Comparison Of All Emulators For All Handheld


renejr902

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maybe you know i have a lot of handheld: gp32,gp2x,wiz,dingoo 320, psp, ds, gba, gba sp, Zodiac, LEtcool(very soon), gamegear, gameboy, onestation, vg pocket...

So for people that dont know which handheld to buy, because they want to know the emulator performance before buying it , i will compare some of them with the different handheld i have.

Number 1. is the best handheld for this emulator. Number 7 is the worst handheld for this emulator

comparison of different emulators:


Super Nes emulator

1. Wiz(Pocketsnes): The best handheld out there to play Snes.You want to play snes BUY A WIZ !!! F-zero and mariokart are fullspeed 53 to 60 fps all the time. cant see any frameskip(transparency off, and audio hack at 800 mhz). All games fullspeed, a few exceptions. Yoshie island very playable. Donkey kong country series full speed. Chrono trigger full speed. Star fox have 8 to 15 fps. if i remember correctly i tried a lot of games and most of them 60 fps and fullspeed, its awesome. . Full scale option is ok, image look a little odd. no interpolation option. No ghostling, oled screen give life to Snes. the snes emulator really beat the gp2x snes emulator, believe me, i tested it a lot and play very often. very little tearing. dont bother me, it dont happen often

2. PSP (snes9xTYL) : Great for snes, great performance, but a lot of ghostling. Different scaling option with interpolation option. i like the scale option. but the look is very soft and interpolated. if you remove the interpolation option (soft) its really not playable , the look is too odd and strange.
Mariokart fullspeed with 30 fps all the time. A lot of games have 60 fps. Megaman x2 and x3 run great. Chrono trigger fullspeed near 60 fps. Final fantasy II 60 fps. But some games runs better on the wiz. Wiz is definately faster. But the PSP do the job very well. F-zero has a lot of frameskip. maybe 20-25 fps. All snes games of playable, except a few one. Secret of mana 60 fps most of time and fullspeed


3. Gp2x (PocketSnes): Very good. Full scale option look a little odd. no interpolation option. MAriokart run 15 to 25 fps. for me its playable. Fzero a lot of frameskip. Chrono trigger fullspeed some frameskip, i think its at least 30 fps. Most games are playable, but some of them has too much frameskip.

4. Dingoo A320 (Snes9x4D dingux) : Well well, its ok. playable for most games but a lot of frameskip. Even megaman X have a lot of frameskip and slowdown. Still its playable. But dont buy a Dingoo A320 for SNES only thats for sure. i have to do more testing. i tried 10-20 games. any of them dont have 60fps. Mariokart around 10 fps.

5. Nintendo Ds : Great speed but only for a few games. low compatibility. games with chip too slow. Castlevania IV runs great.

6. Gp32: LOL Really slow, but some game are playable. no full scale option. MArio world and punchout are playable. A gp32 overclocked to 200 mhz can play more games. At 240mhz even mystical ninja was near full speed. But for most people at 166 mhz forget that, its really slow.

7. GBA: some games are playable with no music and sound. low compatibility


GENESIS/Sega Cd emulator

1. Wiz(picodrive): Perfect emulation, oled screen is awesome with sonic games. All genesis games i tried are fullspeed. The Wiz is the way to GO. Great D-PAD for playing genesis.

2. Gp2x(picodrive): Perfect emulation, Great speed. All genesis games i tried are fullspeed. Even Sega Cd games are fullspeed, most of them. You can buy GP2X for playing genesis and SEGA CD, you will be 100% satisfied. GP2x LCD screen is really good, no ghost ,near no blur. Can you live with that digital stick ??? only you know it.

3. Dingoo (picodrive)A320: Great emulation, a few frameskip sometimes, but 60 fps most of times, , But the screen have a few or some garbage, when sonic running. Some Blur too, no ghostling. GREAT D-PAD for Genesis emulation. genesis NAtive OS emulator is Really bad. You need Dingux and Picodrive. You can buy a Dingoo A320 to play Genesis, its very good. Didnt test Sega Cd

4. Gp32 (DRMD): Very Good speed at 166 mhz. some frameskip, but its ok. 30 to 40 fps with sonic games. At 212 mhz and more Fullspeed 55 to 60fps with sonic games. Great control i like this digital joystick.

5. PSP ( Picodrive) Great Speed BUT AAAHHHHHHHHH a LOT of ghostling in Sonic games. Ouch !! a little little frameskip in sonic games, use ALWAYS VSYNC. Sega Cd games great speed but wiz and gp2x run better. i really like the d-pad os psp 2000. Great d-pad. But psp 1000 d-pad is not so good. Still great genesis emulator for psp.

6. Nintendo Ds ( forget the name) Great speed, but resolution of Ds is too low. When you play a game full screen UNSACLED, you dont see all the screen. if you play scaled, it look bad.

7. GBA: impossible i think.


GBA EMULATOR:

*** Gba and DS lite can run Gba with real Hardware, so no emulator is necessary

1. PSP (Gpsp): the psp has the better gba emulator available. Speed is GREAT, better than wiz, better than gp2x, better than dingoo. MAriokart is fullspeed most of times 60 fps. cant see any frameskip or slowdown. Castlevania circle of the moon Full Speed, NO SLOWDOWN, impossible to play fullspeed 60 fps with no slowdown or lag with others handheld . Sonic advance 60 fps too most of time no slow down. Seriously i really prefer playing Gba with PSP, ghostling is not too bad in Gba. I love the 4:3 full scale option, but you have to play interpolated. it look soft. if you remove interpolated option it look too odd and strange to play.

2. WIZ(GPSP): Great speed, mario kart fullspeed near 60 fps, not much difference with PSP. But Sonic advance and castlevania circle of the moon dont have 60fps and theses games have some lag and slowdown. BUT All theses games ARE FULLY PLAYAYBLE, but still a lot better on PSP. Full scale option great Look great, great colors, but look soft and interpolated. no blur no ghostling. I love Oled

3. Dingoo A320: The native OS emulator run better than Gpsp for dingux. So for native emulator MAriokart runs great, not 60 fps, but runs great, a few frameskip and slowdown. VERY playable. Same thing for sonic advance. Sonic run great a few frameskip and lag a little worst than WIZ. Gba performance are similar with Wiz, but i prefer Wiz. Fullscreen look great. Gpsp emulator look odd and strange.

4. GP2x (gpsp): Good speed. But Mariokart has a lot of frameskip, but its not so bad. VERY playable. Sonic advance run 30 fps, playable but not great. Better to use Wiz or psp or dingoo. Still it enough good to be playable for most games. Full screen look odd, but its ok.

5. GP32 = nearly impossible. a few games runs with a lot of frameskip.

NES

1. GP2x GPFCE= Runs perfect look great with HArdware Full Scale. I love this hardware full scaling option. dont look soft at all with hardware scaling. look interpolated with software scaling Can you live with that digital stick ??? thats the question.
Wiz: FCE: Runs Perfect, a very few waves when running in some games ( dont know how to explain it) , but no tearing with Rotation option. Great D-pad for NES. LOOK SOFT AND INTERPOLATED
DINGOO: native emulator ( dingux emulators run worst than native one) Runs perfect, in mario bros i see some ghostling with turtles, some blur. But its ok. Great D-pad for nes. Look a little less soft than Wiz.

2. PSP= Runs perfect, look really VERY SOFT and interpolated with fullscreen 4:3. Lot of ghostling. Great D-pad on PSP 2000 for NES.

3. Gp32: Runs great not always 60 fps and sometimes games runs a little slower than normal, a little only. even mario bros 3 dont have 60 fps and run a little little slower than hardware. Great digital stick. Fullscreen look GREAT !!!! not soft at all. love playing nes with Gp32.

DS Runs perfect: resolution too low, full screen Unscaled = you cant see the whole screen. scaled look a little bad. Good D-pad for nes.

GBA RUNS PERFECT for most games (POCKETNES): resolution too low, full screen Unscaled = you cant see the whole screen. scaled look a little bad. Good D-pad for nes



GB/GBC Emulator:

1. PSP (masterboy): Run perfect , love playing gb/gbc1. fullscreen 4:3 on PSP look great, a lot of colors to choose, i love Bright Blue. GREAT options. PSP 2000 d-pad great for gb.

2. Wiz : i prefer OH BOY over Lemonboy. O h boy cant runs full screen, but its full speed. great colors. Lemonboy have frameskip in fullscreen. colors palette better in oh boy. great d-pad
Dingoo A320: Near Perfect emulation, fullspeed, for Gb ONLY ONE PALETTE that look green, and i hate it. Look decent fullscreen. great d-pad.
GP2X: a little too FAST, yeah really. but its ok. a little only. Full scale option look great. some good palette for Gb, but not great. Can you live with that stick ?

3. GP32: great speed, little frameskip or lag, but palette does not look great. i dont like the colors choice for GB. GBC great.
4. GBA: Great emulator , great speed, full speed for GB ONLY. i only test GB one. not gbc. dont run full screen
5. Ds ( didnt test it)

Gamegear SMS emulator:

1. PSP ( masterboy ROCKS): Runs perfect, 60 fps, a little ghostling, not much, A LOT OF OPTIONS for scaling GREAT GREAT, great d-pad for psp 2000.
2. Gp2x: Great speed, but cant run fullscreen, i cant live with that :) , Great performance.
Dingoo A320: Native emulator: Runs great but a FEW frameskip, Fullscreen option look great. Great D-pad
3. Wiz: Great speed BUT no fullscreen and MINI Screen for gamgear game, not playable for me. only sms. great D-pad
4. GP32: i prefer use sms32, still Great performance, full speed, sms32 has full screen option that look great. love this emulator
GBA: Great speed, Great performance resolution too low, full screen Unscaled = you cant see the whole screen. scaled look a little bad. Good D-pad for SMS
5. DS: i dont like it but i cant comment, dont remember too well.


NOTE: OK IM REALLY TIRED, i will finish it another Day. i have others emulators to add. Please comment on this if you want. Be gentle but honest. and you can Thanks me. its take me a lot of time to test and write. i have some text to add to some emulators and handheld, and i have some information to correct. please understand and be grateful.

I HOPE IT CAN HELP PEOPLE THAT WANT TO BUY A HANDHELD.

( some fast notes: CPS2-Neogeo-Mame runs great on Wiz and Dingoo. Mame runs great on GP32 and GP2x, CPS2 runs good on GP2x... i didnt finish my tests.)

NOTE: i could post it in Dingoo, GP2X, GP32 Section , but i dont think i cant Double post my topic in every handheld section, administrator can be mad at me ! right ?)
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NEW TESTS *********

Now for NEO GEO :

1. PSP = PSP run full speed any NEO GEO games. All neo geo games i tried work perfectly and fullspeed. even snk vs capcom. i tried 40 games.
2. Wiz = Wiz run full speed any neo geo games, BUT not all games work. i tried several neo geo games, only games with around 350-400mbit or less work, other games dont work. or i dont know how to get them working. i tried for several hours. i tried 40 games.
3. Dingoo A320= only test a few games with native neo geo emulator, games are fullspeed. Metal slug1 work great. not much testing, because i sold my dingoo a320 without having time to test more games.

No more testing for now.

Now for CPS-2:
1. PSP = PSP run fullspeed the games i tried, even marvel vs capcom run fullspeed no frameskip.
2. Wiz.= Cant get marvel vs capcom to work. i tried for a long time. a few games dont work , but games work fullspeed with finalburn fba. EDIT: All cps2 game work with the CPS2 emulator. but i have trouble with FBA


No more testing for now.

note: i just sold my dingoo a320 , so i cant test this handheld anymore. sorry
 
Could you also compare pc engine, Commodore 64 and Spectrum emulation at some point? These systems are very popular with many people. Thanks for the work.
 
I think "ghostyness" is a bad metric; it shoudl be a caveat at the top or bottom for each system about the various systems flaws/benefits, but the actual emulation quality and playabilty shoudl be the only metric.

ie: PSP ghostyness is mentioned, but it is not broken down by PSP1000 PSP2000 etc; the original PSP was very ghosty, but the 2000 (Slim) was not too bad, for instance.

Likewise, to mention PSP ghostyness, but not the generally disliked controls of the gp2x or Wiz is a big bias point -- to illustrate the wordst of one systen, and ignore the worst of another ;)

I think a nci cross-device comparison is a cool idea, but I think you shoudl really just go for emulation quality and playability, and make some general notes about the systems at the end.

jeff
 
Looks the like the best options are PSP or Wiz/Caanoo. I'm surprised the PSP fare so well considering it's only has 333MHz CPU slower than Wiz and Dingoo. Must be because the authors for the PSP emulators are more talented.

Edit: PSP has 2 CPUs, does the emulators utilize both of them?
 
skeezix said:
I think "ghostyness" is a bad metric; it shoudl be a caveat at the top or bottom for each system about the various systems flaws/benefits, but the actual emulation quality and playabilty shoudl be the only metric.

ie: PSP ghostyness is mentioned, but it is not broken down by PSP1000 PSP2000 etc; the original PSP was very ghosty, but the 2000 (Slim) was not too bad, for instance.

Likewise, to mention PSP ghostyness, but not the generally disliked controls of the gp2x or Wiz is a big bias point -- to illustrate the wordst of one systen, and ignore the worst of another ;)

I think a nci cross-device comparison is a cool idea, but I think you shoudl really just go for emulation quality and playability, and make some general notes about the systems at the end.

jeff

yeah you'Re right. But i mostly only take emulation performance in consideration, dont worry, otherwise gp2x should have been at number 7 everytime with his stick :) Only exception i made is Genesis for PSP. seriously the ghostling is really bad in Picodrive. I have a psp 1000 and 2000 ghostling is similar for both of them. But the psp 3000 has less ghostling. Anyway you'Re better buy a wiz or gp2x to play picodrive than psp. performance is better. when i have time i will make some correction. thanks for comment all, i know its not perfect i tried ny best. i will do pc engine when i have time. i never use spectrum emulator, i dont even know which system is it LOL
 
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yeah the Wiz is the best handheld to play emulators. !! Great handheld, great d-pad, great screen , great speed and performance, pocket size, low weight
 
Wiz too small for people with large hands or stubby fingers. Caanoo is better size.
 
rsuryase said:
Looks the like the best options are PSP or Wiz/Caanoo. I'm surprised the PSP fare so well considering it's only has 333MHz CPU slower than Wiz and Dingoo. Must be because the authors for the PSP emulators are more talented.

Edit: PSP has 2 CPUs, does the emulators utilize both of them?

More MHz does not mean more speed. They're different architectures.

http://www.neowin.net/news/myths--megahertz

And isn't the second CPU just used for the wifi card?
 
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Dingoo and PSP uses MIPS while Wiz uses ARM, both architecture are RISC. Does this mean MIPS architecture is more efficient than ARM?
 
rsuryase said:
Dingoo and PSP uses MIPS while Wiz uses ARM, both architecture are RISC. Does this mean MIPS architecture is more efficient than ARM?

There is more to it then that, transistor count, bus speed, ram speed, and cache size. All those could effect the performance and not tell you which architecture is more efficient. Not to mention, maybe one of the developers spent more time optimizing it.

Slightly offtopic: http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/MIPS-1074K-CPS/

1.25 ghz multi-core (2-4) MIPS SoC which puts out more performance then the Intel Atom while only consuming <1 watt! I won't believe this until I see this, but I'm confident when I see this I will want it in something like a GPH console.
 
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Cortex-A9 is pretty similar in perf/Watt to the new MIPS chip. It'll be interesting to see some real world comparisons. I hope someone actually adopts it.

Wiz/Caanoo suffers from a weak memory hierarchy. Mainly, when you get beyond a certain CPU performance level you need L1 cache, then at another level you need L2 cache, then at another L3. 533MHz ARM9 is, IMO, beyond the point where it needed L2 cache in order to keep scaling linearly in performance. So you get something that isn't 2.5x faster than GP2X despite appearing like it should be.
 
renejr902 said:
i just did a few others tests for neo geo and cps-2 ( but not finish )

Surprisingly the DS has a very playable Neo Geo Emulator called NeoDS. Not as good as the Wiz but very playable for most shooters and fighters.
 
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Crookedmouth said:
renejr902 said:
i just did a few others tests for neo geo and cps-2 ( but not finish )

Surprisingly the DS has a very playable Neo Geo Emulator called NeoDS. Not as good as the Wiz but very playable for most shooters and fighters.

nice to know.

i will add the Caanoo soon. i have it now.

i will try to test others emus soon
 
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