The first big thing in portable gaming was the advent of the GameBoy. It was the first handheld capable of utilising cartridges, just like the larger home consoles. Now gamers do not have to contend with just one game built in ROM, paying for the entire device instead of just the software; but a wide variety of games. There were many competitors, but GameBoy cornered the market by being first off the gate and the sheer number of available games. It is worth mentioning that amongst handheld gaming, the NEC PC Engine not only had the best quality games but these same cartridges can also be used on the console as well.
Today, the GameBoy Advance (GBA), successor to the GameBoy is the best and most popular handheld in the market. Take a look below at this new super slim, super portable GBA SP with high resolution and backlight. This would be the end of my story had there been no second advance.
Second Advance: PDAs
Then cometh the Palm Pilot. The first release came with a few basic applications and the indispensable pack of games; one of which was Space Invaders.
Instead of carrying a whole load of cartridges, plugging one game at a time; now multiple games, selected at will can be stored, deleted and replaced much like a tape recorder. For example, a Clie with a 128mb memory stick can keep you blissfully occupied for hours with literally hundreds of games.
Today, the Pocket PC has overtaken the Palm OS in the gaming category. Their games are better rendered, have more depth and features. As it is the first PDA to sport the Strongarm 206mhz proceesor, it was able to run many consoles in emulator mode, including the very capable multi-arcade emulator MAME.
The best gaming PDA imho is the iPAQ 38xx Pocket PC. The newer X-scale models do havoc to most games and kills many emulators. It is extremely bright, solves the infamous multi-key press problem and is very responsive. I recently got a 512mb SD, shed its bulkly CF sleeve and had great fun on the road in a mission trip to Mumbai last month.
But the best is yet to come in the next advance...
Third Advance: Dedicated Gaming Handheld
This past week I placed an order with an on-line vendor
GBAx in UK for the above device, called GP32 which is made by Game Park in Korea. This interesting handheld looks very much like the GBA but does not have any slots. Instead, a smart media card stores your games, just like a PDA.
Basically, it runs on a linux-based OS, opening the door for it to run all kinds of emulators - from the original Atari to even the current GBA. In looking at one of the SP32 reviews, I noted that pinball dreams, doom and other games (see snapshot below) are also supported.
I have been playing with the PeeGee, the PC emulator of GamePark GP32 and are enjoying some of the games that are written for this super gaming device. Most games are available free through a growing number of GamePark sites all over the world - including France, Italy, China, Hong Kong, UK, USA, Korea and Germany. I really enjoy new technology, like when Apple, Palm Pilot, MAME, Java and other breakthroughs are in its infancy. It not only stimulates the grey matter but puts you right in the driver's seat of cutting edge technology, each day wondering what new advances lies ahead. After that, it is really old hat.
Above are some actual screenshots of GamePark GP32 games - all of them freeware. The best thing about this handheld are emulators like the PC Engine (above) and a host of others that allows you to play cross-platform games on actual ROMS without carrying cartridges around. Check this out!
Read how much fun I had with the GP32
here!
