Epicenter
Well-Known Member
It seems the one thing that is really conspicuously missing in the emulation scene of the GP2X for me is the emulation of more modern MAME-supported games. Sure, old 1980s games that rely on just 4 MHz Z80s and older are nice and all, but the GP2X is capable of so much more. We've already seen what it can do with the NeoGeo-- a 12 MHz 68000 and 4 MHz Z80, high-quality Yamaha YM26xx series synth and more, all running most of its games at the full 60 FPS with a modest overclock. This should be applicable to the enormous quantity of 68000-based games emulated in modern versions of MAME.
Also acceptable would be a port of RAINE or any other emulator capable of handling the listed games.
I would mostly want this newer version of MAME to play some of my favorite top-scrolling shooters for M68000-based arcade systems. Most notably, these games would have to run:
DoDonpachi (MAME name: ddonpach)
Donpachi (MAME name: donpachi)
ESP.Ra.De (MAME name: esprade)
Guwange (MAME name: guwange)
Dangun Feveron (MAME name: dfeveron)
Strikers 1945 (MAME name: s1945)
Strikers 1945 II (MAME name: s1945ii)
Giga Wing (MAME name: gigawing)
Mars Matrix (MAME name: mmatrix)
Aero Fighters [Emulated in MAME for GP2X already but with major sound problems, the Z80 crashes shortly after running it ] (MAME name: aerofgt)
These games use M68000 processors up to 16 MHz. Given the performance of the Cyclone core at 12 MHz in GNGeo2x and DrMDx, they should run very well. If 16 MHz is too much to handle without heavy overclocking the emulated M68000 could be dropped to ~12 MHz and the games would just be a bit more prone to slowdown. This is OK; the games lagged heavily even at 16 MHz when there were enough bullets onscreen at once.
Other hardware used by these games is mostly comprised of YM2xxx series synth chips like the NeoGeo, and AGAIN like the NeoGeo, a ~4 MHz Z80 coprocessor. There is no hardware scaling or rotation hardware I am aware of, it seems to be done in software on the M68000 if at all. Most of these run at 320x224 (but flipped vertically.) It would be nice if they could be played vertically with the GP2X tilted or scaled and fit onto the machine horizontally like the existing MAME port to GP2X does so well.
Performance should be quite good, as I've even had these run quickly on a 450 MHz K6-2 based machine using nothing but C 68000 and Z80 cores. With such excellent cores as Cyclone and DrZ80 .. I wouldn't see them being that much of a stressor for the GP2X's ARM920T.
Now for the good part. If someone were to develop such a port, I'd offer them OVER $200 for doing so. Probably a good BIT more. It'd be well worth the investment, and it doesn't even need to be said the sort of benefit this would have for the rest of the community, not just for me! Emulated games in newer MAME versions vary widely and go much beyond the range I've listed here (M68000 based top-scrolling shooters.) Granted any game without an ASM core for its processor probably runs slow as dirt, and we can't expect Cruisin' USA to run at acceptable speeds, so on and so forth. However, the amount of games even these 2 CPUs open up to an entire GENERATION of MAME-emulated titles is staggering.
Just putting this out there for anyone who is interested. If anyone else would contribute to such a project, feel free to reply and get that out there, too.
Also acceptable would be a port of RAINE or any other emulator capable of handling the listed games.
I would mostly want this newer version of MAME to play some of my favorite top-scrolling shooters for M68000-based arcade systems. Most notably, these games would have to run:
DoDonpachi (MAME name: ddonpach)
Donpachi (MAME name: donpachi)
ESP.Ra.De (MAME name: esprade)
Guwange (MAME name: guwange)
Dangun Feveron (MAME name: dfeveron)
Strikers 1945 (MAME name: s1945)
Strikers 1945 II (MAME name: s1945ii)
Giga Wing (MAME name: gigawing)
Mars Matrix (MAME name: mmatrix)
Aero Fighters [Emulated in MAME for GP2X already but with major sound problems, the Z80 crashes shortly after running it ] (MAME name: aerofgt)
These games use M68000 processors up to 16 MHz. Given the performance of the Cyclone core at 12 MHz in GNGeo2x and DrMDx, they should run very well. If 16 MHz is too much to handle without heavy overclocking the emulated M68000 could be dropped to ~12 MHz and the games would just be a bit more prone to slowdown. This is OK; the games lagged heavily even at 16 MHz when there were enough bullets onscreen at once.
Other hardware used by these games is mostly comprised of YM2xxx series synth chips like the NeoGeo, and AGAIN like the NeoGeo, a ~4 MHz Z80 coprocessor. There is no hardware scaling or rotation hardware I am aware of, it seems to be done in software on the M68000 if at all. Most of these run at 320x224 (but flipped vertically.) It would be nice if they could be played vertically with the GP2X tilted or scaled and fit onto the machine horizontally like the existing MAME port to GP2X does so well.
Performance should be quite good, as I've even had these run quickly on a 450 MHz K6-2 based machine using nothing but C 68000 and Z80 cores. With such excellent cores as Cyclone and DrZ80 .. I wouldn't see them being that much of a stressor for the GP2X's ARM920T.
Now for the good part. If someone were to develop such a port, I'd offer them OVER $200 for doing so. Probably a good BIT more. It'd be well worth the investment, and it doesn't even need to be said the sort of benefit this would have for the rest of the community, not just for me! Emulated games in newer MAME versions vary widely and go much beyond the range I've listed here (M68000 based top-scrolling shooters.) Granted any game without an ASM core for its processor probably runs slow as dirt, and we can't expect Cruisin' USA to run at acceptable speeds, so on and so forth. However, the amount of games even these 2 CPUs open up to an entire GENERATION of MAME-emulated titles is staggering.
Just putting this out there for anyone who is interested. If anyone else would contribute to such a project, feel free to reply and get that out there, too.