Android Gamecube emulator possible for Android at all, or in near future?

[crazyj3ss]

Please do not get upset if you think this is a dumb question just curious as I haven't worked with tablets and the like before, only gotten to play with them at stores(and thinking about getting one).

Anyways, I heard some guy or something named nullDC(?) is working on a gamecube emulator for android, although it probably would be a while if it's even true. I was wondering if this would even be possible or believable, maybe for the new OS Ice Cream Sandwich? If they optimized it to work on the system?

I just find it both interesting(as I would definitely buy a tablet to use as a portable all-in-one retro type console if it's possible) and odd because of how much more powerful desktops, etc. have trouble running gamecube/wii emulators at full speed, let alone reasonable levels.

Please can anyone fill me in on some info about this? Thanks.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

In the future maybe, like...10 years from now. We can barely get N64/PS1 emulators running. Don't expect it anytime soon.

 

[pokefloote]

Wow, I seriously doubt it would go anywhere past playing Animal Crossing GC if it even works at all. Android has it's fair amount of troubles running most n64 games (unless you have a really high-end device) let alone a more powerful system like the Gamecube.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

With quad core ARM CPUs available it shouldn't be too long until it's possible, but it may take 5+ years before any 3D games are actually full speed. PSX4Droid is badly optimized so it's not a good example of the capabilities of android devices, N64oid is much better optimized though and still has problems running games full speed, but it only uses one CPU core as far as I know.

 

[crazyj3ss]

Well it's good to know that we are getting closer and closer, can't wait for such a device. I was searching around somewhere for what emulators were possible(can't remember the site) and that's where I saw someone's post stating that an optimized GC emulator was in the works or something. Just wanted clarification. Thanks all so far.

The only thing that frightens me is that they will be crazy expensive and it might just be cheaper to get a regular laptop/notebook. From what I've seen about the emulators(virtual buttons and all) and playing around, love the feel and portability, so that's what got me thinking about this.

Looks like I'll have to resort to a laptop for now(when I'm away from home), but need to look for one on the cheaper end that can handle Dolphin. :x

 

[Thesolcity]

Short answer: Not yet.

 

[crazyj3ss]

Hope it really isn't 10 years away though, haha, everyone will have Playstation 15's/Xbox 3427's/Nintendo Wii Z's by then. 5 Years I guess I could live with.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Hope it really isn't 10 years away though, haha, everyone will have Playstation 15's/Xbox 3427's/Nintendo Wii Z's by then. 5 Years I guess I could live with.

Wow that statement is absolutely stupid. iPod 15's maybe, but Sony still has that 10 year plan for all their consoles and Microsoft goes about the same length along with Nintendo as well. The Wii U would be at the end of it's life and so would the PS4 and Xbox 720.

 

[crazyj3ss]

Hope it really isn't 10 years away though, haha, everyone will have Playstation 15's/Xbox 3427's/Nintendo Wii Z's by then. 5 Years I guess I could live with.

Wow that statement is absolutely stupid. iPod 15's maybe, but Sony still has that 10 year plan for all their consoles and Microsoft goes about the same length along with Nintendo as well. The Wii U would be at the end of it's life and so would the PS4 and Xbox 720.

You pretty much are calling me stupid for saying that, even though it obviously is sarcasm? You take things way too seriously. Why exactly would I say that with seriousness if home consoles have a life expectancy of about 5-6 years+ lately? Call me a hypocrite all you want after this, but I would have to say your statement is 'absolutely stupid'.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Hope it really isn't 10 years away though, haha, everyone will have Playstation 15's/Xbox 3427's/Nintendo Wii Z's by then. 5 Years I guess I could live with.

Wow that statement is absolutely stupid. iPod 15's maybe, but Sony still has that 10 year plan for all their consoles and Microsoft goes about the same length along with Nintendo as well. The Wii U would be at the end of it's life and so would the PS4 and Xbox 720.

You pretty much are calling me stupid for saying that, even though it obviously is sarcasm? You take things way too seriously. Why exactly would I say that with seriousness if home consoles have a life expectancy of about 5-6 years+ lately? Call me a hypocrite all you want after this, but I would have to say your statement is 'absolutely stupid'.

Obviously sarcasm must not be your strong suit, as you can't recognize other peoples sarcasm. So I guess your previous statement is "absolutely stupid".

 

[crazyj3ss]

You expect me, not making any kind of insult to you to begin with, to see you respond with "Wow that statement is absolutely stupid..." and not get offended? I apologize for calling your statement stupid, but what you said wasn't exactly nice either. I was genuinely asking about the possibility of what's in the OP, so if you can't respond without making insults, then please just leave the thread.

Anyways, I do hope tablets could handle something like this before 10 years, if not within 3-5.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Oh right, you haven't been on the forums for long so you don't know me.

 

[Rydian]

Pinkie, I don't think you should be insulting people in the first place. That's what causes the problems.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Pinkie, I don't think you should be insulting people in the first place. That's what causes the problems.

Meh, people who know me/read my posts should know not to take any insult I give seriously. Or at least most of them.

 

[Rydian]

Get your head out of your ass. You seriously expect everybody on the forums to read your post history before knowing that a random insult you tossed at them as supposedly a joke?

You are not the center of the world, you need to consider other people.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Meh. I mean, you're right and everything I just like to be an ass sometimes so...I suppose I'll try and not be such an ass and all.

 

[notmeanymore]

In the future maybe, like...10 years from now. We can barely get N64/PS1 emulators running. Don't expect it anytime soon.

Barely? The PSX emulator on my phone works great. o__o

Honestly, every year processors get faster and the graphics handling gets more advanced. It's just a matter of time. I bet (an extremely slow) one could be made as is. Just don't expect it to run well.

 

[Foxi4]

Judging from Dolphin's development, they got the GameCube and the Wii pretty much "down to every last detail", were phones as efficient as PC's, you'd have an emulator like that in no-time. Unfortunatelly, a phone is nowhere near that kind of horsepower. Give it *a good few years* for phones to catch up performance-wise with PC's I see no problem at all in emulating that system.

A few years back, emulating a PlayStation was a perpostrous idea, even on a PC. Nowadays we have PSX emulators on just about any mobile platform. It's a distant dream, sure, but not as distant as many assume.

 

[TripleSMoon]

this would even be possible or believable, maybe for the new OS Ice Cream Sandwich? If they optimized it to work on the system?

Though new OS updates, theoretically, will be better optimized and WILL help, it's more an issue of hardware capabilities than anything else.

As for the jump from N64 to GCN, I'm no expert (so please don't quote me), but to my understanding, the newer the system, the better utilized the hardware is. In other words, the jump from N64 to GCN is large, but not as large as it seems, since the GCN utilized its hardware much better than the n64, and hence didn't need THAT much more hardware power to run.

Again, I'm likely very, very wrong.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Games like Paper Mario 2 and Super Paper Mario aren't as heavy to run on emulators, so they could possibly run well on phones within a few years. Games like Super Mario Galaxy will take a lot longer to perfect on phones (they're not even full speed on PCs, unless you have an ungodly system with a overclocked i7 and dual graphics cards in SLI (or a high end dual-GPU card), I don't know for sure if they're fullspeed on that - but they definitely require a very powerful GPU, because I can't run SMG fullspeed with a CPU overclocked to 3.8ghz and a GTX 465. Super Paper Mario however runs fullspeed without much trouble, and a lot of GC games run fullspeed with frameskip. New Super Mario Bros also runs fullspeed (even when recording with Fraps, as long as it's 720p)