Should I buy a PSP for a portable emulation device?

[7800 Emucoder]

 

 

That's just nonsense. The SNES does not run great on the PSX. If you have to skip frames, it's not great emulation.

I've played SNES emulation on it a handful of times and it seemed just fine. Then again, I'm not really interested in Nintendo consoles because im not into cutesy mushroom Kirby's and Pokemon toddler themed games.

[7800 Emucoder]

 

 

What CFW and version of MAME are you using? I would love to get MAME running on mine again

I stopped updating at 5.50 CFW, and the MAME version is the mame4all 4.9r2.

[Cynicaster]

Then again, I'm not really interested in Nintendo consoles because im not into cutesy mushroom Kirby's and Pokemon toddler themed games.

 

Haha. If I have to hear one more full grown adult talk about Pokemon, I think I'm going to lose it.

[Hatta]

Some games run fine on the PSP, others drop a lot of frames. I specifically had trouble with Axelay. Turning frameskip to 0 on Snes9x Euphoria R5 runs Axelay at around 40FPS, even with the PSP clocked at 333MHz, 11khz audio, and no scaling. It plays OK with frameskip of 1, but when you die you strobe. With the frameskip on, half the time you're invisible. It's just not quite worthwhile unfortunately.

[7800 Emucoder]

The thing is, this isn't so much a limitation of the PSP itself as it is poorly encoded emulators with ineffective Dynarecs for the PSP. The PSP more than has the horsepower to pull it off if the emulator is efficient and accurate.

 

Just look at Picodrive for the PSP. It does full speed 60fps Sega CD emulation, which is a little less than twice the horsepower of the SNES. If it can do that, it can do SNES if the proper care is given to maximizing its efficiency for the PSP. Problem is, most PSP emulator homebrews are lazy ports if the windows or Linux versions, with very little in the way of optimizations.

[godslabrat]

It would be useful if we could compile a summary of the PSP, Dingoo, GP32, etc. against various emulators, and list their performance in some objective manner.

 

For example, I'd love something that could emulate SNES, NES, Genesis, and Atari, but coudn't care less about anything else. I don't mind hearing that a PSX emulator doesn't work, but hearing that a SNES emulator spazzes out concerns me. All of these options will cost you the better part of $100, so for that money, there should be SOME emulator that runs perfectly, especially for the earlier systems.

[volkanik_destruktor]

I'd love something that could emulate SNES, NES, Genesis, and Atari

 

...and it's called android smartphone... even some hacked roms / pirate games are working correctly.

 

And what about Dosbox on PSP? Can it handle at least some 386 games like Commanche, Colonization, Prehistorik 2, Lotus 3?

[godslabrat]

...and it's called android smartphone... even some hacked roms / pirate games are working correctly.

 

Point absolutely taken... but I meant something with a respectable integrated d-pad. Most of the Android phones I've seen follow either the iPhone or the Blackberry design. The Sony Xperia is a candidate, but it seems not many people talk about them compared to Dingoos and PSPs.

[bomberpunk]

the following statement doesn't add much to this thread, BUT... i play most of my retro stuff on my Nexus 7 now. once my bluetooth Impulse controller comes in, i'll be set! until then, touch screen controls (bleh)...

[Hatta]

I don't mind hearing that a PSX emulator doesn't work, but hearing that a SNES emulator spazzes out concerns me.

 

The funny part is the PSX "emulation" on the PSP is damn near perfect. But that's because it was a hardware feature of the PSP from the beginning.

[7800 Emucoder]

 

 

The funny part is the PSX "emulation" on the PSP is damn near perfect. But that's because it was a hardware feature of the PSP from the beginning.

Completely false. The PSP shares no common hardware with the original Playstation. PSX games run on the PSP using the Sony-coded "POPS" emulator, aka playstation on playstation. The advantage is that Sony had the original hardware and software development specs needed to code a highly optimized emulator core which would be sufficient to run the PSX games efficiently.

 

I know this because I worked with Dark Alex (one of the PSP CFW pioneers) directly in testing and developing the POPSloader plugin, which allowed for CFW users to change the emulator core to different versions from different PSP firmware releases, because compatibility changed and varied from version to version.

[Hatta]

I stand corrected! Thanks.

[Cynicaster]

the following statement doesn't add much to this thread, BUT... i play most of my retro stuff on my Nexus 7 now. once my bluetooth Impulse controller comes in, i'll be set! until then, touch screen controls (bleh)...

 

I'd rather take a shit in my hands and clap than desecrate classic games with touch screen controls. Just the thought of them infuriates me for some reason.

[7800 Emucoder]

 

 

I'd rather take a shit in my hands and clap than desecrate classic games with touch screen controls. Just the thought of them infuriates me for some reason.

Lol yep. I've been trying to get involved on the ps3 port of Retroarch, a multi-core multi-system emulator that is easily ported to many platforms, and right now the main coders are concentrating on the android/touchscreen device ports, and I just kept asking why? What a terrible format for retro gaming.

[Satoshi Matrix]

I have a question for those who have portable emulation devices OTHER than the PSP.

 

Can you take .png or other non jpg screenshots with your devices? Almost all of the PSP emulators do this, making it highly useful for me and my blog.

[+Gemintronic]

I have a question for those who have portable emulation devices OTHER than the PSP.

 

Can you take .png or other non jpg screenshots with your devices? Almost all of the PSP emulators do this, making it highly useful for me and my blog.

 

It depends on the emulator itself. I personally take whatever format I can get and convert it to .PNG on my PC.

[Classic Pac]

I have an Unmodded PSP model 3000 and I actually found 2 emulators that work on it. One for the 7800 the other the NES, they work because they are something called 'Signed Emulators'.

[jmetal88]

Thanks for the input guys. I think based on what I've learned here, I'll pass on the PSP and look at a more dedicated emulation device.

 

 

 

I've heard of that one, and it had me curious. Do you actually use it as a phone, or just for games?

 

Of these various options that have been talked about, which ones are still "in production" and which ones are only available on the used market?

 

I know there was that kickstarter recently for the GC-whatever thing. Is that widely available yet, or just to kickstarter contributors?

 

I got an Xperia Play a couple of months ago. I've been using it both as a phone and for games. It's a little unresponsive in the UI department at times, but once you have a game or emulator started, it performs brilliantly! Just make sure you keep it running some version of Gingerbread. Any of the newer custom Android ROMs make the device run games and emulators painfully slowly.

 

Seriously, there are a lot of complaints on the Google Play store about the aLynx emulator being slow, but I have it running full speed at the stock clock speed on this phone. I've noticed the performance does suffer dramatically if I upgrade to one of the custom ICS ROMs.

[Satoshi Matrix]

I haven't posted here much on my feelings about the PSP yet, so I'll voice them now.

 

I personally LOVE the PSP as a portable emulation device. I literally use mine every single night before I go to sleep.

 

The PSP's brilliant, large screen and the 2000 and 3000 slim design make comfortable and ideal. The PSP handles most classic consoles with ease and very importantly for me, most emulators offer screenshot support enabling me to compile images I use for my blog.

 

I use mine to play GB/GBC, Master System, GameGear, GameBoy Advance, NES, Genesis, as well as the PSP's own library of fantastic games including quite a number of absolutely kick ass RPGs and PS1 classics. SNES emulation on the PSP ranges from so-so to downright bad, but everything else is really top notch.

 

For the price you can get a PSP 3000 for, you really can't go wrong. Modding is super easy nowadays and as it's a dedicated console merely hacked to run emulators, there's also a library of retail games to fall back on, many that will appeal directly to retro gamers such as the Namco and Capcom collections, Megaman Maverick Hunter X, a slew of fantastic Ys remakes, Lunar Silver Star Harmony, the Final Fantasy remakes, and so much more.

 

Ignore the naysayers - the PSP is a bloody fantastic option. Keep in mind though that you'll need to buy a memory card to go with the PSP as with the exception of the GO, there is no onboard storage. 8GB cards really aren't that much and they'll store hundreds of classic games and a few retail ones as well.

 

 

The question shouldn't be "should I buy a PSP for a portable emulation device."

 

Instead you should be asking "Why don't I already own a PSP"?

[NIAD]

Well said Satoshi M.

 

I have a PSP-1000 that has been modded with the latest HEN'ware and it plays everything that I need and want (2600, 5200, 7800, Vectrex, Intellivision, ColecoVision, GB/GBC/GBA, etc.) like a champ. It's also nice to be able to play PSP ISOs and save all the wear and tear on the UMD drive.

 

For the pirce that PSPs can be had, it's one of the best options available. Is it perfect? No, but is anything.

[Satoshi Matrix]

The other thing is the battery life. There's a little piece of homebrew code that allows users to manually set the brightness level to settings beyond what the factory settings. Almost always, I find 30% brightness to be more than enough when playing in bed. THis makes the battery last somewhere around 10 to 12 hours, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for my 3DS.

[Rex Dart]

I got an Xperia Play a couple of months ago. I've been using it both as a phone and for games.

 

I have one too. Even MAME and CPS2 games work pretty well. My current problem is that my TG16 emu (PCE.EMU) sees the circle button as a command to exit.

[jmetal88]

I have one too. Even MAME and CPS2 games work pretty well. My current problem is that my TG16 emu (PCE.EMU) sees the circle button as a command to exit.

 

Yeah, Circle seems to map to the Back button, by default. The emulators I use don't seem to have a problem with it, though, and usually wait for me to hit the Menu key before interpreting Circle as Back. I don't know about the TG16 emulator though, as I've never had any great desire to play TG16 games. I'd probably be able to get into it if I had the actual unit in front of me, but it's just hard for me to get into via emulation.

[Rex Dart]

Yeah, Circle seems to map to the Back button, by default. The emulators I use don't seem to have a problem with it, though, and usually wait for me to hit the Menu key before interpreting Circle as Back. I don't know about the TG16 emulator though, as I've never had any great desire to play TG16 games. I'd probably be able to get into it if I had the actual unit in front of me, but it's just hard for me to get into via emulation.

 

Try Parasol Stars and Blazing Lazers. But yeah, most emulators understand the buttons just fine. There's probably a better TG16 emu out there I haven't tried yet.

[Falconhood]

I use a GP2X Wiz, GP2X Caanoo, OpenPandora and hopefully one day a GCW Zero. Prior to that I did use a couple PSP's but the analog nubs fucked up after trying to add custom faceplates, they drift to various directions , and yes I have tried ever tutorial and suggested fixes online, even putting original Faceplate back on has not helped so I am done with PSP myself.

I was just looking for information on this. I stumbled on it while looking for a cheaper than Amazon Neo Geo X MegaPack on eBay...and I want to know more about it. can you guide me to a wealth of EMULATION knowledge. Most of the reviews I find on youtube are just about the HARDWARE, and that's not as important to me.