Handheld Emulation Options: Is PSP Still On Top?

[Gunstar Hero]

Hey guys I know I usually post about 4 or 5 times a day in this forum but my newfound interest in the Sega CD has had me post a lot over at Sega-16. Also after the holidays I was extremely busy and haven't been on here that much since then but now I am going to post here and at Sega-16 more often because they're my two favorite sites :).
Sorry just thought I'd get that out of the way and announce my return to activity on this forum :)



Ok now on to the thread:

With the arrival of many new handhelds capable of emulation, I really want to stack them up. I have a PSP 1001 with CFW and (to the best of my knowledge) the best emulators for it. NES, Genesis, Gameboy and Gameboy Color emulation is practically perfect I should get those out of the way now. My reason for looking into new handheld emulators are for N64 SNES and Sega CD emulation. SNES is pretty darn good on my PSP but certain games are abysmally slow (Super Mario RPG, every Kirby game on the system, Battletoads, Starfox just to name a few). N64 emulation is almost achievable but still slow and a battery draining nightmare. Sega CD is great on some games but awful on gems like Sonic CD and Dungeon Explorer.

My question is, what handhelds are considered better for emulation??? I know this topic has probably been discussed before but with new handhelds coming (GCW Zero has caught my attention) I thought it was time to update this question.

And by the way my question does not apply to just the systems I listed, all "retro" systems in general should be addressed when looking at the different options for handheld emulation

[jonjandran]

There are some decent one's on the market but they all have flaws.

The Yinlips YDPG29 and the DroidX360 can do Atari,Nes,Genesis,Snes,PS1, and N64 pretty much near perfect.

But neither have real analog joysticks.

The upcoming JXD S7300 is supposed to have true analog and it will play all those emulators near perfect. We'll see.

[kedawa]

I've been keeping my eyes on the JXD S7300 as well. The specs are impressive, and if they can keep the quality high and the price low, it could well be the best portable system for homebrew/emulation.

[Gunstar Hero]

I've been keeping my eyes on the JXD S7300 as well. The specs are impressive, and if they can keep the quality high and the price low, it could well be the best portable system for homebrew/emulation.

Does this run off of android apps? And if so what emulators are in the android store?

[jonjandran]

Does this run off of android apps? And if so what emulators are in the android store?

Yes Android.

There are emulators for all systems in the Android Store.

[kedawa]

And best of all, you can map touch points on the screen to physical buttons, so any game that uses a virtual dpad/buttons can be played with the physical controls, even if it doesn't support them natively.

[PreZZ]

Just get the cheapest android tablet you can find, and I use a wii classic controller pro with it. Better than psp and no cfw bullshit to install. You can also use a ps3 controller with a cheap app called sixaxis on app store. wiimote one is free as most emulators too

[PreZZ]

Also not sure psp can emulate n64 properly, tablet is pretty good with mario kart and mario 64, havent tried others yet

[TheChristoph]

There's a new machine on Kickstarter right now that looks very exciting for handheld emulation: the GCW Zero.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gcw/gcw-zero-open-source-gaming-handheld

[Rickstilwell1]

Surprisingly enough. SNES emulation on the Nintendo DS via R4 runs a little bit better than on the PSP. The way its speed hacks work make things a little more smooth than the PSP version. It's not a 100% good emulation of the system but it's a bit more playable and even Star Fox can run.

[Dr. BaconStein]

I have been waiting for the S7300 since it was first announced back around October. It would have been nice if it was out in time for Christmas, but I'm still excited as it looks like it will finally be available this week or next week. Not only does it look like a great emulation machine, but it would make a nice 7" tablet, as I've never really owned one.

[kupomogli]

The best SNES emulators on the PSP are SNES9XTYL versions by Ruka. Ruka isn't the original creator but he/she has developed the best ones. SNES9XTYL++ Beta was the first one and you can find it online, but none of the PSP sites have it where you can download from their sites. Unfortunately Ruka's site is no longer available. Maybe you can find if you can download it from a site that still placed it on their site. Also, I'm not sure if ++ was Slim or Phat or if a future one he/she developed was Slim. Most games ran extremely well.

Just saw a comparison of PSP emulation compared to the GCW emulation on Wololo.net. Starfox runs 60fps on the GCW.

[WCP]

Emulation on the PSP is pretty good for the early stuff, but I think the screen is a problem. First, the widescreen aspect ratio is not kind to retro gaming. You either have to play it "pillarboxed" (black bars on the sides), or you have to play it in a "stretch" mode. Either way is a compromise. The second problem, is that when the level is scrolling, you get this garbled mess of pixels on the screen that just looks crappy.

Now, I may be off base here, but I think I heard something about how the final version of the PSP's screen doesn't have the garbled mess problem. I have the old school original, so I'm only going by my experience with that. Still, nothing can be done about the aspect ratio. I want to play 4:3 games on a 4:3 screen.

[IHatedSega]

I cant wait for the Vita to be cracked. :vamp:

[kupomogli]

I've been keeping my eyes on the JXD S7300 as well. The specs are impressive, and if they can keep the quality high and the price low, it could well be the best portable system for homebrew/emulation.

It's showing for preorder on one site for $150.00. The screen is much larger with widescreen instead of full, higher resolution, dual analog, and better specs than the other handheld posted here. It all depends on whether it's a well built product or cheaply constructed.

This one has had multiple products, so you could always check out the product quality of the previous versions.

I don't buy into this stuff when I have a PC that could do the same thing. Although if it's easy enough to do other systems or portables I own without jumping through any difficult hoops, I'll do it for my other systems.

[DK1105]

For emulation on a handheld I only really use my phone. I still have an old G2 and it runs most emulators without any problem. If you are going to be using emulators though a slide out keyboard is a must. Not really a fan of touch controls.

[TheRedEye]

With all of the Windows 8 tablets at CES this year I'm holding out for one of those with a clip-on USB gamepad.

[o.pwuaioc]

There's a new machine on Kickstarter right now that looks very exciting for handheld emulation: the GCW Zero.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gcw/gcw-zero-open-source-gaming-handheld

Except it doesn't do N64.

[Gunstar Hero]

Except it doesn't do N64.

Thats what I was worried about when considering the GCW Zero.

It looks like tablets are the way to go so far but how are jailbroken iPhones? I have an iPhone and am hesitant about jailbreaking it but if it gives good emulation...

[The Dord]

Looks like the GCW zero will pass its original goal (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gcw/gcw-zero-open-source-gaming-handheld)!

[OldSchoolGamer]

Except it doesn't do N64.

N64 support is being worked on along with many not shown in the kickstarter video...........
remember it is still in developmental process and more things are being ported and optimized and updated constantly.

[NomadicGamer]

Right now, the best handheld devices I've used outside of the PSP are the Archos GamePad running stock Android 4.0 which goes for around $160-180 and the Sony Xperia PLAY smartphone also running Ice Cream Sandwich which you can buy refurbished from Amazon for around $80 or new for around $120.

The GamePad has all the advantages of an Android tablet with the added benefit of built in controls that you can't currently (more on that in just a moment) get elsewhere. It emulates the PS1, N64, Sega CD, and pretty much anything else you can think of without a hiccup all on a decent looking 7-inch screen. My biggest gripes about the GamePad, however, are the facts that the battery life is unacceptable (2 hours TOPS) and that the hardware though sturdy enough looks and feels super cheap!

The Xperia PLAY also emulates pretty much any vintage system with ease. My problems here are that the PLAY has the dimmest screen I've ever seen on a smartphone and that it lacks analog sticks.

There are two other options that I will throw out there for discussion. The first already came out a few weeks ago called the Wikipad. It's similar to the Archos GamePad in that it's an Android tablet designed specifically for gaming, but has the advantage of being able to remove the tablet unit from the controls. It looks pretty nice on paper, but I'm waiting to see some hands-on reviews before I spend the $250 to grab one for myself.

The other possibility is the one I'm MOST excited about! It's the Nvidia Shield which will be released in two days on the 27th and costs $300. I already have one pre-ordered myself! It has a gorgeous hi-res 5-inch display which folds up neatly into a handheld system that looks very similar to the XBOX 360 controller. It will run stock Android 4.2 and also has the ability to stream Windows games through Steam over a WiFi connection (as long as you have a recent Nvidia graphics card). I assume all the emulators that currently work on Android will be compatible with the Shield also, and I plan on creating some Youtube videos to show the system's capabilities. So keep your eyes pealed for more information in the next few days!

[WCP]

Whatever happened to the GCW Zero anyways ?

That thing was looking awesome many months ago when they were doing the kickstarter and all that. Since then, it's fallen off the face of the Earth. I'm interested in that one more than any of these other options because of the 4:3 screen. I don't know how you guys can really enjoy emulation on a non 4:3 screen.


I can't stand stretching stuff out, and I can't stand pillarboxing either. Give me a 4:3 screen or give me Death.

[Daltone]

Whatever happened to the GCW Zero anyways ?

That thing was looking awesome many months ago when they were doing the kickstarter and all that. Since then, it's fallen off the face of the Earth. I'm interested in that one more than any of these other options because of the 4:3 screen. I don't know how you guys can really enjoy emulation on a non 4:3 screen.


I can't stand stretching stuff out, and I can't stand pillarboxing either. Give me a 4:3 screen or give me Death.

Is this the thing - http://www.realfreemarket.org/blog/2013/03/29/will-gcw-zero-deliver-their-kickstarter-handhelds/ ?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Does anyone else here own a JXD S7300? I've had mine for a few days now, and I really want top optimize it before I do a full video review.

[jonjandran]

Does anyone else here own a JXD S7300? I've had mine for a few days now, and I really want top optimize it before I do a full video review.


Yes I have one.

You will want to put on a custom firmware, either NCCE 1.1 or SXELROM 3.5 (I prefer SXELROM 3.5)

Then in the SET CPU app change it to Preformance. It uses more battery but you will get the max out of your cpu.

Also if not using Wi-Fi , put it in Airplane mode when testing and playing games.

Do not put it in sleep mode (pushing the power button to turn off screen) while testing as there is sometimes a bug which will make everything slowdown after waking.

That's about all I can think of.

[Ze_ro]

I'm keeping an eye on the NVidia Shield (http://shield.nvidia.com/)... With a Tegra 4, it should outperform all these other devices fairly handily (Dreamcast emulation perhaps?), and it looks like it has much better controls than most of these other options (I don't know what it is, but these HK designers seem to make very weird decisions on controls and button layout). It also streams PC games somehow, though I doubt I'd ever use that feature. $300 might be a bit expensive, but if it bombs and goes on clearance, it could be a really nice emulation machine.

--Zero

[Satoshi_Matrix]

jonjandran, can you explain the advantages/disadvantages of the two different custom firmwares for it? I'm still using the stock firmware, not even the updated one.

[Az]

jonjandran, can you explain the advantages/disadvantages of the two different custom firmwares for it? I'm still using the stock firmware, not even the updated one.

I noticed a big change (for the better) in battery life right off the bat.

[Gunstar Hero]

When someone here gets an NVIDIA Shield I would really like to hear how the emulation is on it. Like many have been saying, $300 is a bit steep but if it is the emulation powerhouse it is being hyped up to be, then I may get one.

[Tupin]

The JXD S7800 is looking pretty good:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKJK0QoyZGQ

[kupomogli]

^It's got more games in that video than the Vita does. New Nintendo competitor confirmed.