In what ways SNES is more capaable than an A500?

[c0dehunter]

Hello all,
Lately I have been playing a lot of SNES games, and the more I play (the good titles that is), the more I am convinced that SNES is VERY capable machine, both graphically and sound wise.


Am I right? What are your thoughts?


I am comparing SNES with a stock A500, and I am aware of the A1200 AAA capabilities, so kindly remember this criteria for comparing the two systems!


I really appreciate your input and insights!


Cheers!

[Marce]

the snes can display 256 colors from a palette of 32k
he A500 just 32 colors of a palette of 4k
the SNES have 8 sound channels
the Amiga 500 only 4 sound channels

also the SNES was designed specially for games is faster and more capable than the A500 in 2d scrolling, paralax effects etc

in favor of the Amiga we can say despite the more sound channels in the SNES the Amiga paula chip sound is better and much more capable of better music and sound effects than the sound chip on the SNES, the problem is mixing sound effects+music because just have 4 audio channels

[Lord Aga]

You can play a round of UFO: Enemy Unknown, or Dark Seed, and decide which version is better.

[rothers]

The SNES is a custom chip powerhouse. The CPU is quite weak, however - not that it really matters for most games.

[str0m]

Need to play on my SNES more, lots of great games. The one thing I dislike about it though is the horizontal resolution of 256, makes some games feel squashed/compressed

[pink^abyss]

I would have happily traded Paula for the SPC700 back then
The pros are 32Khz, 8chn, sample compression, delay, reverb and the replayer takes no time from main cpu. Although the ram was limited to 64kb i would say it allowed much more artistic expression in most situations.

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by pink^abyss

I would have happily traded Paula for the SPC700 back then
The pros are 32Khz, 8chn, sample compression, delay, reverb and the replayer takes no time from main cpu. Although the ram was limited to 64kb i would say it allowed much more artistic expression in most situations.

Yeah, I'd ask those that had to deal with it whether it really was all that great.

Most seemed to hate working with SNES sound

[Orcish75]

It's not really a fair comparison, the SNES is much more powerful than the A500 in almost every aspect. The CPU is the only exception, but in the SNES, the CPU doesn't work very hard as the custom chips do most of the work.

The A1200 is a closer match, but the SNES has more powerful sprite, scaling and scrolling abilities. The only other home systems from that era that are a match or better than the SNES would be the X68000 and Neo-Geo.

[pink^abyss]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

Yeah, I'd ask those that had to deal with it whether it really was all that great.

Most seemed to hate working with SNES sound

I think its tools that were available that most didn't like, not really the SNES soundchip.
I remember when we did our games on Gameboy Advance we first had to create our own soundengine because the available tools were nothing i would have had have fun with.

[kamelito]

Amiga 1985, SNES 1990 it is normal to be better, it seems to me that the Los Gatos team was the innovative force CBM was well not up to the job.

[S0ulA55a551n]

And it wasn't just the custom chips in the Snes itself. A lot of cartridges has extra chips in them, expanding and improving ion the capabilities of the base snes.

[Torti-the-Smurf]

Originally Posted by rothers

The CPU is quite weak, however - not that it really matters for most games.

Funny, then why do have ALOT of SNES Games major slowdowns ?
Snes is known for that; even back then, when the Snes came out, it was critized for that. Super Mario World was the saving grace for the Snes. Launch games like Gradius 3 and R-Type did show the problems with the SNes.

It was pretty much Super Mario World alone that sold the console, until Street Fighter II came out for the Snes. It was one of the most important games for the Snes and also the most sold Snes Bundle.

Dont get me wrong , l love the Snes (it has one of the best game catalogs out there)

The Snes Graphics Chip was Tile based and newer, with some cool features.

That and the Software Support. Anything else, i would give the Point to Amiga, i mean common, you can do way more with an Amiga than with a console

The Resolution in SNes games had also to be VERY low, i mean, just compare Pinball Fantasies on Amiga OCS vs SNES

Even the Music > Chris Hüsbeck said once " the Snes sound was nice but compared to the Amiga, it was quiet DULL"


And yes, i love my Snes But also my Amiga - Dosent matter.
Fun is all that matters and you can have them with both

Torti

PS: Sorry for that many Snes´es in this post

[rothers]

I said it does not matter for most games, some games were just poorly programmed rush jobs and have slowdown.

When the SNES is programmed properly to make use of its power (much like the Amiga) it's an amazing machine.

[Torti-the-Smurf]

Well, developers had to work around it ... for example, lets take a Shoot em up.

If you want to make a shoot em up where enemys/bullets are aware of the players ship and track them... you have a serious problem.

If you make a shoot em up where the enemy/bullets pattern is fixed and dosent track the player ship ... you be fine

The Snes has still one of the greatest Games catalog out there !
I Love my Snes

[Tigerskunk]

On Paula vs the SNES sound chip, I'd reckon you'd be hard pressed to get something like "Aquatic Ambiance" out of an Amiga 500.

A more fair comparison would be a A1200/CD32 vs the SNES, though.

And I think you could get games in the quality of most SNES games done there without bigger problems.

[Torti-the-Smurf]

Yupp, SNes could sound fantastic. Aquatic Ambiance is one ove my favorites

There was extra RAM on the Cartridge if i remember correctly.

Fantastic Soundtrack

Still, if you listen to the Turrican´s on SNes or Amiga, you will hear a differend .. i dont know... character.. mybe ..not so........ ; dawm... its so hard to decribe

Dont know, Chris called the Snes sound a little bit dull and boring compared to the Amiga. This Bad Boy !

Idk , Still like both

[d4rk3lf]

Originally Posted by c0dehunter

A1200 AAA capabilities

If you mean chipset, A1200 had Aga chipset, not AAA.
AAA was m,ore advanced but it's development is stopped by Commodore (unfortunately).

As for the other questions, nice guys from above, answered pretty much everything, and very clearly.
A1200 is definitely more comparable with Snes then A500.
(don't get me wrong... computers could do so much more then games, and I'd always choose A500, before 3 Snes)

Maybe better question would be A3000 ECS VS SNES?
(they were both released around same time).

What do you guys think?

Could A3000 processing power outmatch Snes chips?

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by Torti-the-Smurf

It was pretty much Super Mario World alone that sold the console, until Street Fighter II came out for the Snes.

[Torti-the-Smurf]

Yup, that came out around the same time as Street Fighter II, at least in Europe What a classic ! (Street Fighter II still sold more)

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by d4rk3lf

Could A3000 processing power outmatch Snes chips?

But how? It's still only an ECS machine, if I am not mistaken?