As a Sega Genesis gamer, do you care about stretched aspect ratio?

[Sik]

MEGA DRIVE PLAYER

[OverDrone]

A 'Sega genesis gamer' name sounds tacky

Call me a MEGA DRIVE PLAYER

Surely MEGA DRIVER is the slickest, and arguably most official title - courtesy of the game in your sig!

[Zebbe]

Yeah, don't forget the famous "FOR MEGADRIVERS CUSTOM".

[retronostalgia]

Using the dot clock info I linked to earlier ( http://pineight.com/mw/index.php?title=Dot_clock_rates ) I thought I'd have a go at calculating the exact theoretical aspect ratio.

Assuming 256x224 resolution: pixels are 8 relative "units" wide and 7 units tall; (256*8)/(224*7) = 1.306122449:1, or exactly(?) 3.918367347:3
Assuming 320x224 resolution: pixels are 32 units wide and 35 units tall; (320*32)/224*35) = this results in the same 1.306122449:1 or 3.918367347:3

Please correct me if I'm wrong here... is this the most pedantic take on these systems' native aspect ratios, or is it possible to go deeper?

Hmm, and what about PAL systems? I feel less confident about these numbers than the NTSC ones, so if anyone has better info feel free to respond.

First of all, according to this page PAL Megadrives display 240 lines of output rather than 224. http://sega.wikia.com/wiki/Sega_Mega_Drive

Then, according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_...tal_conversion

... there are multiple conflicting definitions of pixel aspect ratio for NTSC and PAL systems, but 240 lines are assumed visible for NTSC while 288 are assumed for PAL. So, is it possible to take the 8:7 aspect ratio pixels of the NTSC 256x224 mode and convert via 7x(240/288) = 5.833, giving pixels with an aspect ratio of 48:35 instead of 8:7? This would then lead to a picture aspect ratio of 256*48:240*35 or 4.388571429:3

If this is valid, we can also calculate the 320x240 resolution pixel aspect ratio as 32:35x(240/288) or 192:175 and the picture aspect ratio as being 320*192:240*175 or the same 4.388571429:3.

[StuOhQ]

I don't mind the stretch at all if it was taken into consideration by the original developer. Many SNES games looked squished with square pixels. What REALLY bothers me is when people capture their game footage in a stretched 16:9 from games that were intended to be viewed at 4:3 (or close to it). That's just plain ugly.

[Yohko16]

I don't mind the stretch at all if it was taken into consideration by the original developer

Except that it was almost never the case. The majority of games in 256x224 pixels are just made as such. Even Chrono Trigger, said to be made with 4:3 stretching in mind but that's only partly true as many artworks are round or square in native 256x224 pixels resolution so they end deformed once in 4:3.

[tisurame]

I prefer square pixels and I always play games that use 256x224 at 320x224 resolution on my Sony PVM monitor (without stretch, leaving vertical black bars).

I like to use 320x240 for almost everything, including lot of arcade games. I just think square pixels looks much better, even on a CRT. One exception is Capcom arcade games that use 384x224.

But I like to stretch Mega Drive games from x224 to x240.

Some games take this into account. See:

[ironnick23]

I play on a plasma tv, if I set my tv to 4:3 I can’t read anything from my couch: that said full screen mode I have no distorted image from what I can tell. I’d imagine if I was using an emulator I would want it completely original looking with scanlines, phosphor glow, ratio 4:3, etc.. but on a large screen tv I don’t notice any flaws post rgb modding. I don’t see anyone striving to emulate the static electricity those tube TVs gave off, or the constant buzzing sounds.

I still have my massive tube tv from when I was growing up, and I used rf then. I also played using the 3ft cables controllers on the floor. I much rather enjoy lounging on my couch with my rich 80’s kid setup. The only thing I miss is how the tube TVs had that color bleed and glow. Don’t get me wrong if I see a pvm sitting on the side of the road or at some junk store I’ll grab it in a second, but I don’t plan on going out of my way for it. Plus I favor 4 player games and a 20inch tv would be a bit rough

[Eep386]

For my Genny, minimum 20" CRT or bust.
I've got a 32" RCA CRT that does well as a gamer TV.

[ITViking]

Great question, and very informative video. Thanks for that.

I'm a noob to retro gaming, and new to the Sega 16 forum. I bought myself a Sega Genesis back in the early 90's, and it was really my very first gaming console. Being a child of the golden years of arcades, the sound and picture quality the Genesis offered really delivered that 'arcade at home' feel they were shooting for, and I was eager to re-capture. Now I'm trying to recapture it again, and and setting up a retro gaming system in my home office. The whole issue of aspect ration is definitely on my mind. I'm using an HDMI upscaler to a 39" LED TV. For some games where there's a lot of text, there's no question that I'd have to play at 4:3. A few games like Streets of Rage 2 seem to be okay stretched to the 16:9 format, though they definitely still look better @ 4:3.

Room constraints would really prevent me from using an older CRT unfortunately.

[retronostalgia]

I suppose you could go as deep into it as you would like to find a specific aspect ratio, but the CRT design allows for a bit of wiggle room.

Enjoying the discussion you guys are having. Sorry I didn't elaborate a bit more on the initial post explaining that I was referencing a stretch to 4:3 for 256 pixels vs 320 pixels rather than the partially assumed 4:3 to 16:9.

The initial video I did on aspect ratio was for the SNES and went into the stretch operation a bit more. I suppose I could have duplicated some of the talk in the Genesis video for the sake of a better explanation.

CkRtech, thank you for your latest aspect ratio vid, on the CPS-1. I thought it was a great exploration of how things were tweaked in porting 4:3, 384x224 arcade games to 320x224 and 256x224 home systems. Fun watch. :-)

[Allard]

The games were intended to be played in 4:3, and in 4:3 I play them.

[nihilblack]

Always respect the original aspect ratio, no matter if it's games or movies.

[Pyron]

Some games the artist draw the artwork thinking on streching.. so usually these games does not suffer with distortion looking good to play..
but the majority is snes ports and looks very bad on MD sadly..
i always prefer hi res mode, when the games does not use it i feel a litle bad about..

[Pyron]

CkRtech, thank you for your latest aspect ratio vid, on the CPS-1. I thought it was a great exploration of how things were tweaked in porting 4:3, 384x224 arcade games to 320x224 and 256x224 home systems. Fun watch. :-)

CPS1 2 and 3 uses this trick to put more pixel on the screen and rendering a high resolution image that feel very sharper on arcade with less visible dots on artwork
crt monitor allows you inscrease a litle bit the horizontal resolution, this trick does not work in vertical so..