Super Jamie
Still Fresh
hi guys, i'm new around here. i've been playing with emulation on pc, xbox, psx and ps2 for years and years, and have looked at emulation on handhelds on and off before. i use vNes and vBoy on my symbian S60 mobile phone, but find the small screen and fiddly keys annoying. i guess the things i like to emulate most on all systems are snes (castlevania, mario kart) and gameboy/gba (pokemon games, mario and yoshi, tetris)
i looked at the gp32 when they were still new, but they didn't really seem up to scratch. i've been doing alot of research on the gp2x lately (reading the wiki, forums, looking at videos on youtube) and this thread is probably the most informative collection of truths about emulation on the various mainstream handhelds i've found
from what it seems to me, the gp2x has capable hardware but is lacking decent software support. if the emulators available were optimised and ran on both processors, then i believe indeed gp2x could run anything from a2600 and c64, thru nes and sms, thru snes and megadrive, right up to gba and psx at full speed with decent features
however, the current state of emulation development appears to fall far short of that, with most games appearing in a "mostly playable" state at best, if you're willing to ignore shortcomings of different emulators, and try several different ones of each to get your games working. if indeed the game works at all, and it seems alot of popular roms still don't. also, overclocking the unit 50-75mhz seems to be a must. it's really quite a shame that this awesome little console seems to be so lacking in code developers, it really has amazing potential
i looked into hacking a psp a while back for a friend, and it seems to be a confused mass of firmwares, so much so i just gave him a heap of links and said "here, you figure it out". that being said, once you put in the effort, it seems that everyone agrees psx and gba, and even in most cases snes, emulation are better on psp than gp2x
ds doesn't really seem to be at any consistently enjoyable state of emulation, and gba itself is too slow for my purposes
in any case, the gp2x interests me greatly, and whilst after doing all this research, i have decided that i wouldn't shell out the ~au$300 it would cost to get one up and going with a decent-sized sd card, but if i could find one cheap i'd be willing to give it a go for fun
i personally would also be more interested in contributing to the scene, even if all i can do is make game compatibility lists for the wiki, as there seems to be a shortcoming of them, possibly holding others less informed back from buying or making a decision about a handheld emulation machine as well
anyway, that's my 2c. i'm interested to hear the comments of you seasoned gp2x veterans on my findings, and i hope this post helps those who are finding it hard to get a clear picture of what the gp2x is and isn't at this point in time
maybe i'll see you round if i can find a cheap 2x
Jamie
i looked at the gp32 when they were still new, but they didn't really seem up to scratch. i've been doing alot of research on the gp2x lately (reading the wiki, forums, looking at videos on youtube) and this thread is probably the most informative collection of truths about emulation on the various mainstream handhelds i've found
from what it seems to me, the gp2x has capable hardware but is lacking decent software support. if the emulators available were optimised and ran on both processors, then i believe indeed gp2x could run anything from a2600 and c64, thru nes and sms, thru snes and megadrive, right up to gba and psx at full speed with decent features
however, the current state of emulation development appears to fall far short of that, with most games appearing in a "mostly playable" state at best, if you're willing to ignore shortcomings of different emulators, and try several different ones of each to get your games working. if indeed the game works at all, and it seems alot of popular roms still don't. also, overclocking the unit 50-75mhz seems to be a must. it's really quite a shame that this awesome little console seems to be so lacking in code developers, it really has amazing potential
i looked into hacking a psp a while back for a friend, and it seems to be a confused mass of firmwares, so much so i just gave him a heap of links and said "here, you figure it out". that being said, once you put in the effort, it seems that everyone agrees psx and gba, and even in most cases snes, emulation are better on psp than gp2x
ds doesn't really seem to be at any consistently enjoyable state of emulation, and gba itself is too slow for my purposes
in any case, the gp2x interests me greatly, and whilst after doing all this research, i have decided that i wouldn't shell out the ~au$300 it would cost to get one up and going with a decent-sized sd card, but if i could find one cheap i'd be willing to give it a go for fun
i personally would also be more interested in contributing to the scene, even if all i can do is make game compatibility lists for the wiki, as there seems to be a shortcoming of them, possibly holding others less informed back from buying or making a decision about a handheld emulation machine as well
anyway, that's my 2c. i'm interested to hear the comments of you seasoned gp2x veterans on my findings, and i hope this post helps those who are finding it hard to get a clear picture of what the gp2x is and isn't at this point in time
maybe i'll see you round if i can find a cheap 2x
Jamie
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