Comparison of 4th generation ("8/16-bit") system hardware

[Kamahl]

Come on, you all miss the PCE thread . Let's bring back the glory with even more friends. Make sure to bring plenty of fuel for the flamethrowers, no flameshields allowed.

Note that I also said "system" so home computers are valid discussion material.

List:
- Mega Drive (and SVP, and Sega CD, but not 32X)
- PC Engine (and CD addon, all system cards)
- SNES (including on-cart chips)
- Neo Geo (including Neo Geo CD)
- Amiga (OCS/ECS)
- Sharp X68000
- Atari-ST (including STE)
- PC-9801 (VM version, the one supported by nearly every game)
- Lynx
- Philips CDi ()

Ok, lets start with a Mega Drive related question.
Is it possible to set one of the background layers (like B) on the genesis as a sort of "shadow tilemap" layered on top of the other one (like A) in order to double the amount of colors on a single tile?
I'm assuming yes but the stuff I've read never made it very clear.
Would that take up too much memory? Every tile would essentially need to be doubled, leaving less room for sprites.
I'm wondering if something like this could be used to double the amount of background colors on a Top-Down RPG.

Also the PC Engine is totally an 8 bit system that could never compete with the genesis, I mean just look at the games the library speaks for itself. Compare the Legendary Axe with Alien Soldier, Alien Soldier is so much better and the PCE could never do it. Unless you have the Arcade Card because of the new bios. The system needed all those bios upgrades just to compete.

[sega16]

Finally someone with a sense of humor.

[Kamahl]

Finally someone with a sense of humor.

Those who did not witness the greatness will totally miss the reference.

[Chilly Willy]

That TG16 thread got wild for a while.

You don't need shadows for double the colors using both layers on the MD, just use the layers directly. Use the pattern names to set one layer to one set of 16 colors, and the other layer to another different set of 16 colors. Then just draw the pixel in the layer that has the color it's using. 32 colors at the expense of twice the memory... well 31 colors + transparent for the layer on top.

[slobu]

Well, you should compare each systems achievements as well. hardware specs only count for so much:

- Mega Drive (and SVP, and Sega CD, but not 32X)
Eliminate Down was the first scat based shooter
- PC Engine (and CD addon, all system cards)
Strip Fighter was the first game in the Pimp & Punish genre
- SNES (including on-cart chips)
Choad Aniki was the first WWF endorsed wrestling game
- Amiga (OCS/ECS)
Gonorrhea Sisters started the whole viral marketing craze you see today.
- Sharp X68000
All I know is that when you put 68,000 razor blades on a shaving device PEOPLE DIE..
- Atari-ST (including STE)
Salad-TOS was the last ROM job based OS. No need to reach around and eject your disk!
- PC-9801 (VM version, the one supported by nearly every game)
Had an excellent platform RPG called Psoriasis
- Lynx
The pack in game consisted of replacing at least 6 AAx batteries every 15 minutes.
- Philips CDi ()
How they got Nintendo to approve adult titles like Mario's Love Hotel and Zeldas Adventure with Gamelons Wand is beyond me.

[Kamahl]

That TG16 thread got wild for a while.

You don't need shadows for double the colors using both layers on the MD, just use the layers directly. Use the pattern names to set one layer to one set of 16 colors, and the other layer to another different set of 16 colors. Then just draw the pixel in the layer that has the color it's using. 32 colors at the expense of twice the memory... well 31 colors + transparent for the layer on top.

The idea was to NOT waste a palette

@slobu

Totally repped you.

[Chilly Willy]

The idea was to NOT waste a palette

That would be the case, BUT you are now stuck with the 16 colors and a darker version of those 16 colors. So that's the tradeoff. Memory usage will be the same in either case. If you want 31 different colors, you have to use two palettes.

[sheath]

I think the Megadrive/Genesis has a totally inexcusable palette system (only four, really?) and the Z80 was a waste of silicone. The PC-Engine needed two background layers and it is completely freaking worthless without them. The SNES is slow, every single game has game crippling slowdown.

I don't believe in gaming PCs from that era, but the Lynx freaking rocks.

[Kamahl]

That would be the case, BUT you are now stuck with the 16 colors and a darker version of those 16 colors. So that's the tradeoff. Memory usage will be the same in either case. If you want 31 different colors, you have to use two palettes.

But it can be done right? How much "wasteful" would it be to do something like this? You'd normally have at least 2 shades of some color anyway, replacing one of those with the "shadow" pixels saves you a lot of colors.

The lynx is freaking awesome, it would have made a brilliant home console. Making it a handheld was a bad idea.
And what's wrong with PCs from that era? Other than the shitty game libraries .

Also the lack of parallax scrolling on the PC Engine isn't THAT big of a limitation... Ok it really should have 2 layers, and it even was supposed to have them, that was a freaking huge mistake hudson made, but really.
The only genre that suffers are platformers, everything else can be done with sweet parallax scrolling on the PCE.

[StarMist]

Compare the Legendary Axe with Alien Soldier, Alien Soldier is {{ }} the PCE could never do it.

+ 1 for the PCE.

[Kamahl]

+ 1 for the PCE.

After such blasphemy I can do nothing but post my favorite Alien Soldier song, which is also one of the greatest songs on the MD:



Man... FM music is really terrible.

[sheath]

Man... FM music is really terrible.

That's right, I forgot how much I hate FM sound. Sample based music is the only real gaming music short of a fully orchestrated CDA soundtrack.

[Kamahl]

Bad FM music makes you want to rip out your ears and murder everyone in close proximity by infecting them (and yourself) with the ebola virus.
Bad PCM music just bores you to death.

[sheath]

Bad FM music usually makes me want to blow up a building owned by EA. Bad sample based music just confirms my suspicions.

[Thenewguy]

Also the PC Engine is totally an 8 bit system that could never compete with the genesis, I mean just look at the games the library speaks for itself. Compare the Legendary Axe with Alien Soldier, Alien Soldier is so much better and the PCE could never do it.

What are you talking about? PC-Engine could easily do Alien Soldier, in fact it a little known fact that Alien Soldier was originally designed for the PC-Engine in the beginning anyway, it was up and running and everything before it was cancelled