I’ve been getting the urge to do some portable gaming again. I think because I’m spending more time not at home, but in places where I would still want to kill some time. (Like right now, as I wait for traffic to clear up.) I have a Nintendo 3DS, and even a Switch, but that hasn’t stopped me from developing a bit of a wandering eye, in large part because I don’t want to have to re-buy games I might own for another system on the Switch (or 3DS) just to fiddle with them for a little bit here and there.
So I figure it’d be nice to either a) figure out a portable solution for playing PC games or emulators, so I can play through my old back catalogue of PC games or at least not have to re-buy the games I own for older consoles, or b) go for something completely different that’ll be its own unique experience. Will any of this happen? Probably not! But with some help from Mastodon, I’ve learned or been reminded of these three systems, and all of them look like they could be very fun, and fill that gameboy-shaped hole in my heart.
Playdate
This looks hecking awesome, and like a great platform for weird little experimental games. It’s also not out yet, but that’s part of the fun, I think. I’d kill for a fun fishing game on this thing, because of the crank. Especially if it combined fishing and Pokémon… But I digress. The fact that you get a “season” of games with it also sound like a good way to get exposed to some games you otherwise might not end up playing.
GPD XD
It’s like a 3DS, if it only had the top screen but could then play all the emulators and android games! I could see this thing being super, super fun. The only question for me would be how well its L2/L3-style buttons work, for emulating PS2 games. Oh, and if there’s a way to get old PC games running on it. (Does DOSBOX work on Android? Does anything even slightly more modern?) I dream of a world where I can play Morrowind on the go, you see. DREAM.
(Very many thanks to Lucky for sharing this system’s existence with me yesterday!)
ODROID-GO
A DIY option, with gameboy and gameboy color emulators available. A great way to have a small, pocket system to play some super-classic games. It also seems to be pretty well-regarded in the FOSS/tech-nerd community, which is a nice plus. Oh, and it’s cheap as heck, which I won’t complain about. This would probably be the easiest and most straightforward way for me to scratch a gameboy itch quickly.
The Disaster Option
Or I could try to DIY my own! With blackjack! And hookers! And by that I mean an x86 processor so I could play Morrowind! What could go wrong??? XD
I should not do this. I might try to do this.
God help us all.
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