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

[Kamahl]

I don't mind muffled or scratchy samples, what is uncomfortable to listen to is how reverb is most often used in music. It's neat as an echo effect for some sound effects, but that's about it for me.

The echo can sound really good too (it's expertly used in a lot of secret of mana songs for example, although horribly in others). The problem is when you mix really low quality samples with huge echo effects to compensate, i.e. capcom, which for some reason people think sounds good (it doesn't) but it's just the compositions that are great. The music sounds much better as FM as plenty of youtubers have proved.

[Guntz]

The problem is when you mix really low quality samples with huge echo effects to compensate, i.e. capcom, which for some reason people think sounds good (it doesn't)

Good or not, Capcom's SNES soundtracks are very nostalgic to me, which is why I like them. And that's like. A person can like something that's low quality.

[Kamahl]

Good or not, Capcom's SNES soundtracks are very nostalgic to me, which is why I like them. And that's like. A person can like something that's low quality.

Don't get me wrong, the compositions are great. It's just that the actual sound quality is really poor. A lot of SNES fans speak of them as though they're the pinnacle of the SNES' sound quality when in fact they're the opposite.

[sheath]

I was playing Chase HQ yesterday on the PC-Engine and noticed that the line scroll roads have really choppy turns when the road goes from curved to straight. I haven't noticed the same in other PCE Racers, but I was wondering if this had something to do with the Column scrolling that I think Kamahl mentioned earlier.

[Kamahl]

I was playing Chase HQ yesterday on the PC-Engine and noticed that the line scroll roads have really choppy turns when the road goes from curved to straight. I haven't noticed the same in other PCE Racers, but I was wondering if this had something to do with the Column scrolling that I think Kamahl mentioned earlier.

Nope, just really shitty programming. Column scrolling is what you see in Kawasaki Super Bike on the MD when the screen tilts.

[sheath]

Nope, just really shitty programming. Column scrolling is what you see in Kawasaki Super Bike on the MD when the screen tilts.

Huh, I'd swear I had a couple of regulars all over me saying that "tilting" objects on the Genesis was just line scrolling and any system could do it, even the NES. I hadn't thought that the effect in Super Bike was the same thing.

[Kamahl]

Huh, I'd swear I had a couple of regulars all over me saying that "tilting" objects on the Genesis was just line scrolling and any system could do it, even the NES. I hadn't thought that the effect in Super Bike was the same thing.

Look at the intersection between the floor and the mountains, see how it forms a diagonal line when the screen "tilts".
Those vertical steps are made using column scrolling, the PCE can't do that.

[Black_Tiger]

Look at the intersection between the floor and the mountains, see how it forms a diagonal line when the screen "tilts".
Those vertical steps are made using column scrolling, the PCE can't do that.

How is the rotation in Afterburner II done?

[Kamahl]

How is the rotation in Afterburner II done?

Same way as in the genesis version, it's pre-rendered.

[sheath]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sXgFmZ-tM0Look at the intersection between the floor and the mountains, see how it forms a diagonal line when the screen "tilts".
Those vertical steps are made using column scrolling, the PCE can't do that.

Yeah, I know the effect, I just can't think of many Genesis games doing it with the floors. I would have supposed that After Burner was using a similar technique as Kawasaki, and the 3D games were just 3D.

But yeah, that ResQ demo is using line scroll floors and tilting them, that's not done very often. I need to download that and see how it looks on real hardware, then laugh at Starfox's static gradient floors once more.

[Barone]

Super Racing seems to be a pretty basic game to me, very much a simplistic mid-late 80s style top down racer, unlike F1 Circus the cars have no feeling of weight to them, and I barely even felt the need to use the brake, F1 Circus cars have weight, they move at speed, and you need to brake (and arrows indicate a turn so they give you advance warning to brake too), you also get loads of options, and many of the teams have very noticeably different handling.

Well, I bet that you have spent just a feel minutes with Super Racing and probably played in the easier difficulty setting. That game cuts some tracks and easier things when you don't play in the highest level of difficulty.
I didn't say that it was more "realistic" than F1 Circus but it sure does play better. You also can have a lot of car problems during the races... And the courses take more and more complex... Like I said, based on your description, you just roughly played the game in the lower levels of difficulty.

F1 Circus sucks IMO. The control is very iffy when you are at higher speed and the collision detection is nothing but frustrating. There are dozens of F1 games with that much of options for the MD if that make a game any good to you. F1 Circus CD has more options than any console game and most of the PC simulators and it's just a big fat and nasty turd...

Are the F1 Circus games not very well respected amongst PC-Engine gamers? I spent a lot of time with the game mainly because it was one of the higher rated of PC-Engine titles in Europe, with most UK magazines giving it ~9/10, I remember one Italian magazine gave it like 97% odd IIRC. Though this was the first game, I guess if only minor improvements happened with each sequel then the 1st would be the most impressive for its time.

I think that nobody outside Japan gives a jack about F1 Circus games; that's the feeling that I have for all that I researched about these obscure F1 games of the 4th gen.
The courses are nowhere realistic IMO (like the rest of the game pretend to be). The race is really a tough time. Sometimes you are just overtaken by another car and get totally screwed due to the hit detection.
IDK, I tried these games very hard but never get into them and I consider myself a racing games nut, especially for F1 ones.

Don't get me wrong, the compositions are great. It's just that the actual sound quality is really poor. A lot of SNES fans speak of them as though they're the pinnacle of the SNES' sound quality when in fact they're the opposite.

This.

I remember Olls and Bastardcat trolling me hard 'cause I disagree with what they said: "MKII on the SNES sounds like the arcade when plugged to a good stereo".
Live with that...

I was playing Chase HQ yesterday on the PC-Engine and noticed that the line scroll roads have really choppy turns when the road goes from curved to straight. I haven't noticed the same in other PCE Racers, but I was wondering if this had something to do with the Column scrolling that I think Kamahl mentioned earlier.

That's what I just said previously:

The horizontal scrolling for both Chase H.Q. and S.C.I. is bad, very bad.

Nope, just really shitty programming.

This.

[sheath]

You guys, if I've said it before I've said it a thousand times. This kind of stuff needs to go into documentation, good documentation. Forum posts with 48 pages is the opposite of that.

[Kamahl]

You guys, if I've said it before I've said it a thousand times. This kind of stuff needs to go into documentation, good documentation. Forum posts with 48 pages is the opposite of that.

I'd be willing to help write it, but my knowledge is mostly second hand. Chilly, Sik, Tiido, Tom, etc.. are the guys who really know their stuff.

[sheath]

Even if all we had was a link to where one of these guys made the statement I could compile it all and we could go from there. That's all I'm trying to do with the console history that everybody tells me is wrong.

[Drakon]

When I think of good sounding snes music I totally think of dracula x. Street fighter 2 is an example of the low end of snes sound quality, which is still good enough for me.