Sega 32x Emulation

[cyclone5uk]

(Before I get told to look it up - I did try searching, but the forum won’t let me search for a 3 letter word, also I checked the GP2X Wiki, but some of the info is quite out of date…)

Anyway, I know Picodrive (my Megadrive emulator of choice) can't currently, but what about any other emulators?

Is there any work being done on it?

I realise there weren't that many games released for the 32X, so the value in spending time emulating it is somewhat limited, but it would be cool to run Star Wars Arcade or virtua Fighter on my GP2X.

 

[hsinn3r]

in a word, no, and it will probably never happen. there are many threads about this.
even if the board search won't let you use small words, there is always google, just type "32x site:http://www.gp32x.de"

 

[KingCheese]

Well, I think 32x-emulation COULD be possible, but the problem is that you'd need a good sega cd emulator (picodrive) and FOR THAT you'd need to make the support of 32x-games. There were only ~40 games released and I don't think that notaz got the time for such a "joke" (there were also a few games that were also on the sega cd!). He also said that after the last picodrive release!
You have to think about what you REALLY want to play, or sth that you only want to HAVE . In my opinion a 32x-emulator is pretty useless .....

KingCheese

 

[cyclone5uk]

even if the board search won't let you use small words, there is always google, just type "32x site:http://www.gp32x.de"

Yeah did that - found a few really old threads, nothing recent

 

[Exophase]

What notaz said is that the only way that a 32x emulator could ever achieve decent speed is with a dynarec, which I doubt he or anyone else is willing to bother with. Personally I'm very skeptical that a GP2X could emulate two 23MHz SH2's at full speed even with dynarec (while still emulating everything else, including the additional audio hardware)

 

[cyclone5uk]

What notaz said is that the only way that a 32x emulator could ever achieve decent speed is with a dynarec, which I doubt he or anyone else is willing to bother with. Personally I'm very skeptical that a GP2X could emulate two 23MHz SH2's at full speed even with dynarec (while still emulating everything else, including the additional audio hardware)

Thanks for the info, although I thought most publishers chose not to use the audio hardware that the 32X had (something to do with it being hard to program for)?

Instead they just used the MD/Genesis existing audio. So maybe the audio hardware wouldnt need to be emulated?

 

[ledro]

"In my opinion a 32x-emulator is pretty useless ....."
What about Virtua racing, Starwars arcade, Shadow squadron and arcade perfect space harrier and afterburner?

 

[Exophase]

What notaz said is that the only way that a 32x emulator could ever achieve decent speed is with a dynarec, which I doubt he or anyone else is willing to bother with. Personally I'm very skeptical that a GP2X could emulate two 23MHz SH2's at full speed even with dynarec (while still emulating everything else, including the additional audio hardware)

Thanks for the info, although I thought most publishers chose not to use the audio hardware that the 32X had (something to do with it being hard to program for)?

Instead they just used the MD/Genesis existing audio. So maybe the audio hardware wouldnt need to be emulated?


I can't speak for 32x games in general but I know for sure that Knuckles Chaotix used the audio hardware. I don't think it was especially hard to program for.

 

[cyclone5uk]

From the Wiki:

"One little-known aspect of the 32X was its vastly improved audio subsystem, termed "Q-Sound" by Sega. While this theoretically gave the system audio capabilities that outstripped even the Super NES, the sound chipset proved to be poorly documented and exceptionally difficult to program for. As a result, most games ignored the Q-Sound system and used the Mega Drive's on-board sound chip, thus leaving the 32X's audio capabilities largely untapped. To this day, emulators still have difficulty providing sound emulation for the few titles that did make use of the Q-Sound system."

There's no source though...

 

[Ravnos]

"In my opinion a 32x-emulator is pretty useless ....."
What about Virtua racing, Starwars arcade, Shadow squadron and arcade perfect space harrier and afterburner?

The very few decent games for the hardware really doesn't justify the amount of work it would take to get it running on the GP2X. 32X emulation isn't something that is likely to be ported over a couple of nights with a minimum of effort, it will take a lot of optimisation and work and you're unlikely to find someone willing to take up the challenge for such a meager pay off. It's one of those things that you're better off asking for when the next generation handheld comes out.