Gp32 Vs Gba

[essin]

I know its been talked about before, but I was just wondering what you guys think about which is the best for me to buy.
I would use it to play emulators, mostly nes and snes(can snes be emulated to the GBA?). And also I would watch movies, are there big diffrences between the two in terms of moviewatching. And how well does the backup copies (roms) work on the GBA?
So what do you think, which one should i get?

 

[mattmagoo]

A majority of your questions are about GBA so you would probably get better results on a GBA forum

I'd suggest a GP32, because it has a better screen, thats all, NES and SNES get squashed on GBA, they dont on GP32

 

[Protoss]

Well with the GP32, you don't need to buy anything extra, yet if you did want to emulate anything, you'd need to buy a flash cart.

 

[Squiike]

i think you already know what to buy
gp32 is easy to use

and almost everybody on this board chose gp32_console it is simply made for emulators and the movie player(quality and sound is great)

 

[declaration]

to play snes, nes and watch movies, the GP32 is definitely the better machine.

The GBA does have a good NES emulator. It also does have a SNES emu but its not nearly as good as Opensnes.

128mb SMC's are much cheaper than equivalent Flashcarts and therefore are better for storing movies/ roms. Dont expect amazing quality videos though as only 128mb SMC's work.(they are quite good quality though)

If you are sure that you only want to do what you say you do, then the GP32 is the perfect machine for you.

If however you want a plentiful supply of new Commercial games, then the GBA may be for you. But you never know how good GPadvance (upcoming GBA emu) will get.

I bought my GP32 to do basically what you have said you want to, but found myself doing so much more and discovering some great new things. I never regretted the purchase.

 

[Horscht]

Ok, GBA can´t emulate SNES at a playble speed (there is a SNES emu out, but it´s not very advanced.), NES runs at fullspeed. But the mayor drawback of the GBA is the screen size. It´s a very small screen, and NES games have to be scaled down, which looks kinda akward. The screen also makes it bad for watching movies, which aren´t very popular for the GBA, because of the maximum storage of 256M (which is megabit i.e. 32 Megabyte (there are 512M and 1G carts out there, but they are basically just 2 or 4 256M card in one cart)).

 

[mr twit]

Ok, GBA can´t emulate SNES at a playble speed (there is a SNES emu out, but it´s not very advanced.), NES runs at fullspeed. But the mayor drawback of the GBA is the screen size. It´s a very small screen, and NES games have to be scaled down, which looks kinda akward. The screen also makes it bad for watching movies, which aren´t very popular for the GBA, because of the maximum storage of 256M (which is megabit i.e. 32 Megabyte (there are 512M and 1G carts out there, but they are basically just 2 or 4 256M card in one cart)).

256MB is not the maximum storage, you can buy 1GB carts which are the same as 128 megabytes. Edit: Oh, you said that. sorry.
Also, the snes emulator isn't good, but tons of snes games have been commercially ported to the GBA anyway.
But for what you asked, GP32 is the way to go.

 

[Wolfsclaw]

its simple:
wanna commercial games for free, dont care about small screen? gba.
wanna multimedia, emulators of partially older systems and homebrew? gp32.

i for myself have boht systems (also flashcart 128Mb) and use gp32 much more. well, actually i havent used my gba for ages.

 

[OmarNawaz]

I used to have a GBA sp with flash cart it isa fantastic combination for strictly gaming a whole wealth of rpg's and not to mention Advance wars :lol:

But if you want that nostalgic gaming experience the gp32 is the way to go but don't expect too much from the snes emulator it is still being worked on.

 

[Crocomire]

don't expect too much from the snes emulator

what are you on about?!?!? it's good enough

 

[DaveC]

I know its been talked about before, but I was just wondering what you guys think about which is the best for me to buy.
I would use it to play emulators, mostly nes and snes(can snes be emulated to the GBA?). And also I would watch movies, are there big diffrences between the two in terms of moviewatching. And how well does the backup copies (roms) work on the GBA?
So what do you think, which one should i get?

Well GBA has a 2.8" frontlit screen which is washed out.

The GP32 has a 3.5" backlit screen (BLU) and has sharp rich color.

The GBA screen resolution is not high enough for emus that originally ran on a TV it is only 240 x 160 and systems like Genesis are 320 x 200. The GP32 screen is 320 x 240 so it has enough resolution to emulate any of the 8 and 16 bit systems correctly.

The GBA clock speed is a pokey 16 MHZ where as the GP32 is like 10X that at 166 Mhz.

Snes on the gba is way more limited, even the stuff that does work has cut down res and no sound. SNES on the GP32 while not perfect, is much better.

The GP32 uses widely available 128 MB SMC (or in flashcart terms 1 Gigabit) cards that can be bought at any computer store or website. Flashcarts must be imported from web only specialty shops.

As you said you wanted it for emus the GP32 is a far better choice, hands down.

 

[coolgpguy]

the n-gage has up 2 1gb of storage on a mmc and it can emulate nes...it has a video compressor that compresses my family guy episodes to about 11 megs..and movies are about 60 megs thats alot better than the gp32_console

 

[DaveC]

the n-gage has up 2 1gb of storage on a mmc and it can emulate nes...it has a video compressor that compresses my family guy episodes to about 11 megs..and movies are about 60 megs thats alot better than the gp32_console

N-gage? who the hell asked or cares about the N-gage? Watching a movie (or anything else) on a low res postage stamp sized screen sucks anyway.

 

[Azure]

Ok, GBA can´t emulate SNES at a playble speed (there is a SNES emu out, but it´s not very advanced.), NES runs at fullspeed. But the mayor drawback of the GBA is the screen size. It´s a very small screen, and NES games have to be scaled down, which looks kinda akward. The screen also makes it bad for watching movies, which aren´t very popular for the GBA, because of the maximum storage of 256M (which is megabit i.e. 32 Megabyte (there are 512M and 1G carts out there, but they are basically just 2 or 4 256M card in one cart)).

IIRC, the movie player uses CompactFlash.

If you want to play some commercial quality games right away, get a GBA.

If you want to play some classic gems right away and wait (Who knows how long, but the waiting isn't as bad as you might perceive it)for commercial quality games (SNES, GENESIS, and maybe even GBA), get a GP32.

EDIT: When do you plan on buying one of them? Because if it's not in the immediate future, you might be able to get a GP32 when OS9XGP 0.5 is released (And fGEN with Z80 Emulation).

 

[mr twit]

IIRC, the movie player uses CompactFlash.

There is a movie player that uses compactflash, but there is also a program which converts movies into GBA roms that can then be played on a flash cart. It's called Meteo and is actually very good, it compresses them to about the size of a video compressed for GPCinema. However, since 1gigabit (128mb) flashcarts are very expensive, GP32 is better for movies.

 

[Azure]

IIRC, the movie player uses CompactFlash.

There is a movie player that uses compactflash, but there is also a program which converts movies into GBA roms that can then be played on a flash cart. It's called Meteo and is actually very good, it compresses them to about the size of a video compressed for GPCinema. However, since 1gigabit (128mb) flashcarts are very expensive, GP32 is better for movies.

Compare the GP32's movie functions with the one that uses CompactFlash, not the one that uses the flash carts, otherwise it wouldn't be "fair."

 

[Iorgy77]

I have a GBASP + 128 mbit flash cart as well as the gp32. I like them both for very different reasons... to be honest I don't bother with gba emulators at all... or gba movies. But the quality of some of the gba 2D and 3D games are mindblowing. Makes you really wonder what the Gp32 would be capable of.

 

[CrazyDesi]

the n-gage has up 2 1gb of storage on a mmc and it can emulate nes...it has a video compressor that compresses my family guy episodes to about 11 megs..and movies are about 60 megs thats alot better than the  gp32_console

N-gage? who the hell asked or cares about the N-gage? Watching a movie (or anything else) on a low res postage stamp sized screen sucks anyway.

Have you ever even used a QD?

 

[SephirothIce]

It's really two complete different systems. GP32 if you like emulation and homebrew or GBA if you prefer commercial games. Also before some smart ass says GBA can emulate I know that, but it's more expensive and not worth it if all you want is emulation.

 

[mattmagoo]

the n-gage has up 2 1gb of storage on a mmc and it can emulate nes...it has a video compressor that compresses my family guy episodes to about 11 megs..and movies are about 60 megs thats alot better than the gp32_console

N-gage? who the hell asked or cares about the N-gage? Watching a movie (or anything else) on a low res postage stamp sized screen sucks anyway.

Have you ever even used a QD?

:huh: :huh: :huh: :blink: :blink: :blink:

the screen is the same size :blink: :blink: :blink: