What's the best handheld that can become "all-in-one"?

[Vipera]

By "all-in-one" I mean getting enchanted with hacking support, especially with emulators and homebrews. Like a GBA with a Supercard, or a DS with a R4, or a PSP with cfw (these are just examples). What's your pick?

 

[sarkwalvein]

PSP with CFW.
Or did you mean current handheld?

 

[Vipera]

Any. Even open source ones.

I would like an explanation too.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

The PSP with CFW would probably be the best console from the big three. You get a toooon of emulators, great homebrew games, watching movies isn't terrible on it, portable PS1 games and more with a few (now) simple exploits. It's like a gold mine for portable emulation.

But if I had to say any best "handheld", it'd probably be one of the many Android devices, my personal pick being the Shield Portable. You get emulation up to N64/PS1/DS/PSP, you get a nice-ish selection of PC game ports that run well (XCOM, Half Life, Portal, GTA 3/VC/SA, KOTOR etc), all kinds of movie format support with MX Player, a nice browser, and the Shield Portable has a pretty bitching battery life as well.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Well, PSP with CFW had a lot of homebrew and great emulator support.
Also, the controls provided in the PSP were quite good for emulator purposes.
In the other hand the NDS also had a good homebrew movement, but perhaps here the emulators were not so good as the original homebrew like eg. Still Alive or Colors!.
I think those would be the best when you consider mainstream handheld from big name companies.

If you go opensource or pseudogeneric ones, I think the best thing would be most current android based ones.
They are really easy to program, already have a big back catalog of everything, they are powerful and cheap.
I kind of like the generic JXD ones. I don't like the Nvidia SHIELD so much because I find it big and annoying.

I have used some other kind of "open source" handhelds in the past (long ago GP32, GP2X), I think the concept is obsolete now.
You know, having powerful and cheap android handhelds, why even bother with another expensive "open source" one?

 

[RevPokemon]

A PSP with cfw or an android device such as a phone connected a blue tooth controller although the android can emulate more games than a psp

 

[VinsCool]

PSP does very well.
Android phones with attached controllers is good too.

 

[Atlas_Noire]

Hands down, it's PSP with cfw for me. The PSP's wide range of emulation just makes it a must-have for many retro die-hards like me. Although I'm still tempted to go for one of those many high performance gaming tablets.

 

[RevPokemon]

Another thing I should of asked is what is the budget??

 

[Vipera]

There is no budget limit. I was curious to see what would be your choice including power and compatibility.

Personally I'm unsure between the Micro and the DS Lite. I like my Go, but the buttons suck compared to the ones on my DS Lite. On the other hand, the Micro has a ton less power, but it's the most portable thing ever.

 

[RevPokemon]

There is no budget limit. I was curious to see what would be your choice including power and compatibility.

Personally I'm unsure between the Micro and the DS Lite. I like my Go, but the buttons suck compared to the ones on my DS Lite. On the other hand, the Micro has a ton less power, but it's the most portable thing ever.

Guess it depend then.
I love my tablet plus BT controller for emulation but I also use a Ds with a action replay for anything up to snes

 

[Jayro]

I have an Nvidia Shield Portable, and I love it. Emulators all run full speed without any major lag. It has a decent library of games in the nvidia store, as well as any other store like Google Play or Amazon. I currently run PPSSPP Gold, Mupen64, FPse, all the emulators that John makes (John GBC, John GBA, etc.) and everything is solid. I can even HDMI to my 720p TV, and it looks and plays flawless without any input lag, and my cable is 9 feet long. It's cheap now, and highly recommended. The battery also lasts a LNG time while asleep, like a week or more.

 

[chavosaur]

My shield tablet is the fucking best. It does... almost everything. It is fantastic.

 

[Jayro]

My shield tablet is the fucking best. It does... almost everything. It is fantastic.

I hear the battery life isn't the best, but I still want one.

 

[RevPokemon]

I hear the battery life isn't the best, but I still want one.

Its worth it if only for half life (I wish it had tf2 tho)

 

[KingBlank]

Shield portable, plays PSP, DS, GBA and many more emulators very well. the tablet version also has potential to play Wii and gamecube games smoothly in the future.

 

[Jayro]

Its worth it if only for half life (I wish it had tf2 tho)

Agreed. And is your profile picture of Bailey Jay?

 

[cloudfe]

I have an Nvidia Shield Portable, and I love it.View attachment 16026

I was thinking of getting one of those (used). How do you feel about the screen size?

 

[Jayro]

I was thinking of getting one of those (used). How do you feel about the screen size?

The screen size is good, about the same size as my Samsung Galaxy S4. I output it to my32 inch 720p TV, and it's gorgeous. The screen on the unit is awkward to hold while typing with your thumbs, so a bluetooth keyboard might be more your thing.

 

[cloudfe]

I output it to my32 inch 720p TV, and it's gorgeous.

I was wondering, can I also use my laptop screen instead of a TV? Or there would be lag?