I’ve been very stressed lately and have been doing some window shopping to calm down. I’m interested in gadgets, but a lot of things can just be replaced with apps. I realize a phone won’t replace very large appliances like refrigerators or washing machines so I’m trying to scope my question to portable devices. So what are some portable devices or gadgets that their specialization hasn’t been replaced by smart phone apps? Extra points if they’re super useful and reliable.
Video games. At least for me. Mobile games suck.
I just emulate things nowadays. I have pretty much the entire NES, SNES, GBC, GBA, N64, NDS, and PSX libraries on my phone ready to go. And it works perfectly fine with any Bluetooth controller, because touchscreen controls are… Well… Complete fucking garbage.
I’m currently playing through the NDS version of Chrono Trigger in my free time. And since all of the games are stored locally, it doesn’t use any data at all. I recently went camping for a week, and my iPad lasted like 7 or 8 hours of playtime (on low brightness because I was in a tent at night) off of a single charge.
What app do you use?
That’s why I bought a 3DS :)
Have you seen trimui, abernic, etc. products
Yeah, I had one of these cheap retro handhelds, but I lost it somehow. I have been thinking about getting another one, but for now I am either using 3DS or RetroArch on my smartphone.
I think a ds lite is still the best value in gaming although the prices have gone up in the past few years. You can get a decent bundle with games and accessories for $50 plus theres those sd card cartdridges for it and you can play gba cartdriges. Battery life is unfathomable and they’re pretty durable
If you’re willing to get a flashcart for your NDS, you might as well just get a 3DS and load up some custom firmware instead. It’s stupid easy to hack with the SD card slot, and you can play whatever games you want for free. No need to fiddle with flashcarts when you can just use the 3DS’ built in SD card slot instead.
Early in the mobile gaming world, it was looking like mobile games would catch up with consoles within a few years, but then Angry Birds made more money than anyone ever imagined with half thr effort, and then Clash of Clans did the same thing again, and suddenly the idea of working hard and making a good mobile game seemed like a silly waste of time.
If you haven’t experimented with roms and emulators yet, many old school games play great on a smartphone. The biggest downside is the touchscreen controls overlay will never compare to an actual controller, but it’s close enough that it’s… well, close enough.
Nintendo’s entire library from their inception as a company through all of their N64 content is a grand total of like 20gb, the vast majority of which being N64. Roms from previous console/handheld games are tiny.
No idea what the current best emulators are; for the games, drop into places like thepiratebay and search for things like “SNES Romset” for the entire library.
Use a VPN. Yar.
Physical controls are a necessity for retro games. Get a Miyoo Mini Plus or equivalent. They make retro games playable.
Sbcgaming or whatever its called is a good sub for that, handheld gaming has taken off, its gotten solid, you could also android phone with any of the controller cases, I just dont game as much or id be into them
You can get a controller for any smartphone out there. Also RPG’s play fine with touch controls, that’s how I played Pokémon games with no issues.
I know that iPhone supports pretty much any Bluetooth controller.
Joycons, PS4/5 controller, and Xbox controllers all work great on it.
Be careful with Xbox controllers if you’re using Bluetooth. Microsoft only started including Bluetooth in their controllers in the last few years. The Xbox consoles all the way from the 360 actually use 2.4GHz (same band as WiFi) instead.
That’s part of why Xbox controllers are so much bigger and heavier than things like the PlayStation controllers; The 2.4GHz circuitry and antenna takes a lot more space than Bluetooth does.
If you’re going to get an Xbox controller for Bluetooth, at least look up how to identify which models have Bluetooth built in.
Physical controls are significantly better, but not strictly necessary. The kicker is needing to press 3+ buttons at the same time, like in Mario 64 pressing forward to run, Z to slide, and A to jump is a PITA on touchscreen.
I’ve played through Mario 64, Zelda OOT and Zelda MM all on touchscreen on mobile, and it’s -again- good enough. It scratches the nostalgia itch. But 100%, if you have a bluetooth controller or something, use it.
There are also fan run repositories of games hosted through Myrient and the Internet Archive if you just want some specific titles or need a particular version for patching.
For emulation, personally I like RetroArch over individual emulators for simplicity. Can recommend SameBoy & Gambatte for GB+GBC, mGBA for GBA, melonDS DS for NDS, & Snes9x for SNES. All are accurate (so not likely to make a game bug out) & run fine on my midrange phone.
The touch controls work fine for games where timing/precision matters less, and for the rest I just use a BT controller. Xbox & PS ones are compatible, I believe, & there are some great quality 3rd party ones (like 8bitDo) out there.
Totally agree. The only game I play on my phone is Balatro.
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Agreed. I play Scopa sometimes. That’s it.