26 replies to this topic

[Hitachi]

Hey AA.

I've been thinking about getting a sega gopher. I have weighed the other options such as a nomad or a retrogen or genmobile.

Here's what I've discovered.

I've heard that the retrogen and genmobile don't work very well and one of them runs really slow.

If i were to get one that played carts, i'd get the nomad.

The reason i like the gopher is the fact that you don't need carts.

I'm not super picky about the sound factor, but is there anything anyone has to say about this system or have comments persuading me not to?

Thanks
Adam

[StoneAgeGamer]

Hitachi, on Sat Oct 9, 2010 5:37 PM, said:

The reason i like the gopher is the fact that you don't need carts.

The GenMobile has the exact same games built-in and can play carts.

The RetroGen and GenMobile are basically the same thing hardware-wise. All these are made by the same company (AtGames) and are just relabeled by different companies. I believe the Gopher version uses the exact same hardware.

If you get a good GenMobile they are normally fine, their compatibility is something to be desired, but since it has the same 20 games and can play 90% of the Genesis library I would say it has the advantage over all of these. The problem with GenMobile (like most clones) is the build quality and QA. This is why we test every GenMobile we sell.

Obviously for best compatibility Nomad wins, however if you are just talking handheld Genesis clones. IMO the GenMobile is the best based shearly on having the built-in Sega games and being able to play carts.

[Hitachi]

This is going to make me sound like a total dork but i really don't care.

STONEAGEGAMER replied to MY thread!!! holy crap.


Since I'm sure you know quite a bit about them, do the genmobiles experience slowdown as i've heard?

[MN12BIRD]

From what I've heard the Gopher uses similar Emulation but the processor might be faster and so it doesn't slow down like the others do. Yeah it's not too bad but sometimes the Genmobile and Retrogen have a little more slowdown that real hardware. Play Sonic 2 and get hit when you have lots of rings. It slows down a little on real hardware but it slows down more on the Genmobile/Retrogen so the Gopher is more like real hardware as far as slow down goes. The screen is smaller than the Genmobile but it scales better or is matched to the proper resolution and so looks better and it might be brighter too. I actually bought the Genmobile because I wanted the one that takes real carts but if you truly want the best portable experience having all your games on an SD card certainly makes sense. But the Gopher doesn't do save ram to the SD card for games with battery backup so playing RPGs on it would be out of the question.

This guy did a good review on the Gopher and he REALLY knows his hardware and Sega hardware at that. He also compares it with the Retrogen in this video.

Edited by MN12BIRD, Sat Oct 9, 2010 11:11 PM.

[StoneAgeGamer]

MN12BIRD, on Sat Oct 9, 2010 11:09 PM, said:

From what I've heard the Gopher uses similar Emulation but the processor might be faster and so it doesn't slow down like the others do. Yeah it's not too bad but sometimes the Genmobile and Retrogen have a little more slowdown that real hardware. Play Sonic 2 and get hit when you have lots of rings. It slows down a little on real hardware but it slows down more on the Genmobile/Retrogen so the Gopher is more like real hardware as far as slow down goes. The screen is smaller than the Genmobile but it scales better or is matched to the proper resolution and so looks better and it might be brighter too. I actually bought the Genmobile because I wanted the one that takes real carts but if you truly want the best portable experience having all your games on an SD card certainly makes sense. But the Gopher doesn't do save ram to the SD card for games with battery backup so playing RPGs on it would be out of the question.

This guy did a good review on the Gopher and he REALLY knows his hardware and Sega hardware at that. He also compares it with the Retrogen in this video.

Wow nice. Thanks for video. Also I didn't not realize it had the SD card. I also see they somewhat fixed the d-pad on the RetroGen, I stopped selling them because well no one bought them. I think I sold 3 RetroGens to about 30 GenMobiles when I first started selling them. Honestly after seeing that video I would rather have Gopher.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Hitachi, on Sat Oct 9, 2010 10:08 PM, said:

This is going to make me sound like a total dork but i really don't care.

STONEAGEGAMER replied to MY thread!!! holy crap.


Since I'm sure you know quite a bit about them, do the genmobiles experience slowdown as i've heard?

Yes.

[Animan]

If you have $150, get a GP2X Wiz. Handles Genesis emulation perfectly (some samples don't play correctly, though), including Sega CD and early 32X emulation, and it handles tons of other systems (NES, SNES, SMS, GB, GBA, MAME, NeoGeo, 2600, 5200, 7800, PS1, TurboGrafx, the list goes on). Plus, it has it's own homebrew games, and it is probably smaller than most of the Genesis clones.

Edited by Animan, Sun Oct 10, 2010 10:15 AM.

[Bruce Tomlin]

If those things are going to do emulation anyhow, I can't see the point when I could just run an emulator on a hacked PSP. (or GP2X as mentioned above)

Which is what I do, since the Nomad is too battery-hungry, and the Nomad power jack is flaky enough that it will cause games to reset every few minutes, which is kind of unacceptable.

Edited by Bruce Tomlin, Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:38 AM.

[Akito01]

Has anyone experienced any sound issues with the Gopher (other than the sound emulation being off, which is really really noticeable). Basically, the sound seems to cut out, especially when pressing the control pad to the right or down. This doesn't happen with headphones, so I'm wondering if this an artifact of the speaker being really really close to the control pad. I was curious if my experience is unique, or if this a common problem with this handheld and I should stick to headphones (or maybe it is simply a loose wire than easily be soldered into place -I haven't opened up the device yet to find out).

[The Usotsuki]

My RetroGen had sound issues when it was drfsupercenter's. Funny, it worked fine for me, but I never played the games he used for testing. (He used the Sonic games, I used Mortal Kombat 2)

[Hitachi]

My fiance bought me a gopher for my birthday, it's on the way. I'll give my opinions and comparisons when i get it.

And i will make sure to note the speaker thing

[Akito01]

Well, just to follow up, the internal speaker on my Gopher has gone completely silent, so I think it's just a bum unit and may not be a common problem. You can actually see the dangling wires if you look through the headphone jack.

[ls650]

I bought a Sega Gopher ("Arcade Ultimate" with SD card slot) off eBay this morning for $40 plus shipping.


I've watched a few reviews on Youtube: it looks as if the emulation is not bad for most games if you are willing to let the sound quality have an easy pass. It looks like it might be a convenient way to kill time on the occasional bus or plane trip.

Edited by ls650, Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:24 PM.

[TwinChargers]

I've had mine for almost a year and think its a great time killer. Great way to play Genesis at work on my lunch break. Off of the top of my head I can't recall any titles that flat out won't play. Sure some games have some sound issues, but for its price I'm not about to complain.

[Ace_1]

I personally think all AtGames Geniclones are completely piles of crap. There are better Geniclones than these software-emulation based abominations. Only problem is that those Geniclones which are based off a proper GOAC design and not some shoddy software emulation are all home consoles, not portables.

I'll just stick to my big, bulky, battery-hungry Nomad for my Genesis fix on the go. At least I won't have to deal with ear-shattering audio(try playing a Thunder Force game on any AtGames clone. It sounds HORRIBLE).

[ComputerSpaceFan]

Hi there, I am also thinking I might get one of these Gophers but can I ask anyone here whose got one to test one game for me? One game I really want to play on it is Star Control.

Does it work? And is it difficult to read any of the smaller text that appears on the side of the screen? (things like remaining crew members etc)?

[ls650]

ComputerSpaceFan, on Sat Dec 3, 2011 1:57 PM, said:

One game I really want to play on it is Star Control. Does it work?

I just gave this BIN a try, and played through a practice battle. Yes, it seems to run just fine. The text is tiny but readable.

I received my Gopher (bought off eBay for $40) a few days ago and have tried about 30 different BIN format files. I find most games run at 100% without no or few graphic glitches. The files format must be BIN, not SMD or whatever. I've found the occasional file that didn't want to load, but when I grabbed a different download the second try seemed fine; seems like there are a lot of crap files out there on the download sites.

Sound quality is a bit wonky in some games, but I think it's "close enough" when you're just sitting in a bus or whatever and want a bit of gaming on the go. The screen quality is very good. It is very bright, crisp and colourful. My only complaint that the 2.8" screen seems kind of puny compared to my PSP's screen.

If you just want to spend $40 or $50 for Genesis gaming, get one of these. On the other hand if you want to emulate a variety of gaming platforms on a larger screen, get a used PSP for maybe twice the money.

Edited by ls650, Sat Dec 3, 2011 3:51 PM.

[ComputerSpaceFan]

ls650, on Sat Dec 3, 2011 3:51 PM, said:

ComputerSpaceFan, on Sat Dec 3, 2011 1:57 PM, said:

One game I really want to play on it is Star Control. Does it work?

I just gave this BIN a try, and played through a practice battle. Yes, it seems to run just fine. The text is tiny but readable.

If you just want to spend $40 or $50 for Genesis gaming, get one of these. On the other hand if you want to emulate a variety of gaming platforms on a larger screen, get a used PSP for maybe twice the money.

Excellent, this is goods to know! Thanks ls650.

By the way, there is also a SNES handheld for under a hundred bucks in case anyone's interested.
http://www.destructo...le-217090.phtml
http://www.amazon.co...ASIN=B005GSRPG8

[goldenegg]

TwinChargers, on Thu Nov 17, 2011 8:48 AM, said:

Off of the top of my head I can't recall any titles that flat out won't play.

Contra: Hard Corps is completely unplayable due to graphic corruption. There are more, but I can't remember at the moment.

[ComputerSpaceFan]

ComputerSpaceFan, on Sat Dec 3, 2011 9:05 PM, said:

By the way, there is also a SNES handheld for under a hundred bucks in case anyone's interested.
http://www.destructo...le-217090.phtml
http://www.amazon.co...ASIN=B005GSRPG8

And now a video review of the portable SNES

[ComputerSpaceFan]

By the way, does the Gopher also play SMS and/or 32X roms or is it strictly Genesis roms?

[ls650]

Pretty sure it is a Genesis/Megadrive only device. And that doesn't include 32X or MegaCD.

[ComputerSpaceFan]

Got my Gopher yesterday.
This thing is awesome! Great screen, nice feel in the hands, good button layout with nice tactile feel, and the fact it runs off an SD card is fantastic! Totally worth the $45.

Two questions:

I looked in the manual and didn't see an answer (but admittedly I only scanned it briefly before playing), is there a way to control the screen brightness?

Secondly, does anyone have any recommended websites for Genesis/Megadrive homebrews? I found some and they run just fine on the Gopher but I'm always happy to try out more homebrews.

[ComputerSpaceFan]

ComputerSpaceFan, on Thu Jan 5, 2012 9:27 AM, said:

Secondly, does anyone have any recommended websites for Genesis/Megadrive homebrews? I found some and they run just fine on the Gopher but I'm always happy to try out more homebrews.

Nevermind, I read our own thread about Genesis Homebrewsand then checked Sega-16and SegaAge. I actually found some homebrews on another rom site which I will post here when I'm not at work and should not be crusing rom websites (wink).

[ls650]

Sounds good. I've noticed that it seems like 90% of the homebrew development scene is either Atari or Vectrex. There seems to be next to nothing for other systems.