So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

Post by **deathsled** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 6:57 pm

I have been wanting Dragon Force on the go for the longest time, as well as any other great Saturn game. Miniaturizing a Saturn would be quite a feat and is honestly beyond the scope of my abilities right now. So the next best solution was obviously get a handheld PC going that can run SSF. Mini PCs have advanced exponentially lately and we are finally there. I was working on piecing together a small screen, battery pack, and one of these new PCs on a stick (I'd actually still like this because it could be a little smaller than what I've got) when I realized I could get a cheap 7 inch tablet now that could solve the screen, pc, and battery integration for me in one fell swoop.

So, here's the $59 WinBook tw700 from Micro Center coupled with the ~$25 Ipega 9023 bluetooth controller:

What an age we live in.....

The best part is it obviously plays a lot more than Saturn games.....

Post by **noiseredux** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 6:59 pm

Wow. Nice job man.

Post by **Stark** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 7:51 pm

Whoa sweet.

Post by **MrPopo** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 9:44 pm

Neat!

The thing that sucks about making handheld CD systems is that you have an absolute minimum size based on the minimum to have a CD plus motor. Then you add on controls and a screen and all the actual system hardware and you can quickly balloon the size, especially if the system board doesn't lend itself to reduction efforts.

Website · Post by **SonicGamer74** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:04 am

That is too cool for words.

How well does it work? I've seen portable Dreamcasts and Gamecubes, but never a portable Saturn. I'd totally be down with this, if there was a retail release of one.

Post by **noiseredux** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:01 am

SonicGamer74 wrote:How well does it work? I've seen portable Dreamcasts and Gamecubes, but never a portable Saturn. I'd totally be down with this, if there was a retail release of one.

I think you may have missed that this isn't really a portable Saturn. It's a stock Windows tablet that's running a Saturn emulator. He's not playing a disc, but a rip.

@OP:

More and more I think my next tablet will be a Windows one. Don't get me wrong, I love Android and I've been a fan of the OS for years, but it feels like we're getting into territory now where even low priced Win-tabs can handle some impressive stuff. I know Fast recently got himself a nice Win-tab that was doing some cool things as well.

The tab you got is CHEAP. Wondering if you could give us more of a breakdown on it... what's the hardware like? Obviously if it can handle Saturn emulation then DOSBox and everything in between should be great. What PC games have you tried on it directly? Have you attempted Steam streaming to it? How's are the bluetooth controls? Etc.

Website · Post by **SonicGamer74** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:54 am

noiseredux wrote:
SonicGamer74 wrote:How well does it work? I've seen portable Dreamcasts and Gamecubes, but never a portable Saturn. I'd totally be down with this, if there was a retail release of one.

I think you may have missed that this isn't really a portable Saturn. It's a stock Windows tablet that's running a Saturn emulator. He's not playing a disc, but a rip.

I actually did see that when I first saw the post. It slipped my mind when I typed this, though. Oops. lol
Nevertheless, it's still really sweet.

Post by **CRTGAMER** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 12:37 pm

deathsled wrote:So, here's the $59 WinBook tw700 from Micro Center coupled with the ~$25 Ipega 9023 bluetooth controller:

What an age we live in.....

The best part is it obviously plays a lot more than Saturn games.....

Nice setup and a very sweet price. I imagine Mame also works quite well, 16gb storage not that big, but adequate for mobile gaming and browsing.

I noticed how much cheaper Tablets are getting and even including Windows! Crazy considering Windows alone cost would add more then that to PCs before. Competition a good thing, my guess is the Android market made Microsoft realize to lower the OS cost in the Tablets. I still like the Samsung Galaxy Android 10" screen, but this is so tempting and smarter for the emulation versatility!

Post by **Soldier Blue** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:10 pm

Woah, I just had the weirdest dream. I walked into walmart and they had your portable Sega Saturns for sale hanging on a rack. They were selling for like $67.99 or so, although there were only a few left. Of course I bought one.

Post by **fastbilly1** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:49 pm

My Venue 8 pro is the same chip but 2 gigs of ram, I had no idea SSF would work well on it. Since I got my TTT2U stick working on it yesterday, looks like I am installing SSF it tonight.

CRTGAMER wrote:I noticed how much cheaper Tablets are getting and even including Windows! Crazy considering Windows alone cost would add more then that to PCs before. Competition a good thing, my guess is the Android market made Microsoft realize to lower the OS cost in the Tablets. I still like the Samsung Galaxy Android 10" screen, but this is so tempting and smarter for the emulation versatility!

Microsoft is not charging established OEM's Windows licenses anymore for sub 9 inch devices:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/17 ... ch-devices

Couple that with the lowcost Atom quadcore that is going into everything and you get tablets like this one, the HP Stream 7, and the Dell Venue 8. Or even better:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/intel-compu ... 20215.html

So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

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Re: So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

Re: So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

Re: So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

Re: So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

Re: So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

Re: So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

Re: So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of

Re: So, I've finally got a handheld Saturn...sort of