Should I Buy The Gp2x?

[pablohdez3]

I have been around with ROMS since a while but only on my laptop, I saw a review of the GP2X F-200 at arstechnica and after read it I was really interested on the GP2X, but I would like hear something from people who already have one, I thinking in get one from gp2xstore is US$169 plus shipping and TAX around US$190, but can somebody give me some advice, how is the gameplay? better than a PC?, I had a PSP and I tried to get some ROMS on it but is hard due the sony firmware and new upgrades for PSP games. I have a nintendo DS, I know there are some emulators for the DS but I haven't tried yet. Please some advice.

 

[emphyrio]

The great plus of emulating on gp2x is ease of use: just put the programs+ROMs on the flash-card and you're ready to go.

So my advice would be try out the DS, if it's too annoying to use change to gp2x.

 

[Tobriand]

I'd say go for it. The only things that I really should point out:

- He mentiones fram dropping on the PSx emu. That's an understatement except in a couple of cases; most of the time, the psx emulator is simply not fast enough. But it is supposed to play FF7 full speed, and it definitely does Abe's Odyssey, so there *are* some games that it's good with. Just don't buy it *to* emulate a psx.

- There are *some* games that won't work in Snes, or not fast enough anyway. Things like StarFox or Yoshi's Island just need too much power. I believe there *is* an emu which runs Super Mario RPG, but as I understand it, it's only just playable - but it IS playable.

Aside from that, yes, emulation is better than on a PC, imo. Mostly because the screen is small, so all those games that these days look dated on a big screen look really really sharp and, pretty much, like the best 2D stuff that's coming out for handhelds currently.

That said, you MAY want to think about waiting for Pandora, which should, in theory, do pretty much everything the GP2x does, but also quite a bit more. Look it up if you haven't, anyway.

Otherwise, go for a 2x - you'll have a lot of fun

 

[imhotep]

These forums have answers to all your questions, but use Google to search as it works better than in built search tool.

 

[SharQueDo]

Don't forget you also need to buy a compatible SD card (if you don't have one) and some powerful (2700+ mAh, preferred rechargable) AA batteries before you can make even (decent) use out of it.

Even with my 2700 mAh batteries I only have 2-3 hours playtime running ~250 MHz, around 4-5 hours when using GMU (Music Player, best there is ), so I advice you to buy 2x2 rechargables and a recharger.

About gameplay, you can't really compare it to a PC. It's like comparing apples to pears. Both fruit, but different kind. GP2x has some nice emulators to run roms on, and there are some good freeware games too, but don't expect to run UT2004 or Halo on it.

 

[Orkie]

"Should I Buy The Gp2x?"
Do you want a GP2X?

 

[paulobecker]

Let me give you my little testimonial. I bought my GP2X a couple of years ago, and while I haven't played it as much as I thought I would, it really is a fantastic machine. If you're looking for a portable 16-bit era emulator, I think you don't have to look any further. Genesis, SNES, and most things before that are very well emulated. It even plays most GBA games at full speed with sound, so your potential game library is huge. Just to think I even considered buying a Sega NOMAD before I found out about the GP2X makes me laugh.

Personally, I don't care too much for the homebrew, but there ARE many quality games made for the GP2X really worth playing. Also, things like Duke Nukem, SCUMMVM (old point-and-click adventures like The Dig and Indiana Jones) and Transport Tycoon are a major bonus, since they all remind me of my childhood and I love playing them on the go.

Oh, and although I haven't messed too much with the Nintendo DS, I did try a Genesis emulator on my cousin's DS and it was awfully slower than the GP2X emulators. Not sure about the rest of them though. As for Pandora, it depends on what you want to be able to play. Sure, it will be more powerful and probably run most PSX games full speed, but if you're happy with the 16 bit era, I wouldn't spend the extra bucks on it.

 

[pablohdez3]

I want it to play games like R-Type, Galaga, Legend of Zelda, Snow Bros, SFII, Metal Slug, Final Fight, Super Pang, Mega Man etc. but I a little concern about the frame rate, I'm not concern about the battery life I have a good pair of Duracell 2700 mAh, how is the frame rate?

 

[quote]

"Should I Buy The Gp2x?"
Do you want a GP2X?

Isn't that what we are trying to help him decide? :blink:
And to the OP.... buy one, the very fact you have got this far shows how interested you are
You won't be dissapointed.

 

[paulobecker]

I want it to play games like R-Type, Galaga, Legend of Zelda, Snow Bros, SFII, Metal Slug, Final Fight, Super Pang, Mega Man etc. but I a little concern about the frame rate, I'm not concern about the battery life I have a good pair of Duracell 2700 mAh, how is the frame rate?

I haven't played most of those, but I can tell you that Metal Slug runs really smoothly on the Neo Geo emulator If your main interest is in SNES games, I advise you to look around a little bit. The two best emulators still have some quirks, and not all games run 100%, though most come pretty close.

 

[Kramy]

The difference between 100% and 70% is hardly noticeable in many games. It leaves me wondering if the SNES ever ran them at 100% speed.

But I suppose for Yoshi's island, it'd be a major pain having framerate loss. Didn't it use a separate chip for the parallax layers? Makes it harder to emulate, for sure.

 

[christo930]

I want it to play games like R-Type, Galaga, Legend of Zelda, Snow Bros, SFII, Metal Slug, Final Fight, Super Pang, Mega Man etc. but I a little concern about the frame rate, I'm not concern about the battery life I have a good pair of Duracell 2700 mAh, how is the frame rate?

You really can't go wrong with the gp2x with these expectations. Mame is great, genesis is as close to perfect as an emulator can get, actually much better than a real genesis since you can save at any point and pick up later. Even the games like Dragons's lair work perfectly. Snes emulation is VERY good, but not perfect as there are a few games with extra chips built in that don't work, but 99% are fine. GBA is very good too. If you like emulation, it's the best handheld out there.

Chris

 

[pablohdez3]

I'm going for it, any experience with gp2xstore.com? Looks that is based in long beach CA

 

[DaveC]

I have a nintendo DS, I know there are some emulators for the DS but I haven't tried yet. Please some advice.

Well forget the DS for emulators. My standard answer about that is that the DS screen resolution is too low to display emulated games. The DS resolution is only 256 x 192. The Genesis for example is 320 x 224. The Gp2X is 320 x 240 so it works fine for many more emulators. The DS is also too slow and has too little RAM for systems like NeoGeo.

If you don't like the PSP get the GP2X for emulation. It is not perfect but it is very good.

 

[pablohdez3]

I'm going to take a chance with gp2xstore.com, is a 3 day delivery and they've it in stock

 

[coldfish]

Good luck, the GP2X requires a little research and tweaking, take your time, but once you get used to the quirks its all fun.

I use mine almost daily and still think its the best $200 Ive spent on a frivolous gadget.

"quirks":

-first time I tested the GP2X out of the box, I used alkaline batteries it ate those in about 30 seconds making me thing the machine was dead/broken.

-get a set of 4 NiMH cells; (2-in use, 2-on charge)

-my bundled USB cable was rubbish, using the GP2X as a SDcard reader connected via USB to my PC corrupted my SDcard, making me thing the machine was dead/broken. Tried another cable - worked fine.

-get an SD card reader!

-Some apps/emulators would corrupt the SDcard meaning its a good idea to have a backup of your SDcard on your PC.

-IMO dont bother with high-end SD cards.

-my battery LED was broken, had to solder in a new one.

Any other product Id be annoyed, but because I expected the road to be a bit bumpy with the GP2X, none of the above really bugged me.

 

[christo930]

Good luck, the GP2X requires a little research and tweaking, take your time, but once you get used to the quirks its all fun.

I use mine almost daily and still think its the best $200 Ive spent on a frivolous gadget.

"quirks":

-first time I tested the GP2X out of the box, I used alkaline batteries it ate those in about 30 seconds making me thing the machine was dead/broken.

-get a set of 4 NiMH cells; (2-in use, 2-on charge)

-my bundled USB cable was rubbish, using the GP2X as a SDcard reader connected via USB to my PC corrupted my SDcard, making me thing the machine was dead/broken. Tried another cable - worked fine.

-get an SD card reader!

-Some apps/emulators would corrupt the SDcard meaning its a good idea to have a backup of your SDcard on your PC.

-IMO dont bother with high-end SD cards.

-my battery LED was broken, had to solder in a new one.

Any other product Id be annoyed, but because I expected the road to be a bit bumpy with the GP2X, none of the above really bugged me.

My experience was much better. I didn't have any problems with the hardware other than the fact that the stick isn't the best and the volume is too low for me, especially since I use it on the "el" which is a very loud elevated train in Philadelphia, but with headphones or around the house or doctors waiting rooms it's fine. I agree about not buying the expensive cards because there is really no noticeable difference except when adding files with a pc reader/writer. My GP2X came with 4 2500 rechargeable batteries. Familly dollar sells a 4 pack of energizer NIMH 2000 MAH batteries with a charger for 9.99 but it's a slow charger, but the slow chargers tend to get the batteries fully charged. expect 4-5 hours of play time from 2500's at 200MHZ, less for higher clocks speeds. Alkalines are very poor performers. You can also get a powerpack for home use and if you really want to increase your battery life, you can use D rechargables with 14000mah and rig them up to the right ac adapter (works well in the winter when you are wearing a big bulky coat. But really 2 sets of AA's aught to keep you satisfied for a day. You didn't mention it, but don't plan on reading any e-books, because the screen just isn't good enough, but it's great for games.

Chris

 

[pablohdez3]

I just get 4 Energizer 2500 mAh and a 2 GB SD for $20 from amazon; now I'm in the look for some emulators and ROMS

 

[Manjuu]

I just get 4 Energizer 2500 mAh and a 2 GB SD for $20 from amazon; now I'm in the look for some emulators and ROMS

Look here in the archives for the emulators (and other stuff like homebrew games & apps): http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi

As for the ROMs, either search for them (as linking here is not allowed) or you could use your existing ones if they are compatible.

Remember to also read the Readme's or Instructions for the emulators as they include very useful information and will answer a lot of your questions. You can also search or ask here or look in the GP2X wiki for further answers.

Good luck, and hope you enjoy your GP2X.

 

[DaveC]

I just get 4 Energizer 2500 mAh and a 2 GB SD for $20 from amazon; now I'm in the look for some emulators and ROMS

Honestly 2GB is too small. You may want to investigate 4 or 8GB.

NeoGeo games are big as well as Sega CD and Turbo CD etc.