Best "Pocket Emulator" for the money that IS released?
30 replies, posted
Hey everyone.
I'm wanting something to play some MAME games on as well as mostly game boy, GBC, and GBA games. If it could handle DS games that would be great! PS1 and N64 would be a huge plus. Also if it can run a DOSBOX that would rock.
I've been told I should use my phone but since I have the SGH-i717 (NA Samsung Galaxy Note 1) it isn't quite powerful enough.
I want something that will fit in my pocket. I would consider a small tablet, since I have large pockets.
It looks like the GCW-Zero is awesome and just the thing but it isn't out yet...
I'd like to spend around (or under!) $200.
Thanks in advance.
I would buy a Nexus 7 and any of the emulators in the Play Store. DraStic for example is an amazing DS emulator that only costs like $8 and runs all your obviously self-ripped DS game images.
As a bonus, you get a pretty good tablet out of the deal.
Hot damn, $230 for a 16gb model? That sounds really nice. has anyone (Acer, etc.) beat it price-to-performance wise?
I had a Acer Aspire One that I used for EVERYTHING. I may even consider a decent Netbook honestly, for a hundred or two more.
[thumb]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/CAANOO.jpg[/thumb]
The CAANOO is a great little system. It can emulate lots of game consoles, and with Ginge, you can emulate more systems like the Neo-Geo Pocket Color.
The problem, however, is that GP2X went bankrupt after selling this. Finding one for sale is not an easy task, but I'd recommend looking on eBay for one. I got a white one imported straight from Seoul.
Isn't that the new version of the Wiz?
[editline]2nd November 2013[/editline]
Also do you have any videos of yours? Anything it has issues with?
I just use an old (fat) DS with a homebrew cartridge for emulation. Although its not exactly a no strings attached system (SNES emulation is iffy at times and PS1/N64 are no-go's for obvious reasons, and fucking WEP) it does well for my purposes. It emulates GBA and lower systems almost perfectly and having controls designed for gaming is a plus. Having the actual DS hardware for DS games is also nice.
Probably not the best option for you unless you happen to have an old DS just lying around around.
A used, CFW'd PSP will do up most of what you want, I believe
[QUOTE=Demache;42740036]I just use an old (fat) DS with a homebrew cartridge for emulation. Although its not exactly a no strings attached system (SNES emulation is iffy at times and PS1/N64 are no-go's for obvious reasons, and fucking WEP) it does well for my purposes. It emulates GBA and lower systems almost perfectly and having controls designed for gaming is a plus. Having the actual DS hardware for DS games is also nice.
[/QUOTE]
This, I use my old phat DS for emulation purposes on long vacation trips and love it so
Last I heard the holy grail of portable emulation was still a hacked PSP-3000. You get flawless emulation of everything up to the trickier arcade games, 3D game emulation (I think up to PS1 and n64) and a pretty good library of PSP titles too. And they're like, $100 used.
What you should always look for in these things is support, though. There's plenty of cheap chinese portable emulators/tablets but most of them don't have an english-speaking community so you're fucked if you run into any issues.
[QUOTE=Protocol7;42739560]I would buy a Nexus 7 and any of the emulators in the Play Store. DraStic for example is an amazing DS emulator that only costs like $8 and runs all your obviously self-ripped DS game images.
As a bonus, you get a pretty good tablet out of the deal.[/QUOTE]
And Retroarch (Once they get back on the store, somebody filed a bullshit DMCA claim)
It's a free "Jack of all trades" emulator that supports [url=http://emulation-general.wikia.com/wiki/Libretro#Cores]assloads of systems[/url]
[editline]3rd November 2013[/editline]
You can even play Doom .wads on it
Ok, so a Nexus 7, PSP-3000, or wait for the GCW-Zero.
Anything else I should consider and anything i should know about the difference between the classic PSP systems?
Does anyone make something similar to the Nexus 7 but maybe a little smaller?
Thank you so much for the help you all have given me thus far.
Also does anyone make a Android Distro for the PSP? That sounds like it would make sense, but I don't know what the processor is or if its supported.
[QUOTE=Camwi_003;42750269]Also does anyone make a Android Distro for the PSP? That sounds like it would make sense, but I don't know what the processor is or if its supported.[/QUOTE]
I would say no. At most, the PSP had 64 MB of RAM. Even the first Android phone had 128 MB. Android is actually a fairly heavy OS for a mobile one. Its more along the lines of full blown computer Linux distro in terms of resource usage.
epsxe works really well for ps1 games, I bought it and they run smoothly on a 1.5GHz snapdragon S3 phone on 4.3
[QUOTE=AugustBurnsRed;42751259]epsxe works really well for ps1 games, I bought it and they run smoothly on a 1.5GHz snapdragon S3 phone on 4.3[/QUOTE]
Playstation 1 emulation doesn't require much.
Even my singlecore HTC Desire Z can run it smoothly.
Now Gamecube emulation on the other hand...
An Android device will get the job done but for the absolute best experience you're going to want three things:
Well designed physical buttons
Powerful hardware for the intense rendering tasks
An active community of numerous developers for support
The PSP is the only device that I can think of that fulfils all three requirements. I'm going to have to agree with Latin. Just get the PSP. It's Ashens approved!
[editline]4th November 2013[/editline]
However, consider your own use-case. I, personally, do not have the patience or space required to lug both a PSP and a smartphone around. So I just make due with my GS4 and touchscreen buttons for the convienence factor.
That aside, the PSP is still hands down the best option for actually playing the games. The buttons go a long way, and it's actually designed for gaming. The phone will barely pass but the PSP will excel.
[editline]4th November 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=kaze4159;42740532]And Retroarch (Once they get back on the store, somebody filed a bullshit DMCA claim)
It's a free "Jack of all trades" emulator that supports [url=http://emulation-general.wikia.com/wiki/Libretro#Cores]assloads of systems[/url]
[editline]3rd November 2013[/editline]
You can even play Doom .wads on it[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.libretro.com/?page_id=200[/url]
Don't worry, it's still available to download from their site.
[editline]4th November 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=AugustBurnsRed;42751259]epsxe works really well for ps1 games, I bought it and they run smoothly on a 1.5GHz snapdragon S3 phone on 4.3[/QUOTE]
Don't buy an Android PS1 emulator, RetroArch will go tit-for-tat with other apps for almost every system they support with the possible exception of GBA which will run well enough on modern phones anway and N64 which still has problems.
As someone who just received his Nexus 7 last week, forget anything else, it's a brilliant device by itself and there's shitloads of emulators.
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;42751835]An Android device will get the job done but for the absolute best experience you're going to want three things:
Well designed physical buttons
Powerful hardware for the intense rendering tasks
An active community of numerous developers for support
The PSP is the only device that I can think of that fulfils all three requirements. I'm going to have to agree with Latin. Just get the PSP. It's Ashens approved!
[editline]4th November 2013[/editline]
However, consider your own use-case. I, personally, do not have the patience or space required to lug both a PSP and a smartphone around. So I just make due with my GS4 and touchscreen buttons for the convienence factor.
That aside, the PSP is still hands down the best option for actually playing the games. The buttons go a long way, and it's actually designed for gaming. The phone will barely pass but the PSP will excel.
[/QUOTE]
All of this. I don't really get the reasoning behind [B]getting[/B] a phone for emulation. I mean, if you want a jack-of-all-trades device that can browse the internet, play pretty much any format of music or video out there, and coincidentally play everything from Atari to PS1, sure, get a nexus 7 or whatever.
If you're buying a device specifically to play games, you wanna enjoy them, you need physical buttons, and a shape that's designed for gaming. A PSP-3000 fulfills all of those. With phones/tablets, you either give up and use touchscreen controls (ugh) or carry an entire controller around along with it
[t]http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/FCKEditorFiles//nexus-7-howto-controllers-3.jpg[/t]
clearly the best way to play some Metal Slug while commuting! :v:
I have run a MAME/NEO-GEO emulator on my Galaxy Note 1 with a paired PS3 controller and that worked out really REALLY well, but who wants to carry around a PS3 controller?
Several people make Bluetooth controllers just for that/this purpose, and I am also considering that as an option.
[IMG]https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/067/415/e209b270461ac5b01d88b47e72db7c3b_large.jpg?1342149765[/IMG]
[video=youtube;Or0ZAk8CP2M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or0ZAk8CP2M[/video]
Also the SteelSeries ION,
[IMG]http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/steelseries-ion-controller-2.jpg[/IMG]
[URL]http://www.gizmag.com/steelseries-ion-bluetooth-games-controller/21115/[/URL]
I recently (last night) installed the latest snapshot build of CM10 for the Kindle Fire (Non-HD, Gen1) and I love it. It handles most basic emulators well, and I use paid My Boy emulator for GBA and I can't remember the Neo-Geo/MAME emu.
How does the Nexus 7 compare to my Kindle Fire? If it matters much, I set it to overclock to 1200 MHz ondemand/noop.
Has anyone used those Bluetooth controllers I was talking about? What does a PSP-3000 go for now a days?
[editline]5th November 2013[/editline]
Also, what about using a WiiMote as a portable controller?
[QUOTE=Camwi_003;42770183]
How does the Nexus 7 compare to my Kindle Fire? If it matters much, I set it to overclock to 1200 MHz ondemand/noop.
[/QUOTE]
Go download Epic Citadel.
These were done with the stock ROM from Google, Android 4.3, from lowest graphical settings to highest:
[t]http://i.imgur.com/CjZJqgU.jpg[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/th5t8ul.png[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/vsi5jN8.png[/t]
Keep in mind that the Nexus 7 is pushing a lot more pixels to the screen than the Fire.
53.7
1024*552
High Performance
52.0
1024*552
High Quality
15-20
1024*552
UHQ - 100% Scaling
The reasoning for the range over an average is the benchmark wouldn't finish on UHQ. It also will crash on launch after a few seconds. I could only fix this by clearing the app's Cache/Data.
The Impulse controller seems pretty decent for $25, but the Steelseries controller is just absurd at $60.
I've had bad luck with SteelSeries but they are the only one with that layout that is thin enough to pocket. All the others like it are too thick, unless you cargo/backpack them.
the Gametel controller is what I've been using for emulator gaming. Its a half decent controller. Has some compatibility issues with things like Retroarch last I checked though...
My only beef with it is the lack of a second set of shoulder buttons, and no analog sticks. However these are understandable considering its small form factor.
I'll have to check out the iMpulse when the store picks up again, I remember considering a pledge to them back when the KS was still active. $25 is a great price for something like that.
I loved my PSP for console emulation and have a gametel that I use on a regular basis, but for all its bulkiness and how ugly it looks the Nvidia Shield is a great option for portable emulation.
Built-in, extremely comfy controls comparable to full-size console controllers, some of the best performance you can get out of any android device, a decent price and a very long (6 hours playing 3D games, 18 hours playing video) battery life help offset the bulk.
As much as I love the PSP, one thing I've always hated about it was that your fingers feel absolutely cramped after a while (as do most portable controllers even when designed well, like the Gametel) and the Shield fixes that.
Has anyone used the GameKlip? I found it while looking into the Gametel.
[img]http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0178/8651/products/CaseMountNote2MainCompressed_large.jpg?2361[/img]
[url]http://buy.thegameklip.com/[/url]
[QUOTE=Camwi_003;42770183]I have run a MAME/NEO-GEO emulator on my Galaxy Note 1 with a paired PS3 controller and that worked out really REALLY well, but who wants to carry around a PS3 controller?
Several people make Bluetooth controllers just for that/this purpose, and I am also considering that as an option.
[IMG]https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/067/415/e209b270461ac5b01d88b47e72db7c3b_large.jpg?1342149765[/IMG]
[/QUOTE]
That controller is so cuuuuute.
[QUOTE=Camwi_003;42790062]Has anyone used the GameKlip? I found it while looking into the Gametel.
[img]http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0178/8651/products/CaseMountNote2MainCompressed_large.jpg?2361[/img]
[url]http://buy.thegameklip.com/[/url][/QUOTE]
If the GameKlip was cheaper, I wouldn't mind buying the universal one for my PSP Go, since using the DS3 is so much nicer.
So which PSP model is the best one for emulation? I got interested myself.
I have the PSP Go and I love it, simply run a boot file on your memory card.
[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;42813021]So which PSP model is the best one for emulation? I got interested myself.[/QUOTE]
I would say the 1000. Has the greatest compatibility, However the 3000 is much easier to obtain. I think the go is easy to obtain as well. Personally I use the 3000.
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