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[EverestX]

Well I have one and I most certainly love it.  Mainly I use the thing for Sega Genesis Emulation, and let me tell you it's something spectacular!   Also, recently Sega Cd support was added to the genesis Emu.  Haven't had a chance to Up a Sega CD game yet to test that. This is my favorite handheld to play Genesis on, simply for near perfect emulation.

 As for C64 and all that older stuff, I can't honestly tell you.  There are various reviews about the emus out there and for the most part they are all good.  Cps1/2 runs pretty well, some times you have to sacrifice sound for perfect frame rates but you can play with settings to perfect whatever game it is you are looking to play.

Snes, Depending on the game or clock speed runs decent to hardly at all. I can play the hell out of yoshi's cookie with sound at full speed so that works for me.  And then you have PSX with similar hit or miss titles.

Playing movies on the thing IMO is a waste, it will eat batteries or look like mud.  There have been recent fixes, but then again if you are just buying the thing to play movies go else where.   If you are planning to watch an DIvx with the TV out, then you will certainly need a PSU for it.  Tv out support is limited to apps that support it, as far as I can tell that's about 1 out of 3 (important) apps.

I don't own a breakout board, so that I cant comment.

Edit: Forgot to mention, I ordered this thing before it even came out so I have had it for a while, I constanly slam, drop, jerk, or sit on the thing and I have yet to break it. Make sure you get the newest firmware and bootloader on it as soon as you get it, otherwise you will be rebooting like crazy if it's not Firmware 2.1 or newer.

Sounds like you are in the market for one.  This is a niche market handheld, with a lot of apps, but limited amounts of dev's.  Since it's not a PSP or a NDS most people don't take note of it and it's "scene" isn't as big.  If you want to be able to play MP3's, watch some quick porn on the railway, or play near perfect genesis then go for it.  There is a value pack that you can get most of the crap with. But if you are crafty you can buy just the GP and a SD then flash your GP with that firmware and the free games.

PS. if you buy this console you MUST buy Payback, the game is amazing!

If you are looking for more new "fresh" high graphics games and some homebrew/emulation overall  the NDS with a Supercard Lite is a better way to go for all around use.   Hope this helped!

[EverestX]

I personally can't say what you would be better off with the Zodiac or the GP as I do not have a Zodiac.

From what I can tell the only reason to go with the zodiac would be for somewhat faster PSX emulation, and I could see where in certain games it would be better for SNES.  I haven't really looked around for a zodiac scene style forum, but you really can't go wrong with either.  If psx/snes is your main motivation, and there is a decent community it might be worth it.