GCW Zero - new retrogaming handheld looks great

[ki_atsushi]

Holy fucking shit, I finally got mine.

System is lightweight but feels pretty well built. The d-pad is a little mushy but the buttons feel great. Now I have to figure how to load all the emus.

 

[Moon Jump]

Glad everybody seems to have FINALLY gotten their Zero's. If you have a problem with the sticky d-pads and buttons be sure to try "Fabulous Blaster". Its supposed to be for automotive, my dad and brother use it all the time for stuck on bolts and stuff like that. I shot the D-Pad and buttons and let it sit in and after some use the A Button finally stopped sticking. Only problem was my hands reeked of the stuff but it feels much better then when I got it.

I really hope they update the repository site where their supposed to have all of the programs and emulators listed. The biggest problems are some of them are out of date and they don't list a lot of them like the MAME and Neo-Geo ones. Then if their not on there you gotta hunt on the forums and hope they have the OPK files because I have no idea on how to rip them, so it's nice some folks already have them set up so all you gotta do is drag and drop.

I still can't get the Neo-Geo games to work on it. I've tried the GN-Neo and MAME app and I keep getting error messages telling me the files are out of date, even when I downloaded new ones. Gotta read through the rest of the site to see what I'm doing wrong.

 

[Xian Xi]

I finally got mine. So what exactly do I need to do to play MAME and SNES on this thing? Was everyone's battery dead when it arrived?

 

[ki_atsushi]

I don't have MAME loaded yet, but I have NES, GENESIS, and SNES emulators with their entire north American libraries loaded up. All 3 emulators are great, with the SNES being the weakest of the 3, it is just a tad slow on some games and can't play the ones that use the C4 chip. All in all I'm happy. My biggest gripe with the system is the d-pad though, it's design is sloppy and lets you push more than 1 direction at a time, so in most games I can't even walk straight, lol. One of these days I'm going to crack it open and see if I can mod the d-pad.

 

[Moon Jump]

Sucks about the D-Pad, I lubed the shit out of mine because it kept sticking. Knock on wood it still works. I agree with the SNES being the weakest of the bunch. Anything with Mode-7 doesn't seem to work on either of the two emulators I have. I was playing Turtles in Time on my flight to Las Vegas and I had to stop at the third Sewer Surfin' stage because I couldn't make anything out. The NES and Genesis emulators are awesome though. The MAME emulator is alright but it only works with certain games. I do need to update most of my files to see if it'll work.

 

[Xian Xi]

http://boards.dingoonity.org/gcw-zero-emulation/mame4all/30/

 

[Xian Xi]

I don't have MAME loaded yet, but I have NES, GENESIS, and SNES emulators with their entire north American libraries loaded up. All 3 emulators are great, with the SNES being the weakest of the 3, it is just a tad slow on some games and can't play the ones that use the C4 chip. All in all I'm happy. My biggest gripe with the system is the d-pad though, it's design is sloppy and lets you push more than 1 direction at a time, so in most games I can't even walk straight, lol. One of these days I'm going to crack it open and see if I can mod the d-pad.

Any tips for me as to setting everything up on mine for those?

 

[ki_atsushi]

Any tips for me as to setting everything up on mine for those?

A page back theres a link to the emu files you'll need, and you'll want to use filezilla to connect to the gcw. On your gcw, go to applications->wireless to set up your wi-fi, and once you do that you'll get your ip address. type that in filezilla's 'host' box, then the username is root and password is blank iirc (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Then your computer's filesystem will be on the left, and the gcw on the right in filezillas windows. You can drag and drop files into the media folder. You will have to dig down a few directories. I made individual folders for each system's roms in the media folder. You can drop the emus in data->apps.

 

[Xian Xi]

Shit, mine wont even power on.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Shit, mine wont even power on.

That blows. You'd figure for only a 1500 unit release there would be some quality control.

 

[Xian Xi]

That blows. You'd figure for only a 1500 unit release there would be some quality control.

Weird, I decided to hold reset for 5 seconds then I plugged in the USB cable and it powered on.

 

[Xian Xi]

Only problem I have now is that there is no sound from the speakers but headphone audio is fine. Tried going into the mixer and speakers are on and also tried raising the volume with the power button + up or down and no dice.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Only problem I have now is that there is no sound from the speakers but headphone audio is fine. Tried going into the mixer and speakers are on and also tried raising the volume with the power button + up or down and no dice.

Wow, you really got a glitchy one...

I'd definitely get in touch with Justin and see if he has held back some extra units for replacing defective units.

 

[Xian Xi]

Wow, you really got a glitchy one...

I'd definitely get in touch with Justin and see if he has held back some extra units for replacing defective units.

Ya it's weird. Now it's working fine after I did a reboot. The audio is ok from the speakers, I'd rather use headphones anyway.

Easy to update the unit with stuff though. If any Mac guys are getting one, use Cyberduck for the FTP, WAY easier than Filezilla.

 

[Yodd]

I found Filezilla on my Mac seems to work fine connecting to my GCW.


However I need to sort out the Up direction button. It sticks constantly.

 

[ki_atsushi]

My B button sticks down constantly, but it hasn't hampered my game playing because my thumb tends to keep it pushed in halfway anyways, and on the next button press it becomes dislodged. Oh well.

This thing seriously kicks ass for Genesis games, I'm having a great time revisiting the games I haven't played in years.

 

[Xian Xi]

I found Filezilla on my Mac seems to work fine connecting to my GCW.

Are you using Mavericks? I get error messages when I try to open Filezilla.

 

[Yodd]

Are you using Mavericks? I get error messages when I try to open Filezilla.

Yep, running 10.9

 

[Xian Xi]

My B button sticks down constantly, but it hasn't hampered my game playing because my thumb tends to keep it pushed in halfway anyways, and on the next button press it becomes dislodged. Oh well.

This thing seriously kicks ass for Genesis games, I'm having a great time revisiting the games I haven't played in years.

Most times when a button sticks it usually isn't the button itself but rather the pad under the plastic button that actually is the switch. Sometimes they use crappy materials for the pad and it gets stuck like that. Got thing is that if the dimensions are about the same you can swap them out with better ones from another controller.

Is there a way to use a game genie with the MD emu? I want to play Master of Monsters without a turn limit.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Well, this thread has been quiet since everyone got their GCW's, so that's probably a good sign that all is well. (sorry I didn't see your post earlier, James)

But some even better news, MAME4ALL has just been released, and from what I've seen it runs fantastic!

 

[xb74]

Would you believe I am still waiting for my GCW! Anybody else in this position also? I am going to send Justin a message tomorrow.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Would you believe I am still waiting for my GCW! Anybody else in this position also? I am going to send Justin a message tomorrow.

Well, you are in Australia, so that would most likely be the reason why you don't have it yet. (He probably used the slowest, cheapest shipping. And customs.) But I'd definitely still send Justin a message.

 

[Xian Xi]

Well, you are in Australia, so that would most likely be the reason why you don't have it yet. (He probably used the slowest, cheapest shipping. And customs.) But I'd definitely still send Justin a message.

I remember them saying something about the boxes not have the proper clearance stickers which they just finished making so it should be shipping out soon.

 

[xb74]

Well, you are in Australia, so that would most likely be the reason why you don't have it yet. (He probably used the slowest, cheapest shipping. And customs.) But I'd definitely still send Justin a message.

I remember them saying something about the boxes not have the proper clearance stickers which they just finished making so it should be shipping out soon.

Cool, thanks lads.

 

[ki_atsushi]

I remember them saying something about the boxes not have the proper clearance stickers which they just finished making so it should be shipping out soon.

Oh that's right... I don't know if Australia has the same standards as Europe, but they were delayed there because they had to get CE certification to be sold there. That could be a reason too.