Pocket Retro Game Emulator? Anyone heard of this?

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

New over at ThinkGeek.com:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/retro-gaming/bd6f/

Price seems a tiny bit high at $99 (I'd buy it at $79... cuz I'm cheap.) 

Here it is again, this time in white:

http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/multi-platform-portable-gaming-entertainment-station/

ThinkGeek seems to be the only US distributor.  Anybody know what the hardware is like? Think it's mame-able?

[Ginsu Victim]

Typical junk that doesn't work as it says it does. Avoid it.

[sinkhead]

Probably based on the OneStation, which you can look for over at DealExtreme.

[Cave]

Thats the dingoo A320.

http://a320.freeforums.org/

Its suprisingly well built and emulation is mostly very good, megadirve/genesis not so good.

[dreamakuma]

How's the neogeo and Cps2 emulation? Or the cps1 emulation?  On thinkgeek, seems worth $100. Plays movies, music, oldschool games...kinda like a hacked psp.

[Cave]

Neo Geo is good, CPS1 and 2 need to be converted for the dingoo and require some framskip, more so for CPS2.

Threre's a good review here.

http://www.gadgetoid.com/2009/06/06/dingoo-a320-review/

[pointdablame]

I hate to give out "just get this" statements, but for $100, I'd just get a used PSP.  You can emulate everything this thing can, and do a lot more.  It'd be a cool gadget (assuming it works) in the $50 range, but $100 is too rich for me.

[Franco B]

I hate to give out "just get this" statements, but for $100, I'd just get a used PSP.  You can emulate everything this thing can, and do a lot more. 

Quoted for truth.

[dreamakuma]

I hate to give out "just get this" statements, but for $100, I'd just get a used PSP.  You can emulate everything this thing can, and do a lot more.  It'd be a cool gadget (assuming it works) in the $50 range, but $100 is too rich for me.

Well The last time i tried pandora I Set myself on fire, I then tried buy a battery that was already hacked, and was swindled. Now I have a 3000 running ChickHen homebrew enabler on firmware 5.03....Cps2 emulation on it is great, as well as neo geo, but snes and megadrive both suck. And this dingoo has 4 gig storage right in the box, as well as SD card support(AKA mini SD with an adapter is cheaper than the pro 2 duo's, got an 8 gig mini sd for $20, compared to the $60 for the pro 2 duo they wanted at my local electronics shop) but I really can't find a local shop wanting a psp for $100, cheapest in town for me is $130 for a used 1000.

[Ginsu Victim]

I hate to give out "just get this" statements, but for $100, I'd just get a used PSP.  You can emulate everything this thing can, and do a lot more.  It'd be a cool gadget (assuming it works) in the $50 range, but $100 is too rich for me.

Yeah, that would be great, except for the whole "$100 PSP" thing. I can't find them used for that.

[DJ_Izumi]

While I am a fan of my PSP, I think this thing is better for dedicated emulation.  Namely, the PSP has no SDK available for home brewed development and it's all backward engineered.  The Dingoo uses hardware that is better documented and ships with an accessable SDK.  This allows homebrew developers to far more efficently and effectively use the hardware because they arn't fighting agianst it.

[pointdablame]

I hate to give out "just get this" statements, but for $100, I'd just get a used PSP.  You can emulate everything this thing can, and do a lot more.  It'd be a cool gadget (assuming it works) in the $50 range, but $100 is too rich for me.

Yeah, that would be great, except for the whole "$100 PSP" thing. I can't find them used for that.

Really?  They're all over the place here.  Gamestop has them used for $120 and I see them on craigslist and ebay for $100 very often.  Or a massive collection for games/accessories/pro duos for $200 and under.

[thomascirca]

I would recommend the GP2X for "on the go" emulation. It runs everything and is very easy to code for. NES games in particular run incredibly well with the emulator I'm using (believe its a port of fceux). It's a bit pricer, but it can do so much more. PSP emulation is nice, provided that you can find one for on the cheap, but for whatever reason games don't look very good on that screen. Wrong ratio I think.

[SithMaster]

I would recommend the GP2X for "on the go" emulation. It runs everything and is very easy to code for. NES games in particular run incredibly well with the emulator I'm using (believe its a port of fceux). It's a bit pricer, but it can do so much more. PSP emulation is nice, provided that you can find one for on the cheap, but for whatever reason games don't look very good on that screen. Wrong ratio I think.

Its been discontinued though so keep in mind that prices may rise/fall as well as some vendors no longer carrying the unit.

On the subject of ease of development I should point out that despite having easier tools to dev with the psp is far more widespread.  Its easier for things to get ported over to the psp because its more likely for it to be used more.  At least that's how I see it.

Even though I have other options I still find myself wanting to get one.  It seems so interesting and its potential makes it seem like getting one now would save me the headache later if only for the fact that it suffers from the same homebrew shortcomings of the gp2x.  The most developed software for handhelds are ports and applications to simulate a clock.

If you are in the market for a handheld for homebrew check out the Game Park touchscreen unit.  I don't think its out yet and the price is higher but it will probably have a better user base than this, maybe.

[dreamakuma]

I would recommend the GP2X for "on the go" emulation. It runs everything and is very easy to code for. NES games in particular run incredibly well with the emulator I'm using (believe its a port of fceux). It's a bit pricer, but it can do so much more. PSP emulation is nice, provided that you can find one for on the cheap, but for whatever reason games don't look very good on that screen. Wrong ratio I think.

The 3000 has scanlines which kinda help with CPS2 and NeoGeo emulation. Looks pretty darn clean. And most emu's for it support 16:9 which don't look too shabby either. SVC chaos runs VERY well as well as MVC and the 16:9 with scanlines keeps it looking good. now shmups look awful in that mode, everything is streched out. But everythin else looks great. 

[massive88]

I hate to give out "just get this" statements, but for $100, I'd just get a used PSP.  You can emulate everything this thing can, and do a lot more.  It'd be a cool gadget (assuming it works) in the $50 range, but $100 is too rich for me.

What is required to get the modified firmware on a PSP?  Is there additional cost associated in that?

[dreamakuma]

I hate to give out "just get this" statements, but for $100, I'd just get a used PSP.  You can emulate everything this thing can, and do a lot more.  It'd be a cool gadget (assuming it works) in the $50 range, but $100 is too rich for me.

What is required to get the modified firmware on a PSP?  Is there additional cost associated in that?

Depends....On 3000's no cost if your firmware is 5.03 or lower. other than that you'll need pandora kits. which are around $20