Best Emulation Device

[Valkyrie-Favor]

PCs have always been able to output 240p, that's how the majority of DOS games are.

[tintinmayo]

PCs have always been able to output 240p, that's how the majority of DOS games are.

^This. 320 x 240 can be done by any PC. Even non standard resolutions like 384 x 224 (CPS2's native res) can be added if it's not natively supported by the videocard, like the old S3 Savage32. What the PC usually has problems with is refresh rates.

The one advantage of the Wii I can think of is power consumption. The Wii (I read somewhere that it only pulls in 16-25w during peak) only consumes a fraction of the power consumed by a midrange gaming PC.

I have one of those AMD E-450 laptops and it can match the Wii in energy efficiency, but the best emulator that I can run fullspeed on it is PJ64 (the 1.6 version, not the 1.7) and ePSXe. The Wii can beat it with modern games and GC (you'd need a high end PC to emulate the two on PC, along with DC and PS2.)

[Erik_Twice]

You must first decide if you want a handheld or a tabletop.

If you want a tabletop I would just run a cable from your computer to your TV screen. It's significantly less of a hassle than installing emulators on a console and gives you better results.

If you want a portable, the GCW Zero seems fine, I'm waiting for mine. It's pretty cheap (120$), will run everything from the Atari 2600 to the PSX and will be actively supported by the developers unlike your typical Android tablet. Note that PSX support isn't out yet, but the console still hasn't been released to the general public so it's no wonder.

The Pandora can run most N64 games as well as use Wine to run PC titles like Diablo and Stacraft but it's horribly expensive. I decided the price difference wasn't worth it for the games I would play, I would only consider it if you really want to play PC games on the go or love the N64 to death.

A PSP is a lesser open console. Good if you can get it for cheap or you like PSP games but you will have better emulation on the Zero or any other open console AFAIK.

Hope that helps.

[lisalover1]

A modded PSP and Modded oXbox are still the best emulation devices for the money. There just seems to be a technological barrier that has prevented the progress to Dreamcast emulation and beyond (as well as the Saturn). The PSP and oXbox can run everything up to and including the N64 well enough, and if you get a high-capacity Memory Stick and HDD respectively, you've got all you'll need. I highly recommend installing XBMC on the oXbox, by the way, so you will also have a full-fledged media center.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

n64 is terrible on PSP, but other than that I'd still recommend it because PSP is awesome.

[ninjainspandex]

what exactly does the xbox do thats better for emulation than the wii?

[1983parrothead]

Using anything Windows-based lets me able to exchange save states, screen-capture gameplay footage and a few other stuff. Using other OSs makes me start all over on any video game.

But now these videos now make me want an Open Pandora:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_VGuLmj-rA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXJ0WtWGRLE

Not only that, but the Open Pandora's price dropped, but I'm not sure if my father can afford the 1Ghz at $600, but the ReBirth Edition is better than nothing. However, after my father recently got scammed, then refunded after buying an Asus netbook, he thought that iThic.com (North American seller of Open Pandora) is also a scam, but I told him that several people got good feedback from it and are uploading videos on YouTube.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

If you're concerned about bang for your buck, that will always be a PC. They're just way more useful than consoles.

[GameMasterGuy]

I'd definitely go with the wii, you can get one for around $60 and its so simple to hack, the nice thing about wii emulation is its so streamlined and user friendly. I always seem to run into resolution issues on my tv when trying to do PC emulation. They make adapters that let you use original snes, nes and genesis controllers on the wii and most emulators let you acess the menu just by pressing start and select. Of course for ps1 and later I do emulation on the pc.

PC you already have, doesn't need to be hacked, and have those same adapters and more.

[casterofdreams]

I'd go with a laptop more than anything. I have this HP 17" one from 2007 or 8 I think that has Vista. I have GBA/C, N64, SNES, and Lynx (the systems I really care to emulate). I'm sure a new laptop with the same screen size (they mostly come with a beefier card) can do everything mentioned and "60 FPS" Dolphin and everything on it.