copies from the internet for this purpose, and the nature of the beast is that many of those were either uploaded in modified form by the person who dumped it (mostly original JAR file but with credit to that person inserted somewhere), or it's possible to find the original JAR, but it's amongst a bunch of modified versions of it. It's best if you make sure the version you're using is either unmodified or modified by the dumper; in addition, one of the other guides has info on allowed and banned versions.

### How to get the correct game resolution for J2ME

Open the JAR file with 7-Zip and look for "ifone.png" or "glu.png". Its resolution is the intended resolution of the game in the vast majority of instances, except for a few minor cases like the 176x204 Motorola versions. This is noteworthy, as JAR copies from the internet aren't always labeled correctly.

And with that being said, let's go on to the emu configuration. The emulators that exist are as you would expect for the type of platform J2ME is that nobody cares about, but I would say they're workable still.

# KEmulator nnmod / nnx64 (for computers running Java)

Website: https://nnproject.cc/kem/

KEmulator was originally a project by the Chinese developer Wu Liang in the 2000s, who at some point entered a partnership with Gameloft to have a version of it used as their internal dev tool, and later on sold the entire project presumably also to them, ending its original development. Later on, developer Shinovon decompiled it and made a modded version with various improvements.

Start KEmulator.exe and the window should pop up. You can resize the window with - and + on the numpad. First off, select View -> Options and make sure that on the "Custom" tab, the Max FPS setting is set to 30 for this game. Make sure the screen width and height is set to the intended resolution of the game. Let everything else on this tab remain default, though if you need to play a Siemens or Motorola version, you will need to select one from the "device select" drop-down (it will set the keycodes as needed for those).

The "KeyMap" tab allows you to rebind keys. Do not select "enable key cache". The "SysFont" tab allows you to change the font and its size. We recommend to leave it default, but I don't think it affects any property of the game's speed in this specific game. The "System" tab mostly has KEmulator debugging stuff, although you can turn on "AWT smooth drawing" for anti-aliasing on some things.

On the "CoreAPI" tab I usually have the vibration setting enabled, which is a slight window shake feature when the phone vibrates. This game, however, doesn't use vibration to my knowledge.

The "Records" tab is the save file manager, which is useful if something breaks. "Network" and "Media" are miscellaneous settings that are not required to be looked at for this game.

Now you can select "Load jar" (in the Midlet menu) or just drag it onto the window.

Please make sure that "FPS Counter" (not to be confused with FPS Mode!) is on when playing the game.

# J2ME Loader (for Android)

GitHub page: https://github.com/nikita36078/J2ME-Loader

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.playsoftware.j2meloader

F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/app/ru.playsoftware.j2meloader

This is an emu/implementation for Android that runs Java ME games on Android's Java virtual machine. I have noticed a music playback issue from testing in which it's loud and some instruments don't play, but otherwise it's functional.

Press the + button in the corner and the file picker will pop up, then select the JAR that you need. After a brief "conversion" prompt it will be installed in the list.

Long-tapping on the game will pop up a menu from which you can go into the settings. There you can set the resolution, turn on the FPS counter and limit the FPS. The option to change the device keycode preset (in case you need to play a Siemens or Motorola version) is counter-intuitively placed in the input section.

I don't use this emulator much, so I can't really guide you on all its intricacies.

# FreeJ2ME-Plus (for Windows and Linux)

GitHub page: https://github.com/TASEmulators/freej2me-plus

Latest build: https://nightly.link/TASEmulators/freej2me-plus/workflows/ant/devel

This emu/implementation uses largely the same approach as KEmulator. While in some ways not as complete as KEmulator nnmod, it's nevertheless a very good open-source emu for playing games on PC. This emulator is available as standalone or for RetroArch (both require a Java Runtime installation).

The easiest way to get this one running is if you have Java 8 from https://www.java.com/ installed in the system as the default Java, extract freej2me.jar into an empty folder and double-click it. Select "File -> Open jar/jad". Using the menus, you will be able to configure the emulator. Set the resolution, FPS limit (30) and phone keycodes as needed, close the emu and restart it again with the game in order to apply the settings. Like KEmulator nnmod, you can resize the window with the - and + keys on the numpad.

# iDKDoJa 5.1 v3.13 (for Windows to play the DoJa versions)

Download: https://archive.org/download/iappli-tool-dev-tools/iappliTool%20(dev%20tools).rar/DoJa%205.1%2Femufordoja5_1_3_13.zip

JDK (required for installation): https://mega.nz/file/x9dFVJqY#kVYE-T4L3QOmjEwdu8tVZegKwEMsp6oYPVDAaa7UmHY

Locale Emulator (for proper font rendering): https://xupefei.github.io/Locale-Emulator/

This one is a bit complicated, but here are the instructions:

Install JDK so that the installer doesn't complain, and that you can run the GUI of the emulator. In the installer, select English, Custom Installation and uncheck "Eclipse plugin" if you don't need it. Select yes or no when it asks you whether you want to associate .JAM files with the emulator.

If your Windows installation isn't English, you have to go to "C:\iDKDoJa5.1\lib\i18n" and rename "string_en.cat" to match your language code.

Install Locale Emulator, we aren't using it yet though.

Obtain the game files from the place that has it. Put the .JAM and .JAR file into "C:\iDKDoJa5.1\apps\gametitle\bin" and the .SP file into "C:\iDKDoJa5.1\apps\gametitle\sp", where "gametitle" has to be exactly the same as the filenames of the .JAM, .JAR and .SP files.

Go to "C:\iDKDoJa5.1\bin" and open "doja.exe". In the program that opens, select "Edit -> Application Environment Setup...", on the "ALL" tab set "Heap size" to 32767, and on the "Sound configuration" tab set "Playing mode" to "Visual playing mode" (it won't sound pretty that way, but it also won't lag).

Relaunch doja.exe with Locale Emulator by right-clicking doja.exe and selecting "Locale Emulator" -> "Run in Japanese". Select on the top bar "P" -> "O", select the Sonic game and press "Run". The game will start in the other window with the correct locale.

# Melange (for Android to play the BREW versions)

Download: https://deltacxx.insomnia247.nl/projects/brewemu/

It's advised to use the latest version - the leaderboard requires v1.1.3 at minimum, as it was released the same day as v1.1.2, which fixed a notable key-mashing bug.

In order to install it on the newest Android versions, you have to use *adb* (from Google's *platform-tools* package) on your PC, with the phone in "USB debugging" mode, running the command:

`adb install --bypass-low-target-sdk-block Melange_v1.1.3.apk`

If you aren't sure what any of this means, please google it or something, if I had described everything, it'd blow up this guide completely. The latest BlueStacks should still be able to install the APK directly.

Once it's installed, don't disconnect the phone from the PC, as writing the config file is easiest done there. Create a text file called "breConfig.toml" (note that there's no W in that filename), and paste this in there:

```
width=240
height=320
```

Save the file, run the emu, and it should create a folder in the phone's memory called "MelangeBREW", with a "sys" subfolder. Transfer the file to "/MelangeBREW/sys/". For 176x204 versions, it would have to be the respective width and height.

Next up, obtain the game from the place that has it. A version of the game should come in the form of a .mif file with the game's ID number, and a folder that has the same filename as the .mif file, which generally contains 3 files: "data.ggz", "sonic.mod" and "sonic.sig". Now, make the folder "/MelangeBREW/mif/" and paste the .mif file in there, and make the folder "/MelangeBREW/mod/" and paste the corresponding folder there. Launch Melange, and hopefully you'll see the game in the list. If you still don't have the game in the list or it crashes, try removing "sonic.sig", as it only exists for copy protection, and isn't required for playing the game on the emu or on a phone with a patched firmware.

There is still a bug in the emu that can randomly crash the game whilst it's running, but it remains to be seen how severe the issue is.

# Brief Real Hardware Guide

If you really wanna do this, then you'll not only need the phone and a functional battery for it, but also the charger (some phones charge off of microUSB, not to be confused with USB-C, while others use proprietary chargers) and preferably a Bluetooth device when using a J2ME phone to sideload the games. All of the J2ME phones listed below have TV-out, meaning you can connect an 3.5mm jack to RCA composite cable to the phone (2.5mm for the 6220) and plug it into a capture card.

BREW and DoJa phones are more complicated. For BREW phones, you will need to flash the patched firmware on the phone using the data cable ( https://lpcwiki.miraheze.org/wiki/Running_unsigned_code_on_BREW_devices ), and then also use the data cable to sideload the games. For DoJa phones, you will need a specially modified data cable that you can either re-solder from an ordinary "FOMA data cable" or buy an already modified one (there are third-party stores selling those, but they're few and far between, however an acquaintance of mine is planning to open a store to sell new batches) - see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iELxocYKh-hDV6hk7SYsnb7AHU1j1JkgolC6kz61PA8/edit for instructions on those.

Here are the recommended phones for each platform. **Bold** means these are the best ones. *Note that the leaderboard no longer accepts BREW runs on any 320x240 versions.*

J2ME: **Nokia 6710s Navigator, Nokia 6720 Classic, Nokia N86 8MP,** Nokia N85, Nokia N79, Nokia 6220 Classic (240x320).

BREW: **Casio C781 G'zOne Ravine 2** (240x320), Samsung SPH-M270 Entro (128x160), LG VX5600 Accolade, LG VN150 Revere (176x220), *LG VN530 Octane, LG VX9100 enV2, LG VX9200 enV3, LG VX10000 Voyager (320x240).*

DoJa: **Panasonic P-01F,** Panasonic P-01G, Panasonic P-01H (480x854).

How to determine which version of Sonic the Hedgehog (Feature Phone) you are playing!

Since becoming a mod and trying to unify the Java boards a bit more, I’ve been making guides for all the Sonic Java games. Next up is Sonic the Hedgehog (Feature Phone). This game is a little different to the others as there’s the regular Java low and high end versions, then DoJa which could have a full release version if it is ever found, then the full Panasonic release. However, that’s just the Java versions. The reason this is called the Feature Phone version is because there are also BREW versions that have their own low and high even version which aren’t Java. You could get in contact with someone who has the correct file structure, but if you have just *legally obtained it*, you'll need this guide. Don't be alarmed at the different aspect ratios. So long as it hits the marks for one specific version, the resolution doesn't matter.

# **Java**

## Low-End - Part 1

This is the lowest version of Sonic the Hedgehog Part 1 (Feature Phone). As of publishing this guide, there are xyxyxy known dumps that fall under this category. These are the key identifiers:

- Game is approximately between 110kb to 145kb
- Resolution is typically between 128x128 to around 176x120
- There are only 6 stages; Green Hill Zone Act 1 - 3 and Marble Zone Act 1 - 3
- Spike glitch is present in the game
- No special stages and can't collect emeralds



## Low-End - Part 2

This is the lowest version of Sonic the Hedgehog Part 2 (Feature Phone). As of publishing this guide, there are xyxyxy known dumps, all in Chinese, that fall under this category. These are the key identifiers:


- Game is approximately between 110kb to 145kb
- Resolution is typically between 128x128 to around 176x120
- There is only 1 stage currently available; Labyrinth Zone Act 1
- Spike glitch is present in the game?
- All dumps are in Chinese
- Labyrinth Zone does not have water



## **High-End - Part 1**

xyxyxy. These are the key identifiers:

- xyxyxy
- xyxyxy

## High-End - Part 2

xyxyxy. These are the key identifiers:

- xyxyxy

## **DoJa - Part 1**

xyxyxy. These are the key identifiers:

- xyxyxy
- Other levels can be seen in the level select but cannot be played, instead taking you to a black screen to pay and download the extra levels
- Green Hill Zone Act 1 - 3, Marble Zone Act 1 - 3 and Scrap Yard Zone Act 1 - 3

## Panasonic

xyxyxy. These are the key identifiers:

- xyxyxy
- Full game available

# **BREW**

## Low-End

xyxyxy. These are the key identifiers:

- xyxyxy
- xyxyxy

## **High-End**

xyxyxy. These are the key identifiers:

- xyxyxy
- xyxyxy

And that's it! Any issues, feel free to contact me on this post, discord, twitter, etc, wherever is easiest for you. Enjoy Sonic the Hedgehog (Feature Phone)!

List of Allowed and Banned versions for each category

Only preserved versions are allowed to be speedrun. Please, if you have bought the game back in the day and are still holding onto your old phone, feel free to contact me and hopefully I will know who to direct you to dump the version you have.

In order to determine the version number, look at the About screen of the game, or also if playing on a phone, there should be a menu that displays app information that includes it. Each version also has a build number, but it's only possible to view on emulator if you open the console output, so for the sake of speedrunning it's not that relevant.

J2ME versions will be listed in file size order from largest to smallest. BREW and DoJa versions are listed in alphabetical order.

# J2ME (MIDP)

## Part 1 - High-End

### Allowed

- BenQ-Siemens EF81 (240x320, 1.0.52)
- Nokia s60 / Nokia 6280 (240x320, 1.0.46) - note: there are pretty much 2 dumps of this version, one has the modified "icon.png" and "MANIFEST.MF", the other one has the different modified "MANIFEST.MF", both should be fine to run on
- Samsung (240x320, 1.0.61)
- Motorola E1000 (240x299, 1.0.56) - note: 240x299 is the game window resolution, while the resolution of the entire screen is 240x320
- Nokia (176x208, 1.0.64)
- Nokia N70 (176x208, 1.0.62) - note: 2 releases are dumped, the 2006 original and the 2012 re-release
- Nokia s60v2 (176x208, 1.0.47) - note: there are 2 different dumps of this version, one where the MIDlet-Vendor property says "iFone" (which is likely official) and one where it says "Glu" (which may or may not be a modified repackaged JAR with incorrect dates), it's best to use the former if you need this version
- Sony Ericsson (176x220, 1.0.62) - note: 2 releases are dumped, the 2006 original and the 2012 re-release
- Sony Ericsson K750 (176x220, 1.0.44)
- Nokia (208x208, 1.0.42)
- Sony Ericsson K300 (128x128, 1.0.44) - note: 2 dumps of this version exist, one of which has a modified "MANIFEST.MF", but these two dumps have different file dates (implying being purchased at different times at different stores)
- Sony Ericsson K500 (128x160, 1.0.46) - note: 2 releases are dumped, the 2006 original and the 2012 re-release
- Siemens (130x130, 1.0.46)
- Siemens CX65 (132x176, 1.0.47) - note: there are 3 different dumps of this version, one of them again may or may not be legitimate with the "Glu" MIDlet-Vendor property
- Motorola E398 (176x204, 1.0.42) - note: 176x204 is the game window resolution, while the resolution of the entire screen is 176x220

### Decision to be made

This version has every zone in its own MIDlet:

- Samsung (176x220, 1.0.48) - note: 2 releases are dumped, the 2006 original and the 2012 re-release

### Banned

These versions are not allowed due to running at different speeds compared to most:

- Nokia (360x640, 1.0.0)
- Nokia (240x320, 1.0.0)
- Nokia s60v3 (240x320, 1.0.1)
- Sony Ericsson (240x320, 1.0.1)
- Motorola V3x (240x299, 1.0.22)
- Nokia s60v2 (176x208, 1.0.0)
- Nokia s60v1 (176x208, 1.0.0) - note: the MANIFEST.MF file says 1.0.3
- Sony Ericsson (176x220, 1.0.12)
- Motorola "Triplets" (176x204, 1.0.22)
- Motorola (176x204, 1.2.9)

This version was claimed by the source that dumped it to be for the Nokia 320x240 phones, but after examination, it appears that it's for some unknown device with a bizarre keycode configuration never seen anywhere else. The author of FreeJ2ME-Plus refuses to add this key layout because we don't even know what device it really is (understandable I guess), and in KEmulator nnmod you'd have to set up this version's keycode manually if you'd want to play it. Currently it's not allowed.

- Unknown Device (320x240, 1.0.1)

In addition, there's one version that might be fine, but for the sake of moderation convenience, it's not allowed due to its version number matching several disallowed versions:

- Samsung (240x320, 1.0.0)

## Part 1 - Low-End

This list is subject to change.

### Allowed

- Samsung SGH-E250 (128x160, 1.0.1) - note: 2 releases of this version are dumped, the 2007 original and the 2012 re-release
- Nokia (128x128, 1.0.1)
- Nokia 5070 (128x160, 1.0.3)
- Nokia s40v2 (128x128, 1.0.1)
- Nokia (128x160, 1.0.1) - note: 2 releases of this version are dumped, the 2007 original and the 2012 re-release
- Nokia s40v1 (128x128, 0.0.7)

### Decision to be made

This version runs slower than others:

- Samsung (240x320, 1.0.0)

## Part 2 - High-End

All official English versions are allowed as of now, but for many of those it's highly advisable to limit FPS to 30 because of high FPS issues.

### Allowed

- Nokia N73 (240x320, 1.0.4)
- Nokia s60v2 (176x208, 1.0.3)
- Sony Ericsson (176x220, 1.0.2)
- Nokia s60v3 (240x320, 1.0.2) - note: this is a very weird version that uses medium-sized graphics on a large screen with the water layer sized for the medium screen, however the Glu Mobile logo screen indicates that it's intended for 240x320; in addition there are 2 dumps of this version
- Nokia (208x208, 1.0.2) - note: I don't know how come there are two different 208x208 versions of this game
- Motorola V3x (240x299, 1.0.2)
- Nokia 6230i (208x208, 1.0.8) - note: there are 2 dumps of this version, one with 2006 file dates (definitely legit) and one with 2007 file dates (possibly legit)
- Siemens (132x176, 1.0.6)

## Part 2 - Low-End (China)

For now, no runs of this one are accepted because the game asks to buy it after beating Labyrinth 1.

## Panasonic J2ME preinstalled versions

### Allowed

For now, the only dumped version is this one that comes from a Chinese firmware dump:

- Panasonic VS3 (240x320, 1.0.9)

# BREW

## High-End

Only a limited selection is allowed, since the rest run noticeably slower or crash on emu. Only Sega Mobile's versions have version numbers on the about screen.

### Allowed

- Motorola Z6m (240x320, 1.0.1, Sega Mobile)
- Samsung SCH-A930 (176x204, 1.0.0, Sega Mobile)
- LG UX260 (176x204, EA Mobile)
- Nokia 2705 (176x204, EA Mobile)

### Banned

These versions are slower than the above. All of them come from EA Mobile, so I omitted that part in the below list.

- Casio C721 (240x320)
- LG UX585 (240x320)
- LG VX8370 (240x320)
- Motorola QA30 (320x240)
- Samsung SCH-A930 (176x220)
- Samsung SCH-R520 (176x204)
- Samsung SCH-U540 (176x204)

These versions crash on the emulator because of being touch screen versions, therefore they're banned for the time being as no one is able to speed-test these:

- Audiovox CDM-8999 (320x240)
- LG VX8575 (240x400)

## Low-End

All such versions are allowed as of now into the respective category, these are:

### Allowed

- Kyocera KX16 (120x140, 1.0.0, Sega Mobile)
- Samsung SCH-U340 (128x160, 1.0.0, Sega Mobile)
- Samsung SCH-A870 (128x160, EA Mobile)
- Samsung SCH-U350 (128x160, EA Mobile)
- Samsung SCH-U360 (128x160, EA Mobile)

# DoJa

As of now, all 3 versions that have the base content are allowed.

### Allowed

- Panasonic P702i (240x240)
- Panasonic P901iTV (240x240)
- Panasonic P902i (240x240)

Nome	Autore
Getting Started Guide	TwoSpacesSG 2 months ago
How to determine which version of Sonic the Hedgehog (Feature Phone) you are playing!	brokenhyperlink 2 months ago
List of Allowed and Banned versions for each category	TwoSpacesSG 2 months ago