mganai77

@poyo_pie That is true, but for that reason, and given that 3d from that era still looked like muck, Saturn games still look sublime. It was the last system with design considerations for 2d, where it trounced the competition, and it wasn't until the following generation or so that hardware had enough RAM to brute force through 2d.

@Profchaos The thing is, the "failure" narrative, while true, is the one that was prevalent for longer than any other. It wasn't a failure in the Virtual Boy sense, as it was Sega's best performing platform in Japan, which the common narrative ignores, along with the sublime software mostly left unlocalized. And the imports, which are slowly trickling out whether by ports or fan translations, are one of the main reasons it garners a loyal following to this day.

@axelhander I get the Kotaku aversion. Chris Kohler, however, is super reputable, and also wrote for Wired among other places. His research was legit. Sony didn't pursue legal action against Nintendo for good reason.

I'd like to see what the SFX 3 could do for some games in terms of sprite scaling and rotating.

@RejectedAng3L Most of said hearsay is about "Nintendo backstabbing Sony". Which is about as one sided as much of the mainstream media on a lot of stuff.

Ken heckled Nintendo into that deal, and stuck deliberately ambiguously wording in the contract, enough to weasel into game development, and to make their own consoles, leaving Nintendo out of the royalties, and making them a 3rd party to Sony.

https://kotaku.com/the-weird-history-of-the-super-nes-cd-rom-nintendos-mo-1828860861

The SMS used a variant of the MSX and SG-1000 sound chip. Not bad, but couldn't hold a candle to the NES chip IMO. (Though the Yamaha FM module could help.)

Steam ports please!

@axelhander Nintendo was only dumb in signing the contract without reading the fine print, though it was arguably to get Ken Kutaragi to stop pestering them.

Sony would have pulled a Daniel Plainview on Nintendo.

https://kotaku.com/the-weird-history-of-the-super-nes-cd-rom-nintendos-mo-1828860861

@KitsuneNight That’s the usual propagandized account of the Sony/Nintendo affair. This was a bit more accurate.

https://kotaku.com/the-weird-history-of-the-super-nes-cd-rom-nintendos-mo-1828860861

@RetroGames In retrospect I tend to prefer tried and true yet refined to earth-shattering but rough when the latter ages like milk. Only the N64 led with analog from the start. Of the two competitors, the Saturn had the far superior pad, especially the d-pad, compared to the PS1 controller’s small baby handed grip form and split cross pad. (I’ll give it points for the dual sticks.)
2d games on PS1 needed cutbacks compared to Saturn due to its use of polygons as sprites. Thunder force V and Grandia for instance lost effects in transition, and Treasure gave up on porting Radiant Silvergun.

@jimmytodgers hard disagree. 2d was matured and looked awesome on Saturn. 3d in that generation was rough despite some classics like Mario 64 and Metal Gear Solid. The fact is, it took the next generation for 3d to start to shine.

@RetroGames Saying Saturn “didn’t stand out” in any major way is inaccurate. Sure, N64 had z buffering, and PS1 had speedy if somewhat quick and dirty 3d capabilities while being able to cheat 2d, but the Saturn blew both of them out of the water in 2d with some of the best sprite/bitmap capabilities anywhere. The controller was and is also legendary for 2d games. Of course this means it was all wrong for the era.

@MetaJ92 Actually, he wasn't at first. It was when Square took offense to his ambivalence and retaliated by convincing Enix to abandon the N64 for the PSX that Yamauchi became pissed. Not for nothing did he initially deny them GBA dev kits.

@LowDefAl They didn’t mind Square’s decision to leave for Sony. It was when Square reacted pettily to Nintendo’s under reaction by convincing Enix, who were working on the N64 and slated to develop Dragon Quest 7 for it, to ditch Nintendo for Sony, that Nintendo were angered, and refused them dev kits for the GBA for awhile.

@-wc- Personally I think SotN is a bit overrated. Too much backtracking, and it isn't any more difficult than most of the other Metroidvanias. Aria pared down the design fat for a more seamless experience (there were too many hallways and shafts in SotN, albeit not as bad as Harmony of Dissonance). Dawn of Sorrow, despite the drawing gimmick and the soul grinding, was more refined especially with the weapons.

Finding the X68000 via emulation was one of the most awe-inspiring experiences, as much trouble I had setting everything up. It also had the flashing LED keyboard lights as well as full Roland MT-32 support. I'm looking forward to the MiSTer FPGA core.