List Of The Best Emulators For All Systems

[Esn]

Well, now that the dust has had time to settle on the GP32, I think it would be useful to put up a list of the best emulator for every system. The GP32X file archive isn't always clear about which emulator is actually the best one (for example, the description for fSMS32 says "SMS emulator, featuring all you need ", while the description for DrSMS says "A SMS emulator. Currently, GameGear is not supported, but might be in the next few weeks". From the descriptions, you'd never know that DrSMS is actually much faster and less buggy, even though it doesn't emulate the Game Gear)

Anyway, I'll start the list, and I'll leave it to others to finish it (I'll update the first post with systems that are not here yet). I only play a few systems nowadays, so I've forgotten which emulator is best for some other systems...

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Atari Lynx - pHandy (20/04/2007)

Nearly-perfect emulation of the 16-bit Lynx handheld with sound and (I think) no frameskip at 156Mhz. There are some small graphical glitches in a few games, but they don't affect gameplay.

AtariST - CastawayGP32 (09/06/2005)

I've never tried it myself, but other people say it runs very well.

Game Boy/Game Boy Color - "fDay preview" version of fGB32 (11/06/2005)

Perfect GB/GBC emulator, runs fullspeed at 133Mhz. Other GBC emulators have speed issues (they go too fast or too slow), including the 2004 version of fGB32.

NES - LittleJohnGP (26/02/2005)

Perfect NES emulation.

PC-Engine - GPEngine (19/02/2003)

Perfect PCEngine emulation, but no saving!

Sega Genesis - DrMD (08/01/2007) (latest version is on Reesy's website, not in GP32x archive)

Great Genesis emulation, but usually with some frameskip (how much depends on game). A relatively small % of games are buggy or don't work. Although v5b9 is the latest version, I actually prefer using v4-1 because I find the menu less annoying (I haven't noticed any differences in speed/compatibility... though there probably are some).

Sega Game Gear - fSMS32 (26/02/2005) or SMS32 (28/05/2002)

Both fSMS32 and SMS32 have fullspeed GG emulation with no frameskip, but each has their flaws.

fSMS32:
-once in a while randomly the screen will become garbled and then split into four sections. Going in and out of the menu fixes this.

SMS32:
-it has the sound crackling bug found in some early GP32 programs (more noticeable in some games than in others)
-supports saves, but not savestates unlike fSMS32
-no ZIP support unlike fSMS32. Your SMC gets filled up quicker.

One more thing. SMS32 requires ROMs to be in an "SMS32" folder, while fSMS32 (and DrSMS, see below) requires an "SMS" folder. Don Miguel's COMI program can rename SMC files on the GP32, in case you want to use both emulators on the same trip.

DrSMS is the better choice for emulating the Sega Master System.

Sega Master System - DrSMS (10/10/2005)

Fullspeed SMS emulation at 90Mhz or even lower. Perfect except for some slight graphical glitches (the screen flashes during the score screen in the Sonic games, for example). Has perfect sound and savestates and can open .zips.

 

[ralp99]

SNES - OpenSNES9X (17/08/04)

Very useful at 156 Mhz, without sound - if you can run at 166 it's supposed to be good with sound, even. Good compatibility, lots of features (the UI is kind of gnarly though.. lots of truncated filenames!) But who cares, one of the best emulators on this system, easily.

 

[trooper]

ZX Spectrum - ZXGP32 (09/06/2005)

This is my Spectrum emulator for the GP32
It emulates a 48K an 128K Spectrum with both the Z80 and AY-3-8912 being emulated.100% in ARM Assembly Language.
This means that the emulator runs full speed at 40/66Mhz (for 48K Games) and 80/120Mhz (128K Games).
It can load .SNA, .Z80 and .TAP files and has both Sound Support and Joystick Support.
I've tested it with a quite a few games and it seems to work with almost all of them.

Games with known issues are:
Wec-le-mans
Chase HQ

Sorry, I was lazy and copied David`s description about the emulator from his site.
But i can vouch for it, That it is a bloody great spectrum emulator and works wonders on the GP32. It deserved more recognition than it actually got, Sadly.

Trooper

 

[tuXXX]

Sega Genesis - DrMD (08/01/2007) (latest version is on Reesy's website, not in GP32x archive)

Great Genesis emulation, but usually with some frameskip (how much depends on game). A relatively small % of games are buggy or don't work. Although v5b9 is the latest version, I actually prefer using v4-1 because I find the menu less annoying (I haven't noticed any differences in speed/compatibility... though there probably are some).

DrMS is nice, but is not compatible with Gmenu2x because you can't specify a rom from the command line.
So I'm using picodrive instead (which is nice too, and supports virtua racing and mega CD games)

 

[Typhoon22]

Sega Genesis - DrMD (08/01/2007) (latest version is on Reesy's website, not in GP32x archive)

Great Genesis emulation, but usually with some frameskip (how much depends on game). A relatively small % of games are buggy or don't work. Although v5b9 is the latest version, I actually prefer using v4-1 because I find the menu less annoying (I haven't noticed any differences in speed/compatibility... though there probably are some).

DrMS is nice, but is not compatible with Gmenu2x because you can't specify a rom from the command line.
So I'm using picodrive instead (which is nice too, and supports virtua racing and mega CD games)

+1 for picodrive! you can mp3 the audio and compress to zip too. I use this one daily, and it has even been ported to the psp. Very nice, very tasteful.

 

[Reesy]

Does Picodrive run on the GP32?

 

[Esn]

Does Picodrive run on the GP32?

Nope, it was never ported. Your DrMD is the only game in town. I think TuXXX and Typhoon22 are just confused.

There's a full list of GP32 emulators over here.

So Reesy... were there any substantial changes in speed, compatibility, etc. between 4.1 and 5b9 for the GP32? I'm still using the older version primarily because I find the GUI and file structure on the SMC to be less user-friendly in 5b9 (and saves didn't work for some reason, though that may have been just me...).

SNES - OpenSNES9X (17/08/04)



What about "OpenSNES9x Reesy (15/11/2005)"?

 

[Esn]

ZX Spectrum - ZXGP32 (09/06/2005)

This is my Spectrum emulator for the GP32
It emulates a 48K an 128K Spectrum with both the Z80 and AY-3-8912 being emulated.100% in ARM Assembly Language.
This means that the emulator runs full speed at 40/66Mhz (for 48K Games) and 80/120Mhz (128K Games).
It can load .SNA, .Z80 and .TAP files and has both Sound Support and Joystick Support.
I've tested it with a quite a few games and it seems to work with almost all of them.

Games with known issues are:
Wec-le-mans
Chase HQ

Sorry, I was lazy and copied David`s description about the emulator from his site.
But i can vouch for it, That it is a bloody great spectrum emulator and works wonders on the GP32. It deserved more recognition than it actually got, Sadly.

Trooper


ZXGP32 is listed on the archive as
zxGP.

How does it compare with the other Speccy emulators, though?
fZX32 (fday preview version) (11/06/2005)
GP81 (02/03/2005)
GPSpeccy (05/10/2004)
Speccyal (05/10/2004)

fZX32 was released later, so maybe it is better?

 

[renejr902]

this emulator is REALLY better for gamegear. try it. all games stretched to fullscreen have FULLSPEED no frameskip:

GP32, SMSPlus port to GP32, SMS32 v0.5!! + savesupport

 

[tuXXX]

Does Picodrive run on the GP32?

Nope, it was never ported. Your DrMD is the only game in town. I think TuXXX and Typhoon22 are just confused.
Oops ok I'm sorry . I should read topics more carefully.

 

[Esn]

this emulator is REALLY better for gamegear. try it. all games stretched to fullscreen have FULLSPEED no frameskip:

GP32, SMSPlus port to GP32, SMS32 v0.5!! + savesupport

OK, I checked it out (download here). You're right, it is fullspeed with no frameskip. Three downsides, though:

1) It has the sound crackling bug found in some early GP32 programs - I guess it was made before the fix was developed (though it seems to be more noticeable on some games than on others)
2) It supports saves, but not savestates.
3) No ZIP support. Your SMC gets filled up quicker.

So I'd still say that DrSMS is the best choice for SMS games, since it is fullspeed, has perfect sound and savestates (though it also has that occasional screenflash in certain games), and can open .zips.

But for Game Gear, it depends. fSMS32 has good sound, supports zips and has savestates, but it has that problem of the screen getting messed up every so often which SMS32 doesn't have. Their speed seems to be about identical.

Oh, one more thing. SMS32 requires ROMs to be in an "SMS32" folder, while the other two require an "SMS" folder. Don Miguel's COMI program can rename SMC files on the GP32, in case you want to use both emulators on the same trip.

I'll add this info to the main post...

 

[renejr902]

im sure that fSMS32 is slower than Sms32.

FSMS32 cant achieve Fullspeed for full streched
But Sms32 can do it.

If you play unscretched its the same speed for each emu

note: see my topic about nes emulators on Gp32. LJ v.03 is fullspeed at frameskip 0 and LJ v.04 is not fullspeed at framskip 0. i read that from a old topic and this is the truth.)