Handheld Emulator Buying Advice.....

[sere83]

So been looking into getting a small relatively cheap portable emulation device with hardware controls and wanted some advice....

I'm not a huge gamer to be honest but wanted something super dinky to play a few retro classics on the move. Mainly NES, SNES, GB/GBA, GENESIS maybe NEO GEO and CPS2 but not essential. I'm not expecting smooth N64 or PS1 but a bit of mario kart 64 and tekken PS1 might be welcome....

Anyway so after looking around at just about everything ever from all the older GP32 stuff, wiz to the canoo, to the dingoos, to Xperia play, PSP to the revoo to the GCW...

I decided that GCW was the way forward. Possibly more expensive than I wanted but looks like the most 'complete' current solution and I like the low res screen too.

However.....as people have probably been following the future of the GCW is in doubt due to the fact that none of the retailers have received any units in months and Justin is uncontactable so actually getting one is near impossible unless you get lucky on ebay and spend loads of money. So potentially could be the end of the line for new buyers...

Older systems like wiz canoo, dingoo a320 etc again all very expensive now and hard to come by, pandora too obviously too much. Android stuff like the JXD's are also all too big....

So this leads me back to the PSPGO or Xperia Play. I have used android emulators before on my nexus 7 and thought the experience was OK and may be decent on Xperia play, but I thought the PSPGO might be a better option than the XPeria play though and is super cheap.

It is also unclear what stage we are at on PSPGO with SNES emulation, a lot of mixed reports etc, some saying its pretty good some saying its bad etc.

Anyway to conclude....Should I wait and hope GCW get their act together? Or just grab a PSP or Xperia play or something else?

Any ideas helpful...

 

[w0dash]

SNES on PSP works astonishingly well, if you use the correct version of snes9x.

http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=31564

 

[FAST6191]

On SNES if you are the kind of person that absolutely needs http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/...-3ghz-quest-to-build-a-perfect-snes-emulator/ to get on with life then you are not going to have a good time, probably not with anything portable this side of a laptop.

If you just want to make a solid dent in the 16 bit and older world, and also some PS1 I guess, then the PSP is a fine device. Not sure what goes on it with the neo geo and capcom stuff right now though. I would not even bother with PSP N64 emulation, not even for stuff you do not need real time for.
I think the best way I can phrase it is yeah I would absolutely pick up a well controlling android or GCW over a PSP if equivalent setups are sitting on a desk in front of me. I do not think I would go to the effort of upgrading from a PSP for 16 bit and older stuff though.

It seems PSPs have gone back up in price since I last looked though.

 

[sere83]

SNES on PSP works astonishingly well, if you use the correct version of snes9x.

http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=31564

Many thanks for this info sir, looks pretty good.

On SNES if you are the kind of person that absolutely needs http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/...-3ghz-quest-to-build-a-perfect-snes-emulator/ to get on with life then you are not going to have a good time, probably not with anything portable this side of a laptop.

If you just want to make a solid dent in the 16 bit and older world, and also some PS1 I guess, then the PSP is a fine device. Not sure what goes on it with the neo geo and capcom stuff right now though. I would not even bother with PSP N64 emulation, not even for stuff you do not need real time for.
I think the best way I can phrase it is yeah I would absolutely pick up a well controlling android or GCW over a PSP if equivalent setups are sitting on a desk in front of me. I do not think I would go to the effort of upgrading from a PSP for 16 bit and older stuff though.

It seems PSPs have gone back up in price since I last looked though.

cheers mate, haha that article is bonkers, the lengths people will go too...

Yeah not expecting miracles obviously, don't need every title working amazingly well, sure a PSP would suffice. To be honest though GCW ticked all my boxes, looks great, just seems like I will never be able to get one now justin has decided to dissapear into the ether, real shame. I have controllers for a laptop/tablet but its just super inconvenient, when you just want to hit a bit of mario kart action when you're on a train or something. Can still grab a psp go for like £45 on ebay, 1000/2000/3000 are all too big.

Rekon PSP is better option than xperia play?

 

[sere83]

Just won a brand new boxed white PSP Go on ebay for £50!!