Virtua Racing, Megadrive And Sega 32X

[Pleng]

I just played the Sega Megadrive version of Virtua Racing on my Dingoo. It was pretty tough though, because I could only use the map for navigation

Is the Dingoo powerful enough to emulate the DSP used in Virtua Racing to a standard that would make it playable? I am guessing (hoping!) so as the GP2X managed it (although I could never overclock my GP2X to a high enough speed to make it playabe on anything other than the first track!)

Moving on from that thought, does Dingoo have enough power to emulate the 32X?

 

[sbock]

Is the Dingoo powerful enough to emulate the DSP used in Virtua Racing to a standard that would make it playable?

Sure. But it uses an ARM optimised SVP dynarec on the GP2x and Wiz. Dingoo is MIPS architecture so somebody must adapt the dynarec for that. Not a trivial task I guess...

 

[Pleng]

Ah so it's possible but not terribly likely I guess.

 

[notaz]

[...] the GP2X managed it (although I could never overclock my GP2X to a high enough speed to make it playabe on anything other than the first track!)

With the right settings the whole game is fullspeed (~235Mhz, 8bit fast renderer, mmu/RAM hacks, sound on second core).

Ah so it's possible but not terribly likely I guess.

True.

 

[Pleng]

[...] the GP2X managed it (although I could never overclock my GP2X to a high enough speed to make it playabe on anything other than the first track!)

With the right settings the whole game is fullspeed (~235Mhz, 8bit fast renderer, mmu/RAM hacks, sound on second core).

Oh I'm aware that it could run fullspeed on *MOST* GP2X's, however mine wouldn't clock above 216Mhz so I was only able to play the first track. The second track was almost playable if you put blind faith into your starts. Still, even that was incredible! Gave me a good few extra hours fun on a rainy holiday.

 

[christo930]

[...] the GP2X managed it (although I could never overclock my GP2X to a high enough speed to make it playabe on anything other than the first track!)

With the right settings the whole game is fullspeed (~235Mhz, 8bit fast renderer, mmu/RAM hacks, sound on second core).

Oh I'm aware that it could run fullspeed on *MOST* GP2X's, however mine wouldn't clock above 216Mhz so I was only able to play the first track. The second track was almost playable if you put blind faith into your starts. Still, even that was incredible! Gave me a good few extra hours fun on a rainy holiday.

Did you try setting the frameskip? If I recall, it seemed to work fine on my gp2x.
As far as 32x, I seriously doubt the dingoo could do it, but even more doubtful is that anyone would write it. The 32x doesn't have many games to begin with and many of them aren't that good anyway.

 

[Pleng]

Did you try setting the frameskip? If I recall, it seemed to work fine on my gp2x.
As far as 32x, I seriously doubt the dingoo could do it, but even more doubtful is that anyone would write it. The 32x doesn't have many games to begin with and many of them aren't that good anyway.

No I didn't try frameskip. Anyway it's a moot point now as the GP2X is long gone.

Yes if the Dingoo isn't powerful enough to play 32X without a lot of optimization then I doubt anybody would take on the task. I was just wondering if it would be something as simple as recompiling the 32X core from one of the PC emulators.

There were 3 decent 32X games that I recall: Virtua Racing Duluxe, Virtua Fighter and Mortal Kombat II. Plus it had a pretty decent version of Outrun IIRC. A lot of people also liked Star Wars Arcade but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Anyway, I hope that 32X makes it to Pandora some day!

 

[shinneri]

Kolibri was also a beautiful and unique game for the 32x. Also there's chaotix, but I could never get into that.

But I agree that it isn't worth it if it requires much effort. Much more worthy would be enabling mp3s in Sega CD emulation.

 

[Pleng]

Kolibri was also a beautiful and unique game for the 32x. Also there's chaotix, but I could never get into that.

But I agree that it isn't worth it if it requires much effort. Much more worthy would be enabling mp3s in Sega CD emulation.

Never heard of Kolibri before(any info?), but I agree that Chaotix was too difficult to really get into.

Can't say I'd go for any Sega CD music over 32X though; the only semi-decent game for Sega CD was Sonic CD and only then until the pinball boss which was far too difficult to make the game worth persevering through...

 

[shinneri]

Kolibri was also a beautiful and unique game for the 32x. Also there's chaotix, but I could never get into that.

But I agree that it isn't worth it if it requires much effort. Much more worthy would be enabling mp3s in Sega CD emulation.

Never heard of Kolibri before(any info?), but I agree that Chaotix was too difficult to really get into.

Can't say I'd go for any Sega CD music over 32X though; the only semi-decent game for Sega CD was Sonic CD and only then until the pinball boss which was far too difficult to make the game worth persevering through...

Wikipedia link. Kolibri is a shooter for 32x that features a hummingbird as your "ship." It has both sidescrolling and free-moving levels and is very, very challenging and quite fun. It was made by the company behind the Ecco games, which are some of my favorite games.


Also, the CD has WONDERFUL games -- Lunar, Lunar: Eternal Blue (!), Snatcher, ECCO 1 and 2 (they're the same as Genesis but feature an incredible soundtrack), Heart of the Alien... I really couldn't get too into Sonic CD. It just doesn't stack up against Sonic 2.

 

[Exophase]

Yes if the Dingoo isn't powerful enough to play 32X without a lot of optimization then I doubt anybody would take on the task. I was just wondering if it would be something as simple as recompiling the 32X core from one of the PC emulators.

Unlikely. I think the fastest 32X emulators for PC require significantly more CPU than the Dingoo could muster, and I think they also use at least some x86 ASM in interpretive cores (sort of dual issue interpreters). I recall Steve Snake saying that his core can run on a 400MHz Pentium 2 or so, which a Dingoo won't be able to compete with.

I don't think any of the 32X emulators use dynamic recompilers so it's difficult to say how fast one could be if it did. However, Steve Snake has also said a few times that 32X games tend to rely on tight synchronization over a common bus, which dynarecs can't maintain beyond a certain threshold while still being particularly effective. What I don't know is if this is something that applied to many games or just some, or even just something that could happen. I do know that Steve Snake likes to maintain a really high level of emulator accuracy though.

 

[Pleng]

Wikipedia link. Kolibri is a shooter for 32x that features a hummingbird as your "ship." It has both sidescrolling and free-moving levels and is very, very challenging and quite fun. It was made by the company behind the Ecco games, which are some of my favorite games.


Also, the CD has WONDERFUL games -- Lunar, Lunar: Eternal Blue (!), Snatcher, ECCO 1 and 2 (they're the same as Genesis but feature an incredible soundtrack), Heart of the Alien... I really couldn't get too into Sonic CD. It just doesn't stack up against Sonic 2.

I'm not a fan of shooters, and never got into the Ecco games. Haven't heard of the Lunar games but I'm guessing that they're either shooters or space trading style games which again makes them of little interest. I'm pretty picky when it comes to games!

Sonic CD was pretty cool but it had an impossible boss in like level 2 which made me loose interest pretty quickly. It certainly didn't stack up against Sonic 1 or 2 but then again very few games do. It's a shame SEGA lost their way so badly with the Sonic games!

Unlikely. I think the fastest 32X emulators for PC require significantly more CPU than the Dingoo could muster, and I think they also use at least some x86 ASM in interpretive cores (sort of dual issue interpreters). I recall Steve Snake saying that his core can run on a 400MHz Pentium 2 or so, which a Dingoo won't be able to compete with.

Ahh. Yes I remember 32X struggling somewhat on my 1Ghz Eden so I guess it was a little too much to hope for on Dingoo. Still, should be possible on Pandora, shouldn't it?

 

[Exophase]

Maybe possible on Pandora but it would still take someone doing an ARM optimized emulator. I have full confidence that notaz do it, and I wouldn't be surprised if he does because I know he's expressed some hints of interest in the past.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, the fastest 32X emulators on PC probably rely on x86 ASM. At least, the only open source one I'm aware of (Gens) does.

 

[shinneri]

I'm not a fan of shooters, and never got into the Ecco games. Haven't heard of the Lunar games but I'm guessing that they're either shooters or space trading style games which again makes them of little interest. I'm pretty picky when it comes to games!

Lunar is a series of incredible RPGs -- especially the second one. It's really a marvel with full-screen, sprite-based cutscenes and very good voice acting.

 

[Pleng]

OK

Well I don't like RPGs either so there's not much to sell me up on the Sega CD so far