Opinion: What Is The Best Emulator Available on Pandora?

[Kumaki]

By this, I mean, non-MAME, non-FBA type emulators. Maybe I should specify as Console/Portable Emulators.


For my money, without a doubt, it is PicoDrive.


This plays Sega Genesis and Sega Master system flawlessly, it is incredibly user-friendly with intuitive and easy controls to do everything from exiting the emu, loading the rom file, loading and saving save states...just, as far as I'm concerned it has to be the best Console emulator out there for Pandora.


Right now I'm using it to re-visit an old favorite, Phantasy Star 2.


So...how about everyone else? What do you think is the best Console/Portable Emulator available for Pandora and why?


(As a footnote to this I should mention I am also fairly impressed with PSXreARMed.)

 

[craigix]

Certainly the one I use the most is Amiga. It uses all the Pandora controls and there is just something about it that I love. It makes the Pandora like a portable Amiga.

 

[Scntrblob]

I currently use PicoDrive most of the time, playing Shining Force II. Such an awesome game!


But there is no doubt that PCSXReARMed is the most impressive piece of work here, especially since we could see how it evolved over time.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

PicoDrive and PCSXReARMed because they work under different OS (Zaxxon & Slackware), and also the controls are hardcoded, so it's possible to have ABXY and right nub reversed as default on the desktop.


Also, external controllers like iCP or USB joypads are working flawlessly.

 

[Kumaki]

Hadn't ever tried that. You telling me you could hook a USB game controller in to the Pandora, and use that?


You'd need one that is totally plug and play, I'd imagine...where no driver software has to be installed...


Theorectically, then...one could run a TV-out cord..play on a big TV...pipe the sound out to awesome speakers...and play with a traditional controller...that would totally rock.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Take a look at this:


http://pandorawiki.org/USB_compatibility_list#External_Game_Controllers

 

[Linux-SWAT]

You may also be interested in this:


http://slackware.openpandora.org/pandora/index.php?dir=videos%2Fpicoprojector

 

[meandu229]

Hadn't ever tried that. You telling me you could hook a USB game controller in to the Pandora, and use that?


You'd need one that is totally plug and play, I'd imagine...where no driver software has to be installed...


Theorectically, then...one could run a TV-out cord..play on a big TV...pipe the sound out to awesome speakers...and play with a traditional controller...that would totally rock.

I often play PCSXReARMed with my usb gamepad, pandora controls are great but thps needs decent l2 and r2

 

[atari_afternoon]

DosBox. The Pandora-Keyboard makes it the best portable DosBox I know.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

Amiga. Uae 2.o. Must give hatari a go too. Goes off to download amiga (P)roms...

 

[_wb_]

PCSXReARMed and gpSP are the nicest ones in my opinion. PS1 emulation because it's quite nontrivial to pull it off on a handheld (it's the platform with the best specs that still really runs fullspeed and pixelperfect on the Pandora), GBA emulation because those games were designed for a handheld, but now with Scale3x they look even better than the original. For nostalgic reasons I like Vice (C64) a lot, but it could use some more Pandora-specific polishing (e.g. keyboard doesn't work well, I don't think the nubs work as joysticks, etc.).

 

[mamemaniac]

Imho the best emus on the Pandora are the ones from Notaz and Exophase but i use also a lot Daphne and Panmame (thanks mcobit!).


EDIT: didnt read at first in Kumaki description non Mame and no FBA, in this case my preferences are for PD, PCSX, GPSP and Temper.

 

[NoeleyC]

Uae4all, just because it makes a portable Amiga possible!!

 

[may88]

PCSXReARMed - working through Final Fantasy VII. Clear winner for me.


mame4all - Galaxian and Ladybug. Screen still too small - WHERE'S MY TV OUT CABLE!!!


hatari for the occational Buggy Boy.


VICE for some nostalgic VIC20 Omega Race.


Not got Daphne working which is a shame as I bought a load of the DVD titles.

 

[Kumaki]

Hummm...I never could make Hatari work for me.


and no idea what kind of roms Daphne takes.


But again, this was intended to discuss console/portable emu's...and that means Daphne would not qualify as it is a MAME-type.


The reason I excluded MAME-type from this discussion was so that I would not have 20 replies of PanMAME or something...I wanted to discuss other emu's and what about them people liked.


As I said, I happen to like SEGA Genesis games very much, but, that aside, what I like about PicoDrive is the intuitiveness and friendliness of the controls - you just press Select from anywhere to get an easy navigable menu to do anything you want.


None of this trying to remember Esc-Q or L+R or Sel+Start or Space + ...well, you get my point. It's just a friendly, nice easy command control, and I like that. I wish other emu's were as friendly in this regard.

 

[ekianjo]

The Amiga emulation is excellent but the save-game issue prevents me from qualifying it as the best on the Pandora scene.


gPSP, PCSXReARMed are superb, but my preference goes to FBA just because it can play the best games out there (arcade-quality games). GnGeo would be a close second, wish it had a few more options under the hood, too.

 

[Kumaki]

The Amiga emulation is excellent but the save-game issue prevents me from qualifying it as the best on the Pandora scene.


gPSP, PCSXReARMed are superb, but my preference goes to FBA just because it can play the best games out there (arcade-quality games). GnGeo would be a close second, wish it had a few more options under the hood, too.

I have the same issue with Amiga. Love it...but, it is NOT exactly very user-friendly...you really have to know how to finesse it.


FBA and GnGeo are MAME-type emu's which I didn't include in the original discussion.


I really think they should be discussed in a seperate thread for MAME-type emulators...this was intended for Console/portable emu's which GPSP and PSXreARMed would definitely qualify.


I just think that MAME games are SO superior, for obvious reasons...that they really need to be discussed seperately...otherwise all these other emu's do not get a fair discussion.


But as to those emu's themselves...some of them - have issues with the controls that make them a bit less than user-friendly.


MAME4ALL Beta was the easiest for me, as I'd had experience with it on the Dingoo.


For user-friendlieness of command controls, my money goes to PanMAME. SPACE gets you into the menu to map controls and dip switches...Function+Q gets you into the menu to exit the emu, load a different game, quit the current game, etc.


Basically, what I intended this thread to discuss was the user-friendliness of command controls in various PND emu's. I'd love to see a certain consistency across emu's, which, since they are done by different coders...would require agreement and collaboration.


For my money, the command-control functionalty of PicoDrive is second to none. PanMAME is pretty close, too. As is PSXreARMed...once you learn that the SPACE key is your ticket.

 

[moxie]

This kind of lists almost always goes into "What kind of games do you like best" and thus isn't very enlightening. Personally, I'm not all gaga over MAME games, and so you'd never get a MAME answer from me. Craig likes Amiga, so he'll answer UAE. Others like...and so on.


For the generall question of the usability of the emulator interface, my vote goes to anything by Notaz and/or Exophase.

 

[BaDToaD]

I just think that MAME games are SO superior, for obvious reasons...that they really need to be discussed seperately...otherwise all these other emu's do not get a fair discussion.

Personally I prefer games that MAME isn't good for. Games that need to be played a bit at a time over a long period. Adventures (ScummVM) RPGS and RTS, that kind of thing (PCSXrearmed, gpsp, PicoDrive, GemRB) And there's one thing MAME is totally useless at... Applications, which is where the Pandora's keyboard and many personal computer emulators from ZX Spectrum to Amiga and PC come in handy (Uae4all, DOSbox, Qemu etc) `

 

[Kumaki]

This kind of lists almost always goes into "What kind of games do you like best" and thus isn't very enlightening. Personally, I'm not all gaga over MAME games, and so you'd never get a MAME answer from me. Craig likes Amiga, so he'll answer UAE. Others like...and so on.


For the generall question of the usability of the emulator interface, my vote goes to anything by Notaz and/or Exophase.

Well, perhaps I should have been clearer, because THAT is what I was really going for...usability of emulator interface.

I just think that MAME games are SO superior, for obvious reasons...that they really need to be discussed seperately...otherwise all these other emu's do not get a fair discussion.

Personally I prefer games that MAME isn't good for. Games that need to be played a bit at a time over a long period. Adventures (ScummVM) RPGS and RTS, that kind of thing (PCSXrearmed, gpsp, PicoDrive, GemRB) And there's one thing MAME is totally useless at... Applications, which is where the Pandora's keyboard and many personal computer emulators from ZX Spectrum to Amiga and PC come in handy (Uae4all, DOSbox, Qemu etc) `

I have to admit I found it a bit amusing to see a TRS-80 personal computer app.


Had to wonder what anyone would want with that, since it required programs to be saved to a cassette tape...so how would you load/save programs with it?