Cage Match, NGPC vs. Lynx: May the best handheld win!

[Funk Buddy]

Gotsa' be the NGP(C) great games (strip mahjong), horoscope and great screen even with no light.

Second is tough, I really like the WS but the sound is not the best. I guess 2nd goes to the Lynx just for US games, even though I'm an import guy.

[RetroYoungen]

You said it yourself, great good games to junk ratio. Yeah, some of the games were held back visually due to the "3 color sprite" barrier that seemed to domintae the library, but Sonic and Cotton both broke through it took the graphics to the next level. And lets not forget the best damned "d-pad" ever!

NGPC wins with an elbow from the top of the cage

That's kinda weird, the elbow dropping from the cage was the first thing that popped into my head!

My choice was also the NGPC. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my Lynx, but my hands are constantly grabbing my NGPC instead. The whole console, besides being smaller and even not back-lit, I've found it so much more comfortable; the thumb stick doesn't hurt my thumb after long periods of playing (whereas the d-pad on the Lynx leaves my thumb ACHING, and I feel like I shouldn't play anything for a while), the button placement is closer and easier to manage (maybe I just have smaller hands, but I have a bit of trouble hitting the A and B buttons on the Lynx, when on the NGPC they're close and easy), and the whole unit is so much smaller and easier to work with.

And my favorite game for each system, STILL no comparison: Oekaki Puzzle (NGPC, a Japanese title like Mario Picross) vs. Crystal Mines II (Lynx, action/puzzle). At least for my personal preference, no comparison.

Oh, and I have NO idea about the WS, never even SEEN one up-close let alone played one.

[davec]

I vote for the NGPC also. Very high quality games and the prices have dropped a lot on the bay. Kudoes to that great control stick, I can crank out fireballs like nobody's business.

I don't own too many games for it but my two faves are Cardfighters Clash and the awesome Puyo Pop which is worth the price of the system by itself. I am dying for a copy of Cotton. I liked the Lynx when it came out but the size of the system and the way it sucks down batteries make it come down in second place.

[Zerothis]

I really want to enter a cheat vote.

My vote would be:
Buy an iPAQ Pocket PC and get emulators for every handheld.

Plus most of the home systems from PlayStation back are emulated on PPC also. For the ones that don't have PPC emulaters, one can run DOS version of the emulators using the PocketDOS emulator. Put my whole videogame collection in my pocket.

Is this a theoretical, or have you actually done this? Is the iPaq a good game playing machine?

I currently own a Toshiba e740 with many emulators installed. I've overclocked it to 472mhz (100mhz bus) (a couple of the emulators crash at faster overclocks than this). It works, to a degree, for every emulator I've tried so far so it's not exactly theoretical. The theoretical part is having the cash to own a Pocket PC faster than 200mhz (default speed). Many of the best emulators are "Only for iPAQ" but I've found that most 'iPAQ' programs will also run on my e740. The iPAQ seems to always be one step ahead of the other PocketPCs with processor/bus speed and fancy periferals (there are game coltrollers especcially for iPAQs). The controls on my e740 are a little lacking (non-multi-button issues) but can be worked arround. Ironically, the iPAQ has the same issue with the built-in buttons. Many emulators work arround this by haveing a duplicate set of controls on the touchscreen (also one at a time). This allows one to press, for instance, 'Up' on the screen and button 1 on the unit at the same time without button 3 being activated instead (this happens on my e740). I haven't gotten an external game controller working yet. Some PPC emulates can be controlled perfectly with a Gravis Stinger gamepad. NES games run great except for a few 'odd mappers' that crash on load. Gameboy/color runs great at native resolution and playable in scaled mode. Genesis games seem to suffer more from controller issues but work. SNES runs without sound and a little slow. Atari 2600 is spot on. Commodore 64 runs excelent. I'm currently working on getting Apple ][ working. The games run great but emulator lacks features (such as fitting the whole Apple ][ screen on the LCD properly. Think pan & scan without the pan. "they're sand people alright, I can see one of them now. [but the TV audience can't so they'll just have to take my word fo-@$*! they'll see that one that's three feet in front of my binoculars me making me look foolish!]"). I Havn't tried the Lynx, Game Gear (+SMS), Wonderswan, Game&Watch, GameBoy Advance, NeoGeo Pocket, TurboGrafx-16, MAME, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Atari 16-bit, Colecovision, CP/M, MSX, MZ-2500, Odyssey2, Oric, Palm, PC-8801, PC-9801, PlayStation, ZX-Spectrum, m5, TI or VZ emulators yet. Some platforms that seem to be lacking so far are Arcadia, Atari 7800, Intellivision, Virtualboy, Vectrex and SegaCD. These would be theoretical since it requires a DOS emulator to run the emulators for these platforms. I've run Ultima 6 on PocketDOS and PocketDOS+Bochs does does 386 now. Its advancing quite well. Sega Saturn would be an interesting emulator for Pocket PC since the Saturn runs an older version of the Pocket Pc anyhow.

Eventually every system will be handheld

If your interested in emulators for Pocket PC here are a few good places to start:
Retromgames EMUs4PPC List
PDArcade EMUs4PPC List
ここに掲載's EMUs4PPC List
DOS for Pocket PCs

[max 330 mega]

ngpc ... card fighters clash has to have been the game i logged more hours into than any other.
and the metal slugs were so great.

[Ed Oscuro]

Sega Saturn would be an interesting emulator for Pocket PC since the Saturn runs an older version of the Pocket Pc anyhow.

I know that the Sega Dreamcast runs Windows CE (3?), but the Saturn I was not aware of...it came out in 1994, and if it had a version of Windows on it I'm sure I would've heard of it. This wasn't really that long after the VIS hit the market, either... The Saturn is a tough system to emulate even on top-of-the-line PCs, due to its dual processor system. Explain please!

[CRV]

Sega Saturn would be an interesting emulator for Pocket PC since the Saturn runs an older version of the Pocket Pc anyhow.

I know that the Sega Dreamcast runs Windows CE (3?), but the Saturn I was not aware of...it came out in 1994, and if it had a version of Windows on it I'm sure I would've heard of it.!

Wouldn't it have had a logo or something on the unit like the Dreamcast has?

[Zerothis]

actually I ment to say dreamcast instead of saturn. Not being a hugh fan of Sega, I often mixup the names of their consoles.

[allsport11]

NGPC hands down

Last Blade
SVC MOTM
Puzzle Bobble Mini
Puzzle Link
Card Fighter Clash (SNK and Capcom ver)
Samurai Shodown 2!
KOF R-2
Pac-Man
Shanghai Mini
Metal Slug 1st Mission
Metal Slug 2nd Mission

I rest my case

Can't forget Crush Roller. One of my all-time favorite games.

[Psycho Mantis]

lynx rules! also, i'm collecting lynx games. if you have any for sale or trade, pm me.

[The Brown Eye]

I also vote for the Lynx, large multiplayer games are the way to go! And A.P.B. rocks my socks!

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[goatdan]

I had to go with the Neo Geo Pocket. While the Lynx had and has some amazing games, the design and execution of the Neo Geo Pocket creamed it. In perhaps the ultimate vote, I sold a big chunk of the Lynx games I never played not too long ago, and bought Neo Geo Pocket games with the proceeds...

[junglehunter]

Lynx doesn't even stand a chance against the NGPC, IMO.

So my vote goes to the NGPC.