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[Kadve]

I have a similar theory but simpler.

Basically, it all comes to this: The better the ported music is, the worst the performance.

3DO - Best music, worst performance
SNES - Great music, bad performance
GBA - Mediocre music, mediocre performance
32X - Bad music, good performance
Jaguar - Worst music (you only get it in transition screens) , best performance (i assume, i never played the Jaguar version myself and emulators get the speed wrong)

The Saturn/PS1 are outliers because they have their own unique soundtrack and SFX. I also kinda cheat with the Jaguar because the music is actually decent, even though you don't hear it during the game. But without music in-game its the worst "aural experience" and i need it to count for my theory to work

Some more intresting stuff i just learned.

32X = Heavily rushed to become a launch title for said system.

Jaguar = Held beck by the usage of a 2Mbyte cartridge for cost reasons (and a money dispute with the game's composer. Might explain what's going on with the Saturn and PS1 ports too).

Super Nintendo = Held back by the fact it was made on a system from 1991.

3DO = Stuck in development hell and the final product was infamously slapped together in just 10 weeks.

Saturn = Was forced to run in a software based rendering engine (that was basically a modified version of the one used for the 32X) due to John Carmack not letting Rage use their inhouse developed Hardware accelerated one (citing how it caused texture distortion. Though he later admited how it was a huge mistake in hindsight). Which the Saturn simply wasn't powerful enough to do.

So in short. Only the PS1 version seems to not have had issues during development....

 

[Wonko_C]

RGB out from the 32X looks pretty much the same as on the base console to me. The RGB output on stock MD/Genesis 1s didn't tend to be great anyway (jailbars), and composite out was garbage.



See, this track in particular demonstrates how people have different tastes. To me it sounds like it was recorded in a large bathroom through a pillow, and this is something common with a lot of SNES games. The lead is muffled, echoey, and completely lacking any high frequency activity.

Agreed. At Doom's Gate on SNES doesn't even try to sound like what it's meant to be. It sounds like exaggeratedly low pitched violins instead of electric guitars. Like, WTF? Resurrection sounds closer to the PC original. *Headbangs*

 

[nkarafo]

Some more intresting stuff i just learned.

32X = Heavily rushed to become to become a launch title for said system.

Jaguar = Held beck by the usage of a 2Mbit cartridge for cost reasons (and a money dispute with the game's composer. Might explain what's going on with the Saturn and PS1 ports too).

Super Nintendo = Held back by the fact it was made on a system from 1991.

3DO = Stuck in development hell and the final product was infamously slapped together in just 10 weeks.

Saturn = Was forced to run in a software based rendering engine (that was basically a modified version of the one used for the 32X) due to John Carmack not letting Rage use their inhouse developed Hardware accelerated one (citing how it caused texture distortion. Though he later admited how it was a huge mistake in hindsight). Which the Saturn simply wasn't powerful enough to do.

So in short. Only the PS1 version seems to not have had issues during development....

All interesting stuff but some corrections

- Jaguar version is 4MB. Which is still a small amount but 2mbit is only 256kb.

- Most of the graphics processing in the SNES version is done by the SFX2 chip, which was released in 1995 (original SFX chip was released in 1993).


IMO, the SNES version is the only one that isn't really held back and does way more than expected for the hardware. It even uses the PC maps and textures instead of the Jaguar ones like every other version (even the PS1) does. Though, i'm told that the engine can be optimized further and improve frame rate up to 2x but i haven't seen anything yet.

The worst case is the Saturn version if you ask me. Because unlike the 3DO one, which was held back by a producer who didn't even know how video games are made, the Saturn version got ruined by Carmack himself.

 

[Kadve]

All interesting stuff but some corrections

- Jaguar version is 4MB. Which is still a small amount but 2mbit is only 256kb.

https://www.atarimania.com/mags/hi_res/atari-st-format-issue-059_79.jpg

?
Source that Wikipedia uses at least (Yea i mixed up bit and byte easy mistake). Though looking at the ROM it seems to be around 2.5MB so no idea what Romero is talking about.
But yea the Saturn version is Kinda mindboggling. Forcing the team to throw away all their hard work simply because of some minor graphical issues.

 

[s_mirage]

https://www.atarimania.com/mags/hi_res/atari-st-format-issue-059_79.jpg

?
Source that Wikipedia uses at least. Though looking at the ROM it seems to be around 2.5MB so no idea what Romero is talking about.
But yea the Saturn version is Kinda mindboggling. Forcing the team to throw away all their hard work simply because of some minor graphical issues.

For me it depends on how it would have looked. AFAIK, no version of Doom has texture warping, and texture warping looks fucking awful.

If the 32X can do a good version, with slower processors and no graphical acceleration whatsoever, so could the Saturn. It only needed to be 35fps to match the PC.

 

[Mobilemofo]

SNES music was pretty damn awesome to be what it was.

Snes had a custom Yamaha sound chip. Mega drive sound chip was like punching a guy in the throat then asking him to hum the theme tune to coronation street, whilst under water.

 

[dave_d]

Just looking at the changes listed on the SegaLordX video I guess this version does use the Sega-CD audio hardware. Not sure how extensively it does that though.

 

[nkarafo]

https://www.atarimania.com/mags/hi_res/atari-st-format-issue-059_79.jpg

?
Source that Wikipedia uses at least (Yea i mixed up bit and byte easy mistake). Though looking at the ROM it seems to be around 2.5MB so no idea what Romero is talking about.
But yea the Saturn version is Kinda mindboggling. Forcing the team to throw away all their hard work simply because of some minor graphical issues.

The actual ROM is 4MB. I don't know how much of that ROM they are really using and if you compress it with .zip it gets to the 2.5MB size you are talking about.

Maybe Romero is talking about what he knew at the time of the interview.

If the 32X can do a good version, with slower processors and no graphical acceleration whatsoever, so could the Saturn. It only needed to be 35fps to match the PC.

The (original) 32X version is lower resolution and not full screen. Saturn version was supposed to compete with the PS1 version, graphically.

In the end, they should have allowed an option to use a low-res mode. It almost feels like they released it at this state out of spite.

 

[existensmaximum]

Snes had a custom Yamaha sound chip. Mega drive sound chip was like punching a guy in the throat then asking him to hum the theme tune to coronation street, whilst under water.

Pffft! The Mega Drive sounds awesome in the hands of the right developers and musicians

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

ill never forget how many cables there were the first time i set up my 32x+segaCD

 

[Kadve]

Pffft! The Mega Drive sounds awesome in the hands of the right developers and musicians

Case in point!


(and yes you are free to counter with a SNES track. We all win in the end xd)

Also gives me a reason to share this amazing cover.

 

[SportsFan581]

Kind of crazy to think that things like this are still happening on such dated hardware. I'm surprised that RE4 hasn't been ported over.

 

[Mobilemofo]

Pffft! The Mega Drive sounds awesome in the hands of the right developers and musicians

It was actually. Just took a bit of specific knowledge how.

 

[existensmaximum]

It was actually. Just took a bit of specific knowledge how.

100%

Sure, when it sounded bad it was pretty bad, but when it sounded good - damn.