[Coco] A new Kickstarter somewhat related to our overall CoCo FPGA discussion

[Mark McDougall]

On 10/01/2013 3:57 AM, Bill Loguidice wrote:

> There have been many other devices like this, including the ill-fated
> Pandora, but this is yet another approach to emulating various platforms in
> a non-typical manner:

The problem with the Pandora is that because it was so long in 
production, it was obsolete by the time it started shipping. A real 
pity, because it was the best hand-held retro platform by far with a 
decent-sized screen and a QWERTY keyboard. That and the price is verging 
on ridiculous, given comparable offerings now.

> Again, it's tough to say what something like this REALLY offers over
> emulation on a traditional PC,

Emulation on-the-go is all it offers. The real problem with Coco 
emulation as I see it is the lack of keyboard and analogue input, which 
means valuable screen real estate is taken up with a virtual keyboard.

I recently bought the Neo Geo X, which is almost identical hardware to 
the GCW-Zero and very similar in application too. The device only 
(officially) supports Neo Geo emulation, being based around the Final 
Burn Alpha emulator running Linux. It has been hacked to a degree, and 
the buzz is that it will eventually be able to run an open-source OS, 
namely the GCW-Zero one. Then it'll be open to all sorts of emulators, 
including the Coco. One neat feature of the NGX is the 'real' clicky 
joystick in place of the normal D-Pad.

The NGX has mixed reviews but I'm happy with the hand-held unit so far. 
Having fun playing Nam-1975 & Metal Slug, but wouldn't mind being able 
to play a few Coco classics too!

Regards,

-- 
|    Mark McDougall    |  Error: witty remark not found!
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