GP32 dev scene vs GBA one : I choosed the GP32

[Vince]

Hello to you all!

It's been a while now that I've been wandering on this forum (about 4 months), looking at various posts about the GP32. I'm in France and I was waiting for the GP32 to get released by the beginning of November; because of the postponed release I immediately ordered my GP32 thru Lik-sang (should be there by tomorrow).

The thing is, I've been thinking a lot before buying a GP32 instead of a flash linker for a GBA (I own an afterburnered GBA). Think about it : the emus are also in there (GB/GBC, SMS/GG, PCEngine(AFAIK) and the other 8 bits system) and the dev scene seems very active as well. The SNES/Genesis emus did not weight a lot in my GP32 choice since there are not finished yet (even if I am dying to play Super Metroid or Super Castlevania 4 :rolleyes:

So what? I am almost sure I did the good choice : I am a true fan of retrogaming and thinking there are some great ports such as DOOM, ROTT and ScummVM made me choose the GP32. I'd just like for some people with knowledge in the GBA/GP32 homebrewn scene give me some feedback about their experience with the two systems.

Thanks for your replies,

Vince, from France

 

[retrocraig]

I have to say that I ownly own a GP32, but I certainly have not regretted the purchase. The GP32 is a more powerful piece of kit for programmers, and all the emus i've used (Gameboy, Atari St, Nes, Master System, PC Engine) have all been excellent. Also some of the homebrew games (like Gloop and GiriGiriWalker) are also excellent.

 

[mr twit]

I don't own a GBA flash linker, but from what I've read, the emulators you can get on a flash linker run MUCH slower than those on GP32. I don't think they even have a really good speed gameboy colour emu. If you wanted to emulate GBA games, you should have got a flash linker, but for everything else there's GP32 . Also, the GP32 has MP3, films, ports, etc, etc, etc.

 

[Azure]

Yeah and the GBA flash linker uses carts in megabits. Which means a 512 megabit cart is equal to a normal 64 megabytes on your harddrive. The GP32 uses SMCs, so it won't have this problem. And SMCs are a lot cheaper too.

 

[trooper]

Yeah and the GBA flash linker uses carts in megabits. Which means a 256 megabit cart is equal to a normal 64 megabytes on your harddrive. The GP32 uses SMCs, so it won't have this problem. And SMCs are a lot cheaper too.

256 m/bits = 32 m/bytes, 8 bits = 1 byte.
So you only get 32 mb with a flash linker card.

Excuse the correction, Just clearing things up.

Trooper

 

[Azure]

Yeah and the GBA flash linker uses carts in megabits. Which means a 256 megabit cart is equal to a normal 64 megabytes on your harddrive. The GP32 uses SMCs, so it won't have this problem. And SMCs are a lot cheaper too.

256 m/bits = 32 m/bytes, 8 bits = 1 byte.
So you only get 32 mb with a flash linker card.

Excuse the correction, Just clearing things up.

Trooper

Oh yeah, I did my math wrong. I edited my post now.

 

[Shaking Spirit]

Thats as may be, but as GBA roms are 2MB/4MB/8MB, you can still fit quite a few on a 256mb cart. As a gamer, the Flash Cart is much better than a GP32, but if you want more from a console, or you are a coder, then the GP32 is the better option.

 

[trooper]

Thats as may be, but as GBA roms are 2MB/4MB/8MB, you can still fit quite a few on a 256mb cart. As a gamer, the Flash Cart is much better than a GP32, but if you want more from a console, or you are a coder, then the GP32 is the better option.

Speaks for itself then , Oh and if you want to be cooler and different.
As everyone pretty much knows what a gba is.

Trooper

 

[Shaking Spirit]

Yeah, it is great to be able to causuly watch a few simpsonds episodes when around some mates, and then drop the line "can your GBA do this?"

(Although differant is not always better, I mean, look at the Smart car!!! )

 

[Shadow of Chaos]

So now we are comparing Gp32 to a smart car?


Roll on.. :blink:

 

[Vince]

Thank you all for your replies (and sorry for my lateness)

I knew I made the good choice, just because of the community support around the GP32!

Now, with the results of the GP32Spain coding contest, I cannot wait to play fGen and fMAME (even if the lattest was refused).

Long live the GP32,

Vince