When console games were large enough to hold a significant amount of text and able totell a story, then for the games that were developed in Japan most or all of the game would tend to use Japanese text. When these games were released in North America the Japanese text would be translated into English, generally with some simplification for 8-bit and 16-bit console titles. But when tongues other than English had to be accommodated, things got interesting.
Showing posts with label SNES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SNES. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
Nintendo, Sega and the World Outside Japan and North America - Accommodating Non-English Speakers
Early on, most video games did not need to be translated because the amount of text used in these games was very limited. Some games, like RPGs, were an exception but by and large most games from the pre-crash era used English when they needed to convey information in the written form. Even games made by Japanese companies, unless the game was for a Japanese game like Go, Mahjong or Shogi, English was the norm for the simple text messages.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Early Efforts at Online Interaction on Nintendo Consoles
We tend to think that Nintendo consoles first entered the online arena with the GameCube, its Modem and Broadband Adapters and Phantasy Star Online. In the west, this is the case, but every Nintendo home and portable console (except that hunk of eye-straining junk called the Virtual Boy) has had some way to access the non-local world. Sometimes these methods were first party supported, sometimes third-party exclusives and there was even an unlicensed publisher or two in the mix. This blog entry will give an overview of the subject. I will describe briefly each device or method, As this blog entry's purpose is not meant to give a comprehensive review of each of these devices. I will include links for more information to sites and videos with more information.
Sunday, July 26, 2020
2.4G on Controllers for your Vintage Consoles 2020 Edition
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| Trinity |
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Super Nt Review - The Ideal FPGA Console?
In the four months since the announcement of the Super Nt, there has been a lot of anticipation over the final product. Will it ship on time? Will it be as good as the Nt Mini? Is it worth the money? Can I put my original hardware away? Now that I have had mine for about four days by the time this blog entry posts, I can try to answer those questions and give my own impressions of the system.
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
sd2snes and MSU-1
The MSU-1 was a software memory controller (mapper) created by byuu for the bsnes/higan emulator to allow for vastly increased storage for SNES software. The MSU-1 allows for ROMS up to 4GB in size whereas ROMs for the SNES were limited usually to 4MB without extra hardware. FMV playback became possible due to the DVD-like storage capacity provided by the MSU-1. In addition to the size increase, the MSU-1 allows for streaming audio in the same format provided by a CD, namely 16-bit uncompressed stereo audio at a 44.1KHz sample rate. The ill-fated SNES CD-ROM system that Nintendo and Sony collaborated on was not nearly as powerful and would have suffered from noticeable load times. In this blog post, let's talk about the hardware behind the MSU-1 and some of the more interesting hacks available for it.
Monday, January 1, 2018
Hyperkin's SNES Mouse - A Curious Product out of Left Field
In the middle of 2017, one of the more prominent companies that make retro-video gaming products, Hyperkin, announced a new mouse for the SNES. The SNES mouse was released with Mario Paint in 1992, and while some other games supported it, it was mainly associated with Mario Paint. Needless to say this announcement came as something of a surprise, as few people were really clamoring for a replacement SNES mouse. I was so fascinated by this product that I resolved to obtain one as soon as I could, budget permitting, and review it on this blog. This Christmas, the budget did permit my acquisition of what Hyperkin calls the "Hyper Click Retro Style Mouse for SNES", so let us proceed to the review.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
The Analogue Super Nt - The Day After Preview
If 2016 was the Year of the HDMI NES, with the release or pre-order availability of high quality NES HDMI devices such as the NES Classic Mini, Analogue Nt Mini and the RetroUSB AVS, then 2017 is the Year of the HDMI SNES, with the release of the SNES Classic Mini and now pre-order availability of the Analogue Super Nt. The Super Nt was announced yesterday and I would like to gather all the available information about it here after 24 hours have passed to allow for information from multiple sources to be made available online.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
SNES "Port"pouri
Space Invaders and the Super Game Boy
Space Invaders was released for the Game Boy in 1994. It indicated that it supported the Super Game Boy. It did so in a unique way, when you selected the Arcade Mode, it launched a slightly cut-down version of the SNES Space Invaders port which had been previously only been released in Japan. The only thing missing from the game as run transferred from the Super Game Boy and the game that was released on cartridge in Japan in 1994 and the U.S. in 1997 is the VS mode.
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| Super Game Boy Mode |
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| Arcade Mode |
Space Invaders was released for the Game Boy in 1994. It indicated that it supported the Super Game Boy. It did so in a unique way, when you selected the Arcade Mode, it launched a slightly cut-down version of the SNES Space Invaders port which had been previously only been released in Japan. The only thing missing from the game as run transferred from the Super Game Boy and the game that was released on cartridge in Japan in 1994 and the U.S. in 1997 is the VS mode.
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Cartridge Bankswitching Outside the NES
Bankswitching in cartridge based games is most famous on the NES, especially its Japanese version, the Famicom. The NES, Famicom and their unofficial clones were popular in many parts of the world, but the inherent limitations of its 8-bit CPU required software developers to devise ever more complicated systems to increase the amount of memory the system could address.
But the NES did not invent bankswitching. Most, but not all, 8-bit home consoles, home computers and handheld systems had cartridges with extra hardware to allow the system to address more memory. In this article I will trace the evolution of that hardware outside the NES and give links to sites and documents where the user can find more technical information.
But the NES did not invent bankswitching. Most, but not all, 8-bit home consoles, home computers and handheld systems had cartridges with extra hardware to allow the system to address more memory. In this article I will trace the evolution of that hardware outside the NES and give links to sites and documents where the user can find more technical information.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Retro Kickstarters - Modest Goals Rewarded
I have been fascinated by the concept of Kickstarters geared to classic video game consoles and home computers. That many have been successful indicates that there are needs that are waiting to be fulfilled. However, most retro video game Kickstarter campaigns have had reasonable goals. Few that have required over $100,000 to be funded have been successful. In this blog entry I will talk about some of the campaigns and give my thoughts on their significance.
First, Kickstarter campaigns with lofty goals targeting the retro video game market will almost certainly fail. The Retro VGS is a perfect example of a campaign so wrong headed and just plain bizarre that it justifies the trope "truth is stranger than fiction:". They wanted $2,950,000 to fund a new retro-style cartridge only console built from a plastic mold for the Atari Jaguar shell. Oh, it may have had an FPGA that could recreate consoles like the NES or the 2600 in hardware. The Retro VGS campaign's risible failure has been commented to death and has really given far too much attention.
People may be more hesitant to spend their money for big ticket video game projects thanks to the failure of the Ouya console. The Ouya raised over $8 million on Kickstarter for a $99 game console (the controller was quite a bit extra) that would play games easily ported from Android. Despite the massive success of the crowdfunding campaign, the Ouya was sold off to Razer and discontinued within two years of its release.
There have been successes with sequels to classic games. Wasteland 2, Dreamfall Chapters, Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded (a remake), Shadowrun Hong Kong and Shenmue III may never had been possible without crowdfunding. Also, some designers with classics to their name like Richard Garriott, Chris Roberts, Tim Shafer, Kenji Inafune and Koji Igarashi have found the resources to back new projects in the vein of their earlier work but which is owned by a large corporation that has turned its back on them. (Hideo Kojima may be joining them soon.) These games of course are designed to play on current platforms.
Crowdfunding true retro games designed to be played on classic consoles is a far greater challenge. Similarly, while there have been successful crowdfunding campaigns for books, documentaries and music albums related to classic video game consoles or home computers, crowdfunding useful hardware for those computers and consoles has been a task that has been a success only to a few.
The NES has had a quite a few successful hardware and software kickstarters. Hardware successes include the Blinking Light Win : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/113891498/blinking-light-win-resurrecting-your-nes?ref=discovery For $20 you bought a quality NES cartridge connector replacement that, eleven months after the campaign has ended, they are still having trouble stocking. It has fulfilled a need for a reasonably priced, quality connector from people who are passionate about what they are doing, not just some Chinese manufacturer endlessly recycling second-rate parts.
There has also been the Chip Maestro, a MIDI synthesizer device that uses the audio channels of the NES' 2A03 APU : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jarek/chip-maestro-an-nes-midi-synthesizer-cartridge?ref=discovery This is not the first cartridge to allow for the NES audio channels to be controlled via MIDI, the MIDINES was available years earlier, but may no longer be available for purchase.
While you may ask why you need a MIDI controller for the NES when you have FamiTracker and other musical composition programs that allow for full register access to the APU, if you want to use a keyboard directly with the NES in a live performance, you need something that will respond to key presses in real time, hence these MIDI controllers.
Cheetamen II: The Lost Levels (essentially a fixed version of Cheetamen II on a cartridge) is the most successful NES-based hardware Kickstarter I know of : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/343248998/cheetahmen-ii-the-lost-levels?ref=discovery There is a patch available for the game here : http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/778/ that allows you to complete the game and you can play it on an NES PowerPak and an EverDrive N8 with the MMC1 patch.
Despite the full ALL CAPS and somewhat discursive presentation, the Kickstarter was a huge success. This must have been helped by the large number of NES collectors who wanted to fill a hole in their collection for $60 instead of $1,000, which is what the original Cheetamen II cartridge was going for at the time. The promotional video with James Rofle in his Angry Video Game Nerd persona (and his 1.95 million subscribers) must have helped enormously.
Another modestly successful piece of NES software is the retroplayer.nl Championships 2015, which recreates the Nintendo World Championships 1990 cartridge and competition : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1348643050/nintendo-nes-retroplayernl-championship-2015?ref=discovery Frankly I do not know how this got through Kickstarter because it uses Chip 'N Dale's Rescue Rangers II, Tetris and Excitebike and no authorization from any of those rights holders seemed forthcoming. Considering that it flew well under the radar, no one may have brought it to their attention.
There are a pair of NES books on Kickstarter, the first is called the Complete NES by Jeffrey Wittenhagen : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thesubcon3/the-complete-nes-collectors-book-physical-nes-rpg?ref=discovery
The book is being published alongside a game exclusive to the kickstarter called Jeffrey Wittenhagen's Black Box Challenge. It is being programmed by Sly Dog Studios, no stranger to NES homebrew. Whether their games are any good I cannot say but graphically they look pretty dull. This game is an RPG centered around the quest to acquire all NES black-box games. This campaign requested $15,000 and took in $24,455. If you wanted a physical paperback copy of the book and the game on cartridge without box or manual, you would have to pledge $90. For a more impressive hardcover copy of the book and a game with box and manual, the price increases to $170.
Perhaps the price seemed a bit steep to attract more donors. The second book, the Ultimate Guide to the NES Library by Pat Contri, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/560468638/nintendo-nes-library-guide-and-review-book-of-750?ref=nav_search gets you a physical hardcover copy of the book for $60. Normally I do not mention books without something else, but this book is the most funded NES project ever, expecting to hit the $100,000 mark. Pat has also had three successful Indiegoogo campaigns for his annual NES charity marathons and has also successfully raised money for four DVD volumes of his Pat the NES Punk series.
There is also documentary called The New 8-bit Heroes with a new NES game called Mystic Searches : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1316851183/the-new-8-bit-heroes-new-nes-game-and-creation-doc?ref=discovery The documentary is focused on the homebrew scene and the game will be an adventure game that appears to play in the Zelda vein. Also, accessible from the cartridge via a USB port will be a modern version of the game and the NES game and the PC game can talk to each other. Perhaps a bit too ambitious, and the $54,381 pledged is not sufficient for the modern game.
Another gentleman was able to get his NES homebrew game, Lizard, funded : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1101008925/lizard?ref=discovery There is a homebrew game for the SNES called Syndey Hunter and the Caverns of Death. A stretch goal enabled it to be ported to the NES : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/439982171/new-snes-game-sydney-hunter-and-the-caverns-of-dea?ref=discovery It is the only non-NES and non-2600 homebrew game that seems to be crowdfunded. The only other homebrew game I could find that was funded through kickstarter was Star Castle for the Atari 2600. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/698159145/atari-2600-star-castle?ref=discovery
The Commodore 64 has seen some hardware kickstarter success. One gentleman was able to secure the case molds for the C64c and was able to offer new cases with different colors instead of the boring beige of the original :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1670214687/original-commodore-64c-computer-housing-in-new-coo?ref=nav_search
Unfortunately, the project manager was required to remove all references to Commodore from his campaign because the entity that holds the Commodore trademark threatened to sue for trademark violation. Fortunately they did not catch it until late in the campaign, so there was sufficient advertisement for the kickstarter to be successful. I understand it is compatible with any C64 motherboard with proper keyboard support mounts, and I have a nice C64 motherboard that works with a brittle, post-retr0bright failure case. Considering that the creator only wanted a modest $10K, obtaining over nine times that amount was pretty impressive!
The Commodore Amiga has seen similar success with a project (with their second attempt) to make new A1200 molds : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/a1200housing/new-amiga-1200-cases-made-from-new-molds?ref=nav_search You will note that the name Commodore is not present when describing the project. Of all the projects discussed here, this one is the only one which has passed the $100K mark. However, the project managers needed to make new molds, which is incredibly expensive. I cannot say I am incredibly familiar with the late model Amiga scene (not a lot of gaming potential there), but boy there had to be a need for these cases. They also have room for a Raspberry Pi or a MiST FPGA board, which would not have been the case with the original cases.
Of course, I cannot leave out a mention of HD Retrovision's Component Video cables for the SNES and Genesis : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hdretrovision/sega-genesis-and-super-nintendo-component-cables?ref=discovery Even though component video is not the best way to connect a SNES or Genesis to a modern LCD or to stream footage from one, it is still useful for those of us with big screen CRTs with component video inputs. A hardware project I would have liked to see succeed was the hdmyboy, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507669971/hdmyboy-a-full-hd-power-up-for-your-game-boy-class?ref=nav_search
which is a HDMI adapter/converter for the original Game Boy. Unfortunately, 65,000 Euro is an ambitious goal and I believe that people were really expecting not just original Game Boy, but Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance support, especially with the Retron 5 out there. How much more processing power would have been required to convert 15-bit color instead of 2-bit monochrome? Also, the hdmyboy lacked stereo output support.
As you can see, this is a very small number of successful projects (14). Most people who have a product usually rely on pre-orders from internet forums like AtariAge, NintendoAge, VOGONS, Vintage Computing Forums, Sega-16, PCenginefx forums or assemblerforums. AtariAge has been extremely successful in allowing developers to publish new games for the Atari 2600 in cartridge form. On the other end of the spectrum, kevtris had to fund development of the Hi Def NES Mod out of his own pocket, for example. Currently, retro console and computer related kickstarters that keep their funding goals within the five figure mark stand a good chance of success. Six figures is most likely poison to just about any campaign.
First, Kickstarter campaigns with lofty goals targeting the retro video game market will almost certainly fail. The Retro VGS is a perfect example of a campaign so wrong headed and just plain bizarre that it justifies the trope "truth is stranger than fiction:". They wanted $2,950,000 to fund a new retro-style cartridge only console built from a plastic mold for the Atari Jaguar shell. Oh, it may have had an FPGA that could recreate consoles like the NES or the 2600 in hardware. The Retro VGS campaign's risible failure has been commented to death and has really given far too much attention.
People may be more hesitant to spend their money for big ticket video game projects thanks to the failure of the Ouya console. The Ouya raised over $8 million on Kickstarter for a $99 game console (the controller was quite a bit extra) that would play games easily ported from Android. Despite the massive success of the crowdfunding campaign, the Ouya was sold off to Razer and discontinued within two years of its release.
There have been successes with sequels to classic games. Wasteland 2, Dreamfall Chapters, Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded (a remake), Shadowrun Hong Kong and Shenmue III may never had been possible without crowdfunding. Also, some designers with classics to their name like Richard Garriott, Chris Roberts, Tim Shafer, Kenji Inafune and Koji Igarashi have found the resources to back new projects in the vein of their earlier work but which is owned by a large corporation that has turned its back on them. (Hideo Kojima may be joining them soon.) These games of course are designed to play on current platforms.
Crowdfunding true retro games designed to be played on classic consoles is a far greater challenge. Similarly, while there have been successful crowdfunding campaigns for books, documentaries and music albums related to classic video game consoles or home computers, crowdfunding useful hardware for those computers and consoles has been a task that has been a success only to a few.
The NES has had a quite a few successful hardware and software kickstarters. Hardware successes include the Blinking Light Win : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/113891498/blinking-light-win-resurrecting-your-nes?ref=discovery For $20 you bought a quality NES cartridge connector replacement that, eleven months after the campaign has ended, they are still having trouble stocking. It has fulfilled a need for a reasonably priced, quality connector from people who are passionate about what they are doing, not just some Chinese manufacturer endlessly recycling second-rate parts.
There has also been the Chip Maestro, a MIDI synthesizer device that uses the audio channels of the NES' 2A03 APU : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jarek/chip-maestro-an-nes-midi-synthesizer-cartridge?ref=discovery This is not the first cartridge to allow for the NES audio channels to be controlled via MIDI, the MIDINES was available years earlier, but may no longer be available for purchase.
While you may ask why you need a MIDI controller for the NES when you have FamiTracker and other musical composition programs that allow for full register access to the APU, if you want to use a keyboard directly with the NES in a live performance, you need something that will respond to key presses in real time, hence these MIDI controllers.
Cheetamen II: The Lost Levels (essentially a fixed version of Cheetamen II on a cartridge) is the most successful NES-based hardware Kickstarter I know of : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/343248998/cheetahmen-ii-the-lost-levels?ref=discovery There is a patch available for the game here : http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/778/ that allows you to complete the game and you can play it on an NES PowerPak and an EverDrive N8 with the MMC1 patch.
Despite the full ALL CAPS and somewhat discursive presentation, the Kickstarter was a huge success. This must have been helped by the large number of NES collectors who wanted to fill a hole in their collection for $60 instead of $1,000, which is what the original Cheetamen II cartridge was going for at the time. The promotional video with James Rofle in his Angry Video Game Nerd persona (and his 1.95 million subscribers) must have helped enormously.
Another modestly successful piece of NES software is the retroplayer.nl Championships 2015, which recreates the Nintendo World Championships 1990 cartridge and competition : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1348643050/nintendo-nes-retroplayernl-championship-2015?ref=discovery Frankly I do not know how this got through Kickstarter because it uses Chip 'N Dale's Rescue Rangers II, Tetris and Excitebike and no authorization from any of those rights holders seemed forthcoming. Considering that it flew well under the radar, no one may have brought it to their attention.
There are a pair of NES books on Kickstarter, the first is called the Complete NES by Jeffrey Wittenhagen : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thesubcon3/the-complete-nes-collectors-book-physical-nes-rpg?ref=discovery
The book is being published alongside a game exclusive to the kickstarter called Jeffrey Wittenhagen's Black Box Challenge. It is being programmed by Sly Dog Studios, no stranger to NES homebrew. Whether their games are any good I cannot say but graphically they look pretty dull. This game is an RPG centered around the quest to acquire all NES black-box games. This campaign requested $15,000 and took in $24,455. If you wanted a physical paperback copy of the book and the game on cartridge without box or manual, you would have to pledge $90. For a more impressive hardcover copy of the book and a game with box and manual, the price increases to $170.
Perhaps the price seemed a bit steep to attract more donors. The second book, the Ultimate Guide to the NES Library by Pat Contri, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/560468638/nintendo-nes-library-guide-and-review-book-of-750?ref=nav_search gets you a physical hardcover copy of the book for $60. Normally I do not mention books without something else, but this book is the most funded NES project ever, expecting to hit the $100,000 mark. Pat has also had three successful Indiegoogo campaigns for his annual NES charity marathons and has also successfully raised money for four DVD volumes of his Pat the NES Punk series.
There is also documentary called The New 8-bit Heroes with a new NES game called Mystic Searches : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1316851183/the-new-8-bit-heroes-new-nes-game-and-creation-doc?ref=discovery The documentary is focused on the homebrew scene and the game will be an adventure game that appears to play in the Zelda vein. Also, accessible from the cartridge via a USB port will be a modern version of the game and the NES game and the PC game can talk to each other. Perhaps a bit too ambitious, and the $54,381 pledged is not sufficient for the modern game.
Another gentleman was able to get his NES homebrew game, Lizard, funded : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1101008925/lizard?ref=discovery There is a homebrew game for the SNES called Syndey Hunter and the Caverns of Death. A stretch goal enabled it to be ported to the NES : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/439982171/new-snes-game-sydney-hunter-and-the-caverns-of-dea?ref=discovery It is the only non-NES and non-2600 homebrew game that seems to be crowdfunded. The only other homebrew game I could find that was funded through kickstarter was Star Castle for the Atari 2600. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/698159145/atari-2600-star-castle?ref=discovery
The Commodore 64 has seen some hardware kickstarter success. One gentleman was able to secure the case molds for the C64c and was able to offer new cases with different colors instead of the boring beige of the original :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1670214687/original-commodore-64c-computer-housing-in-new-coo?ref=nav_search
Unfortunately, the project manager was required to remove all references to Commodore from his campaign because the entity that holds the Commodore trademark threatened to sue for trademark violation. Fortunately they did not catch it until late in the campaign, so there was sufficient advertisement for the kickstarter to be successful. I understand it is compatible with any C64 motherboard with proper keyboard support mounts, and I have a nice C64 motherboard that works with a brittle, post-retr0bright failure case. Considering that the creator only wanted a modest $10K, obtaining over nine times that amount was pretty impressive!
The Commodore Amiga has seen similar success with a project (with their second attempt) to make new A1200 molds : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/a1200housing/new-amiga-1200-cases-made-from-new-molds?ref=nav_search You will note that the name Commodore is not present when describing the project. Of all the projects discussed here, this one is the only one which has passed the $100K mark. However, the project managers needed to make new molds, which is incredibly expensive. I cannot say I am incredibly familiar with the late model Amiga scene (not a lot of gaming potential there), but boy there had to be a need for these cases. They also have room for a Raspberry Pi or a MiST FPGA board, which would not have been the case with the original cases.
Of course, I cannot leave out a mention of HD Retrovision's Component Video cables for the SNES and Genesis : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hdretrovision/sega-genesis-and-super-nintendo-component-cables?ref=discovery Even though component video is not the best way to connect a SNES or Genesis to a modern LCD or to stream footage from one, it is still useful for those of us with big screen CRTs with component video inputs. A hardware project I would have liked to see succeed was the hdmyboy, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507669971/hdmyboy-a-full-hd-power-up-for-your-game-boy-class?ref=nav_search
which is a HDMI adapter/converter for the original Game Boy. Unfortunately, 65,000 Euro is an ambitious goal and I believe that people were really expecting not just original Game Boy, but Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance support, especially with the Retron 5 out there. How much more processing power would have been required to convert 15-bit color instead of 2-bit monochrome? Also, the hdmyboy lacked stereo output support.
As you can see, this is a very small number of successful projects (14). Most people who have a product usually rely on pre-orders from internet forums like AtariAge, NintendoAge, VOGONS, Vintage Computing Forums, Sega-16, PCenginefx forums or assemblerforums. AtariAge has been extremely successful in allowing developers to publish new games for the Atari 2600 in cartridge form. On the other end of the spectrum, kevtris had to fund development of the Hi Def NES Mod out of his own pocket, for example. Currently, retro console and computer related kickstarters that keep their funding goals within the five figure mark stand a good chance of success. Six figures is most likely poison to just about any campaign.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Slipped by the NES Censor
Nintendo had a reputation of being a tough censor in the days of the NES and SNES before the establishment of ratings boards. In these eras, the big-N implemented a modern day version of the Hays Code. Who needed a video games rating system when every game has been vigorously inspected and cleansed to make it appropriate for children? Nintendo controlled all licensed cartridge production, and if it did not approve a game then it would not be produced. (It is a myth that Nintendo manufactured all cartridges, there are PCBs and chips in licensed US cartridges made by Konami, Sunsoft, Namco, Acclaim and Virgin Games).
Maniac Mansion is the best example of how Nintendo would control the approval process. It required developers to send a prototype cartridge and a text dump. Any objectionable content would be noted and sent to the company to fix. Often, developers and publishers would engage in self-censorship to speed the approval process along.
References to sexual activity and nudity were not allowed. Graphic, life-like violence was also forbidden. Language was to avoid words like "hell", "damn", "crap" and no stronger expletives were allowed. Over time, Nintendo became more strict about what it would allow on its system. Most of these examples given below were from the earlier years of the NES's development.
Nintendo of Europe was even more strict on violence. Germany has long video games on its List of Media Harmful to Young People, the BPjM. River Raid for the Atari 2600 was the first game on that list and it stayed there until 2002, so Nintendo games had to be very circumspect when it came to depicting any kind of realistic violence. Thus games like Contra were given a sprite overhaul, replacing all human-like characters with robots and released a Probotector in Europe. Unfortunately, because of the German standards, all of Europe suffered from this type of lowest common demonimator censorship.
Eventually, Nintendo's strict censorship began to work against it. When Mortal Kombat for the Sega Genesis, which had the blood and graphic fatalities unlockable with a code, drastically outsold the SNES version, Nintendo began to realize the value of the ratings system. Both companies and their eventual competitors submitted to the ESRB. The sales for Mortal Kombat II, which was not censored, were better than the Genesis version.
Bionic Commando
At the end of the game, you must destroy the helicopter of the main villain of the game, "Master-D". Master D's portrait had a death animation that was very graphic for the time.
Also, Master D's facial features obviously resemble Adolf Hitler's. This is intentional because the original Japanese game, title : Hitler no Fukkatsu: Top Secret, made explicit that Hitler was the main villain. While Capcom removed visual and textual references to the Nazi Party in the U.S. version, they kept Hitler's portrait unaltered. Years later, when Wolfenstein 3D was ported to the SNES, not only were all Nazi references removed, but the posters found on the walls of Hitler were adjusted to reduce the resemblance to the Fürher.
Master-D also calls the hero a "damn fool" for challenging him, and "damn" is a Bad Word which shouldn't have made it into the U.S. release, but it did.
Castlevania
Level 3 of Castlevania features nude statutes in the background. They may have been harder to notice on small TVs back running the NES video through an RF input back in the day, but the graphics were not changed. By the time Konami ported Castlevania III to the U.S., the nude statute graphics were changed, but there were more examples of nudity in that game.
Eventually Nintendo would get around to removing crosses in the SNES era, but in the NES era, crosses were not particularly objectionable. All three Castlevania NES games have them, as does Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
We have the use of "Hell" in this game, right in the introductory text that scrolls if you do not press start at the title screen.
Golgo 13
The censor must have been asleep when this game was approved! On at least two occasions during the game, Golgo 13 sleeps with female operatives he meets during the game. He goes up to their hotel rooms after making prior arrangements, suggestive words are spoken, an animation shows the two coming together from their window, the lights go black and all your health is regained. The voyeuristic view of the latter portion of the sequence only highlights the inappropriateness of this sequence by Nintendo's guidelines. The Japanese version shows the ladies actually take their clothes off, showing toplessness.
In addition, this game is rather graphic when killing enemies in a first-person view. When you shoot enemies, blood spurts from their heads. This happens in the sniping sequences and the maze sequences. At one point, you smoke a cigarette to regain health. What kind of message did that send to the kids?
The enemy organization in the US version is called DREK, but in the Japanese original they are clearly identified as Nazis. The file you obtain in the Greece Maze has a Swastika in the Japanese version and the true enemy is a cyborg version of Adolf Hitler, not "Smirk". The US version keeps Hitler's likeness for "Smirk".
The sequel The Mafat Conspiracy: Golgo 13, is much more tame but does feature Golgo 13 smoking in the cutscenes and plenty of violence with Ninja Gaiden like cutscenes.
Kid Icarus
The statutes in world 4-1 are topless, as is the illustration of the Syren enemy in the game's manual.
The Legend of Zelda
The third Dungeon in the first quest is called "Manji" and the rooms are in the shape of a swastika. This followed the Buddhist usage and faces counter-clockwise, not the Nazi usage which is usually clockwise and angled at 45 degrees. The swastika had been in use in Japan for over one thousand years before Hitler appropriated it.
However, the counter clockwise version of the swastika was used by the Nazis, perhaps most notably as part of the standard for the 1st SS-Panzer Division Leibstandarte [bodyguard] SS Adolf Hitler after the fall of France. No one complained about the use of the symbol at the time The Legend of Zelda was released apparently. A decade later, parents did complain when the symbol was found on Pokemon cards and Nintendo announced that it would no longer use the symbol on Pokemon cards it released to the United States (and probably Europe) because of the negative cultural connotations.
Magic of Scherezade
The boss of the second world, Curly, has obvious breasts. "Curly" should really have been "Kali", the Hindu goddess of death, who is typically depicted topless and with six arms, which Curly's second form has.
Maniac Mansion
Although this game was heavily censored to remove objectionable content, Razor or Sid can explode Weird Ed's hamster by putting it in the microwave in the U.S. version. Nintendo got wise to this and this act of animal cruelty was no longer possible when the game was later released in Europe.
Here is the original article "The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion", which describes what was left out and what was later removed from the game :
http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/maniac.html
Metal Gear
In Metal Gear, cigarettes as a usable item, helpful when trying to beat the timed sequence at the end of the game where you must escape the building after beating the final boss before a bomb blows it up. Smoking is bad, but in the NES era it was not high on the censor's priorities. This would eventually changed as demonstrated by the cigarette item being changed to "fogger" in Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color. The item still looks like a cigarette.
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Similar to Ninja Gaiden, Jaquio has a pentagram (instead of a hexagram, maybe he lost a point because he died) on his chest. This was altered for the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy. When you defeat Jaquio, his blood touches the Dark Sword of Chaos, transforming him into a demon. The blood was turned from red to green in the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy.
Rambo
At the beginning of the game, Colonel Trautman tells Rambo : "You've got 36 hours to get in, complete your assignment, and get the hell out." H-E-Double hockey sticks was a big no-no thereafter.
Ring King
Ring King has become particularly infamous for its in-between round animation of the corner men. When looking at the animation, it is hard to find a non-obscene explanation. The animation is not quite as suggestive in the arcade original.
I was too lazy to make an animated GIF, but there are no intervening frames.
River City Ransom
River City Ransom has a spa area where your character can recover his stamina. The game shows you showering in Pop's Health Club, and among the graphics is a shot of your character toweling off his bare backside. They show a dimpled butt.
Sqoon
Sqoon has a topless mermaid enemy, which appears on the title screen and later in the game. This would not have gone unnoticed during a later period.
Taboo: The Sixth Sense
Taboo was practically unique in the NES library because it advertised on the box that it is not intended for children under fourteen. Taboo is a tarot card reading simulator. You input your name, date of birth and your gender, ask a question and the game will deal ten tarot cards and give you its interpretation of them. Among the cards that can be revealed are The Lovers, which shows rear male nudity and nearly-nude female nudity. After it reads the cards, it will give you some "Lucky Numbers", asking you to select your state of residence. The name/birthdate/gender screen has a cross and a pentagram.
This is a RareWare game, and I would suggest that only Rare's close relationship with Nintendo allowed them to publish this simulator. Divination, occultism and fortune telling is offensive to Biblical Christianity.
Maniac Mansion is the best example of how Nintendo would control the approval process. It required developers to send a prototype cartridge and a text dump. Any objectionable content would be noted and sent to the company to fix. Often, developers and publishers would engage in self-censorship to speed the approval process along.
References to sexual activity and nudity were not allowed. Graphic, life-like violence was also forbidden. Language was to avoid words like "hell", "damn", "crap" and no stronger expletives were allowed. Over time, Nintendo became more strict about what it would allow on its system. Most of these examples given below were from the earlier years of the NES's development.
Nintendo of Europe was even more strict on violence. Germany has long video games on its List of Media Harmful to Young People, the BPjM. River Raid for the Atari 2600 was the first game on that list and it stayed there until 2002, so Nintendo games had to be very circumspect when it came to depicting any kind of realistic violence. Thus games like Contra were given a sprite overhaul, replacing all human-like characters with robots and released a Probotector in Europe. Unfortunately, because of the German standards, all of Europe suffered from this type of lowest common demonimator censorship.
Eventually, Nintendo's strict censorship began to work against it. When Mortal Kombat for the Sega Genesis, which had the blood and graphic fatalities unlockable with a code, drastically outsold the SNES version, Nintendo began to realize the value of the ratings system. Both companies and their eventual competitors submitted to the ESRB. The sales for Mortal Kombat II, which was not censored, were better than the Genesis version.
Bionic Commando
At the end of the game, you must destroy the helicopter of the main villain of the game, "Master-D". Master D's portrait had a death animation that was very graphic for the time.
Also, Master D's facial features obviously resemble Adolf Hitler's. This is intentional because the original Japanese game, title : Hitler no Fukkatsu: Top Secret, made explicit that Hitler was the main villain. While Capcom removed visual and textual references to the Nazi Party in the U.S. version, they kept Hitler's portrait unaltered. Years later, when Wolfenstein 3D was ported to the SNES, not only were all Nazi references removed, but the posters found on the walls of Hitler were adjusted to reduce the resemblance to the Fürher.
Master-D also calls the hero a "damn fool" for challenging him, and "damn" is a Bad Word which shouldn't have made it into the U.S. release, but it did.
Castlevania
Level 3 of Castlevania features nude statutes in the background. They may have been harder to notice on small TVs back running the NES video through an RF input back in the day, but the graphics were not changed. By the time Konami ported Castlevania III to the U.S., the nude statute graphics were changed, but there were more examples of nudity in that game.
Eventually Nintendo would get around to removing crosses in the SNES era, but in the NES era, crosses were not particularly objectionable. All three Castlevania NES games have them, as does Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
We have the use of "Hell" in this game, right in the introductory text that scrolls if you do not press start at the title screen.
Golgo 13
The censor must have been asleep when this game was approved! On at least two occasions during the game, Golgo 13 sleeps with female operatives he meets during the game. He goes up to their hotel rooms after making prior arrangements, suggestive words are spoken, an animation shows the two coming together from their window, the lights go black and all your health is regained. The voyeuristic view of the latter portion of the sequence only highlights the inappropriateness of this sequence by Nintendo's guidelines. The Japanese version shows the ladies actually take their clothes off, showing toplessness.
In addition, this game is rather graphic when killing enemies in a first-person view. When you shoot enemies, blood spurts from their heads. This happens in the sniping sequences and the maze sequences. At one point, you smoke a cigarette to regain health. What kind of message did that send to the kids?
The enemy organization in the US version is called DREK, but in the Japanese original they are clearly identified as Nazis. The file you obtain in the Greece Maze has a Swastika in the Japanese version and the true enemy is a cyborg version of Adolf Hitler, not "Smirk". The US version keeps Hitler's likeness for "Smirk".
The sequel The Mafat Conspiracy: Golgo 13, is much more tame but does feature Golgo 13 smoking in the cutscenes and plenty of violence with Ninja Gaiden like cutscenes.
Kid Icarus
The statutes in world 4-1 are topless, as is the illustration of the Syren enemy in the game's manual.
The Legend of Zelda
The third Dungeon in the first quest is called "Manji" and the rooms are in the shape of a swastika. This followed the Buddhist usage and faces counter-clockwise, not the Nazi usage which is usually clockwise and angled at 45 degrees. The swastika had been in use in Japan for over one thousand years before Hitler appropriated it.
However, the counter clockwise version of the swastika was used by the Nazis, perhaps most notably as part of the standard for the 1st SS-Panzer Division Leibstandarte [bodyguard] SS Adolf Hitler after the fall of France. No one complained about the use of the symbol at the time The Legend of Zelda was released apparently. A decade later, parents did complain when the symbol was found on Pokemon cards and Nintendo announced that it would no longer use the symbol on Pokemon cards it released to the United States (and probably Europe) because of the negative cultural connotations.
Also, Link's shield and the Darknut shields have crosses on them. Nintendo let religious symbols like crosses by in the early days.
Magic of Scherezade
The boss of the second world, Curly, has obvious breasts. "Curly" should really have been "Kali", the Hindu goddess of death, who is typically depicted topless and with six arms, which Curly's second form has.
Maniac Mansion
Although this game was heavily censored to remove objectionable content, Razor or Sid can explode Weird Ed's hamster by putting it in the microwave in the U.S. version. Nintendo got wise to this and this act of animal cruelty was no longer possible when the game was later released in Europe.
Here is the original article "The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion", which describes what was left out and what was later removed from the game :
http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/maniac.html
Metal Gear
In Metal Gear, cigarettes as a usable item, helpful when trying to beat the timed sequence at the end of the game where you must escape the building after beating the final boss before a bomb blows it up. Smoking is bad, but in the NES era it was not high on the censor's priorities. This would eventually changed as demonstrated by the cigarette item being changed to "fogger" in Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color. The item still looks like a cigarette.
Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden has a rare use of the verb "to kill" when Foster is discussing the death of Dr. Smith. Use of the verb "to kill" or any of its conjugations was strongly discouraged in the NES era. In RPGs, a character is never "killed", usually they "died", were "slain" or "perished". A party may be "annihilated". This went to goofy levels when Final Fantasy II/IV's U.S. SNES release used the word "swooned".
Also, in Jaquio's lair and on his chest you can see six-sided stars, better recognized as a Star of David. During the NES and SNES era, Stars of David were frequently removed from RPGs like Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II/IV, where they alluded to mystical abilities. These were altered or removed for the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy release.
Ninja Gaiden has a rare use of the verb "to kill" when Foster is discussing the death of Dr. Smith. Use of the verb "to kill" or any of its conjugations was strongly discouraged in the NES era. In RPGs, a character is never "killed", usually they "died", were "slain" or "perished". A party may be "annihilated". This went to goofy levels when Final Fantasy II/IV's U.S. SNES release used the word "swooned".
Also, in Jaquio's lair and on his chest you can see six-sided stars, better recognized as a Star of David. During the NES and SNES era, Stars of David were frequently removed from RPGs like Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II/IV, where they alluded to mystical abilities. These were altered or removed for the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy release.
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Similar to Ninja Gaiden, Jaquio has a pentagram (instead of a hexagram, maybe he lost a point because he died) on his chest. This was altered for the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy. When you defeat Jaquio, his blood touches the Dark Sword of Chaos, transforming him into a demon. The blood was turned from red to green in the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy.
Rambo
At the beginning of the game, Colonel Trautman tells Rambo : "You've got 36 hours to get in, complete your assignment, and get the hell out." H-E-Double hockey sticks was a big no-no thereafter.
Ring King
Ring King has become particularly infamous for its in-between round animation of the corner men. When looking at the animation, it is hard to find a non-obscene explanation. The animation is not quite as suggestive in the arcade original.
I was too lazy to make an animated GIF, but there are no intervening frames.
River City Ransom
River City Ransom has a spa area where your character can recover his stamina. The game shows you showering in Pop's Health Club, and among the graphics is a shot of your character toweling off his bare backside. They show a dimpled butt.
Sqoon
Sqoon has a topless mermaid enemy, which appears on the title screen and later in the game. This would not have gone unnoticed during a later period.
Taboo: The Sixth Sense
Taboo was practically unique in the NES library because it advertised on the box that it is not intended for children under fourteen. Taboo is a tarot card reading simulator. You input your name, date of birth and your gender, ask a question and the game will deal ten tarot cards and give you its interpretation of them. Among the cards that can be revealed are The Lovers, which shows rear male nudity and nearly-nude female nudity. After it reads the cards, it will give you some "Lucky Numbers", asking you to select your state of residence. The name/birthdate/gender screen has a cross and a pentagram.
This is a RareWare game, and I would suggest that only Rare's close relationship with Nintendo allowed them to publish this simulator. Divination, occultism and fortune telling is offensive to Biblical Christianity.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
SNES Flash Carts : SD2SNES vs. SNES PowerPak
Like most retro game consoles, the SNES has been blessed with a few flash carts. The first great flash cart was the SNES PowerPak, released in 2009. The second great flash cart is the Super Everdrive, released in 2010. The third great flash cart is the SD2SNES, released in 2012. All cartridges are expensive at $145.00, $79.00 and $195.00, respectively, but support hundreds of SNES games via compact flash (PowerPak) or SD card (SD2SNES). In this post, I will talk about the pros and cons of each.
SNES PowerPak
The SNES PowerPak is the oldest cartridge, released in 2009, and it loads games via Compact Flash. Compact Flash cards are becoming increasingly hard to find and the connector is made up of 44 thin pins that can bend and break. The default menu for the SNES PowerPak looks almost exactly like the NES PowerPak, although the font is thinner and ugly. The official combined NES and SNES PowerPak mappers (1.35b) from bunnyboy were last updated in October, 2010. The PowerPak can be upgraded with a DSP-1 chip from a real SNES cartridge to play games supporting that chip like Super Mario Kart and (sometimes) Pilotwings.
The SNES PowerPak is RAM based, allowing for very fast loading of games. CF card support can be a tad finicky, so you may need to turn the DMA mode off if games are not loading. This makes loading games a little slower, but still faster than a flash memory-based cart like the Super Everdrive. CF cards must be formatted for FAT16 or FAT32, which generally allows card support for up to 32GB in size. Originally the SNES PowerPak did not work on an SNES mini/jr., but that problem has long been solved with newer mappers.
The menu allows for only about 28 characters on each line, which is not sufficient for long filenames. The firmware of the SNES PowerPak is not designed to be user upgradeable. The SNES does support high resolution interlaced modes, and a NESDEV forum contributor named Ramsis made custom firmware and mappers that double the number of characters per line for the menu as well as allow for color backgrounds whereas the official background was always black. This requires a firmware update, which ideally should be performed by a flash programmer. Sometimes the flash chip in the PowerPak is soldered instead of socketed, making that option unfeasible for most. Ramsis's firmware can be updated by the PowerPak itself if you are willing to risk a slight possibility of bricking the device. I did it with mine and had no problems. The current stable version is v3.00 and includes an SPC player for playing back SNES chiptunes. Although the firmware requires v1.02 of the original firmware, I was able to update my card with v1.01 firmware.
The SNES PowerPak does not sort ROMs or directories, you need a file sort utility like File Sort for Windows. It does support up to five Game Genie codes and you can load them from a text file. It does not support automatic save file creation for battery backed games and you must push reset before turning off the system to keep your save game. There are no save state mappers for the SNES PowerPak. Save states may not really be possible with the SNES because the cartridge may not be able to save the state of the SPC-700 audio coprocessor.
The PowerPak does not support any special chips via its FPGA, so no Super FX 1 or 2, the SA-1, CX-4, OBC-1, S-RTC, ST010, ST011, ST018, SDD-1 or SPC7110 support. Forget about anything that would require Satellaview or Super Game Boy hardware. The controller chip simply does not have enough logic to emulate any of these chips. In theory it does support the DSP-2, 3 or 4, but you would have to take the appropriate chip out of a cartridge and install it in the SNES PowerPak. As only one game uses each chip, this is impracticable, you might as well just save the cartridge.
I have had trouble with a few games, even as of the latest mappers, official or Ramsis. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys and Secret of Evermore will run but not save a valid save file or load from one. This is because they use unusual areas of the memory map to write their save game information and the PowerPak does not support this. The Super EverDrive has the same issue with Ys III but apparently not with Secret of Evermore. I have often had trouble with Pilotwings, regardless of version it frequently just does not want to load. Using a small (256MB or so) CF card helps. My main CF card is 4GB.
Even though the original ROM uses the S-DD1 compression chip, the SNES PowerPak or SD2SNES will run a hacked version Star Ocean. Start with the original Japanese ROM. This ROM can be translated into English with the DeJap translation. Then use the Star Ocean no S-DD1/96Mbit hack to decompress the ROM. Finally, change the following bytes in the hacked ROM with a hex editor :
000081D5 from 32 to 31
000081D6 from 45 to 02
00A081D5 from 32 to 31
00A081D6 from 45 to 02
This will tell the flash cart that the game has a battery backed save feature, otherwise you won't be able to save games. This appears to be necessary only for the SNES PowerPak.
SD2SNES
The SD2SNES by ikari loads games by an SD, SDHC or SDXC card. It addresses several weaknesses of the SNES PowerPak. First, it has a battery on the cartridge for holding the contents of save memory. This means you will not lose your save game if you forget to press reset before turning the game off. However, because some games use their save memory as work memory, the SD2SNES will only save every 15-20 seconds for those games. If the red (write) LED is constantly on, then you should wait or hold the reset button until all three LEDs are on before turning off the power.
Another improvement over the Super Everdrive is that the cart will automatically create new files for battery backed up save games. The .srm extension is used for SNES save game files whether on the SNES PowerPak or SD2SNES or Super Everdrive, and it is just a memory dump of the emulated cartridge RAM. The SD2SNES now saves .srm files to a common \SAVE folder just like the SNES PowerPak.
Second, the SD2SNES has sufficient power to emulate several of the enhancement chips. It currently supports DSP1, 2, 3 & 4, OBC-1, Cx4, ST-010, S-RTC, OBC1 and a portion of the Satellaview. It supports a real time clock even outside special chip support, so your SNES can tell you the correct time when you are using the menu and show accurate timestamps for modified files. For certain chips, the following ROMs are required as of the latest firmware : dsp1.bin, dsp1b.bin, dsp2.bin, dsp3.bin, dsp4.bin, st0010.bin. They used to be used by bsnes, but at some point bsnes/higan required the .rom files, which go from first byte to last instead of last to first, or the other way around. The BS-X BIOS will also be required for running Bandai Satellaview games. Excluding the Satellaview games, there are 57 licensed SNES cartridges that the SD2SNES cannot yet replace, most using the SA-1 or Super FX chips. Support for at least the latter may come. Sufami Turbo games will not work either.
Third, the SD2SNES will sort files and directories automatically if you set the appropriate option in the menu. It loads games extremely quickly and will load games up to 16MB in size. The SD card can be formatted for FAT16 or FAT32, and 64GB cards are supported. You will need a third party partitioning tool if you are using modern Windows, which only formats FAT32 partitions up to 32GB. Almost all SNES games are no more than 4MB. The menu uses a high resolution mode to allow for longer file names. If you leave the cursor on a file name, the complete name will scroll across the screen. You can also see the CPU/PPU1/PPU2 revision in the main menu.
The latest official firmware is 0.1.7b. This firmware officially adds cheat support. There are in-game button combinations or hooks that will allow you to reset the game, return to the SD2SNES menu, kill the in-game cheat routines temporarily or permanently. In the official release there are menu items to disable this. I had to kill the in-game cheat routines in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past otherwise the top of the screen would flicker when accessing the inventory. The Super Star Wars games would not allow a proper pause with the cheat routines enabled. There is an SPC player implemented in the SD2SNES firmware and it supports up to 6 Game Genie (ROM) cheat codes and 24 Pro Action Replay (RAM) cheat codes loaded from a text file.
I had no trouble loading a saved game in Ys III: Wanderers from Ys or Secret of Evermore and did not have trouble with Pilotwings as I did on my SNES PowerPak. It also can automatically patch NTSC games to run on PAL consoles and vice versa to avoid the dreaded "Your game is not intended for this region" screens. This allows you to run an unmodified Terranigma ROM, which was only released in English in PAL territories, without breaking out your hex editor or having to install a CIC bypass switch.
The boundary pushing feature of the SD2SNES is its support for the MSU-1 coprocessor. The MSU-1 was originally implemented in software in bsnes/higan, and th SD2SNES includes a hardware version. It essentially gives you access to 4GB (yes, I mean Gigabytes) of data for a ROM file.
The MSU-1 can play CD-Audio quality audio or Full Motion Video. Several games like Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger and Mega Man X & X3 and Rock n' Roll Racing have been modified to play high quality versions of their original music. Using these MSU-1 game hacks is pretty easy. Once you patch the main ROM, you convert wav files into the pcm format and name your ROM file .msu and your audio files .pcm and stick them in the same folder. Essentially this would give you a taste of what the SNES CD Addon would have sounded like had it been released.
In addition to the hacks, the LaserDisc game Road Blaster (a.k.a. Road Avengers) has been ported to run on the MSU-1 as Super Road Blaster. This game weighs in at a hefty 790MB. Like all Laserdisc games it relies on timed input from the player at designated points while the video plays. I have played the port and the game is pretty responsive to the controller for a LaserDisc game.
One very important feature of the SD2SNES is that it does not degrade the video quality like the SNES PowerPak. Similar to the jailbar issue of the NES PowerPak, the SNES PowerPak will severely amplify the white line of the SNES console. It will also show more prominent jailbars with certain color patterns. The opening screens for Final Fantasy III are excellent examples where almost all SNES consoles will show jailbars. The SD2SNES does not seem to display any more interference than a regular cartridge. It also may draw less power than the SNES PowerPak.
Currently, the SD2SNES can play nine games that the Super Everdrive cannot play. While the SD2SNES is expensive, consider that a Mega Man X3 cartridge alone goes for almost its price. You can play Mega Man X2 and X3 with this cartridge and will save on having to buy the originals.
Finally, the SD2SNES loads ROMs more quickly than the SNES EverDrive. Loading a large game like Star Ocean took about 3 seconds. Most SNES games are 4MB or less, so they will load instantaneously. The Super EverDrive is no slouch here either if the game has already been written to the flash, but the near instant loading times of the SD2SNES are really something to behold.
Super Everdrive
Finally a few words about the Super Everdrive, the produce developed by krikzz. Krikzz also manufactures and sells the SD2SNES, but at a much higher price point. The Super Everdrive is kind of like an SD2SNES Lite. It supports SD cards up to 32GB. The current version is the v2, which has a battery for retaining save games. The v2 also has support for an optional DSP module that can support DSP1-4. The v1 required harvesting DSP1 chips from real cartridges.
The menu is pretty basic just like every other Krikzz product except for the EverDrive 64. It does not use a high definition resolution mode. It will automatically sort files and folders, but the operation will be slower as a result. It supports eight Game Genie codes. The cart will automatically create new files for battery backed up save games. The maximum supported ROM size is 7MB, so it will not be able to play the uncompressed Star Ocean ROM, which is 12MB.
Other than the menu and the ROM size, the only real issue with this vs. the SNES PowerPak is the loading time for the games. The SNES PowerPak and SD2SNES load games to RAM, the Super Everdrive loads games to flash memory. Flash memory must be erased before it can be rewritten, and writing to flash memory takes a lot longer than writing to RAM. Fortunately, the game previously written can be instantly booted like Krikzz's other products. Writing a 512KB game like Super Mario World takes about 8 seconds. Super Metroid, a 3MB game, took 34 seconds. This is according to Krikzz's demo video.
SNES PowerPak
The SNES PowerPak is the oldest cartridge, released in 2009, and it loads games via Compact Flash. Compact Flash cards are becoming increasingly hard to find and the connector is made up of 44 thin pins that can bend and break. The default menu for the SNES PowerPak looks almost exactly like the NES PowerPak, although the font is thinner and ugly. The official combined NES and SNES PowerPak mappers (1.35b) from bunnyboy were last updated in October, 2010. The PowerPak can be upgraded with a DSP-1 chip from a real SNES cartridge to play games supporting that chip like Super Mario Kart and (sometimes) Pilotwings.
The SNES PowerPak is RAM based, allowing for very fast loading of games. CF card support can be a tad finicky, so you may need to turn the DMA mode off if games are not loading. This makes loading games a little slower, but still faster than a flash memory-based cart like the Super Everdrive. CF cards must be formatted for FAT16 or FAT32, which generally allows card support for up to 32GB in size. Originally the SNES PowerPak did not work on an SNES mini/jr., but that problem has long been solved with newer mappers.
The menu allows for only about 28 characters on each line, which is not sufficient for long filenames. The firmware of the SNES PowerPak is not designed to be user upgradeable. The SNES does support high resolution interlaced modes, and a NESDEV forum contributor named Ramsis made custom firmware and mappers that double the number of characters per line for the menu as well as allow for color backgrounds whereas the official background was always black. This requires a firmware update, which ideally should be performed by a flash programmer. Sometimes the flash chip in the PowerPak is soldered instead of socketed, making that option unfeasible for most. Ramsis's firmware can be updated by the PowerPak itself if you are willing to risk a slight possibility of bricking the device. I did it with mine and had no problems. The current stable version is v3.00 and includes an SPC player for playing back SNES chiptunes. Although the firmware requires v1.02 of the original firmware, I was able to update my card with v1.01 firmware.
The SNES PowerPak does not sort ROMs or directories, you need a file sort utility like File Sort for Windows. It does support up to five Game Genie codes and you can load them from a text file. It does not support automatic save file creation for battery backed games and you must push reset before turning off the system to keep your save game. There are no save state mappers for the SNES PowerPak. Save states may not really be possible with the SNES because the cartridge may not be able to save the state of the SPC-700 audio coprocessor.
The PowerPak does not support any special chips via its FPGA, so no Super FX 1 or 2, the SA-1, CX-4, OBC-1, S-RTC, ST010, ST011, ST018, SDD-1 or SPC7110 support. Forget about anything that would require Satellaview or Super Game Boy hardware. The controller chip simply does not have enough logic to emulate any of these chips. In theory it does support the DSP-2, 3 or 4, but you would have to take the appropriate chip out of a cartridge and install it in the SNES PowerPak. As only one game uses each chip, this is impracticable, you might as well just save the cartridge.
I have had trouble with a few games, even as of the latest mappers, official or Ramsis. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys and Secret of Evermore will run but not save a valid save file or load from one. This is because they use unusual areas of the memory map to write their save game information and the PowerPak does not support this. The Super EverDrive has the same issue with Ys III but apparently not with Secret of Evermore. I have often had trouble with Pilotwings, regardless of version it frequently just does not want to load. Using a small (256MB or so) CF card helps. My main CF card is 4GB.
Even though the original ROM uses the S-DD1 compression chip, the SNES PowerPak or SD2SNES will run a hacked version Star Ocean. Start with the original Japanese ROM. This ROM can be translated into English with the DeJap translation. Then use the Star Ocean no S-DD1/96Mbit hack to decompress the ROM. Finally, change the following bytes in the hacked ROM with a hex editor :
000081D5 from 32 to 31
000081D6 from 45 to 02
00A081D5 from 32 to 31
00A081D6 from 45 to 02
This will tell the flash cart that the game has a battery backed save feature, otherwise you won't be able to save games. This appears to be necessary only for the SNES PowerPak.
SD2SNES
The SD2SNES by ikari loads games by an SD, SDHC or SDXC card. It addresses several weaknesses of the SNES PowerPak. First, it has a battery on the cartridge for holding the contents of save memory. This means you will not lose your save game if you forget to press reset before turning the game off. However, because some games use their save memory as work memory, the SD2SNES will only save every 15-20 seconds for those games. If the red (write) LED is constantly on, then you should wait or hold the reset button until all three LEDs are on before turning off the power.
Another improvement over the Super Everdrive is that the cart will automatically create new files for battery backed up save games. The .srm extension is used for SNES save game files whether on the SNES PowerPak or SD2SNES or Super Everdrive, and it is just a memory dump of the emulated cartridge RAM. The SD2SNES now saves .srm files to a common \SAVE folder just like the SNES PowerPak.
Second, the SD2SNES has sufficient power to emulate several of the enhancement chips. It currently supports DSP1, 2, 3 & 4, OBC-1, Cx4, ST-010, S-RTC, OBC1 and a portion of the Satellaview. It supports a real time clock even outside special chip support, so your SNES can tell you the correct time when you are using the menu and show accurate timestamps for modified files. For certain chips, the following ROMs are required as of the latest firmware : dsp1.bin, dsp1b.bin, dsp2.bin, dsp3.bin, dsp4.bin, st0010.bin. They used to be used by bsnes, but at some point bsnes/higan required the .rom files, which go from first byte to last instead of last to first, or the other way around. The BS-X BIOS will also be required for running Bandai Satellaview games. Excluding the Satellaview games, there are 57 licensed SNES cartridges that the SD2SNES cannot yet replace, most using the SA-1 or Super FX chips. Support for at least the latter may come. Sufami Turbo games will not work either.
Third, the SD2SNES will sort files and directories automatically if you set the appropriate option in the menu. It loads games extremely quickly and will load games up to 16MB in size. The SD card can be formatted for FAT16 or FAT32, and 64GB cards are supported. You will need a third party partitioning tool if you are using modern Windows, which only formats FAT32 partitions up to 32GB. Almost all SNES games are no more than 4MB. The menu uses a high resolution mode to allow for longer file names. If you leave the cursor on a file name, the complete name will scroll across the screen. You can also see the CPU/PPU1/PPU2 revision in the main menu.
The latest official firmware is 0.1.7b. This firmware officially adds cheat support. There are in-game button combinations or hooks that will allow you to reset the game, return to the SD2SNES menu, kill the in-game cheat routines temporarily or permanently. In the official release there are menu items to disable this. I had to kill the in-game cheat routines in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past otherwise the top of the screen would flicker when accessing the inventory. The Super Star Wars games would not allow a proper pause with the cheat routines enabled. There is an SPC player implemented in the SD2SNES firmware and it supports up to 6 Game Genie (ROM) cheat codes and 24 Pro Action Replay (RAM) cheat codes loaded from a text file.
I had no trouble loading a saved game in Ys III: Wanderers from Ys or Secret of Evermore and did not have trouble with Pilotwings as I did on my SNES PowerPak. It also can automatically patch NTSC games to run on PAL consoles and vice versa to avoid the dreaded "Your game is not intended for this region" screens. This allows you to run an unmodified Terranigma ROM, which was only released in English in PAL territories, without breaking out your hex editor or having to install a CIC bypass switch.
The boundary pushing feature of the SD2SNES is its support for the MSU-1 coprocessor. The MSU-1 was originally implemented in software in bsnes/higan, and th SD2SNES includes a hardware version. It essentially gives you access to 4GB (yes, I mean Gigabytes) of data for a ROM file.
The MSU-1 can play CD-Audio quality audio or Full Motion Video. Several games like Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger and Mega Man X & X3 and Rock n' Roll Racing have been modified to play high quality versions of their original music. Using these MSU-1 game hacks is pretty easy. Once you patch the main ROM, you convert wav files into the pcm format and name your ROM file .msu and your audio files .pcm and stick them in the same folder. Essentially this would give you a taste of what the SNES CD Addon would have sounded like had it been released.
In addition to the hacks, the LaserDisc game Road Blaster (a.k.a. Road Avengers) has been ported to run on the MSU-1 as Super Road Blaster. This game weighs in at a hefty 790MB. Like all Laserdisc games it relies on timed input from the player at designated points while the video plays. I have played the port and the game is pretty responsive to the controller for a LaserDisc game.
One very important feature of the SD2SNES is that it does not degrade the video quality like the SNES PowerPak. Similar to the jailbar issue of the NES PowerPak, the SNES PowerPak will severely amplify the white line of the SNES console. It will also show more prominent jailbars with certain color patterns. The opening screens for Final Fantasy III are excellent examples where almost all SNES consoles will show jailbars. The SD2SNES does not seem to display any more interference than a regular cartridge. It also may draw less power than the SNES PowerPak.
Currently, the SD2SNES can play nine games that the Super Everdrive cannot play. While the SD2SNES is expensive, consider that a Mega Man X3 cartridge alone goes for almost its price. You can play Mega Man X2 and X3 with this cartridge and will save on having to buy the originals.
Finally, the SD2SNES loads ROMs more quickly than the SNES EverDrive. Loading a large game like Star Ocean took about 3 seconds. Most SNES games are 4MB or less, so they will load instantaneously. The Super EverDrive is no slouch here either if the game has already been written to the flash, but the near instant loading times of the SD2SNES are really something to behold.
Super Everdrive
Finally a few words about the Super Everdrive, the produce developed by krikzz. Krikzz also manufactures and sells the SD2SNES, but at a much higher price point. The Super Everdrive is kind of like an SD2SNES Lite. It supports SD cards up to 32GB. The current version is the v2, which has a battery for retaining save games. The v2 also has support for an optional DSP module that can support DSP1-4. The v1 required harvesting DSP1 chips from real cartridges.
The menu is pretty basic just like every other Krikzz product except for the EverDrive 64. It does not use a high definition resolution mode. It will automatically sort files and folders, but the operation will be slower as a result. It supports eight Game Genie codes. The cart will automatically create new files for battery backed up save games. The maximum supported ROM size is 7MB, so it will not be able to play the uncompressed Star Ocean ROM, which is 12MB.
Other than the menu and the ROM size, the only real issue with this vs. the SNES PowerPak is the loading time for the games. The SNES PowerPak and SD2SNES load games to RAM, the Super Everdrive loads games to flash memory. Flash memory must be erased before it can be rewritten, and writing to flash memory takes a lot longer than writing to RAM. Fortunately, the game previously written can be instantly booted like Krikzz's other products. Writing a 512KB game like Super Mario World takes about 8 seconds. Super Metroid, a 3MB game, took 34 seconds. This is according to Krikzz's demo video.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
The Case for Composite
The SNES and Genesis lead the pack of the 4th generation of video game consoles. The common versions of these consoles can support RGB without any more effort than acquiring a cable and a monitor. The Turbo Grafx 16 can be modded to support RGB. But in this article I will demonstrate that RGB is not always the best choice for 4th generation graphics, at least when dealing NTSC composite video
1. Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis usually uses a 320x224 graphics mode. Some games use a 256x224 mode. The 320x224 mode's horizontal resolution is so great that not all the pixels can be fully resolved in a composite video signal on a standard TV. There is frequent color fringing in thin-font text through the composite signal. Additionally, with alternating colors, you can obtain color artifacts to give graphics a transparent or blending effect. This effect was used fairly often and works best with long alternating vertical lines.
Unfortunately, this effect is lost with an RGB monitor. Compare the Genesis screenshots on this page for examples : http://www.chrismcovell.com/gotRGB/screenshots.html
Here are some examples from several Sega Genesis games. For these screenshots I am using Kega Fusion v3.64, with the normal RGB output and a video capture of a real Sega Genesis Model 1 for composite video. In each pair of Genesis screenshots, you will see the RGB first, then the composite.
Earthworm Jim is particularly ugly looking with RGB :
The waterfalls of the Sonic series just don't look as convincing in RGB, composite video gives them a transparency effect :
Also, compare the fronds of the palm trees in Sonic 2 :
Some games use a checkerboard pattern that allows for dithering to give a transparency effect. It is not quite as seamless on a composite monitor as the vertical stripes method, but gives a more acceptable picture on an RGB monitor. Streets of Rage 2 uses the effect to simulate the characteristics of a studio spotlight during the nightclub stage :
The effect looks obvious with RGB, as do the color limitations in this title screen for Echo the Dolphin :
You can even see dithering being used in Street Fighter II, which uses a 256x224 mode, to smooth out the color gradient's in the carpet in this stage :
However, sometimes composite video can produce some very unsightly artifacts, as shown in the empty life bars of Castlevania Bloodlines :
2. Super Nintendo
The Super Nintendo almost always uses a 256x224 graphics mode. The Turbo Grafx 16 and CD typically used a similar mode but unlike the SNES could do a 320x224 mode. Thus for games using these resolutions, artifact graphics are not typically available. Even in these systems, shadows and smoke/fog do make some us of the less-than fine resolution of composite video :
However, late in the SNES's lifespan, Nintendo sought to improve the graphics quality of some of its games by creating 3D models of sprites and background tiles on advanced Silicon Graphics computers and then storing what was needed in a pre-rendered form on the cartridge. Pictures of these graphics looked awesome on boxes and manuals and magazines.
Games with this look, like the Donkey Kong Country series, Killer Instinct, Super Mario RPG were very popular and helped extend the life of the SNES without a silly and expensive CD add-on. When playing the game, they looked amazing back in the day. However, when played through and emulator or to a lesser extent through RGB, the flaws cannot be denied. The graphics have been so reduced in resolution from their SGI originals that they tend to look fuzzy, even with the perfection an emulator like higan 0.94 can provide :
Composite video can help hide the sharp edges from the down-conversion. It is kind of like free anti-aliasing.
The SNES could do true transparency, but even so, dithering was sometimes used to provide something akin to free transparency. The first screenshot, from Chrono Trigger, shows natural transparency by the light streaming in from the window :
The second screenshot, from Secret of Mana, shows true transparency with the water covering the rocks, and dithered transparency in the text box :
The final screenshot, from Mortal Kombat 3, shows a transparent effect with the life bars :
To give a flavor of more accurate dithering I used a composite capture device and real hardware (an early 2-chip PPU model revision).
Occasionally, Genesis-like artifacting does appear on the SNES. Consider Kirby's Dream Land 3, which uses a 512x224 resolution. The increased bandwidth of an RGB monitor can essentially resolve 512 pixels, but a composite monitor cannot, and the result is free transparency on the lower quality device. Compare the following :
3. Atari 5200 and 7800
Unlike the Atari 2600, the 5200 and 7800 support 320-pixel wide graphics modes. The Atari 5200 uses the same hardware chips as the Atari 8-bit home computers. Choplifter for the Atari 5200 was ported from the Atari 8-bit home computers, which was in turn ported from the Apple II. All three versions use composite artifact color. The Atari 5200 only has an RF connection, so unless you mod your system for S-Video (the Atari 800 has Separate Luma/Chroma on its video connector port), you will always see artifact color. When Atari later released Choplifter for the XEGS, another Atari 8-bit home computer games console, it redid the graphics for a 160-pixel wide mode, eliminating artifact composite color. Look here for more information : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-overlooked-artifact-color.html
The Atari 7800 also had a 320-pixel wide mode that supported artifact color, but relatively few games supported it. Its 160-pixel mode was much easier to use and supported more colors on the screen. One of the few games that do support artifact colors on the 7800 is Tower Toppler, a.k.a. Nebulus a.k.a. Castelian. This might have been because the game was being ported to the Atari 8-bit and XEGS and the Atari 7800 at the same time by the same programmer. As explained here, the Atari 8-bit version was canceled : http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/towertoppler/towertoppler.htm The Atari 7800 only has RF output, so you will always see composite artifact colors when playing the game on a real, unmodded NTSC system. Playing it on a PAL system will result in very stripey, sometimes monochrome graphics. This video will show you what the graphics should look like :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA3SPS-RKDM
4. Sega Master System
The Sega Master System does support composite artifact color after a fashion. It uses a 256-pixel wide mode but unlike the NES, it does not use a fractional color pixels that give a 3-line staircase effect. It also does not vary each frame by one pixel. This has the effect of making artifact colors rather stable and vertical on the SMS but diagonal and shimmery on the NES. Sometimes you can see this in games. See here for more information : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2016/07/video-potpourri.html
1. Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis usually uses a 320x224 graphics mode. Some games use a 256x224 mode. The 320x224 mode's horizontal resolution is so great that not all the pixels can be fully resolved in a composite video signal on a standard TV. There is frequent color fringing in thin-font text through the composite signal. Additionally, with alternating colors, you can obtain color artifacts to give graphics a transparent or blending effect. This effect was used fairly often and works best with long alternating vertical lines.
Unfortunately, this effect is lost with an RGB monitor. Compare the Genesis screenshots on this page for examples : http://www.chrismcovell.com/gotRGB/screenshots.html
Here are some examples from several Sega Genesis games. For these screenshots I am using Kega Fusion v3.64, with the normal RGB output and a video capture of a real Sega Genesis Model 1 for composite video. In each pair of Genesis screenshots, you will see the RGB first, then the composite.
Earthworm Jim is particularly ugly looking with RGB :
 |
 |
Note the edges of the mountains in the background :
The waterfalls of the Sonic series just don't look as convincing in RGB, composite video gives them a transparency effect :
Also, compare the fronds of the palm trees in Sonic 2 :
Some games use a checkerboard pattern that allows for dithering to give a transparency effect. It is not quite as seamless on a composite monitor as the vertical stripes method, but gives a more acceptable picture on an RGB monitor. Streets of Rage 2 uses the effect to simulate the characteristics of a studio spotlight during the nightclub stage :
The effect looks obvious with RGB, as do the color limitations in this title screen for Echo the Dolphin :
You can even see dithering being used in Street Fighter II, which uses a 256x224 mode, to smooth out the color gradient's in the carpet in this stage :
However, sometimes composite video can produce some very unsightly artifacts, as shown in the empty life bars of Castlevania Bloodlines :
2. Super Nintendo
The Super Nintendo almost always uses a 256x224 graphics mode. The Turbo Grafx 16 and CD typically used a similar mode but unlike the SNES could do a 320x224 mode. Thus for games using these resolutions, artifact graphics are not typically available. Even in these systems, shadows and smoke/fog do make some us of the less-than fine resolution of composite video :
However, late in the SNES's lifespan, Nintendo sought to improve the graphics quality of some of its games by creating 3D models of sprites and background tiles on advanced Silicon Graphics computers and then storing what was needed in a pre-rendered form on the cartridge. Pictures of these graphics looked awesome on boxes and manuals and magazines.
Games with this look, like the Donkey Kong Country series, Killer Instinct, Super Mario RPG were very popular and helped extend the life of the SNES without a silly and expensive CD add-on. When playing the game, they looked amazing back in the day. However, when played through and emulator or to a lesser extent through RGB, the flaws cannot be denied. The graphics have been so reduced in resolution from their SGI originals that they tend to look fuzzy, even with the perfection an emulator like higan 0.94 can provide :
The SNES could do true transparency, but even so, dithering was sometimes used to provide something akin to free transparency. The first screenshot, from Chrono Trigger, shows natural transparency by the light streaming in from the window :
The second screenshot, from Secret of Mana, shows true transparency with the water covering the rocks, and dithered transparency in the text box :
The final screenshot, from Mortal Kombat 3, shows a transparent effect with the life bars :
To give a flavor of more accurate dithering I used a composite capture device and real hardware (an early 2-chip PPU model revision).
Occasionally, Genesis-like artifacting does appear on the SNES. Consider Kirby's Dream Land 3, which uses a 512x224 resolution. The increased bandwidth of an RGB monitor can essentially resolve 512 pixels, but a composite monitor cannot, and the result is free transparency on the lower quality device. Compare the following :
The first screenshot shows artifact graphics in the object partially covering Kirby, but you can see the gaps in between the lines. The second screenshot shows the transparency effect you would see on a composite monitor.
The original model of the SNES is capable of S-Video output without modification, but you really begin to lose the transparent effects and forgiving qualities of composite video output. In light of the successful development of HD Retrovision's component video cables for the SNES and Genesis, giving North American gamers the equivalent of RGB video out, this is a timely topic.
3. Atari 5200 and 7800
Unlike the Atari 2600, the 5200 and 7800 support 320-pixel wide graphics modes. The Atari 5200 uses the same hardware chips as the Atari 8-bit home computers. Choplifter for the Atari 5200 was ported from the Atari 8-bit home computers, which was in turn ported from the Apple II. All three versions use composite artifact color. The Atari 5200 only has an RF connection, so unless you mod your system for S-Video (the Atari 800 has Separate Luma/Chroma on its video connector port), you will always see artifact color. When Atari later released Choplifter for the XEGS, another Atari 8-bit home computer games console, it redid the graphics for a 160-pixel wide mode, eliminating artifact composite color. Look here for more information : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-overlooked-artifact-color.html
The Atari 7800 also had a 320-pixel wide mode that supported artifact color, but relatively few games supported it. Its 160-pixel mode was much easier to use and supported more colors on the screen. One of the few games that do support artifact colors on the 7800 is Tower Toppler, a.k.a. Nebulus a.k.a. Castelian. This might have been because the game was being ported to the Atari 8-bit and XEGS and the Atari 7800 at the same time by the same programmer. As explained here, the Atari 8-bit version was canceled : http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/towertoppler/towertoppler.htm The Atari 7800 only has RF output, so you will always see composite artifact colors when playing the game on a real, unmodded NTSC system. Playing it on a PAL system will result in very stripey, sometimes monochrome graphics. This video will show you what the graphics should look like :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA3SPS-RKDM
4. Sega Master System
The Sega Master System does support composite artifact color after a fashion. It uses a 256-pixel wide mode but unlike the NES, it does not use a fractional color pixels that give a 3-line staircase effect. It also does not vary each frame by one pixel. This has the effect of making artifact colors rather stable and vertical on the SMS but diagonal and shimmery on the NES. Sometimes you can see this in games. See here for more information : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2016/07/video-potpourri.html
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Getting Out the Digital Crayons : Color and the Game Boy
When the Game Boy was released in the U.S. in August of 1989, it had three big advantages. First, it came bundled with Tetris, the Killer App. Second, with the console at $99.99 and cartridges at $19.99 the price was right. Third, the battery life of 20-35 hours was very impressive, especially compared to the competition (Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx and NEC Turbo Express), which could barely muster 6 hours. The only disadvantage to the Game Boy was its four-shade monochrome screen, but compared to its predecessors, the Microvision, Game & Watch and Tiger Electronics toys, it was a huge leap forward. That drawback was not enough to keep people from buying millions of Nintendo's handheld system and few of the competition's handheld systems.
1. Super Game Boy
Nintendo planned to introduce a successor color console as soon as was practicable, but the monochrome Game Boy could not be quickly replaced. It took some years before LCD screen technology produced an affordable and practical color screen. Nintendo's first attempt at color was an add-on for the Super Nintendo, the Super Game Boy. The SGB could play GB games on a SNES, with SGB providing GB hardware and the SNES providing controller input and audio and video output. Any GB game could have a 4-color palette set from 32 choices or the user could make up his own palette. The user could also choose a graphical border from a set of 9 borders. The borders could have up to 64 colors. Nintendo's non-SGB enhanced games like Tetris and Metroid II would pick a default palette from these 32 choices. See here : https://tcrf.net/Notes:Super_Game_Boy
However, GB games could take advantage of some of the SNES's features, such as the SNES's sound chip, input from the 2nd controller port, custom borders and an ability to provide more color to the game than the built-in palettes could provide. While the GB itself had three palettes of four shades available to the background and sprites, the SGB could not colorize these directly. Instead, it could apply a 4 color palette to every 8x8 pixel area. 4 color palettes were available with one common color. Thus at any time, up to ten separate colors could appear inside the Super Game Boy gameplay window.
Beginning with Donkey Kong, games used the Super Game Boy to apply more colors than the built-in palettes. However, the most colorful screens were typically static screens. The application of color to a tile was based solely on the tile's position on the screen. In order to avoid tiles changing color depending on their location on the screen, games with SGB support typically applied a four color palette to the active playfield area. One exception to this limited color applied to the "window", a hardware feature of the Game Boy's PPU which allowed for stable status bars. Because the tiles within the window were stable regardless of sprite activity or screen scrolling, window tiles were typically more colorful than the active playfield area.
Most games released after Donkey Kong would provide some level of Super Game Boy support, but eventually the support was limited to palettes and borders. These borders and custom colors would not be seen on a Game Boy Color, Advance or Player.
There are games that saw a re-release for the Super Game Boy with support for SGB features. Centipede, originally released separately, was later released in a multicart with Millipede, is one such game. Super Breakout was similarly updated when released in a multicart with Battlezone. Asteroids and Missle Command were released separately as pure GB carts, then in a multicart with SGB support. Tetris 2 was released first as a GB game, but quickly updated with an SGB compatible version.
2. Game Boy Color
The Game Boy Color supported a color screen and had a 15-bit palette of colors available. Each background 8x8 tile can select from 8 palettes with 4 colors each, and each 8x8 sprite can select from 8 palettes with 3 colors each. Thus up to 56 colors can be shown on the screen at any one time. However, this functionality is strictly limited to GBC games.
When the Game Boy Color was released, Nintendo allowed for some ability to colorize GB games. When a GB booted up, the GBC would apply either the default palette entry or a palette entry customized for a particular game or set of games. The boot ROM of the GBC would compare the hash of the ROM with a table and if there was a match, it would apply a custom palette. While there were over 1,500 GB games, including variations, the boot ROM table only had entries for 84 of games. Nintendo's own titles always got an entry, but some third party games also received some entries. Weirdly, there are several games that will use a custom palette only for their European version. For example, Mega Man 1,2 & 3 will show a custom palette with Mega Man in blue, but only if the European cartridges are inside the Game Boy Color, Advance or Player.
If there was no match, then the GBC could be told to apply one of twelve palette entries by pressing the A or B button, with or without a directional on the Game Boy Color's boot screen. The player would have to be quick to do this, otherwise the game would load with the default palette.
This colorization scheme allowed for separate 4-color palettes for the background and two 4-color sprites palettes. Thus up to 12 colors could be available, but sprites tend to use transparency for one color, thus typically 10 colors are used. Because the sprites and backgrounds can be directly colored, the GBC can typically show more color than the SGB. Sometimes, the custom palette would have a detrimental effect. In Super Mario Land, World 1-3, there are tiles that will fall and hurt Mario. Because these tiles use a sprite palette, they are colored differently than the background palette, making them easy to spot. The color combinations and list of games that are supported can be found here : http://tcrf.net/CGB_Bootstrap_ROM
In order to provide software for its new system, Nintendo released several of its games with new colorization using the GBC hardware. Often these titles had the DX suffix after their names. Thus there were The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, R-Type DX, Tetris DX. These games provided substantial enhancements over their older versions.
Other re-released games include Wario Land II, Centipede, Frogger, Legend of the River King GB, Harvest Moon GB, Prince of Persia, Space Invaders, Daffy Duck - Fowl Play, Looney Tunes, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, The Rugrats Movie, Super Breakout!, Titus the Fox. Pokemon Yellow, while it is a Game Boy Color game, hardware-wise, does little in terms of color beyond its SGB features.
Japan received a colorized version of Balloon Fight (Balloon Kid overseas) for the Nintendo Power rewritable Game Boy Pak. The game was never released as a standalone cartridge. Konami colorized most of its Game Boy games and released them in Europe in four Konami GB Collections. Volume 1 contained Castlevania: The Adventure, Gradius, Konami Racing (F-1 Spirit) and Probotector (Contra : The Alien Wars). Volume 2 included Block Game (Quarth), Frogger, Parodius and Track and Field. In Volume 3 you could play Bikers (Motocross Maniacs), Guttang Gottung (no idea what this is, it might be unique), Mystical Ninja (Ganbare Goemon), Pop'n Twinbee. Perhaps the best collection was Volume 4, consisting of Antarctic Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, Gradius II: Return of the Hero & Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Castlevania II on this cart is interesting because the U.S./European GB version had the holy water as a weapon, but the colorized version found on this cartridge had the Cross, which was in the Japanese GB version. Interestingly, Capcom had intended to colorize its Game Boy Mega Man games and was going to release them as a Game Boy Advance cart (Mega Man Mania or Mega Man Anniversary Collection), but the cart never materialized.
Finally, there are hybrid games that first saw a release with GBC support in mind. By allowing cartridges to be backwards compatible with the Game Boy while being able use the full color features of the GBC, Nintendo allowed its monochrome, 1989-vintage machine a few more years of life. The hybrid games are really GBC games with a black & white option. Thus the contrast may not be ideal where the color version uses dark backgrounds, as in Mega Man Xtreme. There may be odd color choices, like the white beard for Arthur in Ghosts 'N Goblins that makes him look like Santa Claus. The game may not run as smoothly because the GB runs at 4MHz and the GBC runs at 8MHz. Blaster Master: Enemy Below is one game that is sluggish on the GB where it is fairly smooth on the GBC (the NES game is smoothest of all). Graphical tricks may not be present in the GB because the GBC has a much better ability to perform "raster" tricks in hardware. Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 was the last hybrid game released, on September 15, 2001, thus giving the Game Boy (from July 31, 1989) twelve years and forty-five days of continuous support. That is second only to the Playstation 2 and (perhaps) the Atari 2600.
The Game Boy Advance acts exactly like a Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Player for the GameCube acts like a Game Boy Advance, even though it is similar to a Super Game Boy. It does not support any Super Game Boy functions, but it does allow you to play Game Boy Color games on a TV.
1. Super Game Boy
Nintendo planned to introduce a successor color console as soon as was practicable, but the monochrome Game Boy could not be quickly replaced. It took some years before LCD screen technology produced an affordable and practical color screen. Nintendo's first attempt at color was an add-on for the Super Nintendo, the Super Game Boy. The SGB could play GB games on a SNES, with SGB providing GB hardware and the SNES providing controller input and audio and video output. Any GB game could have a 4-color palette set from 32 choices or the user could make up his own palette. The user could also choose a graphical border from a set of 9 borders. The borders could have up to 64 colors. Nintendo's non-SGB enhanced games like Tetris and Metroid II would pick a default palette from these 32 choices. See here : https://tcrf.net/Notes:Super_Game_Boy
However, GB games could take advantage of some of the SNES's features, such as the SNES's sound chip, input from the 2nd controller port, custom borders and an ability to provide more color to the game than the built-in palettes could provide. While the GB itself had three palettes of four shades available to the background and sprites, the SGB could not colorize these directly. Instead, it could apply a 4 color palette to every 8x8 pixel area. 4 color palettes were available with one common color. Thus at any time, up to ten separate colors could appear inside the Super Game Boy gameplay window.
Beginning with Donkey Kong, games used the Super Game Boy to apply more colors than the built-in palettes. However, the most colorful screens were typically static screens. The application of color to a tile was based solely on the tile's position on the screen. In order to avoid tiles changing color depending on their location on the screen, games with SGB support typically applied a four color palette to the active playfield area. One exception to this limited color applied to the "window", a hardware feature of the Game Boy's PPU which allowed for stable status bars. Because the tiles within the window were stable regardless of sprite activity or screen scrolling, window tiles were typically more colorful than the active playfield area.
Most games released after Donkey Kong would provide some level of Super Game Boy support, but eventually the support was limited to palettes and borders. These borders and custom colors would not be seen on a Game Boy Color, Advance or Player.
There are games that saw a re-release for the Super Game Boy with support for SGB features. Centipede, originally released separately, was later released in a multicart with Millipede, is one such game. Super Breakout was similarly updated when released in a multicart with Battlezone. Asteroids and Missle Command were released separately as pure GB carts, then in a multicart with SGB support. Tetris 2 was released first as a GB game, but quickly updated with an SGB compatible version.
2. Game Boy Color
The Game Boy Color supported a color screen and had a 15-bit palette of colors available. Each background 8x8 tile can select from 8 palettes with 4 colors each, and each 8x8 sprite can select from 8 palettes with 3 colors each. Thus up to 56 colors can be shown on the screen at any one time. However, this functionality is strictly limited to GBC games.
When the Game Boy Color was released, Nintendo allowed for some ability to colorize GB games. When a GB booted up, the GBC would apply either the default palette entry or a palette entry customized for a particular game or set of games. The boot ROM of the GBC would compare the hash of the ROM with a table and if there was a match, it would apply a custom palette. While there were over 1,500 GB games, including variations, the boot ROM table only had entries for 84 of games. Nintendo's own titles always got an entry, but some third party games also received some entries. Weirdly, there are several games that will use a custom palette only for their European version. For example, Mega Man 1,2 & 3 will show a custom palette with Mega Man in blue, but only if the European cartridges are inside the Game Boy Color, Advance or Player.
If there was no match, then the GBC could be told to apply one of twelve palette entries by pressing the A or B button, with or without a directional on the Game Boy Color's boot screen. The player would have to be quick to do this, otherwise the game would load with the default palette.
This colorization scheme allowed for separate 4-color palettes for the background and two 4-color sprites palettes. Thus up to 12 colors could be available, but sprites tend to use transparency for one color, thus typically 10 colors are used. Because the sprites and backgrounds can be directly colored, the GBC can typically show more color than the SGB. Sometimes, the custom palette would have a detrimental effect. In Super Mario Land, World 1-3, there are tiles that will fall and hurt Mario. Because these tiles use a sprite palette, they are colored differently than the background palette, making them easy to spot. The color combinations and list of games that are supported can be found here : http://tcrf.net/CGB_Bootstrap_ROM
In order to provide software for its new system, Nintendo released several of its games with new colorization using the GBC hardware. Often these titles had the DX suffix after their names. Thus there were The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, R-Type DX, Tetris DX. These games provided substantial enhancements over their older versions.
Other re-released games include Wario Land II, Centipede, Frogger, Legend of the River King GB, Harvest Moon GB, Prince of Persia, Space Invaders, Daffy Duck - Fowl Play, Looney Tunes, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, The Rugrats Movie, Super Breakout!, Titus the Fox. Pokemon Yellow, while it is a Game Boy Color game, hardware-wise, does little in terms of color beyond its SGB features.
Japan received a colorized version of Balloon Fight (Balloon Kid overseas) for the Nintendo Power rewritable Game Boy Pak. The game was never released as a standalone cartridge. Konami colorized most of its Game Boy games and released them in Europe in four Konami GB Collections. Volume 1 contained Castlevania: The Adventure, Gradius, Konami Racing (F-1 Spirit) and Probotector (Contra : The Alien Wars). Volume 2 included Block Game (Quarth), Frogger, Parodius and Track and Field. In Volume 3 you could play Bikers (Motocross Maniacs), Guttang Gottung (no idea what this is, it might be unique), Mystical Ninja (Ganbare Goemon), Pop'n Twinbee. Perhaps the best collection was Volume 4, consisting of Antarctic Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, Gradius II: Return of the Hero & Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Castlevania II on this cart is interesting because the U.S./European GB version had the holy water as a weapon, but the colorized version found on this cartridge had the Cross, which was in the Japanese GB version. Interestingly, Capcom had intended to colorize its Game Boy Mega Man games and was going to release them as a Game Boy Advance cart (Mega Man Mania or Mega Man Anniversary Collection), but the cart never materialized.
Finally, there are hybrid games that first saw a release with GBC support in mind. By allowing cartridges to be backwards compatible with the Game Boy while being able use the full color features of the GBC, Nintendo allowed its monochrome, 1989-vintage machine a few more years of life. The hybrid games are really GBC games with a black & white option. Thus the contrast may not be ideal where the color version uses dark backgrounds, as in Mega Man Xtreme. There may be odd color choices, like the white beard for Arthur in Ghosts 'N Goblins that makes him look like Santa Claus. The game may not run as smoothly because the GB runs at 4MHz and the GBC runs at 8MHz. Blaster Master: Enemy Below is one game that is sluggish on the GB where it is fairly smooth on the GBC (the NES game is smoothest of all). Graphical tricks may not be present in the GB because the GBC has a much better ability to perform "raster" tricks in hardware. Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 was the last hybrid game released, on September 15, 2001, thus giving the Game Boy (from July 31, 1989) twelve years and forty-five days of continuous support. That is second only to the Playstation 2 and (perhaps) the Atari 2600.
The Game Boy Advance acts exactly like a Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Player for the GameCube acts like a Game Boy Advance, even though it is similar to a Super Game Boy. It does not support any Super Game Boy functions, but it does allow you to play Game Boy Color games on a TV.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
The Latest is not Always the Greatest
Atari 2600 6-Switch and 4-Switch vs. Jr.
Apparently many 2600Jr.s have a buggy TIA chip that causes Kool-Aid Man to be unplayable. It is possible that it may affect other games, but Kool-Aid Man is confirmed. See here :
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/165168-kool-aid-man-rom-problem/?hl=+kool#entry2950077
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/45244-why-does-this-2600-game-only-play-on-the-2600-jr/?hl=%2Bbuggy+%2Btia#entry547110
Unlike all 6-switchers and many 4-switchers, the chips in the Jr. are socketed and not easily replaceable.
Some Atari 2600jr. have a single chip instead of the three chips of most Jr.s and all other 2600. They have video issues with the Harmony Cart's menu, and Kool-Aid Man and some interesting graphical anomalies with Pitfall II : http://atariage.com/forums/topic/196368-unicorn-boards-and-harmony-cart-menus-single-chip-2600-compatibility/
As far as the 6-switch vs. the 4-switch models go, the 6-switches (and the Jr.) have a video buffer chip that provides better video quality than the 4-switch. Some cartridges or controllers may find it easier to fit in a 4-switch or a Jr. than the Light or especially a Heavy Sixer.
Atari 5200 4-Port vs. 2-Port
Not much of a comparison here, the ability to play four player games on the 4-port 5200 is balanced against the ability to use the VCS Cartridge Adapter to play 2600 games on the 2-port 5200. However, the 4-port 5200 can be modded with eight passive components to provide the required compatibility. See Here : http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/5200/cx55.html
In addition, the 4-port 5200 uses a combination RF and power switchbox that is known for its fragility. The 2-port uses a simple power adapter and separate RF output. Fortunately, it is not too difficult to mod a 4-port for separate power and AV output.
NES - Front Loader vs. Top Loader
The Front Loader may have issues with its connector, but typically a good cleaning of the connector and carts a visual inspection of the pins can solve virtually any problem. The Front Loader has AV out, which the Top Loader lacks. Top Loaders are RF only. In addition, the output on a Top Loader is crap. A fix like this : http://www.stoneagegamer.com/nes-toploader-av.html would will restore the video quality, but you have to drill holes in your system's case or remove the RF unit. Not a beginner's mod.
Also, Game Genies don't fit properly in a Top Loader. There was an official adapter made for the Game Genie, but it is extremely rare. You could use a NES PowerPak or Everdrive N8, which support five Game Genie Codes as opposed to the three codes of the real Game Genie. Finally, there is no power LED on a Top Loader.
Sega Master System Model 1 vs. Model 2
Compared to the Model 2, Sega Master System Model 1s have a card slot in addition to the cartridge slot. The card slot let you play those games that shipped on a Sega Card. It also is required for the Sega 3-D Glasses. They also have an Expansion Port, which was unused officially but can be used for an FM Chip mod. They have a port with composite video and RGB connections on the back whereas the Model 2 is RF only. You can officially only play the Snail Maze game on early Model 1s, and the Model 2s lack the Opening Logo and Tune on startup. There is no power LED or reset switch on a Model 2.
Genesis - Model 1 vs. Successors
The Model 1 is the only system which works as designed with the Power Base Converter. While there are SMS adapters that fit in the Model 2, they do not offer a card slot.
Most Model 1s do not have the TMSS protection, which adds a second or two to the boot time of any game with the message Produced By or Under License from Sega Enterprises, LTD. At least five US games will not work with TMSS Genesis machines.
There are two types of of Genesis Model 1s with TMSS. One has the words HIGH DEFINITION GRAPHICS in white around the circle bordering the cartridge port. The second omits the words. All consoles with those words are widely considered to produce the best sound of all Sega Genesis models. Some of the Model 1s without the text have a much poorer sound, it depends on the motherboard. See here to find out how to determine the good Model 1s from the bad Model 1s : http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?7796-GUIDE-Telling-apart-good-Genesis-1s-and-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones The Sega Genesis Model 2s have variable sound quality, but none are considered to be as good as the Model 1s.
Model 1s have a headphone jack and use a power adapter with a plug that also fits into NESes, Famicoms and Sega Master Systems. Model 2s omit the headphone jack but have stereo audio on their AV ports.
Game Boy - Original vs. Successors
The original Game Boy is larger than the Pocket, Light or Color. It has larger buttons and a larger speaker and better quality audio. There are games like Castlevania II : Belmont's Revenge and The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening which rely on the properties of the green LCD screen found in the larger Game Boy for certain graphical effects. The Game Boy 4-player adapter does not require a converter. Batteries last much longer in it than the Pocket or the Light.
SNES - Original vs. 1-Chip & SNES Mini
Most of the original boxy SNESes use a separate CPU and a two-chip PPU solution. Late SNESes and all SNES Minis combine the CPU and both PPU chips into one large chip, called the 1-Chip. While the graphics are slightly sharper than on earlier SNES models, some games suffer from graphical inaccuracies on the 1-Chip models, some games with enhancement chips run slower, some colors combinations suffer from ghosting and the whites are overly bright. See here for more info : http://www.racketboy.com/forum/, go to forum called Guides under The Garage and look for the following thread, "SNES Console Revision Differences. SHVC-CPU-01 vs 1CHIP-Mini".
Playstation vs. PSOne
The PSOne is the slim version of the Playstation console. It has a different looking menu for CD-audio playing, and a port for a matching Sony LCD. But it looses the separate reset button, Serial and Parallel Ports, both of which have their uses, officially (serial for PlayStation Link Cable) or otherwise (parallel for Game Sharks). It is harder to install a mod chip in a PSOne due to the tighter space. There is an upcoming SD card solution for the Playstation called the PSIO which allows you to play CD backups from disc images, but it fits into the parallel port found on the SPCH-7xxx and lower, so no PSOne users need buy.
Apparently many 2600Jr.s have a buggy TIA chip that causes Kool-Aid Man to be unplayable. It is possible that it may affect other games, but Kool-Aid Man is confirmed. See here :
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/165168-kool-aid-man-rom-problem/?hl=+kool#entry2950077
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/45244-why-does-this-2600-game-only-play-on-the-2600-jr/?hl=%2Bbuggy+%2Btia#entry547110
Unlike all 6-switchers and many 4-switchers, the chips in the Jr. are socketed and not easily replaceable.
Some Atari 2600jr. have a single chip instead of the three chips of most Jr.s and all other 2600. They have video issues with the Harmony Cart's menu, and Kool-Aid Man and some interesting graphical anomalies with Pitfall II : http://atariage.com/forums/topic/196368-unicorn-boards-and-harmony-cart-menus-single-chip-2600-compatibility/
As far as the 6-switch vs. the 4-switch models go, the 6-switches (and the Jr.) have a video buffer chip that provides better video quality than the 4-switch. Some cartridges or controllers may find it easier to fit in a 4-switch or a Jr. than the Light or especially a Heavy Sixer.
Atari 5200 4-Port vs. 2-Port
Not much of a comparison here, the ability to play four player games on the 4-port 5200 is balanced against the ability to use the VCS Cartridge Adapter to play 2600 games on the 2-port 5200. However, the 4-port 5200 can be modded with eight passive components to provide the required compatibility. See Here : http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/5200/cx55.html
In addition, the 4-port 5200 uses a combination RF and power switchbox that is known for its fragility. The 2-port uses a simple power adapter and separate RF output. Fortunately, it is not too difficult to mod a 4-port for separate power and AV output.
NES - Front Loader vs. Top Loader
The Front Loader may have issues with its connector, but typically a good cleaning of the connector and carts a visual inspection of the pins can solve virtually any problem. The Front Loader has AV out, which the Top Loader lacks. Top Loaders are RF only. In addition, the output on a Top Loader is crap. A fix like this : http://www.stoneagegamer.com/nes-toploader-av.html would will restore the video quality, but you have to drill holes in your system's case or remove the RF unit. Not a beginner's mod.
Also, Game Genies don't fit properly in a Top Loader. There was an official adapter made for the Game Genie, but it is extremely rare. You could use a NES PowerPak or Everdrive N8, which support five Game Genie Codes as opposed to the three codes of the real Game Genie. Finally, there is no power LED on a Top Loader.
Sega Master System Model 1 vs. Model 2
Compared to the Model 2, Sega Master System Model 1s have a card slot in addition to the cartridge slot. The card slot let you play those games that shipped on a Sega Card. It also is required for the Sega 3-D Glasses. They also have an Expansion Port, which was unused officially but can be used for an FM Chip mod. They have a port with composite video and RGB connections on the back whereas the Model 2 is RF only. You can officially only play the Snail Maze game on early Model 1s, and the Model 2s lack the Opening Logo and Tune on startup. There is no power LED or reset switch on a Model 2.
Genesis - Model 1 vs. Successors
The Model 1 is the only system which works as designed with the Power Base Converter. While there are SMS adapters that fit in the Model 2, they do not offer a card slot.
Most Model 1s do not have the TMSS protection, which adds a second or two to the boot time of any game with the message Produced By or Under License from Sega Enterprises, LTD. At least five US games will not work with TMSS Genesis machines.
There are two types of of Genesis Model 1s with TMSS. One has the words HIGH DEFINITION GRAPHICS in white around the circle bordering the cartridge port. The second omits the words. All consoles with those words are widely considered to produce the best sound of all Sega Genesis models. Some of the Model 1s without the text have a much poorer sound, it depends on the motherboard. See here to find out how to determine the good Model 1s from the bad Model 1s : http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?7796-GUIDE-Telling-apart-good-Genesis-1s-and-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones The Sega Genesis Model 2s have variable sound quality, but none are considered to be as good as the Model 1s.
Model 1s have a headphone jack and use a power adapter with a plug that also fits into NESes, Famicoms and Sega Master Systems. Model 2s omit the headphone jack but have stereo audio on their AV ports.
Game Boy - Original vs. Successors
The original Game Boy is larger than the Pocket, Light or Color. It has larger buttons and a larger speaker and better quality audio. There are games like Castlevania II : Belmont's Revenge and The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening which rely on the properties of the green LCD screen found in the larger Game Boy for certain graphical effects. The Game Boy 4-player adapter does not require a converter. Batteries last much longer in it than the Pocket or the Light.
SNES - Original vs. 1-Chip & SNES Mini
Most of the original boxy SNESes use a separate CPU and a two-chip PPU solution. Late SNESes and all SNES Minis combine the CPU and both PPU chips into one large chip, called the 1-Chip. While the graphics are slightly sharper than on earlier SNES models, some games suffer from graphical inaccuracies on the 1-Chip models, some games with enhancement chips run slower, some colors combinations suffer from ghosting and the whites are overly bright. See here for more info : http://www.racketboy.com/forum/, go to forum called Guides under The Garage and look for the following thread, "SNES Console Revision Differences. SHVC-CPU-01 vs 1CHIP-Mini".
Playstation vs. PSOne
The PSOne is the slim version of the Playstation console. It has a different looking menu for CD-audio playing, and a port for a matching Sony LCD. But it looses the separate reset button, Serial and Parallel Ports, both of which have their uses, officially (serial for PlayStation Link Cable) or otherwise (parallel for Game Sharks). It is harder to install a mod chip in a PSOne due to the tighter space. There is an upcoming SD card solution for the Playstation called the PSIO which allows you to play CD backups from disc images, but it fits into the parallel port found on the SPCH-7xxx and lower, so no PSOne users need buy.
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