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Post by Snarboo on Mar 8, 2015 20:39:12 GMT -5
The only reason people can tell the different resolutions apart is because emulators don't "fit" the image to a standard size, instead, the emulator window just resizes itself whenever the resolution changes. A good emulator should have aspect correction, although it might not be enabled by default! I know Kega Fusion does. The easiest way to notice would be when taking screenshots, however: some simply dump the screenbuffer without any changes.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2015 21:14:08 GMT -5
That must be it, then. I always make any emulator screens as large as possible. Who cares about authenticity on a day to day basis? If you want the real deal, get the actual hardware. It should really only matter in emulators when taking screenshots for articles. Otherwise, enlarge those suckers so you don't have to hold a magnifying lens up to your screen just to see the action.
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Post by Colonel Kurtz on Mar 9, 2015 8:49:48 GMT -5
That must be it, then. I always make any emulator screens as large as possible. Who cares about authenticity on a day to day basis? If you want the real deal, get the actual hardware. It should really only matter in emulators when taking screenshots for articles. Otherwise, enlarge those suckers so you don't have to hold a magnifying lens up to your screen just to see the action. Okay, time to come clean: I realized the low-res trick a long time ago... by using a Genesis emulator for DS frequently. Almost all the games exceed the resolution of the machine, so you lose some screen real estate horizontally. (it's cropped vertically). And in my playlist, I couln't not see that those two Konami games were the only ones that fit... Hence the realization, and the question. I just wanted to understand the phenomenon. So I thought creating a list could be interesting... Before that I hadn't realized the phenomenon.
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Post by Discoalucard on Mar 9, 2015 11:07:50 GMT -5
The reason for low resolution depends.
For the Hyperstone Heist in particular, it's probably because it was a port of TMNT IV for the SNES. The SNES only runs in 256x224 (outside of a few games that use high res modes) so many assets were ported over directly. For Sunset Riders, it may have been the case that it was based on the SNES game during development.
The same case can probably be applied to Symphony of the Night for the PS1 - it uses a bunch of assets from the PC Engine Dracula X, which also ran at 256x224. Incidentally the Saturn does not support this resolution, so all of the graphics are resized, which is why it looks like trash. This is also the reason why the Saturn version of Mega Man X3 is pillarboxed (can't support the SNES resolution) but the PS1 version is fine. Similarly, it's why the DOS version of Blackthorne has a display window on the side, in order to have something to take up the extra screen real estate.
The opposite is true of games ported from the Genesis to SNES (Earthworm Jim, Cool Spot), since the assets were drawn for 320 horizontal pixels. When run on an SNES at 256 horizontal pixels, not only is the view smaller but everything is slightly chunkier.
The other reason is probably just memory or technical issues, though I couldn't provide any specifics. It's one of those things that, functionally, no one could ever tell the difference, until people looked at emulators and could examine the frame buffer. Many PS2 games don't run at 640x480 either but without the behind the scenes info, no one can really tell.
Vertically, though, there is little difference. Technically vertical resolution is 240 pixels for these consoles, but the manufacturer specifications required that the top and bottom 8 pixels to either be blank or have unimportant info, since they would be cut off by the TV display. Some arcade games did run at 256 vertical resolution. Additionally, many DOS games ran in 320x200 resolution, which would be stretched vertically.
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Post by Colonel Kurtz on Mar 9, 2015 12:45:23 GMT -5
@discoalucard: Thank you for the explanation, it puts the practice in a larger perspective, and shows that different resolutions come with different machines, and it shows how the developers had to work around that.
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Post by Colonel Kurtz on Mar 9, 2015 12:49:55 GMT -5
Other examples are Air Buster/Aero Blaster, Fatal Fury, various Koei games and some FMV CD titles, like Time Gal. Never realized it when playing it on my TV at the time. It's true that the screen could get very busy, though... Aero Blasters has always been a great Mega Drive shooter. I love the second level, where you get bumpers on your ship to help you navigate the super fast scrolling tunnels - and the boss at the end of the level was awesome. Also, just a minute to reminisce about Aero Blasters: that game features... a loading screen? (pic on the left). That pic appeared between each levels - it even appeared for several seconds before the demo mode started - and stayed for quite some time. Maybe a memory buffer thing? Pretty unique anyway - thanks to SEGA-16 for the pics. It can only be a loading screen, from a Mega Drive ROM. Another kind of sorcery... As for the resolution, in this case I really believe it was because the game was ported from the PC-Engine.
Well, if anything, it proves that neogaf's list is a starting point more than a definitive list. So if anybody knows of any other game...
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Post by Colonel Kurtz on Mar 9, 2015 13:45:14 GMT -5
SEGA'S G-Loc Air Battle runs in low res. Amusingly, some screens in the intro do not, but the game does.
A bit of investigation taught me that the Konami logo is always in low-res, even in normal res games like Bloodlines or Rocket Knight Adventures.
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Post by Discoalucard on Mar 9, 2015 13:56:32 GMT -5
Conversely, the title screen for Monster World IV is displayed in 320x224 but in-game is 256x224. The former does work for better detail. It's a nice image.
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Post by Colonel Kurtz on Mar 9, 2015 13:58:37 GMT -5
Conversely, the title screen for Monster World IV is displayed in 320x224 but in-game is 256x224. The former does work for better detail. It's a nice image. It is. Much better than the American cover art! This cover art is... not so good. (A tradition with Wonder Boy and Monster World games in the West.) - Masnya(?)'s Mamono Hunter YĆ“ko may play in low res, though this time, it's the companies' logos that are displayed in full res. (unconclusive, display glitches)- - SEGA's Jewel Master has an illustrated intro scroll and title screen in low res. Game itself is in full res. - Telenet Japan's Valis 1 runs in low res. - Valis III also runs in low res. (and still has an amazing soundtrack!), maybe to share assets with the PC-Engine version. - Kaneko's Wani Wani World runs in low res, like their Aero Blaster game. - SEGA's Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco Gp 2 plays in low res, but all static images (logos, menus etc) are full-res.
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Post by Gentlegamer on Mar 9, 2015 15:15:47 GMT -5
The only clue I had about resolution was when Genesis games had player information on the side of the screen rather than top or bottom, like Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I never liked it.
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Post by Colonel Kurtz on Mar 9, 2015 15:45:16 GMT -5
The only clue I had about resolution was when Genesis games had player information on the side of the screen rather than top or bottom, like Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I never liked it. Why? Did you lose information?
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Post by Gentlegamer on Mar 9, 2015 19:46:31 GMT -5
It felt like the playing field was reduced or squished, even though it was probably exactly 256 pixels across like the full horizontal resolution of NES and SNES.
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Post by Discoalucard on Mar 9, 2015 20:57:18 GMT -5
It felt like the playing field was reduced or squished, even though it was probably exactly 256 pixels across like the full horizontal resolution of NES and SNES. This is correct! I always thought the SNES version was better because it took up the whole screen, this was because of the resolution issues.
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Post by lanceboyle94 on Mar 12, 2015 0:39:56 GMT -5
All of Rare's titles for the system also run at the lower resolution; besides Snake Rattle 'n' Roll as mentioned on ommadawnyawn2's post, Championship Pro-Am and Battletoads & Double Dragon run at that resolution.
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Post by Colonel Kurtz on Mar 12, 2015 13:07:14 GMT -5
All of Rare's titles for the system also run at the lower resolution; besides Snake Rattle 'n' Roll as mentioned on ommadawnyawn2's post, Championship Pro-Am and Battletoads & Double Dragon run at that resolution. Quite possibly because they were developed for the SNES first and foremost, and they transferred assets... So... Yeah... it seems like the 15% guesstimate, although maybe closer to 10%, has its roots in facts. Now, I've learned a lot about the phenomenon, even on other consoles than the MD, so I'm pretty satisfied. The only other logical follow-up to that is to test every single game and make a definitive list; but beyond being a skull-crushingly boring menial job, it serves no purpose, so I'll pass. I've had my answers about the phenomenon without needing to do that list. (thanks Heaven)!
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