Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Randomised Gaming Retro Videos & Blog

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #31
    Originally posted by Leon Retro View Post
    Yeah, lots of CRTs supported 60Hz through RGB Scart. I remember it working on lots of brands - from Goldstar, Panasonic, JVC, Sony etc... I even had a 14" Sony with one Scart socket, but it worked like a charm with NTSC machines.
    Yeah, so SEGA Europe goes to the trouble and expensive of including a official Scart Cable with the Saturn, only not to included a 60 Hz option, when nearly any TV with a Scart socket could handle 60hz via Scart. And SEGA Europe makes a big play of the DC support for 60 hz only for both Pal Rally II and VF3tb not to support the feature.

    Comment


      #32
      Originally posted by S3M View Post
      Short version of Daytona USA on the Saturn today, currently I'm compare the PAL version with the NTSC for a comparison video of the original Saturn port. PAL version was shockingly bad due to the poor optimisation that occurred.
      Really takes me back; that was me on Christmas morning, 1995. I really wanted a Saturn, but as we all remember, they were very expensive, so I didn't seriously think my parents would get me one. My sister woke me up on Christmas morning and we went straight downstairs; we opened all of our presents and I hadn't got one - which again, was okay. Then my dad said he was surprised I'd ran straight past my "main present", which was my new Saturn with VF1 and Daytona USA, which was on the desk in my bedroom (to this day, I don't know if it was really there or if one of my parents had placed it there after we got up).

      I was over the moon. We weren't wealthy people, but I think my dad had got some kind of bonus for some overseas work that year, and he'd decided to splurge a bit.

      We set it up and played Daytona USA for much of the day, though personally Virtua Fighter was the game I had wanted the most. I had played Tekken on a friend's Playstation the week before, but I strongly believed that VF was the stronger game of the two, even with its lacklustre Saturn port.

      It wasn't long before we got Virtua Cop with the gun, too, because we used to play it a lot when visiting the local bowling alley. My dad and I rinsed that countless times.

      This was long before I knew anything about PAL/NTSC. Actually the first time I learned about all that came with the UK port of X-Men Children of the Atom, which was famously botched, to the point where circular things onscreen looked ovoid. Sega Saturn Magazine slated it and I had to ask someone at my local import shop to explain it to me, though I didn't fully appreciate the difference until the Dreamcast came out (the first machine for which I ever bought import games).

      Comment


        #33
        Originally posted by Leon Retro View Post
        It's such a shame that retro consoles didn't have a switch or just a simple software mode to allow Pal gamers to play games in full screen 60Hz. It seems crazy now that big manufacturers just forced Pal gamers to have borders and 50Hz. The ability to be able to run games like in NTSC regions would have been a simple but nice option to include.

        When the Dreamcast appeared and most Pal games allowed people to choose between 50 or 60Hz, it was a revelation. But the curse of 50Hz still lingered during that generation, so it took until the 360/PS3 gen for consoles in Pal Land to allow all games to run as they are in NTSC Land.
        Well for the PAL version of Daytona USA they are chopping frames, to keep the speed the same as the NTSC version, but this makes the handling jerk as a result and make the animation even less smooth. Done a side by side comparison now and there will be a coming video on the subject soon.

        The 50hz curse even applied a bit to the Xbox360 and PS3, if you run both consoles at 576i, some games still have borders and mass slow. But I think by that point HDMI was becoming standard so few people used that set up and the PAL 360 did 480i too, sadly not the PAL PS3.

        Oddly enough games like Tomb Raider are a real mess I found out this week in both PAL and NTSC, but more on that later.

        Comment


          #34
          Originally posted by S3M View Post
          The 50hz curse even applied a bit to the Xbox360 and PS3, if you run both consoles at 576i, some games still have borders and mass slow. But I think by that point HDMI was becoming standard so few people used that set up and the PAL 360 did 480i too, sadly not the PAL PS3.
          I didn't know about problems with games for the 360/PS3 when not using HDMI. It just does to show how important the move to HDMI as a standard was. Not having to worry about PAL and 50Hz has been a great thing for UK/Euro gamers.

          Comment


            #35
            Originally posted by S3M View Post
            Oddly enough games like Tomb Raider are a real mess I found out this week in both PAL and NTSC, but more on that later.
            The PS1/Saturn one?

            I seem to recall that some Euro developed games had similar problems but in reverse, i.e. bad NTSC versions.

            Comment


              #36
              Yes I believe the Wipeout games are among those [MENTION=5941]Asura[/MENTION].

              Comment


                #37
                Originally posted by Leon Retro View Post
                I didn't know about problems with games for the 360/PS3 when not using HDMI. It just does to show how important the move to HDMI as a standard was. Not having to worry about PAL and 50Hz has been a great thing for UK/Euro gamers.
                The orginal 360 console didn't even come with HDMI either. But with the OG XBox the days of long waits and crappy Pal versions were long gone.

                I seem to recall that some Euro developed games had similar problems but in reverse, i.e. bad NTSC versions.
                I never had an issue with my NTSC Tomb Raider, but the Pal version on my Jap Saturn was nearly unplayable thanks to the game being Pal optimised and Pal Virtual On and Guardian Heroes screen were a complete mess when playing on an NTSC system

                Comment


                  #38
                  Originally posted by Team Andromeda View Post
                  I never had an issue with my NTSC Tomb Raider, but the Pal version on my Jap Saturn was nearly unplayable thanks to the game being Pal optimised and Pal Virtual On and Guardian Heroes screen were a complete mess when playing on an NTSC system
                  The issues is there in the NTSC release just harder to spot as Core adjusted the camera in the NTSC version, as the NTSC version is the wrong aspect ratio for the whole game Lara is stretched as the game was designed to run at 576i and not 480i. At least for the screen size, speed wise the game was supposed to run at 30fps which only the NTSC version can do. So the PAL version doesn't move at the right speed and the aspect ratio is wrong in the NTSC version. Same with the PlayStation version, only the PC version uses both the correct ratio and speed in an odd twist of fate.

                  There something coming on the blog in the next few days, the Saturn version never had the handstand move added suggesting Core finished that version first.

                  Comment


                    #39
                    Originally posted by S3M View Post
                    There something coming on the blog in the next few days, the Saturn version never had the handstand move added suggesting Core finished that version first.
                    Thought it was common knowledge that the Saturn Tomb Raider came first. The game was designed as a Saturn exclusive at first wasn't it?

                    Comment


                      #40
                      Originally posted by Yakumo View Post
                      Thought it was common knowledge that the Saturn Tomb Raider came first. The game was designed as a Saturn exclusive at first wasn't it?
                      Nothing of the sort Core had like a month early deal with Sega of Europe only, so it got released first in PAL on Saturn but only by a few weeks. So the Saturn port was rushed as a result. The development team hated that deal and only Sega of Europe did it. Came out the same time as the PlayStation version in America and Japan a few weeks later.

                      Wouldn't really call it that good a deal when it was only a few weeks early.

                      Comment


                        #41
                        Originally posted by S3M View Post
                        Nothing of the sort Core had like a month early deal with Sega of Europe only, so it got released first in PAL on Saturn but only by a few weeks. So the Saturn port was rushed as a result. The development team hated that deal and only Sega of Europe did it. Came out the same time as the PlayStation version in America and Japan a few weeks later.

                        Wouldn't really call it that good a deal when it was only a few weeks early.
                        I’m sure it lead on the Saturn as it used Quads and Core were all for the Saturn and had early access to the Hardware, even before work on Thumderhawk was done. I remember getting my Pal copy from Gameplay and being gutted when it wouldn’t display correctly on my Jap Saturn. It’s a shame SEGA didn’t make more use of its deal and even look to buy Core after their amazing work on the Mega CD

                        Comment


                          #42
                          The Saturn might well have been the lead platform for Tomb Raider, but were it not for that Sega of Europe deal all versions, would have released at the same time. Certainly there is more clipping, texture moving and popping in the PlayStation version not seen in the Saturn port.

                          Comment


                            #43
                            Originally posted by S3M View Post
                            The Saturn might well have been the lead platform for Tomb Raider, but were it not for that Sega of Europe deal all versions, would have released at the same time. Certainly there is more clipping, texture moving and popping in the PlayStation version not seen in the Saturn port.
                            Yeah I read the story in Retro, but I remember way back in Edge 3 CORE saying they already had seen Saturn hardware and then a few months latter how CORE said the Saturn was more powerful overall.
                            Think it lead on the Saturn, but given the PS version was better at 3D and the game made so little use of the VDP II, it was always going to look better on the PS.

                            IMO SEGA should have bought CORE and not let them go to the likes of US Gold and then EDIOS

                            Comment


                              #44
                              Good video here talking about Tomb Raider here and the difference between versions including the tech behind them and frame rate etc. He does use the PAL version forced to 60hz though so there is some screen cut off which he neglects to mention. (Search DF Retro Tomb raider on youtube if my link doesn't work.)
                              John returns to Lara Croft's original adventure, comparing the Saturn and PS1 versions, along with the various PC editions - and what's the best way to revis...

                              Comment


                                #45
                                Originally posted by Team Andromeda View Post
                                The orginal 360 console didn't even come with HDMI either.
                                I got a launch 360 and remember using Component with my widescreen CRT. That got the RROD and I ended up with an HDMI 360 as a replacement, which I later used with my first LCD television in 2008.

                                It's crazy to think that the launch 360 didn't have HDMI.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X