Video: GP2X emulation goes down on T-Mobile G1

We never really pegged the HTC-sourced T-Mobile G1 as a hardcore gaming handheld, but obviously it handles the stresses of Ghosts 'N Goblins and Samurai Showdown admirably. Have a peek at a "pre-alpha" demonstration video just past the break, and feel free to let your hopes and expectations reach new heights.

[J D @ May 21st 2009 9:27AM]

sweet

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 9:38AM]

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading the title, the first thought in my mind was "F*** ME!" ..... then I saw Samurai Showdown.... STREET FIGHTER... MARVEL vs CAPCOM.... and my guess is MK2 works as well.... oh GOD!!!!

Now, this is EXACTLY why iPhone blows, and why the Magic is inferior to the G1.... keyboard comes a LONG WAY. Never buy a touchscreen-only Android... you'll be missing a lot.

Brilliant! Buy! Buy! Buy!

[Platinum_Skeet @ May 21st 2009 9:48AM]

Dude emulators come out for tons of phones it's nothing special...

iPhone
Blackberry's
Nokia's

It's nothing new, it's nothing special...

[IG @ May 21st 2009 9:48AM]

I agree.

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 9:53AM]

Not really. It's not like I'm in the dark. I HAVE flawless HAD SNES, GBA, SEGA GENESIS emulation on my E65 for 3-4 years. But:

Not a single Nokia can run MAME.
Blackberries are abysmal in game emulation.
iPhone, STRUGGLES with emulation. And it not having a physical keyboard sucks.

[Theli @ May 21st 2009 10:00AM]

Does Apple even allow emulators on the App store?

At any rate, it's nice to see some actually usable emulators for Android. The first ones that were released were laggy and lacked sound support.

[Boards of Canada @ May 21st 2009 10:24AM]

If those phones can run Quake, why the hell cant they run PSX games??

[NaeemTHM @ May 21st 2009 11:08AM]

Wow Tare you...you really like the G1. I mean people say iPhone users are annoying, but your post actually hurt my eyes.

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 11:11AM]

Actually Naeem, the key difference between an excited Android-enthusiast and an Apple fanboy, is that an Apple fanboy rarely has a good reason for his excitement/disdain to others.

That said, I don't have a G1. I still have my 4-year old Nokia E65, which emulates GBA, SNES, SEGA Genesis flawlessly, but not Mame. I didn't get the G1 on launch because its hardware disappointed and the software was immature. The same cannot be said this summer.

[Ravnos @ May 21st 2009 11:37AM]

@BoC: Emulating PSX games means that not only are you running the game code on your phone/handheld/whatever, but you're also translating every instruction from one processor architecture to another. There are some ways to do this that are faster than others, but in general, it slows things down quite a bit. The general rule of thumb is that you need a processor about 10x faster than the processor you're emulating, though this doesn't always hold true because of a variety of factors. It is a useful frame of reference though and should give you an idea as to why you can't just run PSX games with ease because more CPU/GPU-intensive games run on the hardware.

@TareX: I haven't had any luck finding decent freeware emulators for S60v3, so if you can point me in the direction of a few I would appreciate it. It seems like the only good emulators I can find are the for-pay ones.

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 11:47AM]

@ Ravnos

Try vbagX on mobilecastle.biz

It's brilliant. I recommend playing the Metal Slug series, Donkey Kong series, and Yoshi's Island.

If you want a decent fighter, get PicoDrive (Sega Genesis emulator, also on mobilecastle.biz) and play Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, which runs flawlessly as well.

[TapTap @ May 21st 2009 11:50AM]

Nokia E65 is 2-year old, not 4. But I see your point. For retro gaming, a crappy phone keyboard is better than virtual buttons, no question. But it is still barely usable, and a real d-pad would be much better. For the iPhone, we are still waiting for the iControlPad. Android is more promising: there are so many Android phones to come, hopefully one of them will feature some decent gaming controls.

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 12:01PM]

You're right.. 2.5 years old to be exact.

Well "Retro" gaming, in my opinion has a tremendous amount of depth compared to the vast majority of iPhone games made by independent devs. Don't get me wrong, the graphics and physics are great. But almost all of them seem to revolve around "an idea" that gets repeated over and over.... it's nice for a 5-min time out. But they don't rival the joy of going through an extensive well drawn and played platformer like Yoshi's Island or Donkey Kong. Not to mention the absence of fighting games like Marvel vs Capcom or Samurai Showdown...

[redcard @ May 21st 2009 1:44PM]

Tarex, you think this is a legitimate reason for buying a G1? Why not just buy a PSP, or a GP2X itself? Cos you're cheap? Oh yeah. Of course you are. If games are so important you would have both of those machines, and not playing games on some crappy keypad.

So this is EXACTLY why the iphone blows? Did the G1 also blow before this emulator was announced? Strange logic.

Retro gaming is alright for showing everyone on the internet that you're soooo cool, and then you can say how it's the gameplay that's important, and not some shiny new graphics. Make you feel a bit worthy etc

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 1:57PM]

A legitimate reason, alone? Of course not. It's ONE of many, many good reasons to get a G1. However, I need more from Android before buying one.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first smartphone EVER to emulate MAME with such performance.

And no I'm not cheap. I already have a handheld gaming console (DS lite) and am not getting a PSP because the device was as underwhelming as its games. I'm also waiting for a next-gen PSP, if this ever comes out.

The idea is CONVERGENCE. Having as many things feasible on a single device. Mame emulation, is a HUGE-step gaming wise. And no, I am not bashing iPhone games and glorifying retro gaming to "look cool". I actually think that those titles offer BETTER gameplay than iPhone games. I also have a real gaming machine (PC) for "modern" game titles. On my phone, every now and then, I wip it out and play a title or two of retro gaming, and it's much more satisfying than most iPhone games. My opinion.

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 2:00PM]

Oh, and anyone with minimal gray matter knows that when it comes to gaming, YES, gameplay comes first and foremost.

[Platinum_Skeet @ May 21st 2009 2:38PM]

@TareX

Everyone knows a hacked PSP is the best portable hands down you can play every console and portable system up to the PS1 plus you have all the media support like movies, RSS feeds, etc....

Just research it it'll probably save you some money in the end because you can get a PSP-1000 for about $99. Get a big enough memory stick duo and it'll be like you having a MP3 player but with games...

[NickNick @ May 21st 2009 3:51PM]

Tarex, windows mobile has a mame emulator, called finalburn 0.014 for wince

I have on my ipaq 214 pda and can play metal slug with sound full speed, samurai showdown, marvel vs capcom, street fighter III 3rd third strike (needs a lot of free ram) flawlessly.
that said I was glad to have brought the pda (only cos it was at a bargain) so I know what you mean with it being not a reason to get the G1, but its nice to know you can do that

oh andd wince can also emulate psx at good speed

[Level 5 @ May 21st 2009 9:42AM]

An emulator of an emulator? What will they think of next?

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 9:50AM]

Not really. I guess there was news of the GPX2 running Android as its native OS.

[Arnold @ May 21st 2009 9:54AM]

Yo Dawg, I heard you like emulators...

[jman @ May 21st 2009 9:44AM]

come on keep up Engadget!!!!

[AJ @ May 21st 2009 9:45AM]

I know it's off-topic, but GnG is one of most underrated franchises... I'd love to see the whole series come to XBLA

[Shiz @ May 21st 2009 9:47AM]

I.
WANT.
THIS.
NAOW.

I love my G1 so much more then I did 2 minutes ago. And that love was high.

[dennis @ May 21st 2009 9:57AM]

There's no love like high love.

[Boards of Canada @ May 21st 2009 10:29AM]

Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world-except for a nice MLT - mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe.

[logicbomb.de @ May 21st 2009 12:41PM]

Humperdink!!

[Twism50 @ May 21st 2009 9:54AM]

Can't wait. I love my G1

[TREX6662k5 @ May 21st 2009 9:53AM]

Going down on a phone?

[Jimi @ May 21st 2009 10:00AM]

YES!!! Street Fighter on my G1!!!! Dreams really do come true!!!

[atomicthumbs @ May 21st 2009 10:11AM]

I assume by "GP2X emulation" you mean "A guy porting and running GP2X programs on the G1", because that's what this is.

[math0ne @ May 21st 2009 11:59AM]

I'm really impressed at the performance this appears to be getting. Can't wait until i can get my hands on it!

[Broo @ May 21st 2009 10:16AM]

nice; now where can I sign up for the beta test...

:o)

[slyd3z @ May 21st 2009 10:29AM]

Want.

[Boards of Canada @ May 21st 2009 10:42AM]

That video was really kick ass. No way you can play those games without the keyboard.

[Alexander @ May 21st 2009 1:28PM]

Well if you check on wikipedia - the GP2X emulates Playstation 1 games and seeing how fluently the G1 handles SNES means it could probably run PSX games too.

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 9:31PM]

That would be brilliant. Having a full version of Pro Evo (a.k.a. International Superstar Soccer) on the phone would be fantastic...

[Mark @ May 21st 2009 10:47AM]

Old hat. Engadget: if you want real news, there's a NES emulator on the market(Nesoid) that gets flawless framerates with sound.

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 11:13AM]

NES blows. SNES and MAME rule.

[Mark @ May 21st 2009 11:24AM]

Alright, in that case how bout Super GNES, the full snes emulator that's being worked on?

[john.ackland @ May 21st 2009 10:52AM]

Come on engadget how you gonna post something this sweet and not tell us how to get it?
http://g-arcade.appspot.com/

ps SNES > NES

[yobparc @ May 21st 2009 11:16AM]

sucks trying to play games on that teenie keyboard though :(

but i am glad they finally got sound working on the emulator. maybe there will be a few turn based or puzzle games worth revisiting, but action games just stymie me using WASD

[strider_mt2k @ May 21st 2009 11:24AM]

When it comes to emulators I've found a dedicated device rules.

In my case I went for the Dingoo A-320, which has been great.

[TapTap @ May 21st 2009 12:01PM]

The Dingoo A320 is cool, but as a Chinese PMP, how long before it is discontinued ? Remember the JXD 301.

[eleminop @ May 21st 2009 2:22PM]

http://g-arcade.appspot.com/

android arcade has been doing cps-1, cps-2, cave shooters, and neo geo for over a month.

the only problem with mame emulation on the g1 is you can't load games that are larger than the phones internal memory.

[Mark @ May 21st 2009 2:53PM]

anyone know how to get that emulator?

[Kyle @ May 21st 2009 5:10PM]

GP2X was basically just an emulation machine... so they're emulating an emulator... how efficient.

[TareX @ May 21st 2009 5:53PM]

Nope, they're porting an emulator.

[Dignan17 @ May 21st 2009 10:16PM]

This really is the most unfortunately-titled Engadget article I've ever read.

Unless it was intentional, in which case I'm quite surprised! :)

[BIG_SIX @ Jun 7th 2009 1:36PM]

The gp2x emulator looks great. But I've been seeing it in this so called " pre-alpha-beta stage " for like the past month and a half. But wut I wanna know is when are they gonna start letting people test it out. There's more developers out there than just the one making gp2x. Hell I chat'd with a guy that made the sega genisis rom player in the android market and he said he was gonna work on system rom player ( I heard I can't say the E-word or else the site can get in trouble. If you don't know the big E-word then u shouldn't be reading this forum.) But. Yeah I jus wanna know when we the consumers can get a demo or something hell I check every day for some kinda test version I can play on my phone. Oh yeah and does anyone know of a good gba E.mulator for the g1 android with the 1.5 update installed. I need to get my fav games on the go.