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The Gamepark 32 is my absolute favorite handheld of all time

Krejlooc

Banned
I was pretty excited to get it when it came out, but I ended up using it mainly for playing music and emulation. The original games I got ended up being fairly crappy (Astonishia Story R, Little Wizard, Tomak: Save the Earth Again). That paired with the lack of backlight on it makes me not particularly fond of it overall.

Did you ever play the post-patch tomak? It improved the game quite a bit.

Later models were front lit or back lit, much like the gba.
 

c0de

Member
man,i remember this! it had homebrew written all over it and had some emulators available. sad for people who don't even know what is was.
 

Aeana

Member
Screenshots are easy to find.

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Did you ever play the post-patch tomak? It improved the game quite a bit.

Later models were front lit or back lit, much like the gba.

Well, I didn't have those models, I had the original one.
 

nampad

Member
Have to say this system sounds really cool and I barely recognize the name. Thanks for sharing.

A lot of people think the CDi and the Jaguar were the best too.

Great snarky post for this well written informative out OP. I am proud of you.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
I remember waiting for ages for a promised ASR English translation that never came. I played through a large chunk of the game in Korean, then eventually got the psp remake.

My favorite gp32 commercial game is blue angelo by far, with pinball dreams coming in close second.
 
Had one of these as well as the GameparkGp2x and Wiz. They were great little emulation devices at the time, but all had their nuances. I just remember how clicky the controller was on the GP32, but it was a fun machine being able to carry all those games on the go. Good times.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Had one of these as well as the GameparkGp2x and Wiz. They were great little emulation devices at the time, but all had their nuances. I just remember how clicky the controller was on the GP32, but it was a fun machine being able to carry all those games on the go. Good times.

My first model gp32 actually had a defect in the molding of the plastic, the well for the stick wasn't wide enough so it wouldn't hit both micro switches when you moved to a diagonal. So I had to take mine apart and sand down the stick shaft and widen the hole with an exacto knife.

My BLU model used the updated plastic mold so no need to mod. It wound up making my original model look quite rough lol.

How does emulation work when it's only got two buttons?

It has six buttons - a, b, start, select, l, and r.
Things like the genesis emulator would use start as the a button on the controller.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Still not as cool as the R-Zone.

lol

I had two models of the rzone, one that was the classic eye piece model, and one that was shaped like those old atari table top lcd mini arcade cabinets. I hated both so much lol. I had all the sega games.
 
I don't know. To me, any system be it handheld or otherwise is defined by its games. And I mean original games, not emulated at crappy frame rates. I'd still take the Neo Geo Pocket Color and Wonderswan over this because those actually had games, and those aren't even top tier handhelds.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
They had Android phones in 2001?

I also like the itt posts that took my topic title saying it's my favorite handheld as an argument that it's superior to that particular user's handheld of choice.

Take this guy as an example:

I don't know. To me, any system be it handheld or otherwise is defined by its games. And I mean original games, not emulated at crappy frame rates. I'd still take the Neo Geo Pocket Color and Wonderswan over this because those actually had games, and those aren't even top tier handhelds.

"Crappy framerates"?
 

Elija2

Member
It has six buttons - a, b, start, select, l, and r.
Things like the genesis emulator would use start as the a button on the controller.

But wouldn't playing most SNES games be impossible (or at least really awkward)? Not to mention stuff like Quake and Duke Nukem.
 

SiDCrAzY

Member
I remember this handheld, wasn't really into the scene at that time, but I learned about the GP32 when I got into the GP2X scene. Good times.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
But wouldn't playing most SNES games be impossible (or at least really awkward)? Not to mention stuff like Quake and Duke Nukem.

You could map macros and button combinations, and they saved configurations per game in the snes emulator. So, if the game didn't use select, you could remap it to something else.

Snes emulation was never that great, however. Mostly this was good at emulating older 8 bit stuff.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
I remember I had a ton of anime in real media format, and I'd spend hours converting them to mpeg 2 avis by physically outputting them from one pc to another using an ati all in wonder pro, then burning them to cdrs for archive. That way I could watch an episode on my bus ride to campus.

When the ngage came out, the primary reason I bought mine was the native real media support, lol.
 

Teletraan1

Banned
I had never heard of this before. Great write up.

Geez the negative nancys on this site are getting unbearable. Op offers up a decent write up about an obscure handheld and we have a bunch of people on the attack for unknown reasons. Almost break time from this site and probably the internet in general.
 
I remember the GP32, and its next gen big bro, the GP2X. I really wanted one, but the prices people wanted for imports was crazy, and at the time it was either a GP32 or a GBA, like you said...and I _really_ wanted a GBA (day 1 purchase, skipped school and hung out in a starbucks for like 3 hours with a buddy alternating between Castlevania, Super Dodge Ball, and THPS2).

I don't really regret my decision, but I do think it would have been awesome to have one of these in their heyday.

Edit: To the guy above me, yeah, that's the GP32's second coming.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Was the GP2X a sequel console made by a different company formed from GamePark or something? I remember wanting that one.

The GP32 was made by a korean company called Gamepark. When time came to make a sequel console, the company basically split in two over direction where the company should go. The original designers of the GP32 left gamepark and formed a company called Gamepark Holdings. Gamepark Holdings produced the GP2X. The original Gamepark intended to create the XGP, but they went out of business before the XGP could be released.

All future gamepark handhelds like the Canoo or the GPWiz were from Gamepark Holdings.
 
Definitely a system that deserved better than it got... I've still got my BLU and the GP2X I picked up after it; it's a shame the GP2X didn't live up to the GP32's design - the D-stick especially was a sticking point with me on that console... I don't really use either one of them any more since I got my GCW Zero, but I put a whole lot of hours on both... they were worth every penny...

BAD PHONE PIC ALERT! here they are laid out on my kitties' window bench...

D8Rq5RL.jpg
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Definitely a system that deserved better than it got... I've still got my BLU and the GP2X I picked up after it; it's a shame the GP2X didn't live up to the GP32's design - the D-stick especially was a sticking point with me on that console... I don't really use either one of them any more since I got my GCW Zero, but I put a whole lot of hours on both... they were worth every penny...

BAD PHONE PIC ALERT! here they are laid out on my kitties' window bench...

D8Rq5RL.jpg

I used to watch your namesake on my GP32, haha.
 
Got the non lit version off eBay few years ago mostly out curiosity. I really wanted the blu one but these things hardly ever show up at all. Took me months of waiting just until that came up. I flashed a cfw on it making it easier to launch home brew especially since the one I got didn't come with the (proprietary) connection cable.
 

goonergaz

Member
Was the GP2X a sequel console made by a different company formed from GamePark or something? I remember wanting that one.

oh yeah, the stick on the GP2X was always breaking - such a shame.

Still have my Wiz - this thread will make me dust it off for a double-dose of nostalgia! lol
 

Kiriku

SWEDISH PERFECTION
Haha, I have one of those! No backlight was kind of a bummer though, never bothered with modding it either.
 
I remember reading enthusiastically about this on Slashdot but I was still in university at the time and couldn't really afford it. Looks like I missed a really cool boat. Thanks for the post Kreljooc! Do you still have any of the code you wrote?
 

Meffer

Member
Wow, I've never heard of this handheld before. I was reaching the age of 13 when I got my GBA and I was all about that. I didn't even know about the WonderSwan, though I wish we got that in the states. I love the clicky dpad stick. How was the battery life?
 
I wanted the GP32 so bad when it was released; salivating at the prospect of a handheld emulation device. I eventually got a Gamepark device (the GP32 Wiz... psssh talk about wasted potential), but it wasn't quite the same.
 

BusterJol

Member
Man i remember looking at all the gps and wanting each of them after reading a list of all handheld game consoles.

I thought the GP2X looked slick as hell back then.
 

huxley00

Member
This is so cool! I've never heard of this and I was a pretty big gamer and Dreamcast homebrew guy at the time. I thought I was cool with my GameBoy Advance backlight installation but you took it to a whole other level. Great thread/topic!
 
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