We didn't really see good 'super scaler' conversions until the 32x.
But wouldn't the Sega CD scaling abilities been able to run a decent Out Run or Space Harrier ?
Looking at Soul Star and Battlecorps I can't see any reason why not ?
We didn't really see good 'super scaler' conversions until the 32x.
But wouldn't the Sega CD scaling abilities been able to run a decent Out Run or Space Harrier ?
Looking at Soul Star and Battlecorps I can't see any reason why not ?
Decent? Sure, depending on how well programmed.
As good as the arcade versions with all the graphic detail intact and scaling just as smooth? No way.
The Genesis would do a better job with pre-rendered animation and a large cart size.
If Out Run or Turbo Out Run (we need a good home port of this!) could have moved anything like the driving levels of Batman Returns then I can't see why it wouldn't have been a hit. Perhaps Sega were too fixated with FMV.
I imagine Sega didn't want to re-release too many Genesis games to stop the influx of buyers remorse. I mean a port of OutRun would of been really cool and that but nobody wanted an expensive addon to get a game Genesis owners already had.
Even though that happened anyway.
An enhanced OutRun game with 4 times the content could use an alternate title like "OutRun 4: World Tour" and would have been functionally a proper sequel, even if old tracks were included.
The driving levels of batman are like 12fps and 15 colors only (the plane that everything is rendered to). Yeah, better scaling - but choppier framerate and much less colors.
A mix mode like that jaguar racing game on the SegaCD would be a better engine to do a Outrun game on. I believe that one runs at 30fps ( or at least higher than Batman).
Forget those games, Just look at what John O'Brien did with his 1st Mega CD game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVxt...oIL7xG&index=1
Or the smoothness in the scaling in Jaguar XJ220 (Core 1st game to use the ASIC chip) Which did run at 30 fps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNv2P22fXxU&list=PLLXc9lTSYQhlc2FEPjhPJ4aG HxPoIL7xG&index=4
To see that a decent team given the time and source code could have handle very decent ports of the likes of After Burner II, Space Harrier, Super Hang-On and Outrun that would leave the Mega Drive versions standing and of course with the CD Drive and the 8 PCM of the Mega CD would would have got Arcade perfect music and Arcade quality sound effects . I really couldn't have cared if they would have hat to run in a window or 22 fps if we had full scaling and rotation and Arcade perfect music ...
I'll take that anyday over the MD versions , the MD version of OutRun was a joke . Its a crying shame that SEGA Japan didn't put it top CS team on the job of porting its sprite scaler coin up's or given the job to John O'Biren and his team to handle the ports for SEGA . The Mega CD fortunes and image would have been so much better if more games use the ASIC and did stuff the Mega Drive and Snes just simply couldn't handle
I think the Mega CD could have had a good stab at those games for sure. Shrink the display area some and accept that the frame rate is going to be compromised, and like you say with a good team I can only envision ports that would shame the MD attempts. Or any other machine of around that time.
At least one Sega scaler port should have been ready for release at launch in Japan for the Mega CD.
Makes you wonder why Sega would have put that expensive hardware in the machine in the first place if all they were going to do was encourage third parties to make cart games with redbook audio and less action orientated stuff (presumably to push the multimedia aspect).
Sega should have targeted the SNES wholesale with this thing, really pushing the scaling and traditional games making use obvious use of the hardware, as well as all the FMV junk they made money off.
Yeah spot on . Sure it would have had to run in a window and the frame would have taken a hit to 22 fps or so . But I would take that any day for full use of the ASIC chip . If OutRun , Super Hang-on , Space Harrier, Afterburner II, Galaxy Force II had come to the Mega CD ussing the ASIC chipset inthe way Batman Returns/Cliffhanger and Soul Star did with Arcade perfect music tracks being played directly off the CD and the PCM chip used for Arcade quality sound effects . Then it would have helped the Mega CD image no end and would have pleased so many SEGA fansQuote:
I think the Mega CD could have had a good stab at those games for sure. Shrink the display area some and accept that the frame rate is going to be compromised, and like you say with a good team I can only envision ports that would shame the MD attempts. Or any other machine of around that time.
Well you do have to lead by example too and SEGA Japan didn't at all . It makes me so sad when the Mega CD title screen is handling Sprite and rotation effects that the Mega Drive or Snes couldn't handle at all and not even the Neo Geo supported multiple rotation effects . Sonic CD should have used the ASIC chip for scaling and rotating bosses ECT. It's pretty sad that the only Platform games to make use of the ASIC chip in game was Son Of Chuck and PuggsyQuote:
Makes you wonder why Sega would have put that expensive hardware in the machine in the first place if all they were going
I think the Mega CD would definitely have it's work cut out for it with Galaxy Force II. That one I don't see happening. The arcade was a monster that ran three 68000 processors at 12.5Mhz, and it always was the most impressive in terms of graphics compared to the rest of the 80's scaler games.
I played the Super Deluxe cabinet in '92 and it was still amazing. Dat bass.
I never realised Jaguar used scaling, I just dismissed it as a lazy Amiga port job like the Lotus games.
Heavenly Symphony also uses scaling and rotation to nice effect although it is choppy.
Those ports should never have been attempted, though. At least the MD Afterburner II and Outrun ports managed to capture the look of the arcade games, with a similar intensity to the game play. The Galaxy Force II port didn't. The tunnel sequences were frankly embarrassing at the time.
Soul Star is impressive with how much stuff is moving and shooting on screen (particularly the free roam sections) but it can chug heavily in some of the more demanding bits, and the frame rate seems compromised compared to Thunder Hawk and Battlecorp out the gate anyway. GFII arcade looks like it moves a lot more sprites than the Mega CD could handle IMO.
I would say it would be a lot more pared back in comparison to our other hypothetical ports.
OutRun run like a joke onthe Mega Drive and was totally outclassed by the PC Eng version , plus it sounded like a joke too . SEGA ported the likes of Outrun to the Master System or G-Loc (running on the same board as Galaxy Force II) to both the Mega Drive and Master System .
Given a good team and good and full use of the Mega CD ASIC hardware we could have had a very decent port of Galaxy Force II on the Mega CD - of coruse detail would be cut and the frame rate would be in the low 22 fps or so. But that would be expected as at the time almost every port of a High End SEGA coin up was cut back for the home port.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aMjGyhDNiA
Soul Star shows a decent port would have been more than possible . I must put up videos of the game running through scart on my Framemister to show off the true delights of the game
XJ 220 came out 1st onthe Mega CD, it was then latter ported to the Amiga and also the Snes (though it was never released) . It was also the 1st Mega CD game that used the ASIC chip through out the whole game . Yeah F1 beyond the limits using the ASIC chip and is choppy - but it was handling so much stuff inthe background (car retirements, dynamic weather, over 20 cars on track) . The like of Geoff F1 GP 2 on a decent PC run at like 22 fps .
If these ports did happen BITD, Sega probably would have got Probe or the like to do them anyway :shame:
I'm just happy the 32X ended up getting a couple of good games instead :cool:
Would people have wanted ports of these games bitd? It's easy to own the system now and wish it had Outrun, Space Harrier, Super Hang On, etc, but in 1992 would they have been seen as dusty arcade games?
Yes in the early 1990's Arcade ports sold in decent numbers and no system had the Hardware to handle decent ports of SEGA coin up's even in the 90's , so it would have been a massive deal to have the Mega CD in 1991 to handle quality ports of SEGA Scaling coin up's , it was a great deal to us Saturn users to have a Arcade Perfect port of OutRun in 1996 lol . The biggest letdown of the Mega CD was that so many games just looked like a Mega Drive game, when many people wanted Mode 7 like effects and the ASIC chip should have been used far more in Mega CD games not just in Arcade ports but in Platform games on bosses Ect
IMO:
Space Harrier -> Would have been a good one to port to the Sega CD using the ASIC. While the arcade has a fast pace, the real problem of the MD port is its choppiness which the Sega CD's ASIC would probably solve. The extra RAM of the Sega CD would also help in some ways.
Super Hang-On -> Wouldn't make sense to use the ASIC 'cause it would halve the frame rate to something like the MD port already had. Also, this game doesn't have a ton of sprites on the track side, so it really wouldn't be the best use of the Sega CD. OTOH, having it running on the Sega CD's CPU would guarantee a 50% frame rate boost compared to the MD version and you could restore all the original arcade advertising and sprite variability which was cut down in the MD version due to cart size restrictions. And having the arcade OST too.
OutRun -> I'd also prefer something running at 30 fps than 20 fps (or less) with the ASIC. But here you can have arguments to go both ways, since the amount of sprites is quite higher than on Super Hang-On. And the sound effects could be hugely improved compared to the mediocre MD port.
Turbo OutRun -> Surely could have been better than the atrocious MD version. It could have been a cool thing actually.
After Burner II -> A proper port, with good amount of sprites on the floor and using the ASIC, could have been tried but here again I'm not sure if the final result would be that much better than the MD port.
Galaxy Force II -> Lol, no. Just no. One of the problems here would be the amount of RAM a proper port would require. I don't think the Sega CD would be enough.
Thunder Blade -> This one seems like a good one to try with the ASIC. It's hard to imagine something that could be as bad as the MD version.
Barone you make a couple of good points, but I'll just add my own thoughts on the ones I disagree with .
Super Hang-On it would have been lovely to see the Mega CD version use full scaling even if it used the window effect of Jaguar XJ 220 to up the framerate . Then of course like you say you could have add in more detail on sideboards ect and seeing as Super Hang-On had one of the best soundtracks even in the Arcade, its would have been immense to have that music score coming off CD and so Arcade perfect and of course with the Mega CD you could have had Arcade quality sound effects
Galaxy Force II - I really don't get your issues over it . Soul Star shows would could have been done and GF II port with Soul Star Gfx and Arcade quality sound effects and arcade perfect sound track on the Mega CD would have been amazing back in 1991/2 . Also the Mega CD had 6 Mbits of system Ram for each level, most Mega Drive games (more so for Arcade ports) only had like 4 MegaBits Cart for everything . Using the ASIC chip reduces the need for frames stored and one look at something like Final Fight CD shows the Mega CD had more than enough Ram for each level. This would be 1992 one wouldn't be expecting a Arcade perfect port but the Mega CD had the scailing and sound hardware to handle the best port at the time
OutRun given that the Arcade version only run at 30 fps then going down to 22 fps wouldn't have that big of a deal for full ASIC scaling . The MD version really is quite poor it's so jerky/choppy with its scaling effect and the sound effects and music isn't that great . Just to have a Arcade perfect soundtrack of Outrun in 1991/2 on the Mega CD would have been massive for me , never mind to have full ASIC scaling and Arcade quality sound effects
Good shot on ThunderBlade though , the ASIC Hardware could have handle the top down sections so much better
Its also make me sad that SEGA never brought Strider to the Mega CD using the Final Fight CD engine - for a more or less Arcade perfect port with Arcade sound effects and arcade perfect music (and rearranged music score along with all the cut scene and Arcade speech
That's really interesting. Hearing you say that brought to mind the X68000 port of SHO. Is that like what you're describing? Because that port is really nice. I'm assuming that the performance boost from the MCD 68000 would mainly be useful for games like that with relatively few scaling object instead of something really elaborate like GFII.
I think he's referring to the fact that the Genesis version runs a lot smoother if you overclock the CPU. So assuming there's no other bottlenecks a Straight up port of the Genesis version running on the Sega CD CPU instead could possibly run better just due to the Sega CD CPU being clocked higher.
Again, I see many more cons than pros when compared to a software rendered version.
Let me point a few other technical issues to you:
- The MD version runs at full screen 320 x 224. You can forget about that with the ASIC in the mix. You'd need to reduce the rendered area in order to save as much bandwidth as you could. Pretty much every single Sega CD game which makes heavy use of the ASIC has a non-fullscreen rendering area; Jaguar XJ220's is actually 240 x 205.
With that said, you'd either have to crop the original field of view (which would probably hurt the gameplay) or you'd have to redraw a lot of sprites.
- Unlike the simplified European engines (Lotus/Top Gear/Jaguar XJ220), you simply couldn't have shit like this in a Super Hang-On port:
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/attachm...8&d=1470109221
Of course, Super Hang-On has far more sparse track side objects than the Jaguar game and that could possibly make up for it, but we don't know for sure.
The other thing is that for each line of track you render you'll have some calcs involved (for the rendering perspective itself, but also for positioning objects and vehicles), so in that sense SHO is certainly more complex than Lotus/Top Gear/Jaguar XJ220. Still on that note, the height of the road (number of scrolling lines) is overall higher on SHO than on those games.
- The draw distance would also be a headache. For both cars and track details the draw distance of Jaguar XJ220 is a bit shorter than normal. You'd need to draw further in order to preserve the visuals of MD/Arcade SHO.
- You'd likely have to use lower-res sprites for the track side than you have in the MD port. Again, the desperation for saving bandwidth is a constant.
- In practical situations, everything you're rendering with the ASIC will have to share the same 15 colors (it's unlikely to use more than a single plane for VRAM and bandwidth savings) (and I think the trick used by Soul Star wouldn't be useful here). See XJ220 for posterization side effects (which could have been reduced with better use of those colors but it's another limitation right there).
- IDK how exactly the collision detection between your bike and the track side stuff would work. In SHO, unlike the other games I cited above, you can really cut some corners and "drible" objects. The objects position are carefully recalculated each time they're redrawn; so IDK how it would work if you add more "steps" to their animation. Depending on how it's implemented, you may end up having to add some more calcs when compared to the MD version and those aren't necessarily cheap.
- Slowdown. XJ220 has plenty of it, specially when the cars fill the screen. Playing SHO in the harder difficulties you'll see quite a lot of traffic and having the frame rate of the game to be affected by the flow of the traffic is not something that I'd like in a game as SHO, where precise reactions are required to master it.
- The audio advantages you cited could be achieved despite the non-use of the ASIC.
I recommend this thread for better technical details about the ASIC usage and capabilities:
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthr...ASIC-questions
Sorry, but as amazing as Soul Star is it's nowhere near the level of Galaxy Force II in terms of the amount of shit you have going on the screen at any given moment.
Night Striker here is a better reference IMO. Reduced draw distance would hurt and the pixelation would be a must.
Not all of those 6 Mbits are actually useful all the time thanks to hardware bugs and drawbacks of the funky Sega CD design. But even if they were there, the thing is always how much you can transfer from the ASIC to Mega Drive VDP and that's not a whole lot if you're aiming at 15+ fps.
The MD port is kinda meh IMO.
This.
Also, the X68000 "port" of SHO is actually a very simplified adaptation and doesn't hold a candle to the MD port.
The MD port is 1:1 with the arcade in terms of gameplay, except for the lack of analog controls support. And of course, the game runs much slower.
But the traffic waves, track side objects positioning, collision detection, scrolling, etc. All of that is pretty much the arcade code running on the MD.
The X68000 version is way off: choppy scrolling, track side objects are far more sparse and move in a awkward way, collision is iffy, sprites significantly reduced in size, etc; I believe whoever ported it didn't have full access to the original source code.
In a single image:
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/attachm...0&d=1470114154
That's the X68000 version running on real hardware. And you can see an AI bike running completely off the track.
No, thanks.
And, yes, I'd reserve the ASIC use for stuff that is really sprite-heavy and not so dependent on speed sensation. A game like Soul Star is what really works well with it. Or something as Wing Commander.
Racing scalers weren't really a good use for the ASIC given the limitations imposed by the Mega Drive's VDP setup.
I know and I would have taken that for full use of Scaling and rotation , I would have been more that happy for a window display like that used in Batman Returns and Cliffhanger on the Mega CD and a frame rate of 22 fpsQuote:
The MD version runs at full screen 320 x 224. You can forget about that with the ASIC in the mix. You'd need to reduce the rendered area in order to save as much bandwidth as you could. Pretty much every single Sega CD game which makes heavy use of the ASIC has a non-fullscreen rendering area; Jaguar XJ220's is actually 240 x 205
I don't get your points over Lotus or XJ 220 . Lotus never came out on the Mega CD and XJ220 has very very little slowdown at all and I only tend to see it in 2 player mode. XJ220 just looks so much better than almost any Mega Drive racer when it comes to scaling track side objects and cars thanks to the use of the ASIC chip, which makes the scenery scale past so smoothly and it runs at near enough 30 fps and that was from a tiny British code house . If SEGA Japan had put it's elite consumer CS Team on a Mega CD port of Super Hang On with the mandate to make full use of the ASIC chip full access to the source code and the Arcade team and with all the best R&D tools from SOJ tech team , then we really could have had a brilliant port.Quote:
Slowdown. XJ220 has plenty of it, specially when the cars fill the screen. Playing SHO in the harder difficulties you'll see quite a lot of traffic and having the frame rate of the game to be affected by the flow of the traffic is not something that I'd like in a game as SHO, where precise reactions are required to master it.
T
Its the closest we got to a 16 bit system giving us GF II like graphics and it showed what the Mega CD could do when asked and used . No one expected Arcade perfect not even on the Mega CD (because all SNES and MD Arcade ports lost detail and effects when being ported to the home) , but the Mega CD had the hardware to have given us the closest port possible at the time and that's all you could have asked for at the timeQuote:
Sorry, but as amazing as Soul Star is it's nowhere near the level of Galaxy Force II in terms of the amount of shit you have going on the screen at any given moment
Night Stiker isn't a good example (its not the best example of Mega CD programming, like Gale racer isn't on the Saturn) , Soul Star is not only handling and drawing more , Night Striker doesn't even use any Rotation effects , something witch Soul Star, Cliffhanger, Batman Returns and GF II use and yet Soul Star still looks much better with better detail too.Quote:
Night Striker here is a better reference IMO. Reduced draw distance would hurt and the pixelation would be a must
Wing Commander on the Sega CD leaves all other home ports standing (other than the 3DO ) its makes great use of the Mega CD extra hardware in all area's Sound/GFX and storage . Sure it's a little jerky but it was handling some pretty advanced AI for the time . Its overlooked and underrated gem of a Mega CD gameQuote:
Or something as Wing Commander.
Racing scalers weren't really a good use for the ASIC given the limitations imposed by the Mega Drive's VDP setup.
For a '92 release of those games, if I was calling the shots at SOJ at the time I would have added a remix mode that mixed up the stage theme, enemies and patterns, FMV intro and arrange soundtrack option at the very least to help justify their age. The ports would be the springboard for further arcade translations to draw the 'core' gamer crowd to the Mega CD, in an effort to move away from cart media early on.
I would have bought them anyway, lol.
OK. Gotcha.
I still don't think 22 fps would be any easy to achieve, especially if we're talking about solid frame rate.
Simplifying: the Sega CD already struggles with ASIC-enabled XJ220 which is based on Amiga 500's XJ220 (which is simply a Lotus rip-off) and its base line scrolling engine is simpler than SHO's in several aspects.
This is not true. At all.
While not severe (except for when the weather effects are in use or in 2P mode) it's certainly noticeable, not really consistent, not really good in terms of speed sensation.
It's also dips bellow 20 fps.
Certainly there was room for improvement. However, pretty much any other game making good use of the ASIC had its frame rate around 15-20 fps, if that much.
If you'd get rid of the made-of-stream-of-sprites floor in favor of something like the floored Soul Star stages use (Mode 7-looking floor + animation) you could have something closer to the reality.
But I still see MAJOR struggles to pull it off.
I'm using other arcade ports as reference while you're telling me that games designed from scratch just for the hardware are better references. I guess not.
Yeah, certainly not enough praise has been given to the team for that achievement.
Well seeing as that's Batman Returns, Soul Star, Cliffhanger all run at around that frame rate I see no reason why not .Quote:
I still don't think 22 fps would be any easy to achieve, especially if we're talking about solid frame rate
Sorry the Amiga version came 'after', XJ220 was made for the Mega CD 1st (it was Thunderhawk that was ported to the Mega CD) and it was Core 1st real use of the Mega CD hardware . The Mega CD version is still far better than the Amiga port (in terms of smoothness) and it also runs at 30 fps. The Amiga version runs at a better fps but the lacks the smoothness.Quote:
Simplifying: the Sega CD already struggles with ASIC-enabled XJ220 which is based on Amiga 500's XJ220
There's hardly any slowdown in single player , sure there's some in 2 player mode but that was the case for some racers at the time.Quote:
This is not true. At all
Yeah of course they'll be cut backs like there was in almost all Arcade ports at the time , hell even most PS and Saturn Arcade ports of advanced Arcade games lost out in terms of detail or frame rate cuts . So I really don't know why you give the Mega CD a hard time , when it was to be expected they'l be cutbacks . In 1991/2 the Mega CD had the hardware to handle a really nice portQuote:
If you'd get rid of the made-of-stream-of-sprites floor in favor of something like the floored Soul Star stages use
The trouble with that is there so little games that actually used and pushed the Mega CD hardware . Trying to site Tatio game as a example isn't that great, given how little effort Tatio put into their Mega CD games (The Ninja Warriors port is dire) , it be like holding up In the Hunt or Dracula X on the Saturn as reasons for it not being able to handle sprite based games as well as the PS, when we all know its more a example of poor porting . Looking over that, Soul Star is actually doing and handling far more that Night Striker on the Mega CD; There's more objects, its runs at a better frame rate , there also rotation, texture like mapping effects and also full 360 degree stages in there too and yet the game still looks a hell of a lot better.Quote:
I'm using other arcade ports as reference while you're telling me that games designed
Never seen Night Striker! What's going on with the resolution? Are they doubling up the resolution or using low resolution pixel art for the scaling?
I think they're doubling up.
In the past I'd be trashing the devs for doing that but I think they hadn't other choices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeBEFqAgfvk
I'd like to see someone try to make Out Run, even just the first stage as a tech demo to see how the Sega CD could run it.
Of course, if someone wanted to attempt a full port, that's a Kickstarter I'd certainly back.
[QUOTE=redsox2013;755467]I'd like to see someone try to make Out Run, even just the first stage as a tech demo to see how the Sega CD could run it.
/QUOTE]
I don't think there's any real need . john O'Brien Batman/Cliffhanger Mega CD Asic game engine already showed what the Mega CD could do and that it could handle brilliant port of OutRun . Batman Mega CD sections are also handling stuff that even the Outrun Arcade board didn't support in Hardware in terms of multi sprite rotation, and the buildings have sides to them as well.
When anyone see's these examples of ASIC scaling from small teams, its shows that the Mega CD could have pulled off very decent ports of the games if SEGA Japan put it's eilte CS Teams on the case add in Arcade perfect music and Arcade quality sound effects
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQu2LrZPoxs
https://youtu.be/Dg5iASgAluw?t=16m21s
Watch at 16:23 for ASIC section
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNnI760j3Cw&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVxtl3jI39g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNv2P22fXxU
Judging by Jaguar XJ220, I think Out Run would have been pretty easy for the Sega CD to run. They are extremely similar, although Out Run has slightly more roadside scenery to scale. Still, I don't see any reason the SCD couldn't handle Out Run at 30FPS.
the best racing game on the MCD its maybe XJ220. And sorry but a close thing could be done on the MD alone (except CD-Audio of course).
Batman always look to me choppy, same for Thunderhawk, where Soul Star seems to be a bit more polished.
An OutRun at a decent framerate with the ASIC was not possible. I think it could be much more feasible just to load tons of sprites and let the MD fake the scaling + common raster at 60fps + fancy simple polygons (as F1 or Kawasaky)
I am one of those guys which prefer a simple and cheaper MCD addon in 1991 (DMA audio, RAM, Saving capabilities, nothing more). Lets say 200$ for the CD plus average 40$ for the games.