On-the-go shmuppers will absolutely LOVE this.

[Blue Protoman]

This might seem like an ad, but it's really a nice bit of information.



The Wiz. It's got tons of great emulators and ports. Few people name this as a system for shmups, but it's great for them, thanks to it's abundance of emulators. With Temper, you can play Star Soldier. GPFce? Recca. PicoDrive? MUSHA. GPSP? Gradius Galaxies. And you can even play various Cave games, including DoDonPachi at full speed. It's also got ports of rRootate and NOIZ2SA. Of course, there are plenty of non-shmup games available too, like Doom, Super Mario Bros, Gunstar Heroes, etc. Costs about $180, but I think it's on sale at GP2X Store for $30 off.

[Matsunaga]

Looks nice, but my PSP can do all of that.

[captpain]

It really does seem like an ad.

[Blue Protoman]

Well, how else am I supposed to say it's really cool? "Hey guys, this is a Wiz. I'm giving no description of it whatsoever, so it probably won't catch your interest. I may not be telling you what it can do, but it sure as hell doesn't seem like an ad!"

Also, I don't know much about the PSP, so I can't vouch for that.

[ROBOTRON]

I was thinking I might buy one of those.

[Elixir]

Dunno how many people would feel happy about spending that amount for an inferior version of Dodonpachi.

Also, the gp2x team are almost as bad as Nintendo with their revisions. The Wiz is just another one of them.

[Blue Protoman]

More people consider the Wiz a successor to the GP2X than another model. Also, DoDonPachi runs at 60FPS. Yes, you have to hold it either vertically or play with abnormal scaling, but still. Also, the Caanoo has two button under its analog stick which are designed for situations like this.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Ild rather have a Dingo A320 as its got better controls and is only £55 - £70

[Elixir]

More people consider the Wiz a successor to the GP2X than another model. Also, DoDonPachi runs at 60FPS. Yes, you have to hold it either vertically or play with abnormal scaling, but still. Also, the Caanoo has two button under its analog stick which are designed for situations like this.

But still what? It's Dodonpachi on a handheld in an awkward position, for 180 bucks.

[Blue Protoman]

Find me a handheld with a vertical display that can run DoDonPachi, then.

[Matsunaga]

Find me a handheld with a vertical display that can run DoDonPachi, then.

PSP. MAME and PSX versions run fine.

[Blue Protoman]

Also, I don't know much about the PSP, so I can't vouch for that.

But that's a horizontal display.

[Matsunaga]

Holding it sidways isn't so bad. You can map the buttons to anything.

[Blue Protoman]

Holding the Wiz sideways isn't that bad, either; just use the Menu button to fire. Bombs are handled with Volume+.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Ild rather have a Dingo A320 as its got better controls and is only £55 - £70

Emulators are almost all a bit rubbish on the Dingoo, though. I bought one a few weeks back and I've struggled to get it to emulate anything well, other than Megadrive and AES/MVS.

[dan76]

I understand you have to hook the GP2X/Wiz up to a PC - does anyone know if they're mac compatible? I'd be getting it for mame really, and I'm not sure how good emulation is on them.

[Blue Protoman]

You don't have to directly hook up a Wiz to a PC unless you want to load a game into the internal memory. Otherwise, you can just use an SD card with a reader. If you DO want to hook up a Wiz to a computer, though, it's extremely easy. Plug in the included cable into the Wiz and computer, then when you navigate to the system menu, you'll be prompted to either connect to the NAND (internal memory), SD card (if you don't have a card reader), or cancel. Operating system doesn't matter. Once you do connect, it reads like it's a flash drive.

Also, MAME runs fairly well on the Wiz. There's also a port of Final Burn Alpha which is really good, and another emulator for CPS1/2 games.

[dan76]

Thanks for the info.

[Blue Protoman]

No problem.

[EPS21]

Looks nice, but my PSP can do all of that.

[Slump]

Seems pretty cool but I'd rather have one of the linux based pandora systems.

[Thestreetzking]

the pandora finally came out right? I remember people had it preordered for like 5 years or something like duke nukem forever. I been wanting a wiz for quite some time but I never pulled the trigger. I need that little push over the edge.. I have owned many psp's but never modded any, currently have a ds so my library is limited

[t0yrobo]

The Caanoo seems better suited to on the go shooting with the 2 buttons down by the stick.

[Elixir]

What gets me is how these devices are being marketed. Oh look, a whole bunch of emulators of games you've never played on a handheld before, but have already played.

So it sells on nostalgia?

What is so appealing about playing Dodonpachi on a handheld, besides for the sake of doing so?

So it sells on novelty?

The same goes for any other handheld emulator--wherein the screen is squished to either a small screen for 1;1 sacrificing a great deal of screen estate, stretched to fake 4:3, stretched 16:9--or a "zoom" option, for people who love not being able to see whatever's at the top and bottom of the screen. To top it off, with controls nothing like the original and imperfect emulation dependent entirely on some guy in Russia who doesn't speak English and can drop their project at any given time.

The Wiz actually has a screen that looks the most suitable for emulated games, though. If Gamepark didn't revision their consoles every year and the homebrew scene was going strong, I'd probably get one.

[PsychoGun]

mobile shmuping just sucks. i enjoy ketsui on the DS, it's the best game i've ever found for on the go, but it sucks in comparison to a stick.

i can't even imagine playing mame games on a portable device, what's the point?

if the PSP's vertical controls weren't so terrible (try KOF skystage or Star Soldier in vert mode) it might be decent since the screen is gorgeous.

all these korean-type emulator devices are stupid too, a modded PSP murderkills them in quality and cheapness.

[cools]

DDP is overrated.

[KBZ]

I've been into these handhelds for a while but after putting a lot of time into the GP2X and seeing the new hardware like wiz, caanoo, dingo and so on; it's clear that these companies just don't know what they're doing.

There hasn't been a good Dpad on a handheld since the Nomad. I can understand not having a great one for the folks playing next gen type games on their psp or jrpg on their DS. But these Korean handhelds are being marketed as being able to play arcade game... but with designs that I wouldn't use to open my garage door.

The fact that GPH and others don't "get it", is one of the main reasons why the OpenPandora exists. DaveC from the project is just as obsessed with good controls as most of us here, and has overseen the design of the Dpad. I haven't used it, but I trust what he says. Heavily influenced by the Saturn pad, but maybe less free moving to not piss off all the 4way arcade enthusiasts.

If you're serious about playing 90's arcade and console games on the go, you'll put up the money for something that wont be thrown into a drawer after a couple days of use.

Why be a Weenie, when you can be a Hot Dog?

.....THIS IS NOT AN AD :p

[PsychoGun]

Man, I can only dream there was a mod for the PSP where you could integrate the saturn D-Pad onto it.

The neo geo pocket had a kick ass control pad too, no clue why these korean devices don't just use that.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Neo-Geo Pocket Color had a kick-ass 8-way minature joystick setup indeed. Simply place a plastic ring over the joystick and it becomes a dedicated 4-way digital joystick perfect for playing Neo-Geo Pocket Color Pac-Man (where precise joystick movements are crucial to earning higher scores).

I think just trying to get a Dingoo Digital A320 to run some arcade emulation is definitely on a trial & error basis (considering that it's only got a mere 32mb of RAM to running games anyways). At least it does play some MVS game titles quite well. Plus having the built-in A/V output jack is another cool feature worth noting.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Matsunaga]

DDP is overrated.

That's heresy.