The Neo Geo was just a glorified Genesis.

[Sik]

VDP2 uses tilemaps, I don't think it can do bitmaps (that's what VDP1 is for, after all).

[TrekkiesUnite118]

In the Saturn manual it says that there are two scroll formats for VDP2. The first is the cell format which is tilemaps if I remember correctly. The 2nd is the bitmap format which allows you to use a bitmap image as a scrolling background using the following resolutions:

512x256
1024x256
512x512
1024x512

[evilevoix]

Source? If you mean SVC Chaos or Capcom vs SNK well, those are not really Street Fighter games after all.

SVC Chaos

[Joe Redifer]

I have SVC Chaos. It's not bad but it certainly doesn't blow me away. The gameplay isn't very well balanced and the music is kind of shitty. Also, spamming bosses. Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible or anything, just not as good as the Capcom vs SNK games.

So can anyone here confirm or deny if the Saturn is using its own sprites to display everything including the BG in Neo Geo ports like Metal Slug, etc? I knw the ROM cart for KOF 95 contained the BGs, but was that sprite information or did it use the Saturn's BG layers?

[Team Andromeda]

That also made scrolling a bitch - guess why Metal Slug doesn't let you scroll in any direction (hint: the background is entirely made out of stripes).

There were countless 16 bit games that only scrolled in one direction even the likes of GunStar heroes and I take it you never played the likes of Rayguy on the Neo Geo. When it came to Pallarx scrolling and some spot sprite effects I saw better on the MD, but when it came to lovely Huge Sprites the Neo killed the MD for the most part

[Tom M.]

LOL I open this thread on this page and the first thing that turns up is some Saturn specs... As Neo Geo's VDP can draw much more sprites right out of the box, that being coupled with faster CPU, no doubt it can output more intense gameplay. But what I hate about this system is totally ridiculous massive size of the cartridges. It is just horrible if you compare them to the perfect MD casings... So for sure SNK did not design things as clever and efficient as Sega.

neodrive20with20pads.jpg

[evilevoix]

LOL I open this thread on this page and the first thing that turns up is some Saturn specs... As Neo Geo's VDP can draw much more sprites right out of the box, that being coupled with faster CPU, no doubt it can output more intense gameplay. But what I hate about this system is totally ridiculous massive size of the cartridges. It is just horrible if you compare them to the perfect MD casings... So for sure SNK did not design things as clever and efficient as Sega.

neodrive20with20pads.jpg

I find the huge carts comical and pleasing. Certainly an attention getter and that was the point. It also provided for massive sprites, memory, music, and the like which wasn't macthed at home for years and years. To each his own.

[Kamahl]

Yeah the carts were supposed to be huge, that's kinda the point.
It's an arcade system doubling as a home console.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

I have SVC Chaos. It's not bad but it certainly doesn't blow me away. The gameplay isn't very well balanced and the music is kind of shitty. Also, spamming bosses. Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible or anything, just not as good as the Capcom vs SNK games.

So can anyone here confirm or deny if the Saturn is using its own sprites to display everything including the BG in Neo Geo ports like Metal Slug, etc? I knw the ROM cart for KOF 95 contained the BGs, but was that sprite information or did it use the Saturn's BG layers?

Well there's one way to find out. Load Metal Slug up in SSF and toggle VDP1 and VDP2 on and off and see what happens. If you keep VDP2 on and toggle off VDP1 and everything disappears, then the Saturn is using sprites to draw everything. If you disable VDP1 and the background remains, then the Saturn is using background layers to draw the backgrounds.

[evilevoix]

Yeah the carts were supposed to be huge, that's kinda the point.
It's an arcade system doubling as a home console.

I maintain that the home system was an after thought. They had no playns to make it when the MVS came out and only bent to the will of the people who demanded it. FWIW it was a lacking console and had terrible A/V output and Mono sound. You really needed an RGB SCART to get beautiful grafx which I have done but only works well on pre-100K serials. After that there were revisions on tp of revisions to get better color from A/V.

The Neo Geo CD of course fixed all these issues but added load times and smaller sprites or missing animation.

With that said the home console is a beast looking machine with a cart in it and the games still look good today and continue on new machines, what a feat.

[evilevoix]

Well there's one way to find out. Load Metal Slug up in SSF and toggle VDP1 and VDP2 on and off and see what happens. If you keep VDP2 on and toggle off VDP1 and everything disappears, then the Saturn is using sprites to draw everything. If you disable VDP1 and the background remains, then the Saturn is using background layers to draw the backgrounds.

That would be a very cool experiment, please record that and let us know.

[Da_Shocker]

I wish SNK would've supported the Saturn more and used the 4MB ram cart. It seems like they had there heads up Sony's ass a bit. Here's s list of all the SNK games on the PSx.

Athena: Awakening From The Ordinary Life
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition
The King of Fighters '95
The King of Fighters '96
The King of Fighters '97
The King of Fighters '98
The King of Fighters '99
The King of Fighters: Kyo
Koudelka
The Last Blade
Magical Drop
Metal Slug
Metal Slug X
Money Idol Exchanger
Real Bout Fatal Fury
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special: Dominated Mind (Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: Dominated Mind)
Samurai Shodown 1+2
Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood
Samurai Shodown IV Special
Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge
Samurai Shodown: New Chapter (Samurai Shodown Shinshou)
Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage
Samurai Shodown RPG

Fuck that's over 20 titles right there compare that to what the Saturn had even though it was a more capable machine than the PSx in terms of 2D perfomance.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

That would be a very cool experiment, please record that and let us know.

I unfortunately do not own Metal Slug for the Saturn at this time.

[evilevoix]

I wish SNK would've supported the Saturn more and used the 4MB ram cart. It seems like they had there heads up Sony's ass a bit. Here's s list of all the SNK games on the PSx.

Athena: Awakening From The Ordinary Life
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition
The King of Fighters '95
The King of Fighters '96
The King of Fighters '97
The King of Fighters '98
The King of Fighters '99
The King of Fighters: Kyo
Koudelka
The Last Blade
Magical Drop
Metal Slug
Metal Slug X
Money Idol Exchanger
Real Bout Fatal Fury
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special: Dominated Mind (Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: Dominated Mind)
Samurai Shodown 1+2
Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood
Samurai Shodown IV Special
Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge
Samurai Shodown: New Chapter (Samurai Shodown Shinshou)
Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage
Samurai Shodown RPG

Fuck that's over 20 titles right there compare that to what the Saturn had even though it was a more capable machine than the PSx in terms of 2D perfomance.

Ps1 did a shit job of SNK games, loading hell and missing frames of animation.



If you weren't familiar with the Arcade I guess this was OK but it bothers the fawk outa me.

[Black_Tiger]

LOL I open this thread on this page and the first thing that turns up is some Saturn specs... As Neo Geo's VDP can draw much more sprites right out of the box, that being coupled with faster CPU, no doubt it can output more intense gameplay.

I guess that you never bothered to read the previous pages where the Neo Geo's sprite capabilities where brought down to realistic terms (the Neo Geo can draw zero backgrounds right out of the box). The number of gameplay-influencing sprites doesn't determine intensity or quality of gameplay. Just like the myth that more speed equals better gameplay. If you move things too fast and have too much collision, you're only going to ruin the gameplay. It's all about balance and I don't think that anyone would argue against the fact that the Genesis' library tops the Neo Geo in terms of gameplay, intense or otherwise.