Best "open" handheld for emulation?

[raptir]

I'm looking for something to play old games (preferably up through PSX). I know there are a lot of options, but what is the best of them? The OpenPandora looks good but it's a bit too expensive for what I want. I'd like to spend under $200. If it had good native games as well that would be a bonus.

 

[The Catboy]

I was going to say Dingoo (the only one I have) but it's PSX emulation isn't very good.

 

[Rydian]

You could try out the PSP. It's emulation isn't perfect (PSX is good speed, but there's compatibility issues with games that aren't PSN rips), but a used PSP can be had really cheap, and every model can be hacked.

 

[raptir]

I actually have a PSP, I just haven't been happy with the inconsistency of the emulators. Plus, when I have my PSP hacked I've had issues with PSN allowing me to download my games. I'd really prefer something that's open by design.

The Dingoo looks interesting, and from a little googling it looks like the GCW Zero is a "spiritual successor" to it that has a little more power. If it exists, I'd like something with a slightly larger screen (4-5"). 3.5 just seems a little small for console games.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

[BORTZ]

PSP or a newer android phone probably.

Other than that, hopefully the Vita will get some love from modders and we will have that beast to emulate shiz on.

 

[raptir]

A decent Android device with physical controls would be perfect. The handhelds JXD makes look decent, but it seems like only the 7" model is worth buying.

 

[raystriker]

You can also opt for devices like jxd that come loaded with android and give superior emulation

 

[FireSeel]

The GCW-Zero should be coming out soon. That looks like it willl be capable of psx and n64 emulation.

 

[Jax]

I bought this one a few weeks agoo and it emulates perfectly up to the PSX and N64. Be sure to install a custom firmware like the NCCE to fix the bugs.

 

[Daeymon]

I'm tempted by the JXD S7300b but I'm worried the screen is too big for emulating classic handheld games like Gameboy and GameGear. Also how does it hold up with the experimental yet improving nds4droid and ppsspp?

 

[Ziggy Zigzagoon]

Another option would be the Raspberry Pi, but the cost would go up very fast if you do not already have other devices (a MicroUSB charger, an SD Card...).

 

[jomaper]

I bought this one a few weeks agoo and it emulates perfectly up to the PSX and N64. Be sure to install a custom firmware like the NCCE to fix the bugs.

Where did you buy it from?

 

[Jax]

Where did you buy it from?

Willgoo

 

[jomaper]

Willgoo

Ahah, yes, lurked quite a lot and saw a lot of things. In youtube comments, tho, a lot of people complains about the build quality. Broken buttons, shoulders, jack, etc. Did anyone have an issue like that? Because I do want to buy something like this, but 150 usd for something that might come broken and I cant refund it's quite a lot.

 

[reprep]

if you want to have a look at what dingoo does and have a supercard dstwo in your hand, you can install dingux to your supercard dstwo and have an idea. though it works much better at a real dingoo.

i really think gcw zero will be good, it will begin with open-dingux which has a lot of emulators already and a lot of homebrew devs are supporting it too.

 

[raulpica]

A decent Android device with physical controls would be perfect. The handhelds JXD makes look decent, but it seems like only the 7" model is worth buying.

I bought the S7100. PSX is total crap on them, and even NES doesn't work without frameskip set to 1/2.

I dunno if the newer models are any good, but the Android kernel on the old oneswas buggy as hell and most of the emus didn't even fire up (epsxe) correctly after the first run, and I don't expect the new ones to be any better in that regard.

Avoid it, imho.

 

[Foxi4]

The GCW-Zero should be coming out soon. That looks like it willl be capable of psx and n64 emulation.

The screen has a terrible resolution for today's standards. Big no-no.

 

[reprep]

The screen has a terrible resolution for today's standards. Big no-no.

320x240 (aka 240p) is the best resolution you can choose if your main aim is emulation. Choose a higher resolution and you have to do resizing which both increases the cpu load and looks bad.

 

[Foxi4]

320x240 (aka 240p) is the best resolution you can choose if your main aim is emulation. Choose a higher resolution and you have to do resizing which both increases the cpu load and looks bad.

Uhm... yeah, no.

SNES: 256 or 512 pixels horizontal resolution and 224, 239, 448, or 478

Meaning in some instances, even with SNES you'll experience cropping. It's better to have a higher resolution and use 1:1 + screen border than to crop or downsize the image.

 

[raulpica]

The screen has a terrible resolution for today's standards. Big no-no.

Woah, I didn't even know you could still order 320x240 LCD screens in this age and day.