THE GOOD:
Nice Set of Features
Very good compatiablity
Don't have to carry your GameBoy (excessive weight) around anymore
Support HPC,PPC,MIPS,SH3, If you get a different WinCE unit later on it will
still run it.
Retain some of the appeals of a real GB (ex. portability, long batter life, instant
on etc..)
Author is continuely updating the emulator and making it run better on CURRENT
machines (not like the MicroScam.. Microsoft where they add more useless features and slow
it down forcing you to buy a faster machine)
THE BAD:
It would be great if the help
file in the program is alittle updated to tell what some of the options do (ex. Display
line Interupt, VBL cycle etc..). Something like that probably takes 5-10 minutes
anyway, wonder why it was never done. The FAQ on their website is outdated
too.
AutoFire option don't work.
The buttons on my HPC just
don't "feel" like a gameboy controller. Can I blame that on the author?
8-P
THE UGLY:
Sound quality. Reminds
me of the 286 days when there was no sound card and I have to play game out of my PC
speakers (I'm talking about the little one in your system that make the beep noise)
Save/load state works but the
interface is kind of arkward. If you're familiar with most other popular emulators,
NEORAGEX, NESTICLE, ZSNES, KGEN98 to name a few all you need to do to save/load is press a
button. With PalmGB instead of painlessly & automatically saving/load the state
with the rom filename and a *.STX extension, you have to MANUALLY put in a directory
and filename. Quite a few times I accidently overwrite the game rom with a
save state and I have to upload the game rom to my HPC again ^&^%^%*#$. I
would be great if the author used a save/load state interface similiar to the other
emulators I mentioned that use a "quick save/load state key" and have multiple
save state support.
The way PalmGB handles Save
Ram (In game Saves like for RPG etc..) is very stange and kind of annoying to say the
least. When you are playing, say a RPG and you save from the game the ram file don't
automatically save itself or load itself when you load the rom. You have to manually open
the File menu and select "Save Ram" (virtually all emulator I ever use that
support save/load ram save/load it automatically). and again you sometimes end up
overwriting your game rom. JUST LET THE DAMN EMULATOR AUTO SAVE/LOAD the ram
files. Don't know why the author choose his way of saving ram & states but
he might have his own reason. (The only reason I can think of is that he runs it on
a PPC and since they don't have a keyboard, he don't notice it. But it would be
great if he add the interface to people that have a HPC with a keyboard)
THE VERDICT:
Performance: 8.5
Price/Value: 9.5
Installation: 10
Overall Score: 9
FINAL COMMENTS:
Despite some minor flaws with
the save/load state & ram interface (which I don't think it would be too hard to fix)
PalmGB is a great program. Not that I'm criticizing the author too much with the
bugs. He seems to be spending too much time making the program run faster (which is
a good thing) and no time actually playing the games. I didn't really notice these
"bugs" until I started play Final Fantasy Legend III. I mean if he really
spend some time playing ZSNES, NEORAGEX he should be familiar with the somewhat
"universal save/load state & ram interface" system that most
emulators use. I bet he would be annoyed too if he have to manually save state/rams
with the arkward interface as often as I did when playing an RPG.
Honestly, this is one of
those program YOU HAVE TO GET if you own a HPC/PPC device. Face it, alot of native
HPC/PPC games are crappy, not that there are alot of games for the HPC/PPC in the first
place (even those that are out are mostly card games). With PalmGB, it open up a
whole world of gamming. With the potential to play about 1000+ games that are
released, how can you not be happy? Now I can just carry my HPC with me and not have
to worry about finding pocket space for the gameboy and the carts.
I did talk to the author
awhile ago (before I was a webmaster) and amazingly he responded to my email within a day
and took my suggestion/comments and implemented it into the newer version. Taking
the time to talk to a regular Joe and taking their feedback is a cool point in my book.
(But then again, maybe he just don't get much mail and mine was the only
one... naaaa.)
All the improvements and
speed to v2.0 makes it a worthwhile buy. Hey, it's alot cheaper than buying a real
color gameboy and even $20 bux cheaper than a gameboy pocket. If you're looking to
buy any game for your HPC/PPC I highly recommend this. I'm pretty happy spending the
$30 on it myself. Even if you can find a pirated copy of this floating around, I
suggest you buy it. Show some respect to the author for the fine work. (That
really means alot comming from the mouth of an experienced software pirate)
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