Today we are checking out some emulators performance on the AYA NEO Pro. We are covering most of the emulators for more recent consoles as it can play all the classics without any issues.
AYA NEO Pro Emulator Test Video
Emulator Tests
A quick note beforehand. We have not spent any time tweaking every emulator to squeeze some extra frames per second out of your gaming console. This is more of an ‘out of the box’ experience which you can get simply by running the emulator, setting up controls and loading a game. We are using the Aya Space default TDP settings with the custom one set to 28W (Watts).
Dolphin Emulator
We are starting off with the Dolphin emulator and Burnout 2. The system works fine and you can play many games on 11 Watts. There were some that required 20W for smooth frame rates, but overall you should not have any issues at all.
Saturn
At a YouTube commenter’s request we are trying the SEGA Saturn which runs absolutely fine with 11 Watts, you can probably go lower if you wanted to. I am running this through RetroArch and Kronos, and provided the emulator runs the game, you should be fine with the Saturn.
PlayStation 1
Moving up a generation to the PlayStation 1. Again you can run most of the games on 11 Watts and possibly lower. Or you could increase the rendering resolution and graphics quality and keep it at 11 or 15 Watts.
Dreamcast
The SEGA Dreamcast runs perfectly on the AYA NEO Pro. You can play games at 11 Watts with no issues from the games I tried. You should be able to increase the quality and use 15 Watts TDP and not have to worry about frame drops.
DeSmuME Emulator
DeSmuME is next and we are playing Geometry Wars. Like all the previous systems, you can run this at 11 to 15 Watts and have no frame drops while playing.
Xbox
Now we move on to the next generation of consoles. The Xbox emulator CXBX-Reloaded is still very much in development and games compatibility can change between updates. MASHED seems to be having some issues on this latest build with frame rates dropping to mid 40’s even at 28 Watts. Usually it should be running closer to full speed, but it is what it is.
PlayStation 2
The classic PlayStation 2 is next and there’s no better way to start than with Gran Turismo 3. It runs great on the AYA NEO 2021 Pro at 11 Watts but 15 should make it perfect as there were very minor frame drops here and there. And with 15 Watts you could make a few graphics improvements in the settings.
On Outrun Coast 2 Coast it requires a bit more juice to get a smooth 60 frame, 15 Watts was giving varying frames and 20 Watts is plenty, the game runs great now.
PlayStation Portable (PSP)
Next we have the PSP and everyone’s go to performance checking game, God of War 🙂 I was getting some occasional dips in frame rate on 11 Watts. 15 Watts seems to keep it stable at 60 frames per second. You could if you wanted to, increase to 20 and get some graphics tweaks going for better quality visuals.
Citra Emulator
From one handheld to another. The Citra emulator plays your favourite dual screen games fairly well. We are first trying Sonic Generations. It doesn’t run great at 20W, and bumping it up to 28 does not make much of a difference, with frame rates around the mid 40’s to 50’s.
Trying a less demanding game does however make a massive difference. Cave Story+ runs great at 15 Watts and you should have no issues at all. For this console system it mainly depends on what game you’re playing for how it performs on the AYA NEO Pro.
PlayStation 3
On to the PlayStation 3 now. It’s another emulator that is in active development, and the performance and compatibility can change between releases. Skate 3 actually runs fairly well considering. I was getting between 20 and 30 frames per second depending on the scene in the game. Changing the TDP did not seem to make a massive difference in performance for this game.
Meanwhile, on DuckTales Remastered, the game plays flawlessly at 60 frames per second on 11 Watts. So it’s a system where it does depend on the game and how compatible it is for its performance.
Xbox 360
Up next is the Xbox 360 emulator Xenia. Again this is in active development and compatibility can change between releases. First we are trying Sonic Transformed on 20W and are getting around 20 frames per second. Increasing the TDP to 28 Watts gets us in the area of 25 frames per second. It’s pretty good considering the console and the stage of the emulator’s development. For more basic games you should get a more playable experience.
RyuJinx Emulator
We finish off with a few games on the RyuJinx emulator. Starting with Crusin’ Blast which is a fairly new game. On 20W TDP we are getting anything from 20 to 45 frames per second. I think the shader caches are still generated on the fly when first playing a game. If so then you can expect future plays to be a bit smoother. Raising the TDP to 28W improves the frame rate to more in the 50’s area.
Sonic Mania plays well at 20W with very minor dips now and again. At 28W it plays very well and you should have no issues at all.
And to finish up, we take a quick look at Wonder Boy The Dragons Trap. I am playing this on 11 Watts and there’s some minor frame drops. You can bump the TDP up to 15 and it plays just fine.
With the RyuJinx emulator, like many that are in active development, it will depend on what game you are playing and how well it performs.
Emulator Test Summary
So overall the Aya Neo Pro is very good for emulation in my opinion. It can play many systems up to the more recent ones including some games on current generation handhelds. I am more of a retro gaming console fan than modern consoles, so the AYA NEO Pro is more than capable of playing everything up to the PlayStation and Dreamcast era.
On the more modern systems you can definitely spend some time tweaking the console’s emulators for things such as internal resolution, frame skipping and so on to squeeze a few more FPS out of the emulators if you wanted to.
That wraps up our look at a bunch of emulators on the AYA NEO Pro, we hope you have found it interesting. You can learn more and buy your AYA NEO Pro here, it’s available in Cyber Black, Light Moon and Retro Power colours.
