Gamepark 32 And Zodiac

[Sadako]

Hello, I don't know if this has been brought up before, but anyway,

I am asking for the honest opnion of you, and I want you to answer me, please, about the Zodiac handheld thingy, these small question:

~ Which one would you choose over a GP32 and a Zodiac?
~ The specs of the Zodiac are quite impressive, would they be able to run a small game such as... Broken Sword?
~ The GP32 is cheaper, but the Zodiac seems better, would you buy one?
~ I am thinking about buying one, should I buy a 1gb media card thingy?
~ Do you think the GP32 looks better?
~ Would the Zodiac be able to do what the GP32 can do?
~ Maybe it could possibly emulate the GP32?

Since this is on a GP32 forum, maybe you would choose GP32 anyday, but please remember, this is not about favourites and popularity, just about honest opnions!
Thank you~!

 

[rpgchocobo]

Hello, I don't know if this has been brought up before, but anyway,

I am asking for the honest opnion of you, and I want you to answer me, please, about the Zodiac handheld thingy, these small question:

~ Which one would you choose over a GP32 and a Zodiac?
~ The specs of the Zodiac are quite impressive, would they be able to run a small game such as... Broken Sword?
~ The GP32 is cheaper, but the Zodiac seems better, would you buy one?
~ I am thinking about buying one, should I buy a 1gb media card thingy?
~ Do you think the GP32 looks better?
~ Would the Zodiac be able to do what the GP32 can do?
~ Maybe it could possibly emulate the GP32?

Since this is on a GP32 forum, maybe you would choose GP32 anyday, but please remember, this is not about favourites and popularity, just about honest opnions!
Thank you~!

Hi,

1. I would choose a...Zodiac. it has a better future.
2. I do not know on that one
3.I would definately buy a GP32 and a Zodiac. They are both great.
4. 1gb is a lot, and expensive. 256mb is fine for me Zodiac.
5. Honestly, the GP32 looks very ugly. It is big and bulky,, and the shape isn't cool, like a GBA or the Zodiac. THe Gp32 is awesome though.
6. yes. The Zodiac is like an upgraded GP32.
7. Nope

Hope this helps

 

[CrazyDesi]

Hello, I don't know if this has been brought up before, but anyway,

I am asking for the honest opnion of you, and I want you to answer me, please, about the Zodiac handheld thingy, these small question:

~ Which one would you choose over a GP32 and a Zodiac?
~ The specs of the Zodiac are quite impressive, would they be able to run a small game such as... Broken Sword?
~ The GP32 is cheaper, but the Zodiac seems better, would you buy one?
~ I am thinking about buying one, should I buy a 1gb media card thingy?
~ Do you think the GP32 looks better?
~ Would the Zodiac be able to do what the GP32 can do?
~ Maybe it could possibly emulate the GP32?

Since this is on a GP32 forum, maybe you would choose GP32 anyday, but please remember, this is not about favourites and popularity, just about honest opnions!
Thank you~!

1. I'v owned both. Gp32 is better in my opinion.
2. Forget the rest of the questions.
3. The topic has been discussed many times. Look in other consoles forum.

 

[Hooka]

Hello, I don't know if this has been brought up before, but anyway,

I am asking for the honest opnion of you, and I want you to answer me, please, about the Zodiac handheld thingy, these small question:

~ Which one would you choose over a GP32 and a Zodiac?
~ The specs of the Zodiac are quite impressive, would they be able to run a small game such as... Broken Sword?
~ The GP32 is cheaper, but the Zodiac seems better, would you buy one?
~ I am thinking about buying one, should I buy a 1gb media card thingy?
~ Do you think the GP32 looks better?
~ Would the Zodiac be able to do what the GP32 can do?
~ Maybe it could possibly emulate the GP32?

Since this is on a GP32 forum, maybe you would choose GP32 anyday, but please remember, this is not about favourites and popularity, just about honest opnions!
Thank you~!

1. Both haha... I only got a gp32 now and am very happy with it but I like the zodiac's official keyboard and touchscreen, but would be used for different things...

2. Well, depends on if anybody ports ScummVM so that it can run Broken Sword (I think newer ScummVM run broken Sword)

3. yeah, but not better, just different!

4. I think it uses SD card's, if you need/want that much storage go for it!

5. well I think the black gp32 looks better

6. all depends on time and coder's but seems to all have to be paid for

7. hmmm, well using the same idea as gpadv it would be possible I think (very little extra hardware acceleration) But don't cause that might possibly kill the gp32!

 

[Sadako]

The GP32 is better? But the Zodiac looks like it can do more things than a GP32, I must argue that price for the Zodiac is a little bit expensive, but it is not that expensive considering.
I think most of you are right though, with fancy specs and stuff, I don't need that all.
All I need is my GP32 and my SNES emulator!
(I am not saying I might not buy one )

 

[moz]

ive got both

it depends what you want to use the console for.

what do you want to use the console for?

 

[Squidge]

If you want a PDA and possibility of some decent commercial games (Microquad, Duke Nukem, Onyx, etc) then get a Zodiac.

If you just want emulators, then get a BLU for £99 for Lik-sang.

It would be quite difficult to do GP32 emulation on the Zodiac due to the fact that the Zodiac doesn't allow user programs any access to the MMU that is the fastest way to do it (and the way GPAdvance works, and why it can't be ported to the Zodiac).

 

[cozmic]

The zodiac is too f*cking expensive.

Gaming should remain fun, not become expensive.

 

[Dozer]

If you want my oppinion, I'd wait a year or so. Prices will have dropped and you will have a better idea of what emulators the public can access and how much you will have to pay to use them.

That's what I plan to do. You could use the time to slowly save up so it's not such a hit on your wallet when you eventually do buy it.

Although the psp might interest you more by then anyway.

 

[spray]

i'd wait at least until the LJZ problems had been cleared up.

if it turns out the emu isn't released, i think any community would take a good while to get an app made that could do the same.

also, for the extra money the specs are kind of limited. you get a bit more memory, a bigger screen but one thats totally unsuited to doing emulation (you either only use part of it or get lovely out of dimension stretching!), also the battery is internal so when its dead you gotta recharge, rather annoying.

tbh, the gp32 does everything i could ever want, doesn't seem to be any decent reasons to get a zod.

 

[Kolkman]

Dont buy a Zodiac or GP32 anymore. Wait for the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP.

 

[spray]

Dont buy a Zodiac or GP32 anymore. Wait for the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP.

if you were basing the purchase on the strength of commercial games then yeah, but neither the zodiac or gp32 has ever been famed for its commercial gaming quality.

people buy these things for emulation and the homebrew scene, i can't see the NDS or PSP supporting either of these things (especially the PSP with its propriatry (sp.) media). the times are right to be getting a gp32 for emulation, it could be pretty rosy for zodiac soon as well.

 

[Guyfawkes]

1. I also own both, it depends what you want the device for, GP32 definately for emulation and other homegrown software. Zodiac for all round useage (see question 3), emulators are not in the same league as GP32 just yet but given a bit more time that will change.
2. Easily could play a game like broken sword, GP32 should be able to do that as well though. And as mentioned there is ScummVM which plays games like that.
3. Good all round useage. games, emulators, movie player, music player, 'business' stuff, web browser etc. Can do many things with a Zodiac.
4. Unless you are planning to watch alot of movies or have alot of MP3s then I would suggest a 256MB or 512MB. You can always buy 1GB later as the Zodiac has two card slots so your old card wont be wasted.
5. GP32 does look quite horrible now if thats what you mean? But it is a three year old machine, its comparing to newer designs like the Zodiac which I think has a great design.
6. Zodiac already does most of the things GP32 can do. Maybe some emulators would be created a different way, for example GPAdvance, the way thats coded wouldnt work on the Zodiac.
7. No idea

 

[Drumaster]

The GP32 is FAR BETTER for me :
- Very less expensive
- Free games
- Yes the Zodiac is nice looking but I really like GP32 too.
- GP32 emulation on Zodiac will never be possible at a good framerate simply because the GP32 is nearly as powerfull as the Zodiac.
- The GP32 has a very better future than the Zodiac, because the Z has nearly no softs for itself, but PDA one (they don't work all on Z)...and the euro launch is increasing the number of projects on GP32...
Great projects still in developpement (the GP32 actuality is far more active than Z one those days) :
- GP Doom
- GP Quake
- Beats Of Rage
- fGen32
- OpenSNES9x
- GP Heretic should be out one day...

The GP32 has real personality and its own softwares.

That's not only my opinion, but also facts.

 

[EvilDragon]

I also was thinking about getting a Zodiac a while ago.
But as I am no developer, I won't get a signed Zodiac and can only run programs which have been signed by Tapwave (and AFAIK yoyo has some trouble signing LJZ...)

This was a clear reason for me to not buy it.

 

[Drumaster]

That's why again the GP32 is far better I think.

 

[dazmanultra]

At the moment, as things stand if you were to freeze everything in time, the GP32 would be better than the Zodiac. The Zodiac has a lot of potential, it's a nice system with some cool features - whether it's actually realise it's potential or not is another question.

The GP32 has great games and emus NOW, not to mention some great projects in the works.

 

[Squidge]

That's pretty much what I said earlier - if you looking for a PDA with some good games then the Zodiac is a good choice, but otherwise, anyone looking for emulation and homebrew should go for the GP32 instead. It's also much cheaper.

I have both and use the Zodiac on a daily basis for mainly PDA functions plus a few games, but the GP32 is used for development & emulation (although I've not done any development for a while now).

 

[RoboJoe32]

GP32 Is the one handheld I feel that's truely "mine"... You can mod it, paint it, Code for it right out of the box (Can zodiac users do that without having to jump through hoops? Didn't think so.)

GP32 has a good SNES emu with lots of potential (I wish it could go open source and people could pick up on it ) a damn great genesis emulator, and near flaweless NES, Zodiac has a lot of emus, but most just aren't as fast (and you have to pay for them) or they ARE fast... and you have to pay as much as a commercial game for something they shouldn't put a price on anyways.

GP32 costs 170+ US dollars and does everything I want it to, Zodiac costs 300+ USD if not more and lacks the emus and scene I love.

The zodiac scene is extremely iffy and aggressive, They'd rather say a flawed app "sucks" than give constructive criticism.

Overall, I'd keep my GP32 over a zodiac, Because all zodiac is is a overpriced and under powered PDA turned on it's side. (for the cost of a upper end zodiac, I could get an very powerful pocket PC for anything the zodiac can do, and it can do it better.)


As for PSP and nintendo DS, I'll pick up a PSP, and not even touch DS, Because it looks to be another "portboy", Just for n64. I'll only get a DS for the new mario game, and wario ware.

And to combat a few points on RPGchoco's list...

1. I would choose a...Zodiac. it has a better future.

Since when? the GBA emu for Gp32 is moving along at a fantastic rate, the Genesis emu is being optimized and having Z80 Support added.... And I have yet to hear about ANY zodiac development, commercial or otherwise.

5. Honestly, the GP32 looks very ugly. It is big and bulky,, and the shape isn't cool, like a GBA or the Zodiac. THe Gp32 is awesome though.

The GBA isn't exactly cool looking in my opinion, too flat and ridged (hands hurt after playing it) And zodiac looks like it's trying to hard to get that whole "portable PS2" image...

6. yes. The Zodiac is like an upgraded GP32.

The zodiac is like a mac, all of that power, and no reason to use it , Besides, it's processor speed is only what? 44 MHZ more? And how much processor power does it take to run the OS?

 

[generalnmx]

Here, this thread is mostly about GP32 vs Zodiac:

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=11701

While there is a lot of BS in it, there is also a lot of useful information.