Retro handheld emulator consoles

[673ff49ecc4e1Kolya]

RPS: "Exapunks players remake Asteroids and Pong inside a fictional Game Boy"

These monstrous people are making tiny moving lights and little beeping noises out of nothing but MATH. That’s magic. There should be a whole industry based on this stuff.

He's joking, right? 

[673ff49ecc823fox]

He's joking, right? 

Obviously, as if a grown man and game journalist would believe in magic. Magic is impossible and scientists have proven it repeatedly. So, how could you build an industry on something that doesn't exist? It's ridiculous.

[673ff49eccacbvoodoo47]

ohh, the X handheld people are releasing a new device - the X12:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=venzyYaMZ7U

I'm genuinely almost excited, if they manage to fix some of the problems the X9 had (UI crapping out, a few slowdowns, and a below average build quality), then I'm in (looks like they are on a good way, the stupid volume buttons are gone from the front side, the device has stereo speakers now and the shell looks less cheap). again, hard to say no to portable PS1 emulation (and many other systems as well) for $35.

maybe they'll even rip the proper NTSC ROM for Super Mario this time. and fix the NO/OFF description of the power switch.

[673ff49eccc1evoodoo47]

also, Duke3D at 59:00, not bad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR20lnYtiqk

wouldn't want to play the game without a mouse, but still fun to see it run so smoothly on such a cheap portable device.

[673ff49ecce3evoodoo47]

//edit 2019: closed source devices above $15 are not worth the hassle anymore, go for something that has an open OS.

yaay, the X12 is finally here, and I have to say I'm quite happy with it, it feels less cheap than the X9, and a fair chunk of stupid has been removed - no more weird volume control, the emulator menu now has a separate button instead of being mapped to the left shoulder button (whoever came up with that deserves an extra sack of rice of whatever they're being paid with), the game browser icon is now at the A1 position. remapping the controls is still pita, and some undeletable fake games are still in, but that's not a big deal. a quite important thing is the added option to swap cds, which was not present on the X9 (so I would assume the X9 was only capable of playing one cd PSX games).

anyway, I can safely say that if you want a 30-something buck retro handheld emulator that will emulate pretty much all the retro stuff up to the 4th gen (plus some PSX), the X12 is a good bet.

grabbed a RS-97 as well, and while the zero fakeness and clean UI are appreciated, the device is pretty worthless without custom firmware.


and while not really a handheld, the Nvidia Shield TV can double as a pretty damn impressive retro emulator console, it seems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWueSCxd5Bs

too bad it retails for about $229 around here.

[673ff49eccfacvoodoo47]

looks like the BittBoy people got it right on the second try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCyCMpg7FOw

- no illegal/shitty/fake roms (in fact, absolutely no roms at all)
- passable UI
- savestates
- TF card support (requires one with your own roms to actually work)
- tv out AND audio jack
- plays NES, GB and GBC roms
- $40 pricetag

would love to see SNES support, but this is an insta buy as far as I'm concerned (if I can find a place that sells it for forty bucks and accepts paypal, that is).

[673ff49ecd262Olfred]

They seem to have international shipping, unfortunately no paypal
Aren't there services to pay on CC checkouts even though you don't have one?

[673ff49ecd385voodoo47]

pretty sure they will start popping up on ebay soon enough, and I'm in no real hurry. and I also could try to use my credit card on their website - if it worked for kickstarter, it will probably work there as well, though I'm not too fond of direct cc payments, every braincell screaming "NOT SECURE/BIG MAN WATCHING" each time I use it.

[673ff49ecd622voodoo47]

//edit 2019: closed source devices above $15 are not worth the hassle anymore, go for something that has an open OS.

so I'm still not done with the stupid, apparently - remember the atgames clone? found something that looked like a newer version, it was cheap, so I've grabbed it. and what do you know, the ugly colored plastic is gone (the console is all black now), no lockups so far, the firmware supports savestates, key remapping and screens scaling, and the device now sports a tf card slot and a mini hdmi-out. just like its predecessor, it has 100 sega games preinstalled (no fakes or repeats), and also plays nes, snes, gbc, gba and PS1 games. it still isn't amazingly fast (though definitely faster than the previous iteration), and the sound isn't exactly brilliant, but hey, if it can be purchased for some 10 bucks shipping included, you are willing to overlook an imperfection or two.

//yeah, it actually plays PS1 games as well, Resident Evil runs with no problems (forget about Symphony of the Night though, too slow. so your mileage may vary, as far as PS1 games are concerned). time to throw money at those wackos while they still sell them cheap.

it's amusing to observe how these funny little devices evolve from almost worthless pieces of garbage into something of actual use.

//the hdmi output quality is questionable at best, but hey, it works.

[673ff49ecd7a4JDoran]

I wish someone would make a Nintendo 64 compatible handheld, with properly ergonomic controls. Imagine being able to play Perfect Dark and Goldeneye, and with good controls (I can't stress that enough). That would be fantastic!

[673ff49ecd8b4voodoo47]

the most powerful pi3+ based handhelds can do that, but those don't come cheap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG7dCAgZBrU

[673ff49ecdb11voodoo47]

also, looks like the development of custom firmware for the RetroMini has resumed, and the new BittBoy already has one, so yeah, a lot more more retro systems are now supported including DOS, so now it can play Doom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu7ABuhDx0Y

this is probably as good as it gets, if you want to play 4th gen (or older) stuff on a no-bs handheld and you have $40 to spare.

//and looks like they've added paypal support (via retromimi.com/products/new-bittboy), and you can save $8 by using a "happy2019" code on checkout. shipping is free, so yeah, I think I'm more than willing to throw $32 at them.

//heh, so what actually happened with the new BittBoy is that the BittBoy people finally realized that they should just ditch the crappy proprietary sw and go with openDingux from the start - they've updated the hardware to make this possible (V2), and all the new BittBoys now ship with openDingux preinstalled. as this is opensource, and community maintained, future updates should be plentiful and easy to install.

seems like sometimes people do learn, eventually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxrV_UVwyA

anyway, ordered one - first time buying something from china directly, lets hope there will be no hitches (it's paypal, so with a bit of luck, they should be able to reverse the payment. and if not, well, 30 bucks is not the end of the world). also, just realized - having DosBox working means Panzer General on a GameBoy. awesome.

[673ff49ecdd22voodoo47]

yaay, the BittBoy is here. and yeah, it comes with a build of the community firmware, so the emulation is pretty good. it does have a bunch of roms loaded (guess they just couldn't resist), and launching DosBox will autostart some chinese game that cannot be exited, good job people. but not a big deal, as you can delete/update whatever you want.

the screen is really nice, but the build quality is not too great, and the device feels cheap. need to play with this some more - as long as it plays games as it should, then it's a decent choice, if loading custom firmware is what you require.

so, is this the ultimate portable 4th gen (+PSX) emulator device? nope, but it's getting close. definitely don't pay more than those 30-something bucks though.


//ok, Castlevania - Symphony of the Night actually playable, not bad. Wolf3D looks razor sharp, and plays really well (drags like Pak40 through mud on the RetroMini). Doom is also smooth as butter, though not playable without mouse and keyboard as far as I'm concerned. software definitely beta though, the PSX emulator locks up when trying to enter display settings, for example.

the $10 clone of the AtGames clone definitely more comfortable to hold, and plays SNES, GBC and GBA games comparably well. PG runs, but it's about 0.1 FPS, so unusable.

[673ff49ecde71voodoo47]

gotta admit this is quite smart;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X473iXjF3iU

I'd be willing to throw $100+ at a CM3 version with a rechargeable battery - I'm guessing the battery would not be possible without a new hw revision, but considering how the Pi is connected to this, it's completely possible that just a new detachable module for a CM3 Pi could be released.

[673ff49ece005Olfred]

Well, I like the approach of just using regular batteries. You can just use rechargeable batteries, what I do anyway for most of my appliances. And this actually is my preferred method. That's one reason why I prefer the Xbox Controllers over the Playstation ones. When the batteries are empty I can just switch them out and don't have to play with a ridiculously short cable (if you use the one that comes with a PS).
And when the rechargeable battery is dead. It's way easier to switch to a new one. And with better availability.
The only downside is that you need some external charger if the device doesn't support charging.

From what I've seen on information about the gpi case. It doesn't look like it got a charger in there. But it seems like there is plenty of space for one. And you can get ready to drop in chargers from companies like adafruit. So it shouldn't be impossible.

[673ff49ece188voodoo47]

I could live with the regular batteries, but this thing really needs the CM3 Pi module to reach its full potential, so I'm definitely waiting the first release out.

on a slightly related note, the Dreamcast now finally has a proper hdmi solution, so once I run out of other ideas on spending my time (and money), I might get the system and all its sparkly 3rdparty hw addons, just for the sake of owning the only console that should have been powered by 3Dfx, but ended up being one of the five big nails in their coffin instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBUtALk7Q2k

[673ff49ece877voodoo47]

bleh, should have waited just a little bit more - BittBoy is now at V3, fixing the rather annoying ghost key issue of V2 (hw flaw that would activate something else after pressing certain key combos - ex if you hold down run and fire, and press right in Doom, you will activate the map, which is normally opened by pressing select).

pretty sure I'll be able to sell the V2 with almost no loss, so went ahead and ordered V3 (same price of 30 bucks). lets see whether they improve the shell quality as well.

[673ff49ece9c9LelandSon]

I wish they made a few more improvements to V3. I can't justify buying it at this point, but I definitely will be going for V4 if they continue on this path.

[673ff49ecebcdvoodoo47]

V3 should be a decent buy (even V2 was - it's not that difficult to not trigger the ghostkey flaw, if you know what to not do), as long as you can get it for those thirty-something bucks. while not perfect (no emulator device is, was, and will be), the stupid is all gone as far as I can tell, the format is nice, and most games on the supported platforms perform adequately. and things will improve as using custom firmware is not a problem, so I wouldn't be too afraid to grab one (unless you are on a really tight budget - in that case, the ten buck clone of the atgames clone should have you covered).

seems like they are planning to change the shell in the future, so there is a good chance V3 will be the last one using the gameboyesque format.

I'll probably get that one as well once it's out - while I am quite fond of the gameboy shell, I have to admit this just fits better into my hands (same format as the atgames clone, basically). lets hope the screen will be just as good as V2/3.

[673ff49eced05voodoo47]

and the RetroMini can now run OpenDingux. too bad I really, really don't have time to mess around this right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mYzgRBl89A

[673ff49ecee4dvoodoo47]

looks like they are creating a new product line for the new shell - BittBoy PocketGo. can be pre-ordered now for $36.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FdSthe8Up0

looking good, but going to be cheap for the moment and wait for the first sale.

[673ff49ecef74voodoo47]

yaay, BittBoy V3 - ghost key issue is indeed resolved, screen tearing not so much. but for some $30, it's easy to recommend for anyone who likes the shell format - and it can load custom firmware, supports a ton of systems, and is powerful enough to play most of them at full speed. good enough™.

[673ff49ecf0bdZylonBane]

The SNES emulator reduces that tiny screen even further by sticking a giant border around the screen?!

[673ff49ecf1a2voodoo47]

every emulator supports at least three screen modes - pixel perfect, scale to max with aspect ratio preserved, and fullscreen.