Anybody got a GP2X/Pandora or similar?

Hey, I’m interested in getting one of these open source handhelds, mostly for emulating 8 & 16 bit games.

So does anyone have any experience with them that they can share? I’m looking at getting the GP2x Wiz, here’s a link for those that are unfamiliar:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-d1-49-en-70-2z59.html

I don’t have one but I have heard great reviews on the Wiz, it’s emulation is supposed to be great all around for those systems 16-bit and prior. I am not sure on how well it can do the NeoGeo stuff, the very first gen of the hardware I remember seeing having trouble with some of the bigger games like Garou, SamSho5sp, WakuWaku7, and Metal Glug 3 and up.

Eh i thought about one of those units once. Then i realized i’d rather just buy a PSP and learn how to work emus on it.

As it appears to be the superior handheld emulation system of the two.

I have two Dingoos.

GBA, NES,MS, GG, CPS1 all perfect.

MVS, CPS2 are about 80%, but you can overclock it with an app and get better performance.

SNES and Genesis are more hit and miss. RPG is all good, some fast paced stuff and action is too slow. I feel like it’s mainly bad software.

Linux is due to be out fairly soon, performance will improve once that happens.

Got a PSP coming that I’ll try out and compare on different systems.

Here’s a vid for comparison with the GPH Wiz

[media=youtube]-33IdcH3Wb8[/media]

i’d really like to buy a gp2x but the face buttons are so stupid

PSP is good for emulation as long as you get the Slim model. The first gen has a terribly dpad. The DS also does very well with NES, Genesis, and Neo Geo emulation. You can also play Gameboy Color and a few other systems on it that I can’t think of offhand.

thanks for the feedback people. After having a bit of a poke around the net, I’m now leaning towards getting a PSP. The controls/screen size of the Wiz are kind of putting me off. Plus all the emulators I’ve seen running on the PSP look pretty good (including PSX).

If i can get a PSP cheap enough i think I’ll probably go with it come pay day.

Just looked up some stuff on the Dingoo A320, and it looks like a sweet little device. I especially like how it comes with applications right out of the box for playing emued games, video file types, and music. Very convenient.

Did an e-bay search, they’re about $100 shipped new. Interesting.

I’m not familiar with the GP2X or Wiz. How easy is it to get Emu games & videos to play for them?

Yes but how difficult is it to get all that stuff functioning on the PSP? Also isn’t it still in the nigh $200’ish range?

You can get the slim PSPs used for around $100 if you look around.

For the Dingoo it’s about 80 on Dealextreme.

White/Black versions to choose from:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20217
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23032

The only emus that take a bit of work are MVS and CPS2, you need to convert the roms to the correct format with a tool from their website.

But there are places to get the pre-converted roms.

I didn’t realise the Dingoo was that cheap, I’ll look into it for sure.

Wow thats a good price for what looks to be a great unit.

How is the D-pad on the Dingoo, anyone know if its works ok for fighters?

The review I read said the dpad wasn’t good enough but that you could mod it similar to the original PSP. I’m also curious if anyone has more info on these.

I can make a vid on one if enough people are interested.

I’ve got some issues with it, but overall I like it a lot.

I play charge characters, and I would say the dpad is effective maybe 80% of what I do in something like SFII.

But yeah, people have already posted vids on modding the dpad to make it more responsive.

Cool here is an accessory i found which looks to make it better. From what i gather one of the reasons its not as good, is because the D-Pad is a bit too recessed into the unit. Making it difficult to judge when diagonals are hit.

These PSP button enhancer caps have been used by some and are said to make things better. By raising the surface area and providing more thumb “grip”:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11330~28278619

Here is an article on it:

^^ it looks a bit ugly, but thats partly because the guy used the wrong color for his white unit.

Ive been around the gp2x scene for awhile owning all of the systems including the new wiz. I have a psp also, and personally i much prefer using emulators on my wiz the screen although smaller is gorgeous. The emulators are excellent on the gp2x and wiz. I personally found the mame emulator superior on the wiz than on my psp. In my opinion owning both i would recommend a gp2x or wiz over a psp for emulation.

How is the wiz’s D-Pad for fighters?

I’d consider the Wiz if it was not so expensive. Dingoo A320 is not just cheaper but looks pretty good right now. Its only weakness so far is emulation still needs work. However, that could very well be fixed in the future with updates so it has the potential to be great.

I have a GP2x F-200 model…shit is awesome.
Im about to get the New Gp2x Wiz in the future.

If i were you, id get the Gp2x Wiz.

The Pandora is just not worth it IMO…as much as that thing cost you might as well just buy a cheap laptop and be done with it.

oh, btw…the GP2x Wiz is 2 times more Powerful than the PSP.
and with the GP2x Wiz…everything is already open sourced…no need to hack this or that…get around this thing or that thing and all other unnecessary hassle you have to go through with the PSP in order to get homebrew to work on it, doing all this while risking the chance of BRICKING your PSP! and never be able to play it again!..with the Gp2x Wiz…its all ready to go right out the box and will NEVER BRICK!

The Gp2x Community is Very nice and friendly…plus, they have more programs and applications than what the PSP community can offer.

Gp2x Community came up with and now have a working N64 EMULATOR! does the PSP have that? last time i checked it didnt…and with the current hardware on the PSP it’ll be impossible to run it anyway but you’ll never know.

…and lastly…the GP2x uses SDHC Sandisk memory sticks…which will allow you to hold storage high as 32GB! in size…and soon to be released 64GB SDHC memory STICKS! and they’re pretty cheap too. Unlike the PSP on the other hand, with their Memory Pro stick Duos that only go up to 8gbs in size and cost a FORTUNE!!!

so in conclusion.

Gp2x Wiz > PSP

Why are GP2X units so damn hard to find? Quite a few times in the past, such as now, the thought of a handheld emulation system sorta gripped me. Among the options around i always checked out the GP2X, but that was always out of the question because the damn things were so SCARCE. Those units i could find were usually too costly to bother with.

I’d much rather buy a dedicated emu unit like a GP2X than bother with a PSP, but that does not matter if i cannot find any, and for reasonable prices at that.

The dingoo A320 on the other hand is perfect. Readily available, cheap, convenient, and decent-good Emu performance. With potential to be much better in the future.

Sorry but there is NO n64 emulation yet on the gp2x or wiz. The d-pad is not the best for fighters but i can pull all the sf moves off on it. The reason the gp2x is hard to get hold off is because they have been discontinued. The wiz has just come out from a south korean company, and although its more expensive than the dingo i feel it will have more support in the long run. However thats not to say that the dingoo is bad, its just very new. I would still recommend a wiz or even a dingooo over a psp.

BTW, the cost of the Wiz is exactly the amount of what i paid for the F-200 when i got a hold of it…the Wiz is 100 times better than the The F-200 trust me, Hell if you want i can sell you my F-200…LOL

http://www.gp2xstore.com/gamepark-gp2x/

http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/gp2x.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,2592

its still in early development, but with the Hardware on the New Wiz, im sure it can more than enough handle it in the future.

EDIT:

And just for the hell of it.
Here is a place where you can get all your gp2x, Pandora, Wiz, Dingoo, etc needs:
http://dl.openhandhelds.org/