[DigitalDuck]

One advantage the AtGames handheld has that DS/phone emulators don't is the glorious six-button controller layout.

That alone was worth it for me. Slightly iffy sound and graphics be damned.

(Also, it actually fixes a sprite priority bug in Sonic 3 & Knuckles - although purely by coincidence.)

[LocalH]

You do know that most advanced mobile emulators support some sort of physical controller, right? May not be quite as convenient as the AtGames handhelds or a Nomad, but smartphones/tablets have a lot more uses than just emulation, battery life is generally longer (especially compared to the Nomad), and the screens are generally higher wuality (especially with Apple devices, or the higher-end Android devices).

[DigitalDuck]

LocalH, on 23 December 2014 - 10:06 PM, said:

You do know that most advanced mobile emulators support some sort of physical controller, right?

Sure, but rarely do they fit in the pocket, rarely are they decent six-button controllers, and never do they fulfil both conditions while being cheaper than the AG.

LocalH, on 23 December 2014 - 10:06 PM, said:

battery life is generally longer

The AG has a 30-40 hour battery life. I've never had a phone that can emulate the MD that would last 1/4 of that in use.

LocalH, on 23 December 2014 - 10:06 PM, said:

and the screens are generally higher wuality (especially with Apple devices, or the higher-end Android devices).

Not usually a problem when it comes to Mega Drive games.

[trykaar]

I picked up the handheld version with SD card slot from Bed Bath and Beyond recently, list price there is $40 but 20% off coupons are quite common. I'm pretty happy with it for the $30 or so I paid overall; it's less worrisome and more convenient to take out than my Nomad and cheaper than an Everdrive.

The sound quality is fairly poor as would be expected, there is no save capability, and there is some ghosting on the screen that is more or less noticeable depending on what you're doing (I've noticed it most on intro cutscenes, not as much during actual gameplay). However, it feels a lot more solidly built than I would have expected, the battery life is pretty good, and I've found the SD card compatibility to be quite good with the games and hacks I've tried- the only one that hasn't worked of those I've tried is Game no Kanzume Otokuyou, it get to the title screen but won't go any further. There is no "mode" button (though Golden Axe II that's included seems to work fine) and no "reset" button. One minor disappointment is that it doesn't play SMS games (or 32X games), but that's not an advertised feature so I didn't really expect it to.

[Thousand Pancake]

Lately I've been thinking that Atgames should bump up the clockspeed, allow for loading of foreign native binaries, put out a decent SDK and add a USB port. That could make the handheld versions of these things into nice dollar store equivalents to emulation-focused handhelds such as the GP2X, Dingoo, GCW, etc.

[RGamer2009]

Just a question, is it possible to take it apart and correct the sound issues? That would be cool for those that might get one for Christmas.

[Caniad Bach]

RGamer2009, on 25 December 2014 - 02:33 PM, said:

Just a question, is it possible to take it apart and correct the sound issues? That would be cool for those that might get one for Christmas.

The emulator is on a single chip, so all taking it apart would do is let you look at it. To fix the sound you'd have to fix the emulator itself, and I have a feeling that the chip used just isn't good enough to emulate the Mega Drive accurately enough.

[DigitalDuck]

trykaar, on 24 December 2014 - 11:57 PM, said:

I've found the SD card compatibility to be quite good with the games and hacks I've tried- the only one that hasn't worked of those I've tried is Game no Kanzume Otokuyou, it get to the title screen but won't go any further.

Some versions of the OutRun games aren't playable, but each game does run if you can find a working version of it.

[RGamer2009]

I received the portable 6-button Atgames system as a gift, and was wondering if an SD card hack could allow for saving and maybe an audio fix?

Also (and this one is a long shot) has anyone attempted to make a Genesis ROM that would allow for playing Master System games on a Genesis? What I mean is, could a Genesis rom have whatever code is needed to make a Master System rom run on a Genesis emulator, along with a possible rom selection screen?

Spoiler

Yes, I know about the Power Base Convertor, it obviously won't work on the AtGame portable.

This post has been edited by RGamer2009: 02 February 2015 - 01:44 AM

[Caniad Bach]

If I remember correctly there are already official carts that do that. The PBC is just an adapter and doesn't contain any hardware other than the cartridge slot, the Mega Drive does all the work. You don't need the power base converter if you're using a flash cart, for example.

However, while it works like that on official hardware, it depends on what hacky methods they used to make the emulator in the first place, it could just crash or not play correctly. As for saving and fixing the audio, it may be possible if you reverse engineered the ATGames software, but I'm not sure anyone's bothered to do so yet. The YM2612 is a tricky beast to emulate, and it could be that the chip doesn't have the power to make that and everything else work correctly.

[RGamer2009]

I just had a revelation on how to make Games sound correctly in this device.

It doesn't involve messing with the emulator per se...but the ROMs themselves.

Could a Genesis ROM be altered to sound "bad" normally, and be pitch-corrected inside the emulator to sound correct?

If that is possible, all we would need is a program to "convert" the roms sound pitch into the way that the Firecore emulator sounds correct. Those ROMs will sound wrong in any other emulator, but NOT on the Firecore Emulator.

[Overlord]

It's been done once with a Sonic 1 ROM. It sounds much better but there's still other sound issues.