Author Topic: I need Help Buying Portable Gaming Dev (Read 2791 times)

Demon-Seed · « **on:** August 13, 2005, 10:03:35 am »

Hello,
I am interested in a portable gaming device. Now what I am after is something fairly small, that can play MP3, Movies and games. Now as for games looking to be able to play NES, Genesis, SNES, GBA and MAME. I have been reading up on numerous things but wondered what you thought. I also of course want it to be reasonably priced...i have been looking actually at GBA. Heres the ones I have looked at, maybe you can help??

Gamepark32-looks fairly good, however low storage? anyone advise? maybe too large for portable mp3?

GBA-can get 1gig cards....so it will play what i think i want.. HOWEVEr I am not sure how good emultion is???

PSP-too expensive in my opinion, pretty large............

Also read about to gamepark, and zodiak

Ah none the less..so many questions.. basically want lots of storage and to run those emus.. any advise, links is much appreciated!

Arcadiac · « **Reply #1 on:** August 13, 2005, 11:57:32 am »

It's gonna be hard to find one portable device that does all that you want decently. Check in the Consoles section for opinions on GP32, etc.
Godd Luck and keep us posted!

ARCADIAC!

Demon-Seed · « **Reply #2 on:** August 13, 2005, 01:21:35 pm »

You know I hate to say it but GBA does GBA duh,.. hhee they say nes/sega master perfect.. a little bit of classic mame..but how is sega genesis on it??

SkateDetroit · « **Reply #3 on:** August 13, 2005, 01:47:14 pm »

PSP = SNES, NES, Genesis, Master System, TG16, Game Boy, GameGear

spiffyshoes · « **Reply #4 on:** August 13, 2005, 01:50:20 pm »

when you say that they have 1 gig cards for GBA you realize that they are 1 gigabit and not 1 gigabyte right?

slicer_d · « **Reply #5 on:** August 13, 2005, 02:42:27 pm »

I have owned or currently own almost every major portable gaming system out there.

Here are some things to think about. Zodiac was just canned so you might be able to get a used/new one cheap because they are not longer officially supported. Of course that means basically no more official game releases and probably shrinking fan base. GP32 is something I always wanted to buy but I always felt it should have been a little more powerfull. That being said it is a very nice hand held and has a decent grass roots support but not a whole lot of really awsome official tittles.

This leaves the biggies GBA, DS, and PSP I own all three of these and each has their own strengths a weakness's.

GBA obvisouly has a huge amount of games and if you get a flash cart you litterally can have access to almost 2000 gba games plus all of the GB/C games as well. But as Spiffyshoes pointed out the carts ar not 1 gigbute but a gigabit basically 128MB but that is still enough space for a bunch of NES or GB/C games and a few GBA games. Nes emulation is basically perfect or as perfect as it will get on the GBA but SNES/Genasis emulation leaves something to be desired IMHO and I dont even bother. Size wise the GBA sp is the holy grail and can be carried around in you pocket with basically no worry or discomfort.

The DS will probably be a love or hate thing for most people. I personally love it and it has a huge amount of triple A tittles coming out for it within the next few months. Most GBA flash carts work in it but only for GBA games not DS games. There is a DS flash cart but it is grossly over priced because it has a monopoly on the market right now. There are 2 new carts coming out at the end of the month that should change things up quite a bit though. One is supposed to use either CF or SD so expandable storage will be dirt cheap this is also supposed to work with the GBA so keep that in mind if you go that route. Emulator work on the DS is coming along nicely NES emulation works fine but SNES/Genasis is still being worked on also they just released SCUMM not to long ago but it is still soundless. A lot of people that were working on GBA emulation and homebrew have switched to the DS scene so within a year or so I think there will be a fully working SNES and hopefully genasis emulator. With all that being said the DS is no where near as sexy a machine as the PSP is or even the GBA sp for that matter.

The PSP is a pretty amazing machine IMHO the screen is probably the best you will find on any portable system (barring dead pixels of course) and it just screems sexy. As of right now it probably has the best emulation going on with recent SNES emulator that when properly tweaked will play just about any game full speed. NES emulation is perfect and the new SCUMM release works full screen with sound and working save. Genasis is basically unplayable and almost everything will have bugs in it at this point the scene is still very young so they need time. Assuming you can find a 1.0 or 1.5 version getting the emulation to run is as easy as pluggin the PSP in your computers usb and drag and droping what ever you want. Also the included picture/video/audio tools are nice to have around but require a bigger memory card for any decent amount of files. While the official releases seem to be lacking in the coming months unofficially the PSP is alive and well with all kinds of stuff being released for it. I think in year or two the PSP could be a one stop shop for your emulation needs if they perfect the GBA, SNES, and Genesis emulators it would truly be and amazing console.

With all that being said I guess it just depends on how much you will play and how much you are willing to spend. Cheapest is a GBA sp for sub 200 bucks you can get a GBA sp and a flash cart and have tons of games. The DS will cost you a little more but assuming the M3 cart works well with Compact Flash you could spend under 300 and have access to all the GBA games as well as DS games and homebrew. The PSP is 250 but comes with a 32MB memory stich while it isnt much you can still fit a lot of NES/SNES games on there and still have room for your saved games. If you are willing to splurge you can get a 512 or 1gig memory stick and basically make your PSP into a media center playing video and MP3's it can be quite versitile people regularly rip full dvds or PVR content convert them and watch them on the go.

Now I've really typed a lot but here are my last few personal thoughts on the matter. If I had to chose only one out of the GBA, DS, and PSP I would go for the GBA sp the huge amount of quality games and cheap price point have me sold on it. If you want to spend more money I dont think you can go wrong with either the DS or PSP both have highs and lows but I think both will have an awsome future in homebrew and official tittles.

Demon-Seed · « **Reply #6 on:** August 13, 2005, 03:45:26 pm »

I do like the PSP power HOWEVER I have heard that they (sony) are countering the hacking via forcing ppl to install new firmware? I heard you can not get 1.5 hardly anymore...... What about the GP32 new one ...gp32x or somethinG? supposed to be out in Sept/Oct?

Jim

slicer_d · « **Reply #7 on:** August 13, 2005, 06:41:35 pm »

Yeah sony has realeased at least one game (Coded Arms) that forces you to upgrade to play it. The game sucked though so nobody played it anyway

. There are also ways around that but they require a decent sized memory stick to do so. Yes they have also started selling psps with 1.51 so you might have to look harder or buy used. Hopefully they will crack 2.0 eventually then we wont have to worry about it.

http://www.gpx2.com/

Link to the new GP thingy dont know whats better about it but it has a smaller screen than the PSP, no analog control, and no 3d processor. Without any of that I dont know how much I would be willing to pay for it but it should be ~150 otherwise I would feel ripped off.

koolmoecraig · « **Reply #8 on:** August 14, 2005, 02:28:10 am »

Slicer,

I don't know what Genesis emulator you are using on your PSP, but I use PSPGenesis v0.13 and it runs just about all the games I throw at it at full speed.

333mhz of course. WHICH IS PERFECTLY FINE PEOPLE!

Demon-Seed · « **Reply #9 on:** August 14, 2005, 10:50:05 am »

Where can I find a website that has info about the PSP scene?

thx
Jim

Hoagie_one · « **Reply #10 on:** August 14, 2005, 11:51:23 am »

you judt need a pocket PC

lcddream · « **Reply #11 on:** August 14, 2005, 11:57:29 am »

ds will be dropping to $129 soon(nintendogs release), and several flash carts which do emulation will be hitting the market soon.

www.g6flash.com

edit:

oopsie had wrong url ^ fixed now

TalkingOctopus · « **Reply #12 on:** August 14, 2005, 02:14:45 pm »

I like the GBA SP best.

namzep · « **Reply #13 on:** August 14, 2005, 04:05:41 pm »

Quote from: lcddream on August 14, 2005, 11:57:29 am

ds will be dropping to $129 soon(nintendogs release), and several flash carts which do emulation will be hitting the market soon.

www.g6.com

May have to break down and buy one then. I've been holding out but that is a nice price on it.

Hoagie_one · « **Reply #14 on:** August 14, 2005, 04:45:55 pm »

there is a perfect Nes emulator that runs on the GBA (DS), all the other emulators are far from perfect.

namzep · « **Reply #15 on:** August 14, 2005, 05:42:45 pm »

Quote from: Hoagie_one on August 14, 2005, 04:45:55 pm

there is a perfect Nes emulator that runs on the GBA (DS), all the other emulators are far from perfect.

What about older systems (Atari, Colecovision, etc..)?

Hoagie_one · « **Reply #16 on:** August 14, 2005, 06:55:43 pm »

there is a coleco as well. dunno if its any good though

Demon-Seed · « **Reply #17 on:** August 15, 2005, 06:23:39 pm »

I maybe dumb but is there a certain pocket pc?

thx
JIM

SkateDetroit · « **Reply #18 on:** August 15, 2005, 06:28:37 pm »

Get both

Get a GBA thrown in when you buy a used PSP for $200 at gamestop. There problem solved.

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=B909077F&affid=99999&sourceid=qIbAQwEWuUmdAmk9yX-C&siteid=0040451529

Scott84 · « **Reply #19 on:** August 15, 2005, 10:24:10 pm »

Thats a killer deal for you Demon Seed! Grab it!

menace · « **Reply #20 on:** August 16, 2005, 07:32:50 am »

I picked up the GP32 last year and have enjoyed it so far (they have a newer model coming out so these original front lit and back lit units will be coming up for sale) At any rate, it plays movies easily and well so long as you don't mind following instructions (not plug and play) the mame build is becoming very robust and there are a buttload of emulators out there--my only beef is that it is limited to 128mb storage at a time (i.e. buy multiple cards if you want more than that) the mp3 song titles are limited to dos8.3 format (due to the smartmedia format)-this really blows cause you have to re-label every song to 8 letters. So in summary--good little gaming/movie/picture device--not so good mp3 device.

Otraotaku · « **Reply #21 on:** August 31, 2005, 10:57:15 am »

Quote from: Hoagie_one on August 14, 2005, 11:51:23 am

you judt need a pocket PC

I totally agree... ^.< (Axim X30 64mb 624mhz)
= NES, SNES, GENS, SMS, PSX GB , GBA And more!

I have over 100 games on mine, (1gig SD) and over 60 Anime music videos... ^.^

Otraotaku · « **Reply #22 on:** August 31, 2005, 11:02:45 am »

Quote from: Otraotaku on August 31, 2005, 10:57:15 am

Quote from: Hoagie_one on August 14, 2005, 11:51:23 am
you judt need a pocket PC

I totally agree... ^.< (Axim X30 64mb 624mhz)
= NES, SNES, GENS, SMS, PSX GB , GBA And more!

I have over 100 games on mine, (1gig SD) and over 60 Anime music videos... ^.^

(sitting at desk in school, hugs AXIM)


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