Gameboy Advance Clone Superemulator

Aluminum Tuesday writes "During a raging internal debate over whether to fork out for the new Gameboy Advance SP, I came across the Korean GP32, a handheld console that looks superior to the GBA in every way. It's capable of emulating the GBA, Super Nintendo, Commodore 64, etc. plus there's a SCUMMVM engine for Monkey Island games and a Java VM. Seems to have a huge online following. It runs its own OS, and there are programs capable of playing divx/mp3 files, though there's also a Linux port on the way. Not too expensive either. (99UKP / 149USD) That's a UK supplier; they ship worldwide, though I found this more expensive American supplier too. (179USD)" Gotta catch 'em all!

Comments

One thing not mentioned in the submission...

[mattrix2k]

Is it's ability to link with up to 4 other SP32's wirelessly: http://www.gp32news.com/?page=showpage&lang=en&id= 6

Re:Cool emulator

[sogoodsofarsowhat]

You should title your comment .... 'I CANNOT EVEN READ THE SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE' It clearly states that Linux port is in the works. Nice to see that reading is still a specialized skill.

I give this thing 1 week...

[ArchMagus]

before Nintendo's lawyers are beating down the distributors doors demanding they halt immediately importing this thing.

Get 'em while you can! :)

specs

[slyguy420]

cpu 32 bit risc cpu
screen 3.5" tft
rom 512 kbyte
media smc(smart media card)
sdram 8mb
communication usb port
sound 16bit stereo sound
4 channel wav mixing
resolution 320 x 240 pixel
power supply 2 batteries aa
display colors 65536 colors

tech specs

[Hubert_Shrump]

Dimension/Weight 147mm X 88mm X 34mm(163g)
Display 3.5" Reflective TFT LCD(65,536 concurrent colors)
Resolution 320 X 240 pixel
CPU 32-bit RISC CPU(ARM9)
RAM 8MB SDRAM
ROM 512K
Sound 44.1Khz 16 bit Stereo Sound / 4 Channel Wav Mixing, 16Poly S/W MIDI Support / Earphone Port / 2 Speakers
External Storage Medium Smart Media Card (SMC)
Wireless Multiplayer Gaming 4-Channel RF Module PC Connection USB Port Connection
Power Supply 2AA batteries (12 hours use time between charges) / DC 3V Adapter
Option Rechargeable Battery
Controls 8-way directional pad (joystick) + Durable 6 key button
MP3 Capability MPEG ( , )
Audio Support Other Add-on Applications
Image Viewer, Text Viewer, Media Player, E-Book Viewer
RF Module 2.4GHz ISM Band

Emulation and DMCA

[Daetrin]

How well does the emulation work? If there's any emulator for PC that emulates all the SNES games (or whichever kind) in existance, i've yet to hear about it. And does it have enough processing power to run the non-native code without any slowdown or such?

I'm also curious if Nintendo is going to try to kill this thing. Although I'm sure Nintendo is making a profit off of GameBoys, I'm also sure they make most of their profits from the games themselves, so logically they'd have a reason to look the other way if this encouraged more people to buy gameboy games. However since when has logic ever raised it's head in legal/piracy issues?

Re:Emulation and DMCA

[afidel]

ZSNES can run every rom file I've thrown at it. The SNES is pretty old and pretty well understood. Also I doubt they would look the other way if they had a way to stop this as it has no native interface for the GB and GBA carts so most people will play pirated roms.

Re:Emulation and DMCA

[Com2Kid]

• How well does the emulation work? If there's any emulator for PC that emulates all the SNES games (or whichever kind) in existence, i've yet to hear about it.

Zsnes

and of course the sourceforge page for it.

Ok ok granted there are like three SNES games it does not fully emulate.

So freakin what.

But for portability you REALLY want snes9x

Unfortunately their provider is complaining to them about bandwidth usage, doh!

Luckily you can still download the latest binaries and source from Zophar's Domain

So, yah, the SNES has pretty much been owned by the EMU community. :) With brief periods of mad translation going on (followed by seemingly long fallow periods. . . .) a ton of the Japanese only games have come over to the SNES as well.

• And does it have enough processing power to run the non-native code without any slowdown or such?

I know the minimum requirements for most simpler SNES emulation are about a Pentium II 266mhz with 64 megs of RAM, the FPU seems to be rather important as I have heard of users with far faster K6-2s and K6-3s not being able to run very many games full speed.

Of course platform specific optimizations should take those requirements down even further, and obviously it was a fairly long time ago when I was using those system specs, so all the additional speed encasements that have made their way into both SNES9x and ZSNES may have brought the requirements down a tad bit more.

Reading around a bit seems to indicate that there ARE problems getting the SNES emulation on the GP32 up to full speed, and IIRC the GP32 does not have a dedicated graphics unit, making it unlikely to be able to ever accomplish all the nifty real time effects of the GBA or even the SNES.

Then again, it does have that rather fast main CPU. :) Nintendo tends to love their tricked out dedicated co-processors, the GP32 is more of a general purpose machine (as can be seen by the MP3 players and even video players out for it).

One must also take media costs into account though, Memory Cards are expensive!

Then again, at least with the GP32 you have the CHOICE of being able to play MP3s and everything, with the GBA you end up having to buy third party accessories to get those same types of options.

I am so tied to my desktop now days that (and this is a bit of a surprise given how much I used my original Game Boy and my Game Boy color 'back in the day') I do not even own a 'modern' portable gaming system. ^_^

Excellent game titles

[dpille]

The game titles alone make me want to own it:
Little Wizzrd
Dyhard Infinity
Kimchi-Man
Astonishia Story R
Her Knights - "Forcing break-out"
Hany Party Game
Tails of windyland

Especially "Kimchi-Man". Is he really made of pickled cabbage?

New on Slashdot!

[Psykechan]

The GP32 has been out for well over a year now. I wouldn't hold your breath for a US release though.

The next time this makes the /. front page, you might want to include the standard legal emu disclaimer. Support legal emulation! Only emulate those games that you own.

Excuse me?

[Cutriss]

Nowhere in that list does it say "Game Boy Advance" or "GBA". Considering that it lists the Game Boy separately from the Game Boy Color, I think it's a bit presumptuous to say that it supports GBA games just because you see that category there.

So, seeing as how it does not actually support GBA games, I don't find it superior to my GBA, which *does* play GBA games.

Re:Excuse me?

[irritating environme]

If it emulates the SNES, I think the performance specs of the GBA is about as powerful as a SNES, and with a similar architecture, which is why the emulators came out so fast for it, and so many SNES games are being ported to it

But, I could find no hard specs or architecture to back this up, so it is admittedly conjecture

Re:Excuse me?

[edrugtrader]

it plays GBA games. i own one.

Always beautiful translated manual copy

[Featureless]

"GP32 uses radio signals to communicate through solid barriers such as a building (unlike infrared signals that require an unobstructed line of sight to make a connection), you can play games even when your lovely puppy is standing in front of you wagging his tail, blocking your view."

:)

Whoo Hoo!!

[Wynns]

Slap a cell phone into this thing and I'm ready to sign up!

I'll pass. It really flimsy and stinks.

[Viewsonic]

Everyone I know who has bought one thinks it was a waste of money so far. It sounds great on paper but the unit is very cheaply made, and emulation is sub par. Not to mention it's total piracy. Wonder why Slashdot posted a blatant piracy article?

Re:I'll pass. It really flimsy and stinks.

[SlightlyMadman]

Well, I certainly appreciate the information on the construction quality, but your piracy comment is a bit out of line. IANAL, but I believe emulators are legal. Posessing a ROM for a cartridge you own, as a backup, is legal. Posessing a ROM for a cartridge you don't own is illegal.

A perfectly legitimate use for this unit would be consolidation. Say I own a Game Boy and a NES. I could get the ROMs for all of my carts, and put them on this thing, so I'd only have to carry around the one unit, but still play all of my games that I legally purchased.

Not illeagle...

[somethingwicked]

Hardware emulation isn't illeagle. No honest to god it isn't

Honest to goodness, that's good to hear...I mean, we had a parakeet when I was a kid, and it got sick once and it was pretty bad the mess it made.

But a sick eagle?!! THEY ARE HUGE! And with their diet, you would have mice carcasses and such everywhere, it would be a bloody disgusting mess, honest to god

*grin*

For the love of god...

[Zenki]

Don't buy it from upstategames.com. If you bother to check with BBB and tons of forums (eg. a lot of people who ordered the Flash Linker fot Neo Geo Pocket from upstategames), you'll probably end up with $179 out of your pocket, your pants down, and your @$$ reamed with Dimitri's fist.

If you must order a unit, then order one through lik-sang.com. At least, that's what http://www.devrs.com says.

one other advantage over *any* nintendo product...

[BrazenChippie]

is that they encourge unlicensed 3rd party development, where nintendo does their best to squash independent coders.

http://www.devrs.com/gp32/
http://devkitadv.sou rceforge.net/index.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/g roup/gp32dev/

i'm thinking of picking one up explicitly for this purpose. anyone have any experience coding for one of these?

The article's also wrong about GBA emulation.

[dabootsie]

According to the GP32 Xtreme site linked as source for the emulators, there's no GBA emulator for the GP32. It can currently emulate the Gameboy/Gameboy Color and even the SNES... but not the GBA.

Re:OK, this i actually find unethical.

[Rubyflame]

Emulation isn't a gray area at all, IMO, if you only emulate games you legitimately own. For example, in the case of the Playstation, if you run an emulator on your PC and use actual game discs, you are not hurting Sony at all. Consoles are typically sold at a loss, and this loss is recouped through game sales. So if you emulate, they're actually making more money.

Of course, the companies probably don't see it quite this way. First of all there's a loss of control involved. If you only emulate legitimately, they're not harmed, but of course this isn't the reality of the situation. The other issue is that they don't want people to play their old games. They want people to go out and buy new games. Consoles tend to break eventually, but with emulation there'll always be hardware to run the old games, and if you've already got plenty of old games you're less likely to go out and buy whatever's being released now.

Try reading the article

[freeweed]

Moderators, pass the crack pipe.

This thing cannot, repeat CANNOT emulate the GBA. Check the site, there's no mention of this. Even trying it would be stupid - go ahead, run a working GBA emulator on this sort of hardware. Have fun with your 2 frames per second.

This isn't hurting Nintendo's current revenue stream at all, save for the fraction of a percent of original GameBoy games still being sold.

Yikes, several dozen other posts have already pointed this out, yet it gets both posted and modded up.

Oh, and for the record, Playstation emulators were popular years ago (everyone had Connetix's for a while), back when Sony WAS making hordes of money off the platform. And because the emulator didn't care what media you put in it, everyone used pirated copies of the games. So don't give me this horseshit that somehow PSX emulators are 'ok', when a system that doesn't emulate any currently sold system isn't.

Re:OK, this i actually find unethical.

[be-fan]

In fact, there is a very legitimate reason to emulate playstation games. Games that have significant amounts of 3D can look very good, because current emulators can run them at very high resolutions with full texture filtering and everything. For me, epsxe has given my PSX gaming library a whole new life, on my (Linux!) laptop :)