What Would You Recommend?

[Shaun]

It was months ago when I got my 2X. I really liked the GP32, and with all these fast emulators and decent-sounding games, as well as the possibility of a good Playstation emulator, I thought there'd be nothing to lose by buying one. But I haven't really played it at all in at least a month, probably more, and the only things I really used were DrMDx, SquideSNES, and Metal Slugs 1, 2, 5, and X (others won't work).

On top of that, the joystick cap stopped working. I've been very angry about this since it happened. It started always having a clicked-in state, so I tried to get it working and it popped out! I can put the joystick cap back on, but it still has the clicked-in state. I contacted GBAx about this and they said I'd have to send it back to them, but I was pissed off and didn't want to pay for postage, as well as wait weeks for its return, as it wasn't my fault anyway.

I want to start using my 2X again as I paid some good money for it and I know there's a lot more I can do with it. What should I do about the cap issue? Let's say I get that sorted, what can I play? What is there lately? A new frontend and a file explorer? Am I just looking at the wrong pages here, or aren't there many games lately? I really couldn't wait for the Playstation emulator. The idea of playing Final Fantasy VII/VIII on my handheld was fantastic, but I guess it was just a pipe dream. Indeed, zodttd himself admitted the GP2X hardware wasn't up to his expectations. Now I have to play FFVIII on my laptop in software mode because of my god-awful NVIDIA card.

Anyway, this has turned out to be quite a long post. All I want is for some people to list some games that are genuienly worth playing, old and new. Maybe this could help newcomers too. Perhaps name some commerical games because I'm in the dark when it comes to that. I think there are too many applications for the 2X that serve no purpose to me. The new Flash Player sounds fantastic, but it will only really appeal when it can play Flash games. But then, most Flash games use keyboard keys. How would that translate? Also, if you could recommend some emulators that'd be good. I'm looking for a good Game Boy/Game Boy Colour emulator, as the one on the 32 was good, but not full-speed. I never quite got MAME working but I will try and check that out when I can.

Thanks for reading this long post, I guess I ramble on sometimes!

 

[YakumoFuji]

whinge moan whinge moan. better put your tinfoil hat back on, FFVII on gp2x? shesh.

if you want a GB/GBC emulator, go buy a GBC they cost like $10 on ebay.

You want something to play, go download xrick and play it until you complete it.

 

[Shaun]

' Hey, if I spend some good money on a piece of supposedly-great hardware that practically becomes useless several weeks later when it doesn't work properly, what am I supposed to do? Gee, I played xrick on the Xbox, I'm sure. And yes, FFVII was a possibility. It IS playable without sound at an above-average framerate, and if they utilised the second core I bet it would be possible.

 

[Redeeman]

get picodrive, go on ebay and find turrican 3, and then find the rom for turrican 3 for genesis, and play it.

 

[nickspoon]

' Hey, if I spend some good money on a piece of supposedly-great hardware that practically becomes useless several weeks later when it doesn't work properly, what am I supposed to do?

Send it back, as suggested? That's what you'd do if another retailer sent you a faulty product, no?

 

[Alex.]

What are you talking about, fGB32 is fullspeed!

If you didn't touch your 2X in a while I recommend downloading the demos for Vektar and Payback from gbax.com (commercial titles), and as for emulators, the new Picodrive (Genesis, higher acuracy and compatibility). There have also been a number of addictive homebrew the likes of Brass Munkey. Check the archive for more goodies.

There's been a 'lack' of releases lately due to the homebrew contest that's coming up, so expect a lot of new stuff come mid-December.

- Alex

 

[Shaun]

get picodrive, go on ebay and find turrican 3, and then find the rom for turrican 3 for genesis, and play it.

Can't say I've tried Turrican 3 so I'll give it a go sometime. Why's everybody recommending Picodrive anyway? Is it really that different from DrMDx?

' Hey, if I spend some good money on a piece of supposedly-great hardware that practically becomes useless several weeks later when it doesn't work properly, what am I supposed to do?

Send it back, as suggested? That's what you'd do if another retailer sent you a faulty product, no?

I guess so, but at the time I had zilch money left in the bank and I expect the postage cost is a bit. Then there's the wait. It's just annoying. If there'd be some manual way to fix this, or a joystick cap that actually WORKS, then I could fix this problem without having to buy one less present this Christmas and waiting for ages without my 2X.

What are you talking about, fGB32 is fullspeed!

If you didn't touch your 2X in a while I recommend downloading the demos for Vektar and Payback from gbax.com (commercial titles), and as for emulators, the new Picodrive (Genesis, higher acuracy and compatibility). There have also been a number of addictive homebrew the likes of Brass Munkey. Check the archive for more goodies.

There's been a 'lack' of releases lately due to the homebrew contest that's coming up, so expect a lot of new stuff come mid-December.

- Alex

Yes, I think it was fGB32. I used to use it to play Link Gets Laid, the ultimate romhack. It wasn't perfect though, I'm sure the screen size was odd and the music was a little crackly. I've already got the Vektar demo - it came with my 2X. As for the Payback demo... I thought that was just a video demo? Well, I'll go see anyway. I'll check out Brass Munkey and the archive too. Glad to hear about the homebrew contest, let's hope we get some good games out of it.

I wanted a Game Boy emulator for my 2X, and there probably is one, but I'm lazy. I'll have a look now though in the files.

 

[saehn]

I wanted a Game Boy emulator for my 2X, and there probably is one, but I'm lazy. I'll have a look now though in the files.

Yep, there is one, and it works really well. You can download it at the GP2X Archive. You already admitted that you're just being lazy, so I won't bother telling you the name of it.

There are a lot of other fun homebrew games in addition to the emulators and interpreters. You don't seem like a complete newb, so I know you can go look for them yourself. Also, the search feature here on the forums will let you turn up some good game reviews.

saehn

 

[epitaph]

Can't say I've tried Turrican 3 so I'll give it a go sometime. Why's everybody recommending Picodrive anyway? Is it really that different from DrMDx?

Yes. Uses the second core for sound emulation making it faster, does 16-bit rendering etc.

 

[Shaun]

Awesome, thanks saehn. I was actively getting interpreters for my GP32. Especially DOOM - that was fantastic. I'll try the port of DOOM for the 2X now. The only problem tends to be that I could never get hold of most of the original files for the games. I know downloading them can sometimes be illegal, but most of them aren't even sold anymore.

edit: epitaph, ah, I remember seeing that an emulator recently used the second core. I'll download it now. It'd be nice if it supported filters (e.g. 2xSal) and I shouldn't be asking you that as it will say it in the thread if it does support that. But it probably doesn't. I'm just lazy.

 

[Parkydr]

As for the Payback demo... I thought that was just a video demo?

It's a playable demo now, and it'll take your breath away (probably)

 

[Shaun]

Apparently I 'don't have access' to that function. I probably need to register on there or something, I dunno.

 

[Parkydr]

You have to log in, it's rated 18+

 

[Alex.]

Get it from www.apex-designs.net - they have a direct link there.

- Alex

 

[Shaun]

Got it, thanks guys.

 

[gaterooze]

a) Send your unit back to get fixed before the warranty runs out. Postage will only be a few quid, probably the cost of a couple of pints. You said you haven't used it for weeks anyway, so "not having it for weeks" is hardly a valid excuse.

B) If you come here to whine about no new releases, but then reveal you're too lazy to have even searched for a GB emulator (Gnuboy, btw) and have never tried MAME, then... I'm not sure what you expect. Use the archive, there's a hell of a lot of stuff in there to play with. I now have about two-dozen homebrew games permanently on my SD that I consider excellent, and a stack more on my HD that I tried & liked.

Ah screw it, in the name of spreading homebrew love, here's a list of some really good stuff:

Beat2x
Beats Of Rage
Bubble Train
Bunny Traps
CDogs
Chuckie Egg
Crimson Fields
Cyberhockey
Deal Or No Deal
Duke2x
Extender
Exult
Flashback
Flobopuyo
Freedroid
Gorilaz
Heroes
Hexahop
HexBattle2X
Kobo Deluxe
Ladykiller
MadMix
Nebulus
Nethack (Dzz's)
Noiz2sa
Pez
Poker2x
Powermanga
Quake
Sand
Sokoban
Spout
S-Tris2
Super Methane Brothers
The Minigame Project
Tilematch
Transport Tycoon
Vektar
Xump
Zooov

As for emulators:

PC Engine -- hu6280, GP2XEngine, CPCE
GP2XSpectrum
c64 -- Frodo, VICE
Gnuboy
RACE (NeoGeo Pocket)
SquidgSNES 0.39 (Notaz's excellent continuation)
PicoDrive (DRMDX is still great though)
Amiga -- UAE4ALL and GnoSTiC's UAE2X
OutcaST (Atari ST)
NES -- GPFCE and FishyNES
ScummVM 0.9.1 (LucasArts games)
Alexkidd2x (SMS)
MAME
GNGeo (Neo Geo)
Caprice (Amstrad CPC)

Get your joystick fixed, then play 'til your fingers bleed

 

[dodgyville]

retrovirus RTS should be out next week most likely.

 

[yaustar]

What do you mean by 'broken' in terms of the joystick cap?

 

[Epicenter]

' Hey, if I spend some good money on a piece of supposedly-great hardware that practically becomes useless several weeks later when it doesn't work properly, what am I supposed to do? Gee, I played xrick on the Xbox, I'm sure. And yes, FFVII was a possibility. It IS playable without sound at an above-average framerate, and if they utilised the second core I bet it would be possible.

It will never be possible to play FFVII at an acceptable framerate on the GP2X with sound, even with heavy overclocking and use of the 2nd core. The things you can do with the ARM940T coprocessor are very limited due to how it's attached to the bus. If you bought a GP2X with the intention of playing PSX games on it, really, I'd just sell your GP2X, cut your losses and wait for something more powerful (You're going to be waiting a while though for something that will run PSX games decently), or just buy a smaller laptop, I suppose. PSX is definitely not one of the GP2X's strong suits. NeoGeo, Megadrive, NES, GB, SMS/GG, et cetera, sure, but not PSX.

 

[J201605]

I though ffvii was close to playable. I'm not sure about your statement. If they end up redoing emulator from the ground up, and as in ur scenario using the second core, then i see no reason it couldn't run at playable speeds. Dont be a hateful dreamcrusher all the time.