PocketSNES based on Snes9x 1.43, GCW Zero EMU update

[Another World]

GCW Zero owners should be happy to hear that Nebuleon has updated PocketSNES based on Snes9x 1.43. With this update games such as Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Kirby Super Star have been improved. There have also been many updates to how SRAM behaves, increased support for more games, and a fullscreen scaling mode in proper 4:3. For more information on this release be sure to check the source link below.

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[the_randomizer]

I wonder if these emulators have sync audio options

 

[VatoLoco]

I wonder if these emulators have sync audio options

yup, looks like this one does.
from Nebuleons pocketSNES release thread at dingoonity:

- There is now an option to control the audio emulation accuracy, which mostly affects short notes in music and sound effects...notes longer than 2.9 milliseconds are not nullified anymore. Previously, this was 16 milliseconds. You also have the option to emulate the SNES audio chip at 0.07-millisecond accuracy if you so wish: set the option Prefer fluid... to Audio. This is CPU-intensive and may slow down video in special-chip games

 

[the_randomizer]

yup, looks like this one does.
from Nebuleons pocketSNES release thread at dingoonity:

Cool, that's one thing about most portable snes emulators, the audio accuracy generally sucks pretty bad, but looks like they got it right

 

[RupeeClock]

Nebuleon does some amazing backend work, the GCW Zero effort with the emulators has also been great, I've been playing a ton of Super Metroid stuff recently and it's a blast.
It can manage Yoshi's Island with frameskip 1 really nicely, but a future firmware update apparently may offer a significant performance boost.

 

[LoggerMan]

Is this DSTwo compatible?

 

[Minox]

Is this DSTwo compatible?

No. Aside from possibly sharing code with his SCDS2 emulator this has absolutely nothing to do with the SCDS2 nor the DS.

 

[LoggerMan]

Darn. SNES never really worked on the DS2 anyway, not enough vertical pixels. Had to choose between missing content or jumbled up pixels.

 

[RupeeClock]

Darn. SNES never really worked on the DS2 anyway, not enough vertical pixels. Had to choose between missing content or jumbled up pixels.

The pursuit of the ideal portable SNES emulator was a big part of why I picked up a Supercard DSTwo in the first place, it's SNES emulator is pretty nice considering the limitations but just isn't good enough even then.
In that same pursuit I picked up a GCW Zero, and it is doing an absolutely wonderful job at the moment, and looks to be getting significantly better in the near future.

 

[SLiV3R]

Im just sad that the GCW Zero isnt 256x224 like most 8-16 bit consoles.. I still prefer My DSi XL for 8-16 bit consoles best. The PSP has the power but there are so many other bad things about the PSP.. The GCW Will probably not be Able to play N64 or PS1 perfectly anyway.. So why not 256x224?

 

[the_randomizer]

Most N64 games were 320 x 240, so I don't think they'd look too bad

 

[Deleted member 319809]

Im just sad that the GCW Zero isnt 256x224 like most 8-16 bit consoles.. I still prefer My DSi XL for 8-16 bit consoles best. The PSP has the power but there are so many other bad things about the PSP.. The GCW Will probably not be Able to play N64 or PS1 perfectly anyway.. So why not 256x224?

CGA games in DOS(box), as well as homebrew like Sqrxz 2 and 3 and Unnamed Monkey Game. Possibly others.

 

[RupeeClock]

Im just sad that the GCW Zero isnt 256x224 like most 8-16 bit consoles.. I still prefer My DSi XL for 8-16 bit consoles best. The PSP has the power but there are so many other bad things about the PSP.. The GCW Will probably not be Able to play N64 or PS1 perfectly anyway.. So why not 256x224?

The QVGA resolution is perfect for many many Arcade titles, Neo Geo in particular, as well as Sega Genesis.
320x240 is a sweetspot for many titles of the era, avoiding the need to downscale many titles, whilst many titles will display 1:1 perfectly.

The QVGA resolution is also for legacy reasons, as a spiritual successor to the Dingoo A320 which unofficially supported OpenDingus, the primary firmware of the GW Zero.

N64 is one thing, but the GCW Zero may full well be capable of excellent PS1 emulation yet if the GP2X Wiz/Caanoo was capable of it with just a 533Mhz ARM processor, the Zero has a 1Ghz MIPS processor.

 

[the_randomizer]

The QVGA resolution is perfect for many many Arcade titles, Neo Geo in particular, as well as Sega Genesis.
320x240 is a sweetspot for many titles of the era, avoiding the need to downscale many titles, whilst many titles will display 1:1 perfectly.

The QVGA resolution is also for legacy reasons, as a spiritual successor to the Dingoo A320 which unofficially supported OpenDingus, the primary firmware of the GW Zero.

N64 is one thing, but the GCW Zero may full well be capable of excellent PS1 emulation yet if the GP2X Wiz/Caanoo was capable of it with just a 533Mhz ARM processor, the Zero has a 1Ghz MIPS processor.

MIPS? Interesting, the PS1 used that very same architecture as did the N64, but that system may be out of its league, PS1 emulation should be more feasible

 

[RupeeClock]

MIPS? Interesting, the PS1 used that very same architecture as did the N64, but that system may be out of its league, PS1 emulation should be more feasible

Yes, the shared MIPS architecture between the GCW Zero, PS1 and N64 should prove advantageous in trying to emulate them, but it's also a matter of what emulator cores (backends) are available for compiling on other devices. Like this thread is all about, PocketSNES uses the Snes9x 1.43 core.

To even get an N64 emulator available on the GCW Zero may take a considerable effort, if attempting to port something like the existing PSP, Android or Windows emulators doesn't prove worthwhile. If the effort gets put in though, what you may get out of it as an emulator that works well on any other device you try and put it on, just as many Dingoo A320 OpenDingux applications get ported to the GCW Zero, GCW Zero applications may come from, or be shared with competing devices.

The trouble with N64 is that the majority of games operate in different ways, few titles use solely the N64's native hardware, such a reason is why Super Mario 64 proves to be one of the easiest games to run.

 

[the_randomizer]

Yes, the shared MIPS architecture between the GCW Zero, PS1 and N64 should prove advantageous in trying to emulate them, but it's also a matter of what emulator cores (backends) are available for compiling on other devices. Like this thread is all about, PocketSNES uses the Snes9x 1.43 core.

To even get an N64 emulator available on the GCW Zero may take a considerable effort, if attempting to port something like the existing PSP, Android or Windows emulators doesn't prove worthwhile. If the effort gets put in though, what you may get out of it as an emulator that works well on any other device you try and put it on, just as many Dingoo A320 OpenDingux applications get ported to the GCW Zero, GCW Zero applications may come from, or be shared with competing devices.

The trouble with N64 is that the majority of games operate in different ways, few titles use solely the N64's native hardware, such a reason is why Super Mario 64 proves to be one of the easiest games to run.

Yeah, a lot of companies like Rare and Factor 5 used some very unorthodox microcode that is very difficult to emulate properly. PCSX-R would be awesome to see ported over.

 

[RupeeClock]

Yeah, a lot of companies like Rare and Factor 5 used some very unorthodox microcode that is very difficult to emulate properly. PCSX-R would be awesome to see ported over.

If I'm not mistaken, Conker's Bad Fur Day has some particularly complex microcode.

What the GP2X Wiz, GP2X Caanoo and OpenPandora have is a particularly lovely PS1 emulator called PCSX ReARMed, it's got some sort of Dynamic Recompiler (Dynarec) magic going on that makes a number of games full speed and very playable.
And that appears to be an ARM based port of PCSX-Reloaded. It also seems to be available for Android and Raspberry Pi.