Helltaker PSP

Helltaker PSP is a complete fan-made port (demake) of Helltaker and its free Examtaker bonus chapter for the Sony PlayStation Portable, by SurelyNotVain. It is PSP homebrew with its own engine written in C, packaged as a standard unsigned application for ARK-4 and ARK-5.

The whole game is playable: all chapters, the Judgement boss fight, the epilogue and both endings, plus the free Examtaker bonus chapter with its lab floors and the final boss.

[!NOTE] Version 2.1 is my last update to Helltaker PSP. The port is complete. From now on I will only release fixes for game-breaking bugs (crashes, a level that can't be finished, lost saves). Please report those through GitHub Issues. Translations are still welcome and will be added with credit.

Running on a real PSP-3004: Helltaker PSP in the XMB Game menu.

[!IMPORTANT] This is an unofficial fan project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by vanripper, Sony, the ARK developers, or the original Helltaker team.

What's new in 2.1

Fixes

• Chapters V and VI can be finished again after the secret inscription. Reading the inscription now leads straight into the demon's dialogue, as in the original. Before, the box was left in front of the demon and the level got stuck.
• Lucifer's CEO entrance now has her two skeleton guards, who step in on either side of her, timed to the original sound. She no longer fades in from transparent.
• Examtaker's Loremaster scene now shows Lucy the maid next to her.
• Pause menu selection: the selected row is now the wider one, with its brackets moving outward as in the original. Before, it was the other way round. The same fix applies to the language picker.

Text

• Text is now drawn by the PSP itself from the game's fonts, instead of from pictures prepared on a PC. The letters are evenly spaced (no more "absolut e" or "You' ve"), with proper kerning, in English and in translations.
• HT.PAK is about 2 MB smaller (the text pictures are gone).
• Language packs are much smaller: the Polish pack went from 2.7 MB to 50 KB. Old language packs still work.

Engine

The game now runs on Vain's C Portable Engine 3.4:

• Loading screen. Starting the game and changing levels now show a loading screen with a progress bar when the memory stick is slow, instead of a frozen picture.
• Smoother frames. The CPU prepares the next frame while the PSP's graphics chip draws the current one, and sprites are sent to the graphics chip in batches.
• Safer saves. Progress is written to SETTINGS.BIN with a backup copy (SETTINGS.BIN.BAK) and a checksum, so a save interrupted by a dead battery can't wipe your progress. Saves from 2.0 are carried over automatically.
• Clear error screens. A missing, incomplete or mismatched HT.PAK or MUSIC.PAK now shows a message that says what to copy, instead of a blank screen.
• Performance overlay. Hold SELECT to see the frame rate, update and draw times, and free memory.
• PSP-1000 detection and memory checks for the 32 MB model.
• The same controls as before: the same buttons, the same analog stick behaviour and the same anti-mash delay.

What's included

Main game

• Chapters I to IX with every demon, dialogue and both outcomes of each conversation
• Chapter X: the full Judgement boss fight with all four phases, the sin machine, the chains, the HP bar and the glorious success ending
• The epilogue at home, the pancake talks, the secret inscriptions, the ritual dance and the abyss ending
• Chapter select with every chapter you have reached
• The pause menu with the three ritual code panels that fill in as you find the inscriptions (also in the house: with all three found it shows the whole ritual path)
• Credits

Examtaker

• The intro and the floor picker (start from the beginning or jump to any floor you have reached)
• Lab floors I to VI as Subject 67: lasers that crates and walls block, timed lasers, generators to break and the step counter on the lab monitor
• Floor VII: the Arch Mecha Demon boss with ground spike waves, laser volleys, cannon bombardments and the eraser beam, across all three phases
• The Examtaker door transition, the ending with Lucifer and the Examtaker credits

Port features

• Built on Vain's C Portable Engine (VCPE), the PSP engine shared with the Awaria PSP port
• Native 480x272 presentation using the PSP's hardware renderer (GU)
• Text rendered on the PSP from the game's own fonts
• Language packs (LANG.PAK): play in English or in an installed translation, switchable at any time
• Original animations, dialogue portraits, music and sound effects
• Streamed music
• Loading screen with a progress bar
• Animated XMB icon (a chapter I speedrun) and XMB background music
• Progress is saved automatically (reached chapters, ritual pieces and Examtaker floors), with a backup copy
• One step per button press, with a short anti-mash delay so held or bounced buttons never take extra steps
• Works from Memory Stick and from PSP Go internal storage

Languages

The game is in English. A language pack adds a translation of every dialogue, menu and prompt:

Language	File	Translation
Polski (Polish)	LANG-Polski.PAK	Official Polish translation by vanripper (Helltaker spolszczenie)

To install one:

1. Download the LANG-....PAK file from the release.
2. Copy it into PSP/GAME/HelltakerPSP/ next to EBOOT.PBP.
3. Rename it to LANG.PAK.

With a language pack installed:

• At start-up the game asks for the language: ENGLISH or the translation (D-pad or analog stick, then X). It starts on your last choice.
• Press START in the main menu to choose the language again.
• The pause menu has a LANGUAGE row that switches between English and the translation instantly.

Without LANG.PAK the game is in English. Only one language pack can be installed at a time.

Make your own translation

The translation folder has everything needed to build a LANG.PAK for any language from the PC game's text files: the mklang.py tool (Python 3 with Pillow and numpy) and a step by step guide, TRANSLATING.md. It contains no game text: it reads the English files from your own Helltaker install (free on Steam), and an existing translation of the PC game can be used as it is. Since 2.1 a language pack holds the translated text itself, so it stays small. Finished a translation? Share it through GitHub Issues so it can be added to a release, with credit.

Requirements

• A PlayStation Portable that can run unsigned homebrew
• ARK-4, ARK-5 or another compatible custom firmware
• About 100 MB of free storage

Official firmware without a homebrew environment cannot launch this application.

Download

Download the latest version from the Releases section of this repository. The easiest option is HelltakerPSP.zip, which already contains the folder to copy.

Installation

The game folder must contain all three files:

HelltakerPSP/
  EBOOT.PBP
  HT.PAK
  MUSIC.PAK
  LANG.PAK      (optional, a language pack)

Copy the complete HelltakerPSP folder to:

ms0:/PSP/GAME/HelltakerPSP/

For PSP Go internal storage, use:

ef0:/PSP/GAME/HelltakerPSP/

Then open the Game menu on the PSP and launch Helltaker PSP.

[!WARNING] Do not copy EBOOT.PBP on its own. HT.PAK holds the graphics, fonts and sound effects and MUSIC.PAK holds the music. Both must stay in the same folder as the EBOOT, and all files must come from the same release.

Updating

1. Exit the game.
2. Replace EBOOT.PBP, HT.PAK and MUSIC.PAK in PSP/GAME/HelltakerPSP/ with the files from the new release.
3. Keep SETTINGS.BIN (and SETTINGS.BIN.BAK) if they are there. They are your save file (progress and settings).

Version 2.1 changed EBOOT.PBP and HT.PAK (MUSIC.PAK is unchanged since 1.3). Language packs belong to the game version they were released with: when you update the game, also download the language pack again from the same release.

Controls

Button	Action
D-pad or analog stick	Move one tile per press, navigate menus
Cross (X)	Confirm, advance dialogue
Circle (O)	Back
START	Pause menu (in the main menu: choose the language, when a language pack is installed)
R or Square	Restart the level
L or Triangle	Life advice (hint)
SELECT (hold)	Performance overlay
HOME	PSP exit menu

Movement is turn based. Each press moves one tile, so release the direction before the next step.

Compatibility

Environment	Status
ARK-4	Supported
ARK-5	Supported
PSP-1000	Supported (standard memory layout, no expanded memory needed)
PSP-2000 / 3000 / Street	Supported (playtested on a PSP-3004)
PSP Go Memory Stick	Supported
PSP Go internal storage	Supported through ef0:

The whole game, including Examtaker, was playtested on a real PSP-3004 up to version 2.0. Version 2.1 was tested in the PPSSPP emulator, including the PSP-1000 memory layout. If something in 2.1 breaks the game on your console, please report it.

Troubleshooting

The game does not appear in the Game menu

The folder structure must be exactly:

PSP/GAME/HelltakerPSP/EBOOT.PBP

Avoid an extra nested folder such as PSP/GAME/HelltakerPSP/HelltakerPSP/EBOOT.PBP.

An error screen at start-up

The message says which file is missing or doesn't match. Copy EBOOT.PBP, HT.PAK and MUSIC.PAK again, all from the same release. HT.PAK is about 26 MB and MUSIC.PAK about 71 MB.

No music

Make sure MUSIC.PAK is in the same folder as EBOOT.PBP and was copied completely. Keep the file names in upper case.

Music stutters

Slow or damaged storage can interrupt streamed audio. Try copying the game again, using another Memory Stick or disabling plugins.

The game returns to the XMB

1. Check that all three files were copied completely.
2. Update ARK to a recent version.
3. Launch the game directly from the XMB.
4. Temporarily disable game related plugins.
5. Try another Memory Stick if you have one.

Reporting bugs

From 2.1 on only game-breaking bugs will be fixed. Reports through GitHub Issues should include:

• PSP model
• ARK version
• Installation path (ms0: or ef0:)
• Active plugins
• The chapter or floor and what you were doing
• Steps to reproduce the problem
• A photo or video if the problem is visual

Source code

• engine: the source code of the game (engine/src) and of Vain's C Portable Engine 3.4 (engine/vcpe/src). See engine/README.md.
• translation: the language pack tools.

Game assets, converted game data and the data conversion tools are not included.

Please do not redistribute modified releases under the same name without clearly marking them as unofficial modifications.

Credits

• Helltaker and Examtaker were created by vanripper (Łukasz Piskorz).
• Sound design by Patryk Karwat. Music by Mittsies.
• PSP homebrew development is supported by the PSPSDK and pspdev communities.
• ARK compatibility is thanks to the ARK community and its contributors.
• Polish translation: the official translation by vanripper.
• Fonts: Crimson Pro (The Crimson Pro Project Authors), Amiri (Khaled Hosny) and Segment7 (Cedric Knight), all under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 (see translation/langkit/fonts/OFL.txt).
• PSP port by SurelyNotVain and Taliayaya.

All original Helltaker names, characters, artwork, music and related assets belong to their respective creators and rights holders. Helltaker is free on Steam; please support the original creator.

Disclaimer

This project is provided for educational, preservation and entertainment purposes. It is not an official release and comes without any warranty. The developers of this port are not responsible for data loss, storage corruption, console damage or problems caused by firmware modifications or third party plugins.

AI disclosure

AI tools are used directly in the development of Vain's C Portable Engine (VCPE), the PSP engine in engine/vcpe. They are not used to make the demakes themselves: the Helltaker PSP game is not AI-made.