PCEngineFans.com - The PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 Community Forum
Non-NEC Console Related Discussion => Console Chat => Topic started by: guyjin on October 02, 2009, 02:26:19 AM
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So there's quite a few of these machines out there (the GP machines, the Dingoo, and others). let's talk about 'em!
So I just got mine, a GP2X Wiz. my first impressions:
it's attractive. I like the black and red and silver color scheme. I was worried about the shape of the D-pad and fire buttons, with metallic trim, would be hard on my thumbs, but so far they've been comfortable.
the games it ships with are mostly pretty good, actually. All but one are in English (the one being an Implode clone in Korean); most make use of the touchscreen, which is pretty responsive.
But clearly, the most important feature is PCE emulation. I haven't played many games yet, but the biggest problems seem to be audio stuttering in the emulator, and the fact that the Wiz does not recognize High Capacity SD cards; it will only read the first 2 GB of any SD card you put in it. A typical CD holds 650 megabytes; do the math, and you'll realize your dream of carrying every TG16 game in your pocket cannot be realized (at least, as far as CDs are concerned.)
There are other emulators as well. Some of their menu systems can be pretty complicated (for example, the Atari XE emulator) and there is little interface consistency between emulators; ferinstance, most of them require you to press "menu" to get to the options menu, but one (alex) wants you to press L+R.
One nuisance I've encountered so far is that the "lock" function doesn't seem to work: the power switch is the kickstart type (pull down and hold to turn on or off) but in the other direction there is a 'lock'. I figured it would suspend all inputs, so you can shove it in your pocket; it doesn't. this basically means I must get a case for it that doesn't push the buttons when I shove it in my pocket, and in the meantime turn it off between playing sessions.
So far, it seems like a playable, but flawed, machine. I'll review it again once I've spent more time with it.
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Thanks for the review. Do any other portables have near flawless Turbo emulation?
... the fact that the Wiz does not recognize High Capacity SD cards; it will only read the first 2 GB of any SD card you put in it. A typical CD holds 650 megabytes; do the math, and you'll realize your dream of carrying every TG16 game in your pocket cannot be realized (at least, as far as CDs are concerned.)
No support for mp3 files, eh? Not that I'm a fan of lossy compression, but I'd live with it for on the go gaming grins and gaiety.
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Thanks for the review. Do any other portables have near flawless Turbo emulation?
I hear that GT thing is quite good. :P
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I hear that GT thing is quite good. :P
Too much Guinness today? I clearly said Turbo! :P
Anyways..... my 'Express is still in need of a cap replacement and I fear will never learn the knack of playing CDs. :cry:
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No support for mp3 files, eh?
To be honest, I don't know. I haven't tried any CD games yet.
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I hear that GT thing is quite good. :P
Too much Guinness today? I clearly said Turbo! :P
Anyways..... my 'Express is still in need of a cap replacement and I fear will never learn the knack of playing CDs. :cry:
Bleagh. I wouldn't drink Guinness if you paid me.
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I hear that GT thing is quite good. :P
No CD support, though. [-X
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Edit: as it turns out, there's a "transparency" setting that is off by default. Turning it on didn't seem to affect performance, so I don't know why this is off by default. take that into account when reading the following.
An addendum: SNES emulation is also broken. The sound doesn't suffer from jitters like the PCEngine emulator does, but something seems to be wrong with how it handles sprites or backgrounds; ferinstance, if you play Castlevania Drac X on it, the fire that's supposed to be in the background is in front of your character, the enemies, and everything else. it's unplayable.
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another addition: the lock switch really does work, but the emulators don't respond to it, just the WIZ official software. tisk tisk.
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From what I've seen the only good portable emulator machine is a full fledged lap top computer, unfortunately. These open source Korean handhelds have been mediocre at it for...what, six or seven years (longer?) despite massive increases in power. I'm sure the NES emulation is probably really good, but the SNES and the PCE always lack, and those are the ones I'd be interested in.
Does anyone know how well are things are going on the jailbroken iPod Touch front?
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From what I've seen the only good portable emulator machine is a full fledged lap top computer, unfortunately.
True, but you can't stick one in your pocket.
These open source Korean handhelds have been mediocre at it for...what, six or seven years (longer?) despite massive increases in power. I'm sure the NES emulation is probably really good, but the SNES and the PCE always lack, and those are the ones I'd be interested in.
Well, PCs have been around a lot longer than any of the Gamepark units; since both basically have to depend on volunteers for emulators, you can't expect the smaller group to catch up immediately. (especially since the Wiz just came out this year.)
I'll experiment more with the SNES emulator, but it seems pretty good so far; it doesn't suffer from audio jitters like the PCE emu does, and as I said the transparency issue was solved. the only thing I've read about that won't run at all is Super Mario RPG.
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I'll experiment more with the SNES emulator, but it seems pretty good so far; it doesn't suffer from audio jitters like the PCE emu does, and as I said the transparency issue was solved. the only thing I've read about that won't run at all is Super Mario RPG.
What about other games that used the SA-1 or various other helper chips?
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heh, hadn't tried any yet. I just tried Starfox and it's unplayable; polygons dissapear for no apparent reason, and some sprites appear in the wrong places. I suppose any other FX game will also fail.
edit: Pilotwings chugs mightily; less than 10 fps. it might be playable, but I don't have the patience.
MegaManX2 runs OK, but the Giant boss you fight in the first level caused noticeable slowdown (>30 FPS according to the emu) but still pretty playable.
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Hm...for SNES purposes I think the PSP probably does about as well.
How about Neo Geo? The Neo Geo emulator for DS is amazing. Sometimes all it takes is the right author.
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How about Neo Geo?
Haven't tried it yet. The internal memory and the one SD card i have are very nearly full. I've been planning to buy another just for the neo; I'll let you know when I get the chance.
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Guy! I'm glad you got a Wiz. I love mine. I did notice however you have some issues. I don't know why you can't use SDHC. You should since all 4 of my SDHC cards work in my GP2X WIZ.
Also for Temper there is a fix that was going around on the forums. The stuttery sound is not the emulator but the system itself. There's a ram timing fix that will work. When I get time I'll PM you and send you the fix. Then it should work perfectly. I can't find the link for the fix off the top of my head on the gp32x forums. Also you should underclock the emulator. It defaults at 533mhz. I have mine clocked back to between 400-450 mhz for most games. Quite a few can be underclocked even more. I don't know why it works better underclocked but it does.
Now regarding file size for your cd games. I guess you're ripping your original to bin/cue. To save space I rip them to iso/ogg. The Temper emulator should've came with a iso ogg program. I rip my games from cd to bin/cue, then use the converter program that came with the emulator to convert it to iso/ogg. I don't believe it does mp3 for audio tracks. There should also be a link in the readme for the ogg codec used to convert the bin/cue files. I hope this helps. Temper really is the best pce emulator i've used actually. Just as good as Magic Engine in my opinion. (minus the extra options for visual effects/ audio balance etc) It is the only emulator for pce on a handheld that does ACD and other CD games to near perfection. The ram timing fix really does fix the stuttering issue. It's a fault of the system, not the emulator. Temper on my regular GP2X runs perfectly. It's the Wiz version that has this stuttering issue, but it's a hardware issue.