Thinking about getting a PSP Go or Vita for emulation

[Liquid Plejades]

I still have a box full of Gameboy Color and GBA games at my moms house. I used to play them a lot years ago. I was been feeling the itch to replay them, and have heard of GBA units that people have moddded with better screens. I started looking them up and they are a little pricey...but in my search I came across how you can use a PSP Go or Vita to emulate those older consoles and
handhelds almost perfectly. Now, I know a DS / 3DS can do this as well but I'm not the biggest fan of the clamshell design.

Anyway, I wanted to see if any of y'all has any experience with using either of these devices for playing old school games and whether one is better compared to the other. Things such as controls, screen, battery life, ergonomics etc. Would appreciate the advice.

 

[Deleted member 45765]

I use a psp-1000 to play PS1 games on the go. It works, it's functional. All I can really add is that I highly advise you periodically backup your config files on the memory stick, because one bad setting can tear it all down, and there's not much tech support for something like that.

 

[Tambini]

PSP Go

because c'mon, just look at it!

 

[Liquid Plejades]

I use a psp-1000 to play PS1 games on the go. It works, it's functional. All I can really add is that I highly advise you periodically backup your config files on the memory stick, because one bad setting can tear it all down, and there's not much tech support for something like that.

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this def might be the best option, as I was surprised how much $$ people are asking for a good condition PSP go or vita. I guess lot of people are looking for these devices for the same reason as me.

is the screen decent on the psp 1000?

 

[Deleted member 4262]

Vita is superior in every way. PSP Go is a tiny device with bad ergonomics. Layout is cramped and the buttons are shallow. PSPs are cool and all, but in a post Vita world I'd never go back.

 

[Richter1887]

A Vita is excellent.

You can play pretty much anything up to PS1 really well (but not N64 yet, it is getting worked on though). Some PSP games can be hacked to use analog sticks (as in analog movement not emulation of digital inputs). I hear there is also people working on making the PSP games play with native resolution (GTA got a patch for that).

There are also fan ports like Quake 1-3, Chocolate Doom engine (So you can play Doom along with Strife, Hexen and Heretic). Build Engine as well. There are more than those and new ports pop up all the times. If a game is open source people will potentially port it.

 

[Deleted member 25094]

I picked up an RG350M a few weeks ago and that's excellent for emulation. Worth looking into.

 

[GingerbreadMan]

I can't speak for Vita, but PSP is very, very good for PS1 games but nowadays I wouldn't recommend it for SNES and GBA.

SNES is very bad, you have to thinker with lots of settings to run even simpler 2D games that don't use special chips, and even then, there will be some graphical glitches here and heavy frame-skipping. I remember I had lots of trouble running Super Castlevania IV and Super Metroid. The version of SNES9x ported to PSP is also acient.

GBA is better with gpSP. There are some problematic games but the overall experience is ok-ish, even though you'll have to accept frame skipping here too.

NES, GB/C ane SEGA/Hudson consoles are ok. I remember PicoDrive had some problems emulating MegaDrive sound though.

PSP was good in the 00s when it was the only option available, but nowadays your Android phone + a Bluetooth controller is way better. Hacked Switch is also very good, but it's not easy to find an early model.

 

[natanqb]

Vita is so much better. Especially if you also wanna play ps1 games. If you do i recomend using the r2l2 r3l3 grip. Vita can speed up ps1 games (that is great for rpgs), has more buttons and 2 analog sticks.

 

[Magio]

Hacked Switch is also very good, but it's not easy to find an early model.

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I think Team Xecuter now has (or will soon have) a modchip for newer models to be hackable. Not for everyone, but worth taking a look into.

 

[JangleLuke]

The PS Vita can do anything the PSP could do via homebrew and more, plus an actual 2nd stick for PSX emulation and mappable touch screen.
With the addition of those few Vita exclusives, obviously.

The only problem I have with my PS Vita 1000 it's that it's a bit too hefty for my tastes, if I could go back in time I would have gone for a 2000.
But no matter which model you choose, the L2/R2 grips are expensive as hell.

 

[Deleted member 32973]

you are better served with android/iphone + ipega controller for those emulation

 

[ss_lemonade]

If emulation for older systems is all you are after, maybe look into getting something like the RG350m? I don't have one, but it looks and seems to work decent enough

 

[Calverz]

I picked up an RG350M a few weeks ago and that's excellent for emulation. Worth looking into.

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Same. its really really good. Shame it cant cope with n64 but majority of ps1 is fine. Also it has two switch style sticks and 4 shoulder buttons. PSP only has one analog nub and two shoulder buttons making ps1 emulation a bit of a nightmare.

 

[GingerbreadMan]

OP I know you said no 3DS, but what about regular 2DS?

It's very cheap and (if hacked) it's 100% compatible with the GBA library. It can perfectly run every single GBA game natively, without resorting to emulation.

You can also inject NES, GB and GBC games into Nintendo Virtual Console emulator (very, very high compatibility for GB/C, good for NES) and use SNES9x for Old 3DS as your SNES emulator - which is better than PSP SNES9x.

 

[Ashler]

IMO the vita is your best option. I use Vita + Retroarch, amazing experience.

 

[Red Liquorice]

The dpad on the PSP (and playstation consoles in general) just makes a lot of retro games really difficult to play, YMMV.

 

[Gradon]

Does Sony ban PSN accounts for Vita emulation? I've never messed about with my Vita specifically because of that worry but I used to have lots of my PS1 games on my PSP and kinda miss it.

 

[Mozendo]

How hard is it to setup emulation for the Vita? I have a PSP for emulation and want to switch,

The dpad on the PSP (and playstation consoles in general) just makes a lot of retro games really difficult to play, YMMV.

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You didn't like the Vita d-pad? I don't have a 1000 on me so I can't tell if it's different, but the 2000's d-pad pretty damn good and for me it's one of the best d-pads for gaming handheld or not, although for the PSP I can definitely agree.

 

[Richter1887]

The dpad on the PSP (and playstation consoles in general) just makes a lot of retro games really difficult to play, YMMV.

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The Vita fixes that. It has the best d pad on a handheld ever.

Does Sony ban PSN accounts for Vita emulation? I've never messed about with my Vita specifically because of that worry but I used to have lots of my PS1 games on my PSP and kinda miss it.

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I have never seen anyone get banned. I use the store as well.

To be sure download history deleter as that doesn't tell them what you are doing on it.

 

[SquirrelSaysNuts]

Which ipega or similar controllers would you recommend? There seems to be tons of options, but they are often unavailable or hard to track down.

 

[Necromanti]

PSP Go

because c'mon, just look at it!

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Unlike the Vita, it actually has DualShock 3 support, at least.

 

[Red Liquorice]

You didn't like the Vita d-pad? I don't have a 1000 on me so I can't tell if it's different, but the 2000's d-pad pretty damn good and for me it's one of the best d-pads for gaming handheld or not, although for the PSP I can definitely agree.

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Never had a Vita, specifically said the PSP so I couldn't judge the Vita.

The Vita fixes that. It has the best d pad on a handheld ever.

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Neat. I guess I missed the boat on the Vita, maybe I should've gone for that over the 3DS after all!

 

[Liquid Plejades]

Hmm I guess I should either get a vita or one of the emulator handhelds people seem to be recommending.

 

[Chakoo]

If you're going PSP, while the PSP Go is a nice device it's getting pretty expensive and is a bit on the tiny side. If you want cheap then yeah an old PSP isn't a bad route but I also would say go with a Vita if you can find one at a good price. Hacking it is pretty straight forward then you can use one of the SD2Vita adapters for memory card.

 

[Subnats]

If GB/C and GBA are mainly what you want to play then definitely go for a Vita. The PSP Go can do GB/C pretty well but GBA isn't great and scaling is a big issue for both systems since the resolution on the PSP is too high for playing without scaling and too low to integer scale either console meaning you're stuck with either a very blurry or shimmery image. That's a non issue on the Vita since its much higher resolution screen can scale both console's output by 3x and avoid any shimmering or blurring, it's emulation of GBA is also much better than the PSP with only minor incompatibilities in my experience.

I originally wrote a longer post comparing the 2 consoles more but it doesn't really feel as relevant an answer imo, I don't feel like erasing it though so I'll just leave it in a spoiler.

Spoiler: Original post

The PSP Go can still be an alright enough emulation machine for a lot of stuff but it's definitely aged. SNES emulation is pretty poor and GBA isn't great unless you can put up with frameskipping. Scaling options for GB/C are also a bit of a pain so unless you want terribly blurry scaling you'll have to use the RIN emulator for it. You'll also be stuck to only 16GB of storage which can be a pain if you want to play a lot of PS1 or PSP games, there is an adapter to be able to use regular SD cards but it was pretty limited and I'm not sure if they're still being made. If you can get over those problems though it can still be pretty decent for most stuff and the small form factor plus being able to easily connect it up to a tv and use a Dualshock 3 may make the sacrifices worth it.

The Vita will basically do everything the Go does better. GBA is much better with only minor incompatibilities and SNES whipe not great is definitely much more playable. The form factor is obviously a lot bigger but with that comes a much more comfortable grip and way better controls. Scaling is never an issue since the resolution of the Vita's screen can easily fit a 2x scale fro most consoles and 3x for handhelds. PS1 games play much better with the extra analog stick and touch pad, even more so with a grip that adds "triggers" to the back. Storage is also a non-issue as adapters to use SD cards are easy to find for really cheap. The only thing that's really missing is tv out, it is possible to it over usb but in my experience it's too laggy to really be playable but if that isn't something you're interested in then the Vita is a no brainer

 

[linkboy]

I'd recommend going with the Vita route.

It's the best PSP that Sony has ever made.

 

[Starlatine]

i think some people are outdated regarding snes and specially gba emulation on psp. some forks of the most popular emulators these days run pretty much most games perfectly. snes is a more of a mixed bag despite most of the popular games being fine too (just beat dkc trilogy on my psp recently with no issues), but the same issues i had on psp i had on vita since development is pretty much going side by side on that specific branch.

vita is stronger and newer so most of the homebrew scene moved to it naturally, but i think they left the psp in a pretty good state, and i vastly prefer its portability over the vita.

 

[Windrunner]

Both have really poor ergonomics. A standard PSP is much more comfortable than either of those.

It costs more to get a modded GBA but it is massively better.

I have small hands with pretty short fingers, your mileage may vary.

 

[Rotobit]

I just recently hacked my PlayStation TV and that process was incredibly easy, so in terms of ease I couldn't recommend the Vita enough. It also has a great screen, more control options due to the extra stick and touch screen, and natively fantastic PSP and PS1 emulation.

 

[tr00per]

I've had a cfw psp and vita, and I gotta say cfw vita is king.

Not to hijack the thread, but I can't for the life of me get my ps1 isos to work on my cfw vita. I tried using that psx2psp program to make eboots on adrenaline to no avail... Is there an easier way?
Also is there a native gba emulator? I been using gpsp via adrenaline.

 

[Andromeda]

Vita is awesome for emulation. I use it constantly. It's powerful enough (up to SNES / Genesis emulation, PS1 / PSP obviously), it has the best dpad and face buttons ever and the screen is great, particularly compared to DS lite.

 

[Liquid Plejades]

Since a lot of you seem to be suggesting the Vita, I found a seller in my town selling the white OLED Vita for a really great price and it has firmware 3.65. Its basically brand new in box. Do i need to get a specific version or this one is good enough?

 

[stn]

Vita is definitely the way to go. The old PSP does not emulate SNES well at all, lots to be desired.

 

[tr00per]

Since a lot of you seem to be suggesting the Vita, I found a seller in my town selling the white OLED Vita for a really great price and it has firmware 3.65. Its basically brand new in box. Do i need to get a specific version or this one is good enough?

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Oh no. I think 3.6 is the cutoff for henkaku :/ unless there's another method, you need a different vita with older firmware

 

[Richter1887]

Oh no. I think 3.6 is the cutoff for henkaku :/ unless there's another method, you need a different vita with older firmware

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You can but it is best to downgrade after doing so for the best compatibility.

 

[Flambe]

Vita is amazing for emulation

 

[Slick Butter]

Vita homebrew has really picked up in the past couple of years and even got a native N64 emulator this year (as opposed to using the PSP hardware for the old PSP N64 emu). There's also a Dreamcast emulator in development for it. Highly recommend the Vita 2000 if you can get one for a reasonable price, and also you can get a microSD to game card adapter so you don't need to use those overpriced memory sticks.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

OP I know you said no 3DS, but what about regular 2DS?

It's very cheap and (if hacked) it's 100% compatible with the GBA library. It can perfectly run every single GBA game natively, without resorting to emulation.

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what? no it doesnt. are you talking about gbarunner? its not even close to 100% compat. lots of games have glitches and some have extreme slowdown.

edit: NM-derp moment. GBArunner is whats run through DSi mode. GBA injection works fine yes.

 

[RedSwirl]

You can also inject NES, GB and GBC games into Nintendo Virtual Console emulator (very, very high compatibility for GB/C, good for NES) and use SNES9x for Old 3DS as your SNES emulator - which is better than PSP SNES9x.

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How much better is the New 3DS for SNES games?

 

[GingerbreadMan]

How much better is the New 3DS for SNES games?

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Much better! You can inject games into Nintendo official VC emulator which is, in fact, another version of Canoe - the same SNES emulator Nintendo used on Wii, Wii U, SNES Classic and Switch. Canoe has built-in settings for every game released on Wii and Wii U VC, which means the compatibility is very, very high (and it works fine even with most of the games unreleased on VC).

For Injections, the go-to program is New Super Ultimate Injector. For SNES games I suggest following this guide I wrote - by combining NSUI with Dark Akuma's Sfrom Tool you'll get the optimal settings for most games.

Unfortunately, the 3DS version of Canoe doesn't support most of the special chips - emulating Yoshi's Island, Super Mario RPG and Star Fox is therefore impossible. You can use SNES9x for Old 3DS for an ok-ish emulation (some minor graphical and sound glitches here and there but the games are playable).

 

[RedSwirl]

For SNES games I suggest following this guide I wrote - by combining NSUI with Dark Akuma's Sfrom Tool you'll get the optimal settings for most games.

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Does that work with Wii and Wii U channels?

 

[Cheezus H Rice]

VIta's native N64 emulator is in it's early stages (0.4 is the latest), but the emulation is already pretty good. Audio is the main thing that needs fixing, but plenty of games run really well. Wave Race and F Zero X are totally playable, and Mario 64 is basically flawless.

 

[nampad]

Go with a Vita, the hardware is just great.
Alternatively, you could research one of those emulator handhelds or even a handheld pc but those might be pricier and/or the controls, especially dpad, won't be as good in most cases.

 

[inner-G]

I'd honesty suggest a 2DSXL (cheap and effective) or an actual GBA with an IPS screen upgrade and a flash cart.

The PSP screen didn't hold up too great imo, and it's not going to scale non-native resolutions from other systems the best.

 

[Kuro]

The PSP Go is incredibly uncomfortable to use so I'd go with a Vita.

 

[maximumzero]

Shit, every time a thread like this pops up I remember I need to re-list my psp go on eBay.

 

[RedSwirl]

My issue with softmodding my New 3DS is I'm not done playing official content or buying VC games on it. If I had money to throw away I'd probably buy a 2nd one just for homebrew though.

 

[Chakoo]

Since a lot of you seem to be suggesting the Vita, I found a seller in my town selling the white OLED Vita for a really great price and it has firmware 3.65. Its basically brand new in box. Do i need to get a specific version or this one is good enough?

Click to shrink...

That is a fantastic/beautiful purchase you got there. Just go read up on the tutorials to hack the system and you're good. :)

 

[Deleted member 5621]

Unless all you care about is PSX and arcade stuff, no reason not to go for a Vita over the PSP in this case.

My issue with softmodding my New 3DS is I'm not done playing official content or buying VC games on it. If I had money to throw away I'd probably buy a 2nd one just for homebrew though.

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You won't lose any of those things though.