Dreamcast VGA

[mrbigreddog]

No, that's just the Nintendo64.

Your probably right, one thing I didn't mention is that I running Mario 64 on the Wii with 480p and the Mario 64 VC is higher resolution than the native N64....

[Chilly Willy]

How many unpatchable VGA DC games do you play??!!!

Actually, I use my DC more for homebrew than commercial games. I have to switch back and forth to make sure my code is working right for TV or VGA.

The commercial games I tend to play on it all work on VGA (like Daytona USA).

[mrbigreddog]

Actually, I use my DC more for homebrew than commercial games. I have to switch back and forth to make sure my code is working right for TV or VGA.

The commercial games I tend to play on it all work on VGA (like Daytona USA).

What kinda homebrew apps you got on Dreamcast, you holding out on us?

On a slightly off topic question, anyone know if you can do local multiplayer with 2 dreamcast and 2 TV's via the modem?

[Waterfaller]

Your probably right, one thing I didn't mention is that I running Mario 64 on the Wii with 480p and the Mario 64 VC is higher resolution than the native N64....

Actually that's what I'm doing too, using the Wii's VC. I think it's just how my TV in particular displays panoramic.

[Guntz]

No, that's just the Nintendo64.

N64 looks just fine. It's the TV that's trying to make it look panoramic that fails.

Oh wait I forgot most people here are N64 hating mongers. You people are just as bad as those punks that hate anything Sega or old. Why can't you all learn to just love ALL video games? Not just some that meet your fancy...

[17daysolderthannes]

N64 looks just fine. It's the TV that's trying to make it look panoramic that fails.

Oh wait I forgot most people here are N64 hating mongers. You people are just as bad as those punks that hate anything Sega or old. Why can't you all learn to just love ALL video games? Not just some that meet your fancy...

N64 just did alot of things wrong, most notably the horrendously low-quality textures. The RAM expansion sorta fixed it, but it was like $30 extra and was only compatible with a few games, most of which had slowdown when it was being used. Project 64 helps alot though if you have the right filters turned on. Also, BITD, Nintendo's stubborn insistence on cartridges made the games cost astronomical prices up to $70~$80 while PSX games (and later DC) would sell for $40 all day long. Even worse, cartridges meant no FMVs (except for like 2 games with larger ROM sizes), little voice acting, no CD-quality music (rarely any non-midi music), and often even had some loading due to having to compress the ROM to fit it on the cartridge. There were some good exclusives like Mario 64, Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Wave Race, etc., but overall it's alot of poorly ported junk and generic 3D garbage. PSX and DC created a much larger library of memorable, quality titles that still hold up today.

[Guntz]

N64 just did alot of things wrong, most notably the horrendously low-quality textures. The RAM expansion sorta fixed it, but it was like $30 extra and was only compatible with a few games, most of which had slowdown when it was being used.

I know about the low quality textures. They mean little to me. Most N64 games look great anyway. PSX had extremely pixelated textured which is even worse than blurry ones.

Also, BITD, Nintendo's stubborn insistence on cartridges made the games cost astronomical prices up to $70~$80 while PSX games (and later DC) would sell for $40 all day long.

I know N64 games were expensive. It's most likely the reason why my parents never bought one. I think they didn't buy a PSX either because of the more "mature" games that crowded the system.

Even worse, cartridges meant no FMVs (except for like 2 games with larger ROM sizes), little voice acting, no CD-quality music (rarely any non-midi music), and often even had some loading due to having to compress the ROM to fit it on the cartridge.

FMV sucks, voice acting is passable (and is often criticized. It's not always welcome in EVERY kind of game). CD quality music is great but chiptunes can be just as good. Lastly, any N64 games with loading were far and few between.

There were some good exclusives like Mario 64, Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Wave Race, etc., but overall it's alot of poorly ported junk and generic 3D garbage. PSX and DC created a much larger library of memorable, quality titles that still hold up today.

[Chilly Willy]

What kinda homebrew apps you got on Dreamcast, you holding out on us?

At the moment, it's just Doom, but we'll see more stuff later.

[17daysolderthannes]

At the moment, it's just Doom, but we'll see more stuff later.

but...they already have that:

http://dcisozone.com/downloads/1436/...c-1)-of-2.html

[Chilly Willy]

My version of Doom was mainly a learning project for DC homebrew. It also had some advantages over the other Doom ports for the DC. Among other things, it has a nice GUI for setting the game files and setting before starting the game. You can also use the DC mouse and keyboard with it.

[j_factor]

I know about the low quality textures. They mean little to me. Most N64 games look great anyway. PSX had extremely pixelated textured which is even worse than blurry ones.

It's not just the blur. I'm not sure if it was the texture cache specifically, or just the lack of cart space, but a lot of games used extremely repetitive textures, or textures that were practically just a solid color, if not actually reverting to non-texture-mapped polygons.

The comparison I always make is Quake. The N64 is smoother, and so, in a sense, looks "better", but everything looks so stark and clean and sanitized. The Saturn version is more pixelly, but it conveys the correct atmosphere, with appropriate textures (and the awesome original soundtrack).

FMV sucks, voice acting is passable (and is often criticized. It's not always welcome in EVERY kind of game). CD quality music is great but chiptunes can be just as good. Lastly, any N64 games with loading were far and few between.

N64 had no audio hardware with which to make chiptunes. All music on N64 is just compressed. Sometimes it was over-compressed and had terrible audio quality, sometimes a game would simply not use too much music in order to maintain a higher quality, occasionally a game might devote a large amount of its space to music, and often they simply used carefully-chosen sounds that would survive high levels of compression. Alternatively, they could have used some sort of software synthesizer to generate music, but I'm not aware of any games that did that.

[Guntz]

It's not just the blur. I'm not sure if it was the texture cache specifically, or just the lack of cart space, but a lot of games used extremely repetitive textures, or textures that were practically just a solid color, if not actually reverting to non-texture-mapped polygons.

Alright, I admit that's a legitimate complaint. Even then that usually happens with the shoddy ports. Games made more or less only for the N64 had better textures.

The comparison I always make is Quake. The N64 is smoother, and so, in a sense, looks "better", but everything looks so stark and clean and sanitized. The Saturn version is more pixelly, but it conveys the correct atmosphere, with appropriate textures (and the awesome original soundtrack).

That sounds more like an art direction rather than a hardware limitation.

N64 had no audio hardware with which to make chiptunes. All music on N64 is just compressed. Sometimes it was over-compressed and had terrible audio quality, sometimes a game would simply not use too much music in order to maintain a higher quality, occasionally a game might devote a large amount of its space to music, and often they simply used carefully-chosen sounds that would survive high levels of compression. Alternatively, they could have used some sort of software synthesizer to generate music, but I'm not aware of any games that did that.

... *ahem*, excuse me for that. That's something I never heard too much of on the N64, it's "sound hardware". So all sound was like pre-recorded midi that was run by the CPU? I guess that'd explain why Wipeout 64 and Episode 1 Racer had absolutely AWFUL sound.

[Chilly Willy]

N64 had no audio hardware with which to make chiptunes. All music on N64 is just compressed. Sometimes it was over-compressed and had terrible audio quality, sometimes a game would simply not use too much music in order to maintain a higher quality, occasionally a game might devote a large amount of its space to music, and often they simply used carefully-chosen sounds that would survive high levels of compression. Alternatively, they could have used some sort of software synthesizer to generate music, but I'm not aware of any games that did that.

Actually, Nintendo provided code for an RSP player, a bank of MIDI instruments, and their own format similar to MIDI for playing music. So most N64 music is basically wavetable audio handled by the RSP. They had a few different sizes for the instruments so that developers could choose between quality and size.

[Waterfaller]

I dunno about you guys but Killer Instinct Gold always had some pretty awesome tunes for being cartridge based.

[old man]

No one ever said the Nintendo 64 was a bad system. It was a great system with some great games, but it still looked like grainy shit. And I don't need the internet to tell me that. I can just go and plug the thing in like I did the other day. Using S-Video or higher helps, but it's still in the hardware.