I had been looking for the best way to play my favorite old games for over a year and my G2 just wasn’t cutting it. Don’t get me wrong; the animation is smooth and the sound is crisp, but I found myself wanting a D-Pad layout and separate battery life consumption.
The Backstory
After subscribing to Wired for a couple of months, I received a catalog from ThinkGeek. Being the nerddorkgeek I am, I found so many things to love. Upon turning one page, everything else in the catalog was no longer interesting.
AN ACTUAL HANDHELD EMULATOR! My jaw dropped and my fingers went tapping away on Facebook: it was almost Christmas and the world needed to know the number-one item on my wishlist. My close friend ordered it shortly after, and time passed.
A lot of time passed and she never went to the post office. I was too busy with finishing my portfolio and working to notice. I didn’t mind that I hadn’t received the gift; it’s merely an object. However, upon graduating I decided to finally treat myself to the handheld emulator of my dreams. I went to the website and looked for the item, but it was sold out. However, the Wiz WAS on sale for $99, so I bit the bullet and spent the cash.
It arrived a few days later, and I’ve been having fun ever since.
The Review Part One - The Body
The front of the Wiz manages to be comfortable, yet filled with buttons.
The back of the Wiz is smooth and quiet.
The GP2X Wiz is made of a durable plastic reminiscent of 1990′s handhelds. The front was designed with a classic layout that is recognizable if you’ve ever used a console controller or played games on a handheld system. On the left side of the front, there is a standard D-Pad with a MENU button that acts as a START button under it. The middle has a 2.75-inch touchscreen(!). On the right side of the front, there are buttons that look like a D-Pad, but are disconnected and clearly labled A,B,X,Y (yes, I put them in alphabetical order). Under those main buttons is the SELECT button. On each side is an interestingly-hidden speaker in case you don’t have or like headphones.
The right side of the Wiz has a stylus slot and keyfob loop.
The left side of the Wiz has the power/lock switch.
The sides are pretty simple; the left side has a power/lock sqitch while the left has a keyfob loop and stylus slot. The top has L&R buttons, a mic, and an SDHC-capable slot. I currently have it running with an 8 GB microSD (with an adapter, of course) and there are no problems. The bottom has volume rockers, a proprietary USB cord slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The touches of red are lovely to look at. The back holds the battery and–surprise– a stylus! The cover is screwed in place, but should you ever need to remove it, there is a simple PUSH button for your pleasure.
The top of the Wiz features an SD card slot, L & R buttons, and a mic.
The bottom of the Wiz has a proprietary USB port, volume rockers, and a microphone jack.
Part Two – The Internals
The Wiz runs Linux and comes with a 2,000 mAh lithium battery and runs for up to 8 hours. The CPU is an ARM9 533MHz, but is overclockable to 800MHz and even has a 3D Accelerator (so yes, you can play those PS1 games). It comes with 64MB of ram and 1GB built-in storage. It also supports flash and videos up to 30fps.
Part Three – The User Interface
Once you turn on the Wiz, it takes about 20 seconds to boot up. This is far faster than most modern phones and computers, and is therefore totally fine with me. The interface is a bit confusing at first. The main menu is easy to scroll through either using your finger or the D-Pad and buttons. It’s pretty straightforward and the built-in games lasted me for a while before I finally had a chance to upload some emulators and games. The buttons are tough to figure out at first, but eventually I understood that B selects a menu item and X goes back. Y and A do nothing in these menus.
The only confusing parts of the interface are the button mappings, but that can be ignored if you use the touchscreen.
The gem of the Wiz is the community that has devoted time to compiling emulators for the Wiz. Currently, there are emulators for the Sega Genesis, SNES, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, and more. There are also various games and the ability to upload flash games. Like most flash memory hardware, the Wiz opens as a drive when plugged into the computer. It also charges when plugged in. Installing an emulator or rom takes no work–download the files and place it in the Emulator folder.
The Overall Experience
This system has become my go-to item for entertainment when I’m on the train or simply need to pass the time during a long wait. It’s also broadened my retro gaming knowledge intensely. Don’t laugh at me, but I didn’t have any Nintendo systems until the GBC. My mom also didn’t buy me fighting games or games with ANY weapons, therefore I never got to play Streets of Rage and only played fighting games at friends’ houses. Now, I can say I’ve played the more popular old games (as well as some more obscure ones). This system is great for correcting childhood gaming errors (such as having no idea how to beat Rocket Knight Adventures) and is incredibly light to boot.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this compact handheld system to anyone who misses playing games from the 80′s & 90′s and has little time or space for a laptop.