an interesting proposition for clone systems...

since all retro systems use extremely slow processors compared to modern processors and can be condensed onto a chip, how about if they started including an ability to overclock the processor on retro clone systems (or simulate it, in other words, make the normal speed 2 or 3 times the original and just reduce it to run at normal speed)? While it would break some games (in which case you would turn it "off"), it would allow for the removal of flicker from NES games, slowdown in most SNES games, and help out with a handful of games on the Genesis like two player on Sonic 2 and the few 3D games available for it. It seems like an obvious evolution to me since many people find it hard to justify a clone system when original systems cost about the same, but if it offered overclocking at the flip of a switch I think it would make even hardcore collectors take interest.

Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think overclocking would fix sprite flicker.

Overclocking won't help with sprite flickering... for that you need VDP upgrade. The idea is good but I seriously doubt any of the clone producing companies would want to re-engineer their clone chips.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think overclocking would fix sprite flicker.

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yes it would, sprite flicker comes from the processor being unable to process all the sprites so some sprites disappear and reappear rapidly. I've read about overclockers reporting sprite flicker to be diminished after overclocking various systems, at least with the NES.

on NES this is a techinque done in software so the VDP sprite limitations would not be met... nothing will change that.

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Originally Posted by TmEE

on NES this is a techinque done in software so the VDP sprite limitations would not be met... nothing will change that.

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well fine, then alter the VDP on the clone systems http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...ife/crazyr.gif

Yes, the flicker is determined by software. Otherwise the extra sprites would simply not be drawn at all and flicker is used to get around this.

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Originally Posted by Joe Redifer

Yes, the flicker is determined by software. Otherwise the extra sprites would simply not be drawn at all and flicker is used to get around this.

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right, but I thought a faster processor would allow it to draw the sprites quicker to prevent flicker, sort of like making it 60+ frames per second so you don't actually notice the flicker. I dunno, I don't know enough about how the NES operates to be able to make that call. How do emulators that use unlimited sprites do it?

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Originally Posted by 17daysolderthannes

right, but I thought a faster processor would allow it to draw the sprites quicker to prevent flicker, sort of like making it 60+ frames per second so you don't actually notice the flicker. I dunno, I don't know enough about how the NES operates to be able to make that call. How do emulators that use unlimited sprites do it?

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If the flicker was faster, it'd probably just look like transparent sections. Even if the frame rate got into the 100's of frames per second, it won't make any difference on a TV that only displays 60fps.

Depending on how the number of frames line up, you could actually make flicker worse, as they get divided into the 60 frames displayed per second, you might wind up with uneven dropped frames that result in less consistent flickering.

Pre 32-bit consoles have built-in limitations to accompany their built-in 2D rendering. The consoles are only 'allowed' to display certain amount of displayed sprites. Programmers tell the software to flicker sprites when limits are reached to avoid... the full sprites that push a section over the limit to not be drawn or all the sprites being undrawn???

If some sort of upgrade was made to allow more sprites, the games would still need to be reprogrammed to take advantage of it. I'm guessing that emulators that support limitless sprites have custom games hacked for it.

On MD nobody used flickering to avoid sprite limitations... when a limitation is met, only some part of the sprite is not displayed... its 320 pixels of or 20 sprites on one line on MD... the limit is not exceeded much, and if it is, the results are not too bad (usually). NES had 4(or 8, don't remember) sprites per line limitation... I don't know what happens then.