Best handheld for SNES/MD emulation

[riku]

I already have a nintendo DS but the SNES emulator is a bit weak on that, but of the following three, which one is the best for SNES emulation?

PSP, GP2x Wiz, and Dingoo A320?

I will also be playing MD games as well, but I've heard that MD emulation is pretty good for all three?

Also, what about MAME? I don't know how good MAME runs on each of the above consoles (I'll mainly be playing shoot em ups and beat em ups by capcom).

[nakamura]

Well I use a phat PSP for it at the moment and MD is excellent.
SNES is not so good. Some games like Mario World, Donkey Kong Country I have got working pretty much perfect but Mode 7 and Super FX games are not great.

With the mode 7 games I just set the frameskip to 1 which basically runs them at 30fps full speed. F-Zero and Mario Kart are excellent this way and the small screen helps the frame rate somewhat.
FX games are useless.

I had to disable one option to get DK Country working and all it did was delete the furthest away backdrop on some levels but it doesn't detract at all from the gameplay or even looks.

[Powerstar]

slim psp has more ram to play with poster above me sounds like he's playing with an older snes emu as well. I have a silver psp 2000. So maybe this is why.

snes is perfect for all games for me on frameskip one on the most up to date snes emu. Including mode 7 titles. Even starfox/starwing and its sequel plays nicely!

If you have a ds already, just wait and buy a supercard ds 2. it'll have snes, gba and megadrive emulation built in (card itself has a beefier processor in it to handle this extra load). It's been confirmed already to play all games tested flawlessly.

I'd avoid the dingoo. Snes ain't so great on it for me :*( and I wouldn't really go for a wiz with the pandora so close to coming out.

if u can wait though, just get the supercard ds 2. :P

[riku]

I can only find sources that say that the supercard DSTWO will have built in SNES/GBA emulation?

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=267332

I could always use jenesisDS in that case, although it has a few compatibility issues with some games.

Having said that, since the DS's screen resolution is 256 x 192, the SNES or MD image has to be either cropped or squashed.

Still, I'll think about that supercard DSTWO, as it'll save me a lot of money, but will discount the dingoo based on its lack of power compared to the rest. The only gripe I have with the GP2x Wiz, is the GOD AWFUL right-side button layout, which they've decided to use a D-pad instead, whose retarded idea was that?

If I can get a PSP preloaded with custom firmware etc at a decent price, I'll get that.

I downloaded the iphone SNES emulator but I can't play that using the touch screen for a SNES controller, it's hopeless. At least scummvm runs great.

I would buy the Pandora, but at that price, perhaps I should just turn my sony vaio 11" lappy into a retro gaming rig? :P Will be awkward holding a SNES controller on the train though, hehe.

[nakamura]

Cheers for the info Powerstar. I am new to all this sort of stuff. I have been tempted by a slim 2000 for emulation purposes as I am a huge PSP player in this area.

Is it possible to get a better snes emu for the phat? I have Snes9xTYL0.4.2

[riku]

Also for powerstar, how did you go about getting the homebrew on your psp 2000 slim? I've forgotten how to do all that - did you use a pandora battery? what firmware came with the psp by default, and what did you put on it?

[nakamura]

My friend used a pandora battery for my phat. I know that much. I just updated it to 5.50 cfw myself! Dead proud!

[riku]

what firmware did your phat have to start with?must have been 1.50 I think?

I read that only the older psp slims will work with the pandora battery, not some of the newer ones.

Wish I hadnt sold my phat 2 years ago.

[nakamura]

Well I know only the phat and slim2000 are meant to be able to be flashed. All depends on the motherboard on the slims too.
I must have had around 2-3 on the stock FW. I had a few newer titles. i am sure it was in the region of 2. something.

[riku]

given the hassle of getting this all done, I've seen a phat PSP on ebay going for ?51, with custom firmware 5.50GEN already on it, that might be worth getting for no more than say ?70 if the price doesnt go up too much (or if ebay take the listing down).

[Powerstar]

You can flash a psp 1000 or 2000 that has ANY firmware on it

I have a zip file with everything needed on it (everytime I tried it with downloaded methods before, a stupid text file was always missing.) Gimme a shout if anybody wants it. Just shove the files from the zip onto the stick and put in the battery and it does the work.

A pandora battery from dealextreme, and a memory card that needs to be under 2gb is all u need for the firmware.

Supercard have some nameless coder working on the emulators. Snes and gba were all that were confirmed, but they're working on megadrive, neo geo and MAME as well.

TYL0.4.2 is a few years old nakamura tehskeen post new ones every once in a while (japanese coder that updated tinnus, yoyofr and whoever the other guy was' work. It's called snes9xtyl0.4.2 mecm. It's really rather optimised.

Also, riku, U can probably get a slim for around £70. It's more worth it. There isn't really so much hassle modding it these days. U just need that dealextreme battery

also, I just saw the price of the pandora and there now appears to be a brick nestling in my boxers. Still, if that little beast emulates dreamcast well... then whatever money it costs, i'll hand over eventually.

[riku]

If I am to get a PSP Slim, I just need to make sure I steer clear of the one with the TA88v3 motherboard, thankfully this http://www.pandorasales.com/taidnha.html reckons the serial no. can tell me that

Edit: The auction on ebay I'm looking is actually for a PSP 2003, so it is the slim one anyway - seeing as its pre modded etc, and I cant find psp slims for less than £90, I'll try to get that one provided the price is reasonable.

[nakamura]

Turns out I do have the better SNES emu. Just need a slim then.
Mine is Snes9xTYLO.4.2mecm.

[speedlolita]

Mega Drive emulator is near perfect on PSP. Streets of Rage 2 in my pocket. (y)

[JazzFunk]

I think the DS is pretty great for MD emulation - you can turn off the screen compression if you don't mind missing a bit of information around the edges of the screen. 95% of the games i've tried work spot-on, full speed, sound great (despite the DS speakers) and the ones that don't (Mazin Saga, for instance) aren't all that anyway. Bare Knuckle 2 & 3 and Shadow Dancer look awesome on the DS!

As for this new SuperCard, is it gonna need a Slot 2 device in the GBA slot or can it use ROMs via the SD card in the DS slot? If so, I'm assuming that we'll be able to get PCE emulation on the DS, too? (licks lips!)