Considering purchasing the Pandora...need your help

[mlee]

Hey guys this is my first post but I've been following the openpandora project for a couple years now. I'm at a point now where I really want to own a handheld console that plays all my favorite retro games. After doing some research I narrowed down my options to two namely the Pandora and the PSP slim. The systems I'm interested mainly are:


A. 8-Bit/16-Bit:


NES


SMS


Gameboy


Gamegear


Sega Genesis/Mega Drive


SNES


B. PC-Engine for Castlevania X Rondo of Blood


C. Arcade:


SF 2 Series


SF Alpha Series


SF 3 Series


MK 1-3, Ultimate MK3


KOF 1994 - 2003


D. 32-Bit/64-Bit:


Saturn


PSX


N64


I understand that the Pandora and PSP Slim plays all of the 8-Bit/16-Bit sytems pretty much perfectly. Both play the PSX pretty well too.


My decision is going to based on how well the Mame, Saturn and N64 games work. For Mame, does the Pandora play all the SF games up to 3rd Strike at full speed? What about the Mortal Kombat series? KOF? Has anyone tried out the Saturn or N64 on the Pandora yet? If so, can you confirm if Killer Inctinct Gold or Shinobi Legions runs at full speed? I would love to hear your opinions.


I apologize if my post is too long. But you guys are great and this community is one of the best out there. And even though I don't own a Pandora at present I want to take the time to say how much I appreciate all the hard work done by EvilDragon, Craig and the rest of the Pandora Team. I know you guys have been through alot of crap the past few years but man you guys endured like no other.


Much respect for you guys!

 

[Link]

MAME has various versions that all have their +/-, but I give PanMAME, MAME4All, & MAME-EX the best ratings. Saturn, not sure if that's going to happen on the Open Pandora. Unless I'm missing something. PSX is solid. N64 runs some things great, others good, and some not so good, and not at all. Regarding the fighting games you mentioned, FBA should handle most of those that MAME can't, and its a very well maintained recent application to the Pandora's arsenal.


There's also a lot of killer homebrew and indie stuff that's all a bonus to the above. The 8 & 16 bit stuff all plays really well too.


Perhaps some others can give some input on those games. I'm just making a more general post as I'm boxing up Pandoras to ship right now.

 

[TangentDelta]

Everything you named on that list will run on it just fine, except for Saturn. It has such a bizzare architecture, that emulating it smoothly (on a rather nice x86 computer, let alone a Pandora) is nearly impossible.


As for "full speed" N64 emulation, you'd be better off emulating that stuff on a desktop PC. N64 emulation works, but it's very slow and stutters alot on most games. The smoothest game I've seen my Pandora run in an N64 emulator, is F-zero X, where I got a whopping 12 FPS, with intense lagging every now and then.

 

[Gyges]

FBA (FinalBurnAlpha) runs KoF 94-2003 perfectly, and that is what I care about most. So you're set there.


All the SF Alphas run perfectly on FBA as well.


FBA will also run SF3, but the speeds are a bit choppy. I haven't tried to run many CPS3 games, so I can't comment much.


I have no idea how well the PSP works, though.

 

[TrashyMG]

I thought we had a working Saturn Emulator.. at least in beta testing.. Not sure of the performance though.. http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/4583-yabause/


N64 many titles runs great others not so much... as far as I'm aware the PSP version isn't as developed as our version.

 

[WizardStan]

The Pandora is significantly more expensive than the PSP slim. Before considering whether it can run N64 or not, consider the cost and what you can afford and if the extra features of the Pandora are valuable. The Pandora is more than a game machine, it has a keyboard and runs a full Linux install that give you a pretty good desktop experience: it's effectively a laptop that fits in your pocket. If these features are of no use to you then you may consider one of the Android based gaming handhelds coming out. There's quite a few out in the last several months to choose from. Do some reasearch, ask some questions. On the gp32x forum there's an entire section devoted to Android consoles that may be a good place to ask your questions.


So to summarize, if gaming is all that interests you (and keyboard and full desktop style OS are not in your use case) then the Pandora may be overkill and cost more than you will find it is worth. A JXD or other Android console may be better.

 

[sepp256]

As WizardStan said, the Pandora is so much more than a handheld console for emulation. If all you want to do is play some classic games, then you could get a PSP or some other handheld with a few gaming buttons. The Pandora's real strength is that it has a keyboard and runs a full Linux desktop environment. That means that there will continue to be a lot of ports of games and applications over the coming months that you can enjoy on your Pandora! For the PSP and other handhelds, I don't know that you're going to see your handheld learn many more tricks in the future. The software and features for Pandora are always improving. Just last week, the Pandora got a working build of Android for us to play around with. If you want to learn more about using Linux or join a community that loves open source software, then you should strongly consider paying the extra cost for a Pandora.

 

[Prometheus]

I have to echo what WizardStan said, also.


I also wanted to add that another potentially suitable machine, if the Pandora is indeed overkill for your requirements, may be the GCW Zero.

 

[Nardella]

Another advantage to the Pandora is its complete USB support. AIUI printers, scanners, webcams, tv tuners, mice, keyboards and such.


This includes multiple USB gamepads, and eventually proper TV out allowing for a great multiplayer expierence.


Edit: Printers may not work.

 

[ekianjo]

Correct me if I am wrong but i thought there was no working webcam with the pandora in terms of compatibility?


And printers dont work either, there is no cups package included in Pandora. Please do not spread false information.

 

[Nardella]

Correct me if I am wrong but i thought there was no working webcam with the pandora in terms of compatibility?


And printers dont work either, there is no cups package included in Pandora. Please do not spread false information.

Fixed ty, I was certain I had read about working webcams.

 

[WizardStan]

Webcam was the first USB device I tried. Worked flawlessly, no additional work required, just plug it in and start mplayer.

 

[_wb_]

Printers don't work out of the box, but there's no reason why they shouldn't work. Nothing prevents you from installing CUPS yourself. That is the main point: nobody is trying to prevent you from doing anything.

 

[lordbobjones]

I own both a Pandora and a PSP Slim. My PSP slim now sits in my desk completely unused. It is hacked and runs stuff great, but the Pandora runs everything I wanted on the PSP plus a thousand other things. Go for the Pandora. You will not regret the choice.

 

[Binky]

You will not regret the choice.

Unless you really need the money... - Pandoras may be good value*, but they aren't cheap


*in terms of the community, the openness, the desktop software, as well as the hardware