DCEmu Asks GP32 a History & Whats the Best release for the GP32?

***wraggster*** · April 16th, 2012, 01:14

Continuing our network wide feature for just about every console thats emulated and that we own, in time it can be used as a reference point for people to look at what games are the very best on each system

Firstly heres a look at each system and a description to remind you of the history of the console.

GP32

In 1996 a South Korean based company by the name of Gamepark Holdings set out to create an amazing gaming handheld. It took on many designs, but the finished product appeared 5 years later.

The Gamepark GP32 was released in Korea on November 23rd of 2001. The handheld featured it’s own limited game library developed internally, and marketed the handheld locally to keep production costs down. The games would also be placed on rewritable "Smart Media Cards" and could be downloaded from a Gamepark web site. This also helped in keeping down production costs.

GP32 had amazing technical specs for it’s time, and also allowed for other multimedia capabilities. It can be connected to any PC via USB. This connectivity allows for downloadable games, music, and other applications onto the Smart Media Cards. What also made GP32 such an impressive device was it’s open development capabilities. If you purchased and registered your GP32 on the official website, Gamepark offered free downloadable software development tools to create your own games or applications.

The open development platform sparked enormous interest in the homebrew and emulation communities around the world. International resellers and importers made the Gamepark GP32 available outside of Korea and it began to grow in popularity (GP32 manuals and firmware come in both Korean and English). GP32 would soon see several other functions such as movie viewers, firmware upgrades, overclocking, web browsing, emulation, and public-domain games. The beauty is that they are all downloadable for free.

In 2003, a company by the name of Hahotech helped produce a modified version of GP32 that offered front lighting. It was also available only in Korea, but of course importers took care of that as well. This same year a Japanese toy distributor named Mitsui established a deal to bring Gamepark GP32 to Europe. Unfortunately, the deal was cancelled as a result of Gamepark Holding’s financial status, and Mitsui’s reduction in GP32 unit requests (Gamepark had to pay to have GP32s assembled, so the more they order, the less it cost per unit. They could not financially handle the reduction)

All was not lost for European distribution. A company called Virgin Play of Spain became the new distributor. The additional year gave GamePark the capitol they needed to provide the units. On July 15th of 2004, Virgin Play began distributing a model of GP32 featuring a back-lit screen. The units were sold in Spain, Italy and Portugal for £199. International resellers also distributed them.

The GP32 was an impressive handheld that was kept alive by hardcore emulation enthusiasts, and the homebrew community.

FACT: There was yet another model called GP32 Back-lit Unit+ (BLU+). It used a different TFT screen (The Samsung original screens were apparently no longer available). This caused compatibility problems with applications that use the official SDK development tools. However, there are now BLU+ compatible applications available. The BLU+ is also reported to be a better build as far as controls and screen.