A Few Initial Findings About The Gp2x F-200


morrissey2k7

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Hey everyone! I just got my F-200 from Play Asia this morning (I ordered it Tuesday night and it got here today. Super fast! And I live in the US!), and here's a few initial findings:

Even though I read in another post that PocketSNES does not work, it works just fine on mine. It loaded up quick and with no problems. I can't speak yet for any other emulators.

As to overclocking, I don't have a DEFINITIVE answer to how fast mine goes, but when I did the Walking Ant test on GPSP (the GameBoy Advance emulator), it got up to 280 (on my MKII I was risking a crash if I went up to 250)!

The touchscreen is very responsive, as is the D-Pad (although, I'm one of the few people out there who actually liked the MKII's joystick, so it will take a little getting use to!).

The time for the unit to boot up is OK... I counted from the time I turned it on (going "one one hundred, two one hundred, three one hundred", haha, and I got up to 30).

This unit seems MUCH louder than my MKII, and with good sound (which is great because my MKII seemed to be lacking in the volume department).

Built in games:
Blocked
Ghostpix
Phishy
RuckMan
WindAndWater (Demo)

Games on CD (Don't know which are full games or demos yet, because I haven't tried them):
Beat2X
Blox
Camelot Warriors
Cave Story
Chess2X
Cyber Dogs
Enigma
FloboPuyo
Gnugo2X
HexBattle2X
Kobo Deluxe
Minigame Project
PowerManga
Rick's Dangerous
Sqdef
Sudoku2X
Supertux
Unicolor
Znax

I'll post more details when I discover them (I know I could have technically posted this in "Got F-200 Today, But Some Emulators Not Work", but I felt I was offering some details in here that don't pertain to that thread).
 
Wow, that's a pretty impressive shipping time! Mine shipped on Monday but there's no sign of it yet (I live in the UK though).

Thanks for the impressions - quite interesing that PocketSNES works on your machine. Also, I'm glad the d-pad seems to be good, too!
 
I just tried out GPSP, AlexKidd2X and RACE GP2X and all 3 emulators work... And here I was all worried (mainly from the OTHER thread) that I'd get my F-200 and none of the current emulators would work! :p

Yeah, I'm thrilled that PocketSNES works because I'm all the way to the Ocean Palace in Chrono Trigger and I would have hated to start over (by switching to SquidgeSNES). :)
 
Hi, any chance of testing the ones that have been reported as not working?

E.g. Mame, DRmd and also if you get the chance have a go at cps2?

I'm mainly playing Picodrive and mame super hang-on atm :)

Also love street fighter games so cps2 is a must :p

Am delighted to hear that the d-pad is good, those sho-ryu-ken and hado-ken's suck with the joystick...nevermind shinku-sho-ryu-ken :p
 
My f-200 makes it to 280 before crashing in gpsp too (crashes at 285). I love it, all the games I've thrown at it run beautifully. Also noticed that on Windows machines, the f-200 wont return from the usb-connected mode after safely removing it, but on my Linux box, it returns to the normal menu fine. Switched over to my linux box now, cause it was killing my batteries to turn it on and off over and over.

Pocketsnes does not work for me, Squidge snes does

Haven't had luck with Drmd yet, but I've only tried SF2, gonna try pico drive next
 
stormyandcold said:
Hi, any chance of testing the ones that have been reported as not working?

E.g. Mame, DRmd and also if you get the chance have a go at cps2?

I'm mainly playing Picodrive and mame super hang-on atm :)

Also love street fighter games so cps2 is a must :p

Am delighted to hear that the d-pad is good, those sho-ryu-ken and hado-ken's suck with the joystick...nevermind shinku-sho-ryu-ken :p
MAME does not work, but CPS2 works beautifully (I tried out Street Fighter Alpha 3 first :lol: )!
 
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Hi,

Please let me know the setting and version of your PocketSNES, because when i select rom then black screen. (So not work for my F-200).

Thanks and regards
 
cucme said:
Hi,

Please let me know the setting and version of your PocketSNES, because when i select rom then black screen. (So not work for my F-200).

Thanks and regards
I use PocketSNES V6 (the most current one available in the archives)

Settings:
Sound: OFF (I don't think this has anything to do with it... I just turn the sound off because it creates freezes in Chrono Trigger for some reason. Even did it on my MKII)
CPU Speed: 200
Frameskip: AUTO
Action Buttons: Normal
Show FPS: On
Brightness: 100
Transparencies: ON
Render Mode: Scaled
RAM Timing: CRAIG
MMU Hack: ON
 
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Hi, if i change the sound off , the PocketSNES work or set to sound on and sound rate to 22050

Thanks
 
I wonder if you could check out VICE? If that worked without the "stutter bug" I would consider getting one of these...
 
My impressions:

The "pad": Well it is 4 buttons not a pad really. It is OK but I prefer a real d-pad. My D-pad modded MK2 controls better. It is still much better than the MK1 stick. It feels nice the buttons just need to be connected. I have a few ideas for simple mods.

The case: I prefer black. As it is it is still nice though. It has this metal flake pearl white shiny finish with silver center section kind of a cross between the PSP's silver center with a white ipod. It feels nice and smooth to the touch. Since it is white fingerprints don't show.

The speakers: They are LOUD. When the opening jingle plays it blasts out. Other emus play louder too. the speakers are clear and not as tinny as the older models. Of course playing loud will cause shorter battery life. Need to turn it down to conserve power, but it is nice to have the volume if you want it. I have had the amp suck so much juice that it stole power from the CPU and caused the unit to crash at higher overclock. Use high volume with caution.

The screen: It is similar to the MK2 screen. It has good brightness and black level. The viewing angle seems a bit better than the MK2. The gamma on this screen is the best of all of the GP2Xs. The MK1 was rather dim with faded color and a poor "black" level. The MK2 had good black level and brightness but the gamma was off causing color clipping at the brightest and darkest values. The F200 gamma is good, the brights don't "hot spot" and the shadow detail is not lost like on the MK2. The gamma curve is smoother like it should be. The only negative thing I noticed is that the LCD timing tweaker is gone from the FW. It looks like it could use a little nudge to the right as I see a faint lighter vertical line on the left, much the same as if you take the slider and go all of the way to the left on an MK2. Other than that it is the best screen of the bunch, and it is a touchscreen too.

FW: Lame. They took the older icon system away that would have actually been more suitable for a touchscreen. Just tap the icon you want and go. Now they have this lame row of icons along the bottom so now you have to keep tapping one by one until you scroll to what you want. Doesn't make sense, I guess they wanted it to kind of look more PSP-like for some odd reason. Best advice is just to install Gmenu2X, and have it autorun, the weak launcher is now a non-issue.
 
The boot time is 30 seconds?..... holy hell. I thought they at least fixed that after firmware version 96 or whatever they are up to now. They fixed it in 2.0.0 and now they fuck it up again....... way to go GPH.
 
GunPei2X said:
I wonder if you could check out VICE? If that worked without the "stutter bug" I would consider getting one of these...
NO!! Dont test it!

Because if its fixed I'll have to get one too and I dont have the cash. :)
 
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DaveC said:
My impressions:
...

FW: Lame. They took the older icon system away that would have actually been more suitable for a touchscreen. Just tap the icon you want and go. Now they have this lame row of icons along the bottom so now you have to keep tapping one by one until you scroll to what you want. Doesn't make sense, I guess they wanted it to kind of look more PSP-like for some odd reason. Best advice is just to install Gmenu2X, and have it autorun, the weak launcher is now a non-issue.
My god... roll on Open2X
 
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Thanks DaveC, good review. Now I'm sure I'll be getting one as soon as I sell my F100. :)

Stealth Bagel
, the boot time is 25 seconds, judging from this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWL8m--e8lk

He turns it on at 2:21 and is navigating through the menu at 2:46.

The 30-35 seconds was someone's guesstimate prior to seeing the unit in action.
 
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Hi,

I just received my F-200 today ! Ordered on october 30th (Play Asia), and I live in France, so it's quiet fast isn't it ? And there was a Japanese chewing gum pack in the box :)

Here is MY first impressions, hope it will be useful :) This is personal opinion, nothing definitive of course :)

BAD THINGS :

*Plastic things on the connectors are hanging loose
*Sound is too loud
*Settings menu / FW 4.0 sucks !!!
*Boot time
*Stylus just useless (at the moment)

*About the d-pad: when you press one part of the d-pad, it remains pressed for too long, and too deeply in the case, so that you can feel the edge of the other parts, which "hurts" the fingers. Pressing multiple directions at the same time is difficult...the best thing to do is to try (when it's possible) this d-pad and make your own opinion.

GOOD THINGS :

*I can now OC at 266 !
*Better sound quality
*Better screen quality (viewing angle)
*All the main emulators seem to work fine
*All the homebrew games I tried work

Time will tell, and future games will tell, if this new model was worth its price...

Bye !

Magic Sam
 
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