tricks on others platforms ?

turrican3 · 17 November 2013, 02:54

is there tricks on others platforms ?
We know all the tricks on amiga to have more colors etc...
But on megadrive,super nes,neo geo etc...
Do they have games which use tricks ????
What is the megadrice game which use the more colors ???

s2325 · 17 November 2013, 03:10

Mega Drive have some nice trick with vertical lines which make more colors on CRT TV.

WayneK · 17 November 2013, 16:37

Megadrive didn't really have too many "colour tricks" except the usual changing palettes during H-blank stuff that you see on all machines/consoles...

It did however have a wierd vertical-column scrolling mode, which combined with horizontal scrolling per-line could be used for many perspective-tricks - the best example of this is in Batman & Robin:-

[ Show youtube player ]

The tricks are used throughout, but especially just before the 5min mark in that video.

commodorejohn · 17 November 2013, 21:15

Actually, the Megadrive did have one good color trick - it had a pretty low-quality composite encoder for its video output which led to significant horizontal color bleed, so games would arrange dither patterns to exploit that, or even fake transparent overlay (look at the waterfalls in the first zone of Sonic 2 - on an emulator, the columns alternate being behind and in front of the sprites - on a TV, the front columns blend with the sprite columns to create an overlay effect. Crusader of Centy uses this for the shadows of clouds going overhead.) A great example of clever designers turning a flaw into an advantage.

Zak · 17 November 2013, 21:51

Many computers have something like a half-bright-mode. I think like the Apple 2 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +, so that standard colors will be displayed in half intensity to increase palette.

Hewitson · 22 November 2013, 08:12

I wouldnt call the Megadrive trick good, it does work well for a CRT connected via composite, but for those of us with S-Video or RGB connections, it looks absolutely terrible.

john1979 · 22 November 2013, 10:01

There are many programming tricks on C64: to give perception of more colours, to use more sprites, for scrolling that uses little raster time, to write into borders.

There's probably a lot more.

commodorejohn · 22 November 2013, 19:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hewitson

I wouldnt call the Megadrive trick good, it does work well for a CRT connected via composite, but for those of us with S-Video or RGB connections, it looks absolutely terrible.

But that's your own fault, for modding for S-Video/RGB, isn't it? It wasn't what the software or hardware was designed for.

Retro-Nerd · 22 November 2013, 19:09

No, the Mega Drive has a RGB video out without a mod. And you should use no other connection.

commodorejohn · 23 November 2013, 18:07

Huh, okay. It's still not what the software was designed for.

john1979 · 23 November 2013, 19:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by commodorejohn

Huh, okay. It's still not what the software was designed for.

Which seems kinda silly on the part of the developers, given many people back in the day were using RGB, especially the French as their Mega Drive didn't even have an RF out.

commodorejohn · 24 November 2013, 16:23

That was probably more common in countries where SCART was standard. In the US, I never saw anybody run a Genesis with RGB; if they got really fancy they'd have composite in on their TV instead of just using an RF modulator. Add in the tendency to target the lowest common denominator (and the fact that using this trick gave the illusion of more colors than were actually available) and there you go.

17 November 2013, 02:54	#1
turrican3 Moon 1969 = amiga 1985 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: belgium Age: 48 Posts: 3,913	tricks on others platforms ? is there tricks on others platforms ? We know all the tricks on amiga to have more colors etc... But on megadrive,super nes,neo geo etc... Do they have games which use tricks ???? What is the megadrice game which use the more colors ???

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17 November 2013, 03:10	#2
s2325 Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Gargore Age: 43 Posts: 17,789	Mega Drive have some nice trick with vertical lines which make more colors on CRT TV.

17 November 2013, 16:37	#3
WayneK Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Somewhere secret Age: 50 Posts: 364	Megadrive didn't really have too many "colour tricks" except the usual changing palettes during H-blank stuff that you see on all machines/consoles... It did however have a wierd vertical-column scrolling mode, which combined with horizontal scrolling per-line could be used for many perspective-tricks - the best example of this is in Batman & Robin:- [ Show youtube player ] The tricks are used throughout, but especially just before the 5min mark in that video.

17 November 2013, 21:15	#4
commodorejohn Shameless recidivist Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Duluth, Minnesota (USA) Age: 38 Posts: 260	Actually, the Megadrive did have one good color trick - it had a pretty low-quality composite encoder for its video output which led to significant horizontal color bleed, so games would arrange dither patterns to exploit that, or even fake transparent overlay (look at the waterfalls in the first zone of Sonic 2 - on an emulator, the columns alternate being behind and in front of the sprites - on a TV, the front columns blend with the sprite columns to create an overlay effect. Crusader of Centy uses this for the shadows of clouds going overhead.) A great example of clever designers turning a flaw into an advantage.

17 November 2013, 21:51	#5
Zak Zap´em Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 595	Many computers have something like a half-bright-mode. I think like the Apple 2 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +, so that standard colors will be displayed in half intensity to increase palette.

22 November 2013, 08:12	#6
Hewitson Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 41 Posts: 3,771	I wouldnt call the Megadrive trick good, it does work well for a CRT connected via composite, but for those of us with S-Video or RGB connections, it looks absolutely terrible.

22 November 2013, 10:01	#7
john1979 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: UK Age: 44 Posts: 748	There are many programming tricks on C64: to give perception of more colours, to use more sprites, for scrolling that uses little raster time, to write into borders. There's probably a lot more.

22 November 2013, 19:09	#9
Retro-Nerd Missile Command Champion Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 52 Posts: 12,435	No, the Mega Drive has a RGB video out without a mod. And you should use no other connection.

23 November 2013, 18:07	#10
commodorejohn Shameless recidivist Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Duluth, Minnesota (USA) Age: 38 Posts: 260	Huh, okay. It's still not what the software was designed for.

24 November 2013, 16:23	#12
commodorejohn Shameless recidivist Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Duluth, Minnesota (USA) Age: 38 Posts: 260	That was probably more common in countries where SCART was standard. In the US, I never saw anybody run a Genesis with RGB; if they got really fancy they'd have composite in on their TV instead of just using an RF modulator. Add in the tendency to target the lowest common denominator (and the fact that using this trick gave the illusion of more colors than were actually available) and there you go.

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