best console to mod for multiple emulators

Currently I use my modded Wii to run most my emulators. It runs Nes-Snes; genesis, Gb-gba, Neo Geo, and PC Engine just fine. But I'm guessing it doesn't have the power to run PS1 and up. Is their a console that can emulate PS1,PS2,N64, Gamecube etc fairly smooth?

 

You're talking a pc then. Especially for ps2 emulation.

 

Unless an exploit of some kind allows you to use 8th gen systems (Wii U, Xbone, PS4), a $350-$500 gaming PC would probably do what you need.

 

A modded original Xbox would do most of these
The only ones in your list that aren't possible are the PS2, Gamecube and the Wii
Cost about £60

 

They often cost less than that, that's actually quite a lot for a softmodded Xbox (even with a bigger HDD).

A Raspberry Pi 2 can run everything that you've listed, except for PS2 and GameCube. It runs PS1 and N64 games surprisingly well. It's also fantastic for CPS2 and CPS3 games, but it needs to be overclocked to run CPS3 games at the right speed (it's not hard to do at all). I'd say the only limitation with this option is having to know a bit about Linux, but there's a plethora of tutorials and pre-made OS images out there like Emulationstation and RetroPie that make the process easy.

 

Your final choice also depends on what you actually want hardware-wise. I mean do you definitely want a console (i.e. you just turn it on, it quick boots, then everything is is selected/controlled by a joypad, with no maintenance or messing about necessary (once the system and emulators are set up), and value ease-of-use over raw power)? Or would the added power and flexibility of a PC be of value to you? Or do you want to go down the middle, and get a Rasperry Pi 2?

My emulation machine is a modded original XBox. And it is *superb* for that, as long as are happy with emulating only 8 and 16 bit systems. Anything later, and it's somewhere between flaky and impossible. I.e. you ca emulate an N64, but only a few games run perfectly, many run but with glitches, and some won't work at all. The few Playstation games I've emulated on it work perfectly, but I know that some don't. The Atari Jaguar emulation is similarly hit and miss. And forget anything later, such as the PS2 or Gamecube.

But for SNES/NES/Megadrive/Atari ST/MAME (well, early arcade games, up to at least the mid-90s)/ZX Spectrum/C64/etc it's fantastic. The fact that it plays the few Playstation games I've tried, plus allows me to play some Jaguar games (I've never played on a Jaguar in real life) is, to me, just a nice bonus. And of course it plays XBox games!

Another plus point is that whilst almost every 8 and 16 bit system you can name is emulated on the XBox, there are very few multiple emulators for one system. This would be very bad if those emulators weren't much good, but fortunately they tend to be ports of the best emulators from the PC, so you don't have to spend time trying a load of (say) Atari ST emulators out to try and find the best.

But for the best solution, i.e you can play emulators for more powerful systems (PS2/Gamecube/Wii/etc), plus probably later arcade games (I don't know, I stick with the MAME version that's on my XBox) then a PC is the only answer. Plus on any reasonable PC DOSBox runs fast enough to make any game playable, whereas on the XBox you can only run 386 games at full speed, though apparently a faster version is due for release later this year, by Madmab), and you can play Windows games on the PC, of course.

Personally, I keep my PC for PC gaming (and internet browsing, etc), and use my XBox for emulation (and XBox games).

 

Well, you can emulate PS1 games on the Wii according to this video .

 

buy a cheap android box and get the emulators from the Play store
ive tried this on a couple of different boxes and had no problems
PS1, N64 etc. all play great - you will obviously still have issues with some games but at least the emulators are getting updates too

 

Except the playstations, all of what you listed can be played on a Wii. Wii64 for N64, and nintendont for NGC.
I'd say keep the Wii and buy a chipped ps2.

 

If you need a proper PC in a small box, running a full OS, consider Intel NUC computers, they are about 4" x 4" x 2" and considerably more powerful than a Raspberry. Low voltage too (12v as I recall) and runs about 9-38 watts only. Costs about 20x the cost of a Raspberry though...

 

Personally I'd love a machine that could emulate the N64 (it's my favourite console, and I still use it every few days, but it doesn't look great on my LCD TV, sadly), but at the moment no emulator runs even 90% of the games properly. Well, Cen64 and the N64 part of MESS are aiming for 100% accuracy, but neither are out yet, and neither will ever run at full speed on even the best modern (2015) PCs.

An N64 is great for some games, but since it's often the best games that have problems, then at the moment the best option by far is to get a real N64 (plus a flashcartridge for loading all games from a memory card), but make sure your TV can do a god job of displaying low resolution input (the N64, Playstation, Jaguar, and anything earlier can have real problems with some TVs).

And yes, a PS2 is also brilliant to own. You don't need to chip it though, but get a hard drive (and network card) and you can play most games from the hard drive, using FreeMcBoot, and Open PS2 Loader. Mine has a (I think) 250GB hard drive, but I know that 500GB or more work too, but check a compatibility list first.

 

The reason there is in fact still a (small) market for handheld portables for N64's is because emulators are bad with N64's; they play some games but not a lot and with graphic issues. So, yes, original N64 hardware and flashcard is best option for that system. I've used an RGB board in mine, and HDMI upscaler and frankly, output looks pretty decent on my 65" television.

 

x

 

Yes, FamilyGuy already mentioned Nintendont for Gamecube games. It works very well from what I've tried.

 

Just get a Windows TV box, you can pick them up cheaply:
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/PIPO...l-3736F-1-8GHz-Quad-Core---Silver-339668.html

Surprising how good the Atom Z37xx series is, great little low power chips. Not as fun as modding an XBox or Wii but much better quality emulation, especially for N64. Can run a surprising amount of PS2 and Windows games too.

 

Wii is one of the best consoles to use for emulation.

I also made a few these:
http://www.raphnet.net/electronique/extenmote/index_en.php
and made Wiimote to SNES adapters.

Classic controllers also work very well.

 

If you wanna go the NUC route but find them expensive, ChromeBoxes can be flashed with a standard bios and run Linux/Windows. It's actually one of the best performance/price ratio you can get.