Here we are, nearly a decade later, and somehow, some way, technology advanced to the point where I can record and watch high-def movies on a cellphone, and yet I still can't play Illusion of Gaia at an acceptable frame rate.
I've tried everything. Android phones with processors rated at a higher speed than my old Gateway that I was editing DV footage on. The PSP. The GP2x Wiz. A modded DS. I've spent countless dollars and endless hours constantly unhappy with the results.
Framerate wise, the PSP wins hands down, but the screen on that thing is so beyond atrocious that it makes me wonder how Sony got away with using it (and from what I am reading, later PSP revisions got even worse). It's not really noticeable on 3-d games, but anything with flat graphics (every SNES game ever, pretty much) and it's blur-city. The response time/refresh rate on the PSP is beyond unacceptable. And the PSP screen resolution isn't suited well for the SNES anyway. My two options with the PSP SNES screen settings are "blurry, stretched out mess" or "minuscule". Not to mention the D-Pad on the PSP is pretty awful for platformers.
The DS I barely need to comment on as the emulator hasn't been updated since Limp Bizkit was popular. I must say I had very, very high hopes for it, because visually, it was stunning. 60 fps and an excellent screen size/ratio/resolution for SNES. Yes, a bit got chopped off the top and bottom but the emulator had a cool feature where it took the top layer (usually stats or chat windows) and dropped those down while keeping everything else in place. Plus the DS (and DSi and Lite) have gorgeous screens, great D-Pads, and overall fit an SNES pretty well. Of course, with my luck, the sound is barely there, most games crash, and the project is dead.
I picked up the one and only mass-produced portable SNES and again, screen quality is a major issue. I simply cannot stand the blurring when you move. I also wasn't too keen on using real SNES carts because it means the size of the portable, at the very least, has to be the size of an SNES cartridge which is already bigger than the 1989 GameBoy.
I got every iteration of the GP32 handheld consoles with the hopes of on-the-go SNES fun, but the only one even close to making me happy was the Wiz. I must say, I am/was impressed. Very small, decent battery life, BEAUTIFUL and I mean BEAUTIFUL screen (OLED! no motion blur!) that somehow was so crisp and sharp that games looked hi-res, but of course there's a problem. One is that it's rarely updated, and even on the latest update, they haven't fixed the horizontal tearing issue. I know it's partially the fault of the Wiz, but the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive and NES emulator fixed it, so it's possible. Also, the framerate (even with the Wiz overclocked to 800mhz) isn't really there. Donkey Kong Country is pretty much unplayable and Illusion of Gaia makes me choose between framerate and having transparencies on. I have not had to turn transparencies off since my Pentium 133 was emulating the SNES. While the sound was fairly good, it was unbelievably bad on Final Fantasy 6. It actually sounds like the instruments are out of tune.
I guess what my question is, is that I've been waiting so many years for this, wasted so much time and money, and have gotten really nowhere. The GP2x Wiz has been my favorite so far, but unless the emulator gets updated to have a better framerate, horizontal tearing fixed, and better sound, I'm simply not going to enjoy it. I'm not trying to be a jerk; I even offered to start a fund to the author of the SNES emulator on the Wiz but no one cared. I am not exactly complaining that I can't happily play SNES on the go, I'm asking if anyone here knows any other options or something coming soon. I understand I am completely anal and most people would be happy with the awful PSP screen or the lackluster framerate and other issues of the Wiz, I am simply stating that I am not.
So, is there anything I can look forward to: from devices, to updates to things I already have, to another revision of the portable SNES? Or should I just stick to enjoying my SNES at home like normal people?
Figured this would be a great place to ask. Hopefully I am right
Thanks to anyone who replies!