Emulation: DC & Xbox

[Sidez]

Ok I was pretty harsh on the DC side of emulation but so was Kron on the Xbox side. Let's try to comply a list of the best emulators of each system as frankly Americans don't know dick about image quality so info on the net is poor.

Criteria:

1. Image quality
2. Speed
3. Compatibility
4. Sound

SNES: XSNESX by Lantus [Xbox]. No contest here, the picture is extremely good, compatibility perfect and so is the sound. I've compared various roms to the SFC originals by flicking between them on my SCART block and i'd say it's 95% accurate. A touch too soft (only slight) and a notch extra of brightness is needed.

AC (System 16): Wasn't someone doing one for Dreamcast?

AC (CPS1/2): Final Burn [Xbox]. Runs everything flawlessly.

AC (Taito F3): None.

AC (Neo Geo): The various MAME flavours on Xbox will do but soon Final Burn will support Neo Geo also.

MD: GensX by Xport [Xbox]. I can't get it to boot CD originals for love nor money but backups are fine. Runs all the 32X and MD roms I throw at it but the image is too soft/dark.

Post here and i'll update this initial post. I'm assuming NesterDC is the best for NES stuff but i've not tried any Xbox equivilents.

[John Beaulieu]

Gens_Xport is the best genesis emulator - much better than standard gensX (coded by the same person i think)

camps

[Crono]

I haven't tried any of the Xbox emulators - as I've yet to get my machine chipped.

As for the Dreamcast. Nester DC runs Nes games flawlessly, although, on some games I've noticed there's a bit of slow down. Still, the best Nes emulator on the machine.

Dream Snes 0.98 is a good Snes emulator but the games do run slowly about 70-80% of the originals depending on the game and the situation - although it's good for RPGs but not so good for racers such as F-Zero.

[sam1981]

Gens_Xport is the best genesis emulator - much better than standard gensX (coded by the same person i think)

camps

Can you change the button config on any of these? I've got dgensX and cannot change the button config, so loads of games use the crappy black button.

[quirky]

I think it is a bit unfair to compare the two side by side really, given that the sheer power (more RAM, higher CPU clock speed, etc) of the XBox is greater than the DC, which counts a great deal for emulation.

Only 8-bit emulators are really playable on the DC, the rest are too glitchy one way or the other. If you want a vast library of playable games, the XBox is the way to go.

However, DC emulators don't need a chipped machine to run, which is a killer for XBox stuff. I wonder how well the comparison would come out if it was "DC vs XBox emultion off-the-shelf"?

[John Beaulieu]

there is a way to install linux on an unmodded xbox (looks very risky but seems do-able to the right tech heads)

via this you can install all the emus i think

camps

[Fire]

Aye, there's also a project (the neo project?) going where you can use your spare PC processing power to try and crack the encrption code [or whatever] that xbox discs need to be booted on unmodded xboxes. It's a longshot but if it is found you'll be able to just burn anything and whack it into an unmodded xbox to play.

[Jay]

I think it is a bit unfair to compare the two side by side really, given that the sheer power (more RAM, higher CPU clock speed, etc) of the XBox is greater than the DC, which counts a great deal for emulation.

Only 8-bit emulators are really playable on the DC, the rest are too glitchy one way or the other. If you want a vast library of playable games, the XBox is the way to go.

However, DC emulators don't need a chipped machine to run, which is a killer for XBox stuff. I wonder how well the comparison would come out if it was "DC vs XBox emultion off-the-shelf"?

Very true, though the cracked version of Bleem (naughty naughty) doing the rounds shows what can be achieved on the DC. If the Bleem team had concentrated on improving compatibility overall instead of releasing game-specific packs, Bleem could have been something very special indeed.

Jay

[Burai]

Bleem had the nasty situation of being constantly raped by Sony's legal team.

That's why they had to do the Bleem Packs because they were forced to lay off 8 members of staff (leaving them with just the 2 founders) and by the time Bleem in it's inteded form was finished we would have been on PlayStation 4.

The Bleem packs were a way of generating money to pay the legal fees and keep the company afloat.

[Valken]

there is a way to install linux on an unmodded xbox (looks very risky but seems do-able to the right tech heads)

via this you can install all the emus i think

camps

It's a nightmare... I'm pretty good with computers and I still made a balls of it first time. Haven't worked up the nerve to try again since I'm down to one XBox having returned my debug unit.

[a_c_saunders]

I'm not sure if SNES9X works on Xbox's seeing as I don't have one but I've always preferred that to ZSNES for some reason, but once you've got the filters used on both theres not really much comparison.