Feedback Hardware Making an Archon C64 handheld

[Kazuya89]

Hi there,
my brother in law doesnt play videogames without one exception. He plays the C64 Archon in an emulator.

Since it's always hard to find gifts for him I thought of building an Archon handheld for him. I have some overview of all those emulation handhelds by Anbernic and all these other brands.

If I was willing to spend this much money I would probably get him an Retroid Pocket Classic for this. But this is over my budget. I thought about getting the TrimUI Smart Brick if I can get it for a good price. Since it is a little bit bigger than the Miyoo Mini and has good built quality.

But I don't know what aspect Ratio is good for C64 emulation. Additionally I don't know anything about this game. I know that there is a NES version of the game that also looks better. But he probably prefers C64. I don't know if I can map the game to controller buttons properly so that it is still fun to controll.

So for anybody more into Archon and C64 emulation: Can I map the game to controller layout properly? What aspect ratio hardware should I get? Which device would you choose?

 

[hippy dave]

Sounds like gameplay is controlled only by joystick, which is easy, but there's a few keyboard presses needed to start the game, pause etc - C64 only uses one joystick button so any emulation device should have enough spare buttons to map to the needed keys.

Preferred aspect ratio would be 4:3. Beyond that I don't have much helpful experience for C64 emulation or specific devices.

 

[esmith13]

Hi there,
my brother in law doesnt play videogames without one exception. He plays the C64 Archon in an emulator.

Since it's always hard to find gifts for him I thought of building an Archon handheld for him. I have some overview of all those emulation handhelds by Anbernic and all these other brands.

If I was willing to spend this much money I would probably get him an Retroid Pocket Classic for this. But this is over my budget. I thought about getting the TrimUI Smart Brick if I can get it for a good price. Since it is a little bit bigger than the Miyoo Mini and has good built quality.

But I don't know what aspect Ratio is good for C64 emulation. Additionally I don't know anything about this game. I know that there is a NES version of the game that also looks better. But he probably prefers C64. I don't know if I can map the game to controller buttons properly so that it is still fun to controll.

So for anybody more into Archon and C64 emulation: Can I map the game to controller layout properly? What aspect ratio hardware should I get? Which device would you choose?

The "quick & dirty" solution would be to get an R36s or other cheap 4:3 emulation device and add the ROM to it.
By default in most c64 retroarch configurations pressing the SELECT button on the controller brings up a virtual keyboard which will work for the key presses you need. You CAN remap shoulder buttons or whatever to do key presses as well.

Honestly the crappiest of these devices that can run ArkOS, EmuELEC, ROCKNIX, Batocera, etc. can all run Commodore 64 flawlessly... I would pick the device mostly based on cost, the screen and the OS it runs - or at least if it's one with a community CFW available so you know it's not absolute trash.