Ghaleon
Still Fresh
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2008
- Messages
- 56
This post is way overdue. I had a Caanoo for about a year now and I love it. And yes, one day I stepped on my Wiz, which I loved, and broke the screen. I was pissed, but I decided I might as well get a Caanoo, since it was newer and faster than the Wiz. I thought the larger size of the console would make it less portable, but that ended up not being the case.
I bought the screen protector at the same time as the console. The package actually had two of them. However, all the text on the labels was in Kanji and I didn't know how to apply them. I ended up messing both protectors. I then used the one I messed up the least.
The color of the Caanoo is much different in person than on the photos I have previously seen. I thought it was black, and it was actually a very dark shade of blue. I like it very much.
The screen is not as good as the one on the Wiz. I already knew that from reading the reviews, but it's more disappointing when you see it in person. It got the job done, but it was not as bright or crisp. It looked like a "normal" screen, and the Wiz had a spectacular screen. I could also notice how the screen was illuminated from the bottom.
After I installed several emulators, the first game I played was my favorite video game of all time, Ms. Pac-Man. I was hoping the controller would be better than the one on the Wiz. After playing for a few seconds I realized... they nailed it. The controllers on portable consoles like the Nintendo DS or the Wiz are adequate, but Ms. Pac-Man actually requires very precise controls. This is the closest control to a joystick I have ever used on any portable console. I heard the controller on the Neo Geo Pocket Color was also very good, although I never used one. Controlling Ms. Pac-Man was literally a joy on the Caanoo.
Then I tried my second most favorite game, which was Outrun. When I launched it, my heart sank a little. It was not as bright, nor it ran as fast, as in the Wiz. I could not overclock it as much as I could on the Wiz without it crashing. I was lucky with my Wiz, I guess. I ran acceptably, though, so I got used to it.
Q*Bert especially was not nearly as easy to control on the Caanoo as it was on the Wiz. I still end up dying many times when I play this game.
As I played with the Caanoo more, I started noticing other things. The Caanoo by itself was about the same size as the Wiz with the leather protector I used to have. So carrying the Caanoo by itself didn't make much of a difference in my pocket.
The buttons on the Caanoo felt a little better and I pressed the wrong button less often than I did on the Wiz. Whoever thought of making these "cross" buttons on the Wiz made a big mistake.
Something that took me by surprise was that I started playing Neo Geo games way more often on the Caanoo than on the Wiz. Neo Geo games on the Wiz screen were honestly too small for my aging eyes. Games like Metal Slug and Money Puzzle Exchanger were basically unplayable on the Wiz. My nephew, however, could play Metal Slug on my Wiz and he loved it.
Some games which used to run on the Wiz could not run on the Caanoo, and viceversa. For example, I could never get SNK vs Capcom for the Neo Geo to run on the Wiz. The plus (hacked) version ran just fine on the Caanoo. I own SNK vs Capcom or a real Neo Geo and I didn't notice any difference in gameplay. However, King of Fighters 98, which always ran fine on the Wiz, never ran on the Caanoo, even after trying different ROMs from different sites. I ended up getting King of Fighters 96, 97, and 2002 to run eventually, so these games will do when I play on the train to and from work. I actually ended up liking King of Fighters 97 so much that I bought it for the real Neo Geo. If I want to play King of Fighters 98, I will have to play it at home. That's alright, though.
The only version of King of Fighters 2002 that I could get to run was the Magic Plus hack which flashed an annoying "Magic Plus" logo during the opening animation. The actual game ran fine, so that's not much of a problem. And honestly, how many versions of King of Fighters do I really need? There isn't much difference between these versions.
Last Blade 2, which never ran on the Wiz, could run on the Caanoo. The original Last Blade could eventually run by using a different ROM set.
Ms. Pac-Man, my favorite game, has a bug. When you first reach the brown maze, Ms. Pac-Man and the monsters look white. As soon as the monsters start to move, they go back to their proper colors. Ms. Pac-Man doesn't look right again until she either dies or eats a power pellet. I have never seen that bug on the arcade, the Wiz, MacMame, or anywhere else except on the Caanoo. I tried different ROM sets and they all have the same bug. The gameplay itself is unaffected, so I got used to it. I have the feeling the bug is on the emulator.
About a week after I bought the Caanoo GPH announced they were not making any more consoles. That made me sad, and it made me realize I bought the Caanoo at the right time too.
This concludes my review. What it all boils down to is this: good control on my favorite game trumps everything else, and this console has the best control for Ms.Pac-Man I have ever used on a portable console. It's almost as good as an arcade joystick. If my Caanoo ever breaks I will go out of my way to get another one or I will buy another portable console with a similar controller. And no, I will never step on my Caanoo. This is actually the second time I ever did something like that. Decades ago I also stepped on my Sega Nomad, breaking it. Since I did the same thing twice, now every time I get home the first thing I do is empty my pockets and place all their contents on top of the desk. Really, I will never step on a portable electronic device again.
Ghaleon
I bought the screen protector at the same time as the console. The package actually had two of them. However, all the text on the labels was in Kanji and I didn't know how to apply them. I ended up messing both protectors. I then used the one I messed up the least.
The color of the Caanoo is much different in person than on the photos I have previously seen. I thought it was black, and it was actually a very dark shade of blue. I like it very much.
The screen is not as good as the one on the Wiz. I already knew that from reading the reviews, but it's more disappointing when you see it in person. It got the job done, but it was not as bright or crisp. It looked like a "normal" screen, and the Wiz had a spectacular screen. I could also notice how the screen was illuminated from the bottom.
After I installed several emulators, the first game I played was my favorite video game of all time, Ms. Pac-Man. I was hoping the controller would be better than the one on the Wiz. After playing for a few seconds I realized... they nailed it. The controllers on portable consoles like the Nintendo DS or the Wiz are adequate, but Ms. Pac-Man actually requires very precise controls. This is the closest control to a joystick I have ever used on any portable console. I heard the controller on the Neo Geo Pocket Color was also very good, although I never used one. Controlling Ms. Pac-Man was literally a joy on the Caanoo.
Then I tried my second most favorite game, which was Outrun. When I launched it, my heart sank a little. It was not as bright, nor it ran as fast, as in the Wiz. I could not overclock it as much as I could on the Wiz without it crashing. I was lucky with my Wiz, I guess. I ran acceptably, though, so I got used to it.
Q*Bert especially was not nearly as easy to control on the Caanoo as it was on the Wiz. I still end up dying many times when I play this game.
As I played with the Caanoo more, I started noticing other things. The Caanoo by itself was about the same size as the Wiz with the leather protector I used to have. So carrying the Caanoo by itself didn't make much of a difference in my pocket.
The buttons on the Caanoo felt a little better and I pressed the wrong button less often than I did on the Wiz. Whoever thought of making these "cross" buttons on the Wiz made a big mistake.
Something that took me by surprise was that I started playing Neo Geo games way more often on the Caanoo than on the Wiz. Neo Geo games on the Wiz screen were honestly too small for my aging eyes. Games like Metal Slug and Money Puzzle Exchanger were basically unplayable on the Wiz. My nephew, however, could play Metal Slug on my Wiz and he loved it.
Some games which used to run on the Wiz could not run on the Caanoo, and viceversa. For example, I could never get SNK vs Capcom for the Neo Geo to run on the Wiz. The plus (hacked) version ran just fine on the Caanoo. I own SNK vs Capcom or a real Neo Geo and I didn't notice any difference in gameplay. However, King of Fighters 98, which always ran fine on the Wiz, never ran on the Caanoo, even after trying different ROMs from different sites. I ended up getting King of Fighters 96, 97, and 2002 to run eventually, so these games will do when I play on the train to and from work. I actually ended up liking King of Fighters 97 so much that I bought it for the real Neo Geo. If I want to play King of Fighters 98, I will have to play it at home. That's alright, though.
The only version of King of Fighters 2002 that I could get to run was the Magic Plus hack which flashed an annoying "Magic Plus" logo during the opening animation. The actual game ran fine, so that's not much of a problem. And honestly, how many versions of King of Fighters do I really need? There isn't much difference between these versions.
Last Blade 2, which never ran on the Wiz, could run on the Caanoo. The original Last Blade could eventually run by using a different ROM set.
Ms. Pac-Man, my favorite game, has a bug. When you first reach the brown maze, Ms. Pac-Man and the monsters look white. As soon as the monsters start to move, they go back to their proper colors. Ms. Pac-Man doesn't look right again until she either dies or eats a power pellet. I have never seen that bug on the arcade, the Wiz, MacMame, or anywhere else except on the Caanoo. I tried different ROM sets and they all have the same bug. The gameplay itself is unaffected, so I got used to it. I have the feeling the bug is on the emulator.
About a week after I bought the Caanoo GPH announced they were not making any more consoles. That made me sad, and it made me realize I bought the Caanoo at the right time too.
This concludes my review. What it all boils down to is this: good control on my favorite game trumps everything else, and this console has the best control for Ms.Pac-Man I have ever used on a portable console. It's almost as good as an arcade joystick. If my Caanoo ever breaks I will go out of my way to get another one or I will buy another portable console with a similar controller. And no, I will never step on my Caanoo. This is actually the second time I ever did something like that. Decades ago I also stepped on my Sega Nomad, breaking it. Since I did the same thing twice, now every time I get home the first thing I do is empty my pockets and place all their contents on top of the desk. Really, I will never step on a portable electronic device again.
Ghaleon
