Plug-and-Play Emulation boxes: Reviews / Suggestions

[mjmjr25]

I'm looking to get one of those emulation boxes that come ready to roll out the box. Kinhank Super X Console and the like.

I don't have a PC and there are too many games I still enjoy playing that I don't have a PCB of and aren't ported.

Has anyone had success with one of these and can recommend? There are dozens (hundreds?) of reviews of various models and it all just makes it more confusing. YTuber x loves this one and hates this one, next guy is the opposite, next guy likes another model, etc. Amazon reviews are all around 3-4 star with many of the 5 star reviews looking like shills and bots.

Wants:

• Plug and play (games pre-loaded, no SD rom downloading, etc)
• Bluetooth pad support (it seems like this is the standard)
• Intuitive game screen menu
• Fast times from console to console library
• Relatively fast load times
• Quality build (inside and out) (ideally will last a good year at least before corrupting or slowing down)
• Majority of 2D arcade stuff to play excellently
• High scores to save

Don't Cares:

• Doesn't have to play everything flawlessly
• Not worried about frame-rate on modern (ps3 and beyond stuff)
• Not worried about some 3D Saturn / N64 / DC games being wonky
• Don't need save states

Does anyone have one of these boxes? Have any good tips / recommendations?

 

[max 330 mega]

Buy a PC, click 1 mouse button per internet archive link for the console you would like every game for.

 

[Lach]

If you want a great arcade specific setup which is preloaded with loads of old and very recent stuff then download the Artax TTX3 multi drive image. It will boot and work on pretty much any PC.

A lot of what you can buy is just shit you could do yourself and probably better. Why not just buy a pi and grab a preloaded image for the SD card?

If not then I don't think it really matters what you choose.

 

[RAZO]

Yea, Mister or Pi. Pi has much more range. Mister once you do the initial setup, update all script does pretty much the rest for you as long as your connected to the internet. For the console's you will have to drag and drop or ftp the roms into the roms folder.

The easiest best emulation box outside of the pc has to be the Pi. Find a nice size image, move it to the sd card and power on. You need to configure the usb controller or stick and might have to also map buttons for certain games but that's about it.

The Pi has pretty much everything you mentioned

 

[sirlynxalot]

Go on eBay and search for hyperspin PC.

 

[StevenK]

This one is the funniest of all of the preloaded consoles, but also the worst at counting

 

[Neodogg]

This one is the funniest of all of the preloaded consoles, but also the worst at counting

View attachment 62468

That thing has more inputs than Roker’s mom…

 

[roker]

This one is the funniest of all of the preloaded consoles, but also the worst at counting

View attachment 62468

5 players at the same time?

That's just a regular Tuesday for NeoDogg's mom

 

[mjmjr25]

Girl on the right is getting pregnant.

That's 5.

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

Pretty much what everyone else has stated.

Mister for accuracy but gui is basic and you have to download the roms for console games. Arcade games download automatically with update_all script.

Pi4 if you want convenience and input lag but more game variety. Make sure to grab a version iv since it supports runahead. Can't really use it with ps1/n64 3d stuff but it helps a lot in 2d.

Wii/Wii-u. Cheapest setup by far but has solid emulation on a lot of systems.

 

[blakeb8111]

I would go the pc route. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get the pc, you can find used i5 and i7 pcs on the cheap all over. I can’t speak on the mister, although it seems pretty cool. But a preconfigured hard drive with hyperspin or something similar and a pc would prob be the same cost or even cheaper than a complete mister. And theres a good chance someone on this site can hook you up with that too. I have a Pi which is good also, but the pc is definitely better.

 

[pixeljunkie]

PC isn't a bad idea. It's fairly cheap and you can get loaded Batocera disk images that you can literally just plug into it. No setup.

Also Pi4, you can do run-ahead on everything up through 16-bit which is on par with Mister in terms of lag. I have both, for the record. Pi4 is VERY good, if you can fucking get one.

 

[mjmjr25]

I do appreciate all the feedback here. Sincerely. That aside...my strong preference is plug and play. I don't want a PC, and I have no real ability to download anything (my home internet is brutal, think dial-up). I had a Pi once. Headache for me. I am old man when it comes to tech. I also don't want an eyesore, it would ideally have a console look without 8 cables coming out all sides of it. I want to turn on power and play a game. IE, was really hoping one of these plug and play emulation boxes was half-way decent.

 

[wataru330]

Modded Xbox.
Super inexpensive. Dead simple.

Settings for modern TVs:
-run component cables
720p
Simple 2x
Flicker filter zero
Soften turned off
Hardware filtering point.

Shit looks delicious w/ these settings.

The five player pregnancy HDMI boxes look and play awful.

 

[pixeljunkie]

I do appreciate all the feedback here. Sincerely. That aside...my strong preference is plug and play. I don't want a PC, and I have no real ability to download anything (my home internet is brutal, think dial-up). I had a Pi once. Headache for me. I am old man when it comes to tech. I also don't want an eyesore, it would ideally have a console look without 8 cables coming out all sides of it. I want to turn on power and play a game. IE, was really hoping one of these plug and play emulation boxes was half-way decent.

Honestly the latest "Pandora's Box" might be a good choice. They make a home console version. I have a Pandora's Box 6 and while a handful of games on it don't run to my liking - OVERALL, not bad. They've come out with a ton more since the 6, so it's probably even better now. Probably the only "all inone" where you will find shit like Night Slashers.

 

[mjmjr25]

Honestly the latest "Pandora's Box" might be a good choice. They make a home console version. I have a Pandora's Box 6 and while a handful of games on it don't run to my liking - OVERALL, not bad.

If it will get me pregnant than this is an option.

Xbox i'm cool with if it comes pre-modded. Again, not too sound completely incompetent. Well, yeah, actually, I am completely incompetent when it comes to downloading stuff. I tried submitting my taxes last night and apparently sent them a 15% coupon code for Estarland.

 

[madmanjox]

Could someone please buy this POS and let me know if it’s any good?

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/1005003705153534.html?spm=a2g0n.detail.1000013.4.4581yUE1yUE1MZ&gps-id=storeRecommendH5&scm=1007.18500.300835.0&scm_id=1007.18500.300835.0&scm-url=1007.18500.300835.0&pvid=31824a47-6d89-4064-8b91-4d55b5c4cee3&_t=gps-id%3AstoreRecommendH5%2Cscm-url%3A1007.18500.300835.0%2Cpvid%3A31824a47-6d89-4064-8b91-4d55b5c4cee3%2Ctpp_buckets%3A668%232846%238110%231995&isseo=y&pdp_npi=3%40dis%21GBP%21904.37%21633.06%21%21%21%21%21%400b0a2e9c16757887955986600e34ab%2112000026920266817%21rec%21UK%21178964665&_universallink=1&m_page_id=nfpehatftgcawgcv1862ccba5572034b48ae11f0f3&gatewayAdapt=Pc2Msite

 

[awbacon]

If it will get me pregnant than this is an option.

Xbox i'm cool with if it comes pre-modded. Again, not too sound completely incompetent. Well, yeah, actually, I am completely incompetent when it comes to downloading stuff. I tried submitting my taxes last night and apparently sent them a 15% coupon code for Estarland.

I hope this is an actual true story