Gp32 Or Gp2x?

[bugs]

Hi all,

firstly i`m new to this forum. I have played about with emulators on my PC for a few years now, I bought a retro gamer magazine the other day and noticed an advert for the GP2X I really love the idea of it. While on the site though I noticed the GP32 and after reading some posts on here i`m left a little confused. I like my SNES, Megadrive, C64 and speccy games, reading the forums support for these isnt perticularly good on the GP2X but playing games like DOOM, QUAKE and other excellent PC games which id be looking at playing, is well supported.

The GP32 however has excellent support for the SNES, C64, speccy and others similiar however i`m not sure if support for the PC engine games like DOOM, QUAKE is stable or not or even if its supported at all.

can any one confirm this for me? or give me any advice as to what the best choice would be?

Thanx

Craig Dunn

 

[JaqMs]

Get GP2X it's the newer one... On GP32, SNES is mediocre/ok, Quake is pretty slow if I recall correctly. PC Engine is also known as the Turbografx-16 console, which plays 16-bit games. Most likely, nothing new that's worthwhile will ever come to the GP32 anytime in the future

 

[Angel]

i don't know what you were reading, but its pretty off.

I also don't know much about the GP2x since i don't own one, but I do own a GP32 and will give you advice based on that.

SNES support is not that great on the GP32. Alot of games are perfectly fine without sound, some are good with sound, frameskip 2 at 166mhz(if your GP32 can overclock that much). All in all, SNES is OK at best. I have my games i like to play and i play them usually without sound so they run smoother. However, whatever else you want for the GP32, runs pretty damn good. Megadrive is perfect, NES is perfect, PC Engine (turbo grafix 16) perfect.

DOOM is VERY GOOD on the GP32 as well as Duke Nukem 3d, Wolfenstein 3d, and Rise of the Triad. Quake is slow but very much playable, but it will probably never reach full speeds. Other PC games will not be supported as the GP32 is not a PC. But there are programs to run certain PC games, for example there is a program, the name escapes me at the moment, but it will run old Lucas art games, like Sam and Max. But for the most part, no, PC gaming is not supported.

The GP32 also has many good homebrew games as well. But depending on what you want, i can only suggest the GP32, if you want something that is relatively inexpensive, can emulate most classic systems well as well as other stuff, like MAME and old computer systems, then the GP32 may be for you. But if you want something newer, more power, better video playback, larger memory capacity(SD card instead of SMC), plus the fact that more and more stuff will get released and the programs will only get better, whereas everything is pretty much done on the GP32 except for MAME, I'd then suggest maybe the GP2X.

 

[Iorgy77]

Serious Sam?? You are joking right?

 

[bugs]

sorry realised what I wrote after I posted

 

[Mr.Jabberwocky]

I say get a GP32 BLU to tide you over for the next 6 months. They have just modified the GP2X hardware and by then any further issues should have been dealt with, and the emu's will be further developed. Since you seem to want to use it rather than 'geek' with it I think your best bet would be the GP32 for now.

There are plenty of thread's containing information and feedback about the GP32 emu's on this board. Check them out and use them as a basis for your decision. Only you know what your needs are.

Asking "GP2X or GP32" on a board where the GP2X is the predominate talking point at the moment, may not give you the most unbiased view. (I own both, but I may still be biased).

 

[BaDToaD]

Let's put it this way. There are a lot of GP32 owners like myself that don't consider the GP2X a worthwhile upgrade. That said the GP2X seems to be a fine machine.

You could pick up a GP32 blu or blu+ (blu+ issues are a thing of the past incase you've read about the incompatabilities) for 50 quid or so on ebay just to try things out or you could spend more on a GP2X. Personally I find the GP32 more than adequate and it certainly has less issues straight out of the box. Don't let the SMC cards put you off either. A 128MB card goes a long way with 8 and 16 bit games. Just ask some of the users here what they have on one card and you'll be amazed.

The only time you might want more is for movies encoded for GP cinema but even then you can get a passable quality film onto 128mb. eg I encoded my Red Dwarfs and each episode is about 35MB.

 

[Angel]

good point on the SMC, i have several but 128 mb goes a long way depending on what you want to do. Here is my setup.

64mb=Mame only
128mb=all other emulators
128mb=homebrew only
128mb=first person shooters. I have Hexen,Heretic,Duke 3d, DoomII and the Yeti 3d demo all on one card and DoomII and Duke 3d are full version games.
128mb=beats of rage


i still got a few blank 128's that i've yet decided what i'm going to put on it. If F-Day ever happens, i know i'll have a card specific for those emulators that aren't part of my "emulators" smc.

 

[Cyclops]

F-Day *snigger*.

It will be Santa and the Easter bunny next.

The GP32 is a mature platform. Its day is over.
The GP2X is a relatively new platform. Its day is dawning.

If you can get a GP32 cheap get one and I do mean £20 with at least 4 cards. Its great, if cheap, the emulation is mature, but otherwise your better off buying a GP2X, becuase the platform has a lot more life in it. The only people who say otherwise are those who jumped to PSP homebrew, thinking Gameparks time was up. Check the names against those in say a PSP firmware thread and you will see what I mean.

The GP2X is where it is all happening check the front page, not a single news item about the GP32. Its a good time to get one. The rush of quick and dirty ports is at an end, and the quality of emulation is improving. Niggling problems with hardware and software are all but gone. If you look around collabaration between developers is really starting to happen, and is already starting to bear fruit. Obvious gaps in its software portfolio have been filled, and 4Gb cards are becoming affordable.

 

[Alex.]

128MB is more than enough, and here's why:

- 53 Sega Genesis games (zipped)
- 7 Sega Master System games (zipped)
- 2 SNES games (zipped)
- 17 NES games (zipped)
- 14 Nintendo Gameboy/Color games (zipped)
- 5 Atari ST disks (zipped)
- 8 Commodore 64 games
- Ultimate Doom and Doom 2
- GP32War 2
- gpSpout
- Lazy Reader with a couple of texts
- gpDrive

I really can't imagine going through all that in anything less than two years, so yea, a 128MB SMC is more than enough.

- Alex

 

[JaqMs]

I agree. I don't see the point of getting full rom sets since you probably won't play most of them anyway.

 

[Angel]

yeah, and someone very wise once stated that despite all the games you download, most of them are only played for 1-5 minutes. It's the ones that you played and enjoyed as a kid that stick with you and are played the most. and i can't agree more. Over 50 NES games and its the same 3 games that i play over and over again.

 

[Alex.]

Which are those?

- Alex

 

[Angel]

mario 3, RBI baseball 3, Metal Storm