Emulators on the PSP?

[FFTessei]

Hello, I'm sorry if this is posted elsewhere, but I can't seem to find the exact information taht I'm looking for. I'm relatively new to this; I've used MAME on my PC before, but last year when I tried to read through how to play emulators on a PSP I couldn't really understand it. I'm trying once more to understand what is needed.

I went thorugh the Sticky: PSP Unbricking/Downgrading Guide for all current hardware revisions, but it mentions needing "A homebrew enabled PSP in 100% working order", and although I'm not fully sure what this is, I'm pretty sure it's not something I can run to the local store and buy. Halfway through the Sticky: PSP Downgrader Discussion it says don't use the info posted here anymore because it was old, but the link it pathed to afterwards was confusing as well.

My first priority would be to be able to play emulators on a PSP, most notably SNES games and MAME. My second priority would be to still be allowed to play the 1 PSP game I do have on the same PSP (Final Fantasy Tactics Lions War). If I cannot have the 2nd priority that is ok; although I would like to only have 1 PSP, from what I remember reading last year (or two) Im not sure if this is possible? It doesn't sound like it's good for the system to constantly upgrade and downgrade whenever I want to play this one game, so I would purchase a 2nd PSP just to play PSP games, and keep the first as an emulator only system. At this time this is the only PSP game I wish to play, and I don't see any others on the horizon (except maybe the Kingdom Hearts game whenever that comes out).

With that in mind, if there is already a guide which can do what I am lookng for, I would very much appreciate a link to it. I've actually held off from purchasing a PSP because I want to know what I can and can't do first, but there is a local games store with used PSPs where it might be possible to find older versions. I'm not sure if I can request a model with a specific firmware version (still not entirely sure what this is, but I assume it's what's being up/downgraded?) though.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[TchuBacha]

Ignore that sticky... The information in it is REALLY old and has been superseeded by newer, safer and easier methods.

First of all what firmware have you got on your PSP?

On your PSP:
Settings > System Settings > System Infomation

Post back what it says.

[FFTessei]

As I've mentioned, I've actually held off from purchasing a PSP because I want to know what I can and can't do first, but there is a local games store with used PSPs where it might be possible to find older versions. The reason I have a game before I have the system is that it was a gift, and she knew I'd be getting a PSP eventually, if for nothing else than to play that game.

If it's better for me to go out and purchase one first, I can do that. I was initially hoping to find out which range of firmware's I should try to get, on the off-chance that the local gamestore would have that information for me before I made a purchase (I will be getting a used one to play emulators on.) I was also hoping to find out if it was possible (and within reason) to complete both priorities (emulators AND my PSP game) on the same system, and if so which version I would need to look for that would best support that choice.

-Tessei


edit: Or rather, I'm wondering if there are any particular versions I should stay away from.