Should I keep my backup phone as a emulator?

[Merlloosos]

Hello guys, I want y'all opinions about making my backup phone as a phone for emulators, thanks:)

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Absolutely.

That's what I did.

Phones "outgrow" their functionality amazingly fast these days, and most are just unsuited for everyday use after the second year mark... but emulation? Most apps can run in devices going as far back as Android 4.0, which makes them ideal for this sort of thing. In fact, I beat Dragon Quest IX on a 2014 smartphone because of that very reason!

 

[Depaul]

Yes, and it works like charm.
You could buy a game controller and a holder

 

[DJPlace]

i can never play any type of retro games on my phone it's too hard to use Retroarch on it and stuff like that. (i know how to use RA) but my phone is so small i have to hold it side ways to play games and stuff like that IMO it's a pain the butt.

 

[Moreno909]

yes, why not. but it's best if your phone screen isn't too small and take care of the battery, don't let it die or whatever it will drain off faster

 

[hemoroidkowalski]

You said I could have it

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

As most have said, absolutely. Use your phone as long as it CAN be used! If you can, keep your old phone around as a “fun stuff” phone, while your main phone is more for business and boring responsibilities stuff.

Emulate your games at least twice a day. It’s good for you. It’ll keep you from getting game-givitis.

 

[Stookymalarkey]

If you're not planning on selling it, there's no harm holding onto it. Most phones (even the budget ones) can emulate up to PSX easily and if it's a flagship one it can do PSP and Dreamcast as well. You might want to grab a telescoping controller to go with it if you don't like touch controls since you can connect over Bluetooth.

 

[Sinmenon]

I second in getting a controller and a holder.
Many of these multi-console handhelds that you can find are custom Androids with a different carcass.

 

[Advil Lavs]

Of course, especially if you have one of those phone controllers. Nowadays phones have become very powerful, to the point you play Switch games almost as good as on original hardware. Original hardware may still be better for some of those games but sometimes weird controls end up being actually fitting. Some games with motion controls feel at home on the phone.

 

[Deleted member 563203]

Yes, do it.

 

[keefoid]

I'm tempted to try it on my old HTC desire I found recently. Saw a guy online managing to play some stuff and it looked ok. The little thumb pad even works in game.

 

[MasterEn]

i'd say use it until it falls apart. keep the maintenance up on it and you can use it for all sorts of things beside just the phone stuff. games, music player, image viewer; add a notepad or text editor for notes. i think there are some programs to use your phone as a controller on a computer. or something along those lines. there's no limit on what you can do with a smartphone.

 

[χKai]

My phone is more of an emulator than an actual phone at this point, though admittedly I do use it more for things like talking in the forums and messaging on Discord.

 

[Merlloosos]

Guys thank y'all so much for the advice! I'll update y'all when I'm done trying to run any emulator on my backup phone

 

[Stookymalarkey]

Guys thank y'all so much for the advice! I'll update y'all when I'm done trying to run any emulator on my backup phone

Ok. You can use a multi-emulator program like Retroarch since it has a bunch of emulators in its ecosystem (the individual emulators are called "cores" in that app). If you don't want to bother with all of the setup, there's Lemuroid which has emulators that can handle systems all the way up to PSX.

If you'd prefer standalone emulators, there's Duckstation for PSX, SNES9x EX+ for SNES, Redream for Dreamcast, and Pizza Boy for GB/GBC and GBA.

For PSP emulation, you'll want to download the standalone PPSSPP emulator since the Retroarch version isn't kept up to date.