GCW Zero, GBAtemp first impressions

[kuwanger]

I stand corrected about the screen scratching up. I removed the screen protector as recommended and thought I had removed the second one. I tried again and was able to remove the second one. The screen isn't scratched, but it does appear a tiny bit scuffed (only really visible under a bright light).

As for the attempt to port Snes9x Next, AFAIK there was a quick attempt to port retroarch over to the gcw0 and snes9x next apparently performed really bad: some info about the retroarch test port. I have no idea if there's been any more progress on it or if the_gama ever figured out the odd behavior. But perhaps it's related to the seeming PocketSNES/StarFox behavior where it seems stuck at 30fps or less and has glitchty redraw? *shrug*

Whatever it is, the main idea as others have sort of noted is a hope to have a handheld that runs almost all retro games at 0 frameskip since at that point you have basically a perfect system for retro gaming. Otherwise, you end up with a nasty 0<->1 or 2<->3 or whateverframe hopping which is rather noticeable at times. Note, not that I'm complaining or anything. It's just that, again as noted, the GCW0 appears to have the hardware to make that sort of thing happen (and lots of youtube videos do show it does behave rather close most the time in most games, which is way better than near all the alternatives). Personally, I might try a hand at porting snes9x [next] or something, but I'm not exactly hopeful I'll have any better luck than others. :/

 

[Surkow]

As for the attempt to port Snes9x Next, AFAIK there was a quick attempt to port retroarch over to the gcw0 and snes9x next apparently performed really bad: some info about the retroarch test port. I have no idea if there's been any more progress on it or if the_gama ever figured out the odd behavior. But perhaps it's related to the seeming PocketSNES/StarFox behavior where it seems stuck at 30fps or less and has glitchty redraw? *shrug*

It might be more interesting to backport changes from Snes9x Next than to worry about Libretro/RetroArch.

 

[the_randomizer]

It might be more interesting to backport changes from Snes9x Next than to worry about Libretro/RetroArch.

Snes9x Next is an excellent port and would be sweet to see on a mobile device

 

[Another World]

Great review. I just bought one!

that was just a quick impressions post. the full review will be much longer and dive much deeper into the system. still, i am glad you enjoyed it. when you get your zero stop by their irc channel. i'm often there. we can swap stories.

-another world

 

[GuyInDogSuit]

that was just a quick impressions post. the full review will be much longer and dive much deeper into the system. still, i am glad you enjoyed it. when you get your zero stop by their irc channel. i'm often there. we can swap stories.

-another world

I should be getting it tomorrow so I'll post my impressions of it as well.

 

[VatoLoco]

Ive been using my Zero quite a bit lately. I think my DS is a lil jealous =P
Really enjoying ScummVM and FBA/MAME titles right now.

 

[Cortador]

For this price, wouldn't it be better to grab a Nvidia shield for a little more money and being able to play everything full speed up to gamecube?

 

[Another World]

http://store.nvidia.com/buyshield

the nvidia shield is $100 more, while MSRP is $150 more. it also does not fulfill the intended result of the zero. the zero is the spiritual successor to the dingoo. it is the handheld the dingoo community wished that dingoo digital had produced. it is not a direct competitor for the existing android-handheld market. if you want to play games after the n64/ps1 generation then you'll want to look elsewhere. if you want to play with dingux software, homebrew, and emulation, then you want to grab a zero.

-another world

 

[placebooooo]

I still dont know what this thing is and what it is capable of and not sure what it does exactly?

 

[Another World]

what it is, what it is capable of, and what it does are all in the 1st post. spend 5 minutes and read it.

-another world

 

[milkman12345]

Perhaps I should have waited for this instead of buying a DSTWO. Whats done is done I suppose. The emulators on this thing will probably be better than actual hardware if you ask me because they use a digital screen instead of shitty composite video.

 

[shakirmoledina]

what i think would be better is to have the android OS on such devices.
How many emulators have we seen on the android? Even the powerful nds can be played on it at full speeds with Drastic.

ofcourse as this is open source, i'm quite sure he can do it better for games. I hope in the future he does look into it.

I funded more than 6 months ago it and never got the console. Have sent e-mails but got no response.
Still believe it must be a great machine but can't help to feel cheated.
My intention was to fund, try the thing and buy a couple more for my nephews, now I gave up and bought a JXD S7800B, and am happy with it. It's a great machine and they deliver what they sell.
If at least I could get my 155 dollars back...

have u tried commenting on the kickstarter page too? it may help u there

 

[overdriver]

thanks for review.
I was considerint this device for portable MAME machine but I found out that MAME support for this device is just started.
getting good MAME portable device is getting harder these days.. except android/ iOS device. (andrioid has sound delay issue and iOS device is expensive )

 

[Another World]

alek's mame4all is pretty polished so far. he previously ported it to the ds2 and dingoo. the fba port will cover other arcade games. between the two you have close to, if not over, 1000 games you can play.

http://boards.dingoonity.org/gcw-releases/mame4all-v1-1-christmas-edition/

-another world

 

[placebooooo]

that's pretty cool I have to admit. But i do have the following questions:

1-) it does support wifi, so does that mean we can play snes multiplayer games and gba games using wifi (trading pokemon for example?)

2-) are more emulators being developed for it? N64, psp, gamecube...etc

3-) I dont understand how you could play pc games on it. For example, a could just copy the .exe to the gcw and install it on the device and play the game with no connections to a computer whatsoever?

thanks everyone, interesting console!

 

[Kuragari Ryo]

Oooh, I have one of these; I love it~
I want to try to figure out how to make other controllers work for it, though!

 

[Another World]

it does support wifi, so does that mean we can play snes multiplayer games and gba games using wifi (trading pokemon for example?)

as stated in the first post, it has wifi. there are vids of two player doom and quake matches. the game/emu would need to support wifi or local wifi and i am unsure if any of the emus support that yet.

are more emulators being developed for it? N64, psp, gamecube...etc

yes, there are a lot of things in the works. you should stop by their irc channel and strike up a conversation. i do not think it will ever support much past the n64. the dreamcast emu is a proof of concept.

I dont understand how you could play pc games on it. For example, a could just copy the .exe to the gcw and install it on the device and play the game with no connections to a computer whatsoever?

there are direct ports of games like doom and quake, but also interpreters like scummvm and dosbox.

watch some of qbert's vids to see what is supported:

http://www.youtube.com/user/qbertaddict1/videos

-another world

 

[Deleted member 340473]

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[GuyInDogSuit]

Got mine yesterday and I'm enjoying it so far. The only problem I have with it is the R bumper doesn't push in very far at all, but the button is still very responsive, at least. No issues with the d-pad, though. GBA and SNES emulation is very smooth and lag-free. It's weird that we have to FTP stuff to it.

 

[Surkow]

Got mine yesterday and I'm enjoying it so far. The only problem I have with it is the R bumper doesn't push in very far at all, but the button is still very responsive, at least. No issues with the d-pad, though. GBA and SNES emulation is very smooth and lag-free. It's weird that we have to FTP stuff to it.

Not so weird after you try it via wireless.