Silly move imo. Unless he's stolen Nintendo code or something, there should be no legit reaon he can't have an emulator like this on the App Store if Apple is okay with that. Again, unless he's actually stolen some Nintendo code or something, despite what it might actually say, Nintendo really shouldn't have any legit say in this at all. Emulators are legal in and of themselve and also protected under law as far as I am aware.
Another very nice port from NES to SNES to add to the growing list. Always appreciate the general updates and benefits of going to SNES, along with any MSU1 stuff if that's added too.
@Daniel36 Yeah, same for me with Castlevania too. Basically, many of these animations look like they were done by amateur fans of anime cartoons mimicking what they saw growing up, and probably not even from the likes of Japan where they were masters of this kind of look and feel back in the day, rather than the actual top class talented artists and animators that should be working on them imo. It get the impression these new artists and animators have learned simply through copying and replicating what they have seen instead of actually going to proper art and animation school to learn and understand the fundamentals of things like anatomy, line of action, slow in/out, overlapping actions, staging, appeal, squash and stretch, etc, which is also why so many characters in animations these days look like this are made from lots of unnatural sharp angles and such--one of my major pet peeves with so much modern TV animation.
@KGRAMR Not sure how you got anything contrary to that from my comments, but I'm in full agreement with you on that. I do not support someone taking someone else's emulator and basically passing it off as their own. But I support the creation and use of emulators, which are entirely legal as far as I'm aware.
I was watching Invincible the other day and lamenting how it's such a good show but the quality of the art and animation is just sub par, and it really doesn't to it full justice.
If Invincible had art and animation of this quality or beyond, the show overall would just be brilliant.
Today's TV animation standards really aren't great in terms of the art and animation imo, especially given where we're at with modern technology and such that should allow for TV animations basically on par with what Disney was doing decades ago with its feature films imo.
Anyway, that was just a tangent point. This guy's art and animation looks relatively lovely for what it is.
"An emulator, which is stealing someone elses work. Quite ironic."
But, how is it "ironic" if not in that context?
I read your comment there are suggesting that stealing the other guy's emulator work when offering this "new" emulator on the App Store is the same as emulators themselves basically stealing the work of the original hardware creators in the first place, hence the irony here of this guy getting upset that someone else is taking his emulator and pretty much offering it as their own.
And hence my point that emulators are not stealing the original hardware creators' work, as emulators are perfectly legal. Taking someone else's emulator and basically distributing it as your own is a problem though.
@Jhena Well, whatever people ultimately use the emulators for, emulators are entirely legal in and of themselves as far as I'm aware. I mean, you can legit use them for playing homebrew games or for development purposes and such.
@Jhena Emulators are not stealing someone else's work. They are emulating something else, but are otherwise written from scratch by the emulator creator, and are totally legal so long as they don't use any original source code and such. You might be confusing emulators with illegal game ROM copies. Although, under certain circumstances, I think it's still legal to copy official game ROMS too, such as for backup purposes in case the original gets broken or something like that. At least that used to be the case, but the laws are constantly changing.
@Soupbones Ah, yeah. That one is certainly a very niche option. For the handful of people lucky enough to have both the Dreamcast and the twin stick controller though, it must be a very cool way to play the game.
Edit: Actually, I was just checking out the review below of the various ways to play the game on Dreamcast, @GhaleonUnlimited, and apparently the guy didn't really find the twin stick controller particularly great for it:
Now that I'm reminded the default Dreamcast controller has a d-pad and face-button layout similar to the SNES controller, I think I would personally just go with the default Dreamcast controller on that version to be honest.
Tried to use this myself the other day, and it's surprisingly easy to get to grips with and create something in really a matter of minutes and inject it directly into a GB rom.
I might make some proper borders myself at some point.
Really wish actual SNES development tools were this easy and intuitive to use. I'd be developing directly for SNES right now if they were.
@TransmitHim @Pillowpants You can set the palette colours to whatever you want with this tool.
Yay! Happy to see a review for this (well, a hands on). It's the only one I've seen thus far, despite the game being out on SNES for like two weeks already (at least being shipped to Kickstarter backers anyway). There's not even an official release trailer from Bitmap Bureau yet.
And really happy the developer did a great job.
I mean, I know it's ultimately just a port of a game that was really designed specifically with Genesis in mind initially, so it was never going to be a truly system-pushing game on the SNES, but they didn't cut it down in any crazy ways outside of the obvious horizontal resolution stuff, and they even added in a few little things specific to the SNES version too (some proper transparency effects, environmental effects like rain and mist in some levels, way more high quality voice samples, actually slightly faster loading times into the levels). Also, that default SNES controller really is ideal for this kind of dual 8-way movement and 8-way shooting in games like this, which is great for SNES players.
Thanks to the developer and whomever did the SNES port (who, rather than being internal Bitmap Bureau, I actually assume was some external SNES programmer hired just to do the SNES port?), and good times for any SNES fans looking for some great new indie/homebrew games for the system. The more the merrier.
@MARl0 It's a brand new 2024 indie/homebrew game for SNES [with even some elements unique to the SNES version], and I personally think it absolutely deserves to be covered even for that reason alone, especially on this site of all places.
For the literally tens of millions of SNES fans in the world--no idea how many of them visit here--I'm absolutely sure they'll be happy to hear more about this specific version, such as how good the game feels to play with the frankly perfectly-suited default SNES controller, how the transparency effects have been added and used uniquely in this version, how there's some added environmental effects like rain and fog in a couple of the levels, how the additional voice samples and audio that uses an extra chip sounds on SNES, how it has slightly faster loading times into levels, how it's been changed from the original to work on SNES specifically and sometimes that means a bit of a compromise in certain areas, etc.
For SNES fans specifically interested in the SNES version, it's actually really not been covered much at all. And I expect there are many people who are particularly interested in this specific version, with SNES maybe being the main retro system they own or follow, who would like to see more on it. I'm one of those people.
So, yeah, hopefully the gaming journalists on the site see the value in covering the SNES version properly, just like they did with other versions of the game over the years.
To Raphael, apologies for going off on a slight tangent. This SNES port of the Mysterious Song game looks cool too.
Nice to see something new coming to the SNES. Doesn't get near enough of it these days. So this is more than welcome.
PS. Also, despite the fact it started shipping to backers more than a week ago now [and me even messaging the site about it], I haven't seen an article on any of your sites covering the recent release of Xeno Crisis on SNES yet. So, I guess I'll just link the article below here, as there will surely be people who aren't even aware it's now out, since it's not really being reported on:
I think there's some issue with Bitmap Bureau moving stock to their new warehouse or something, which has temporarily halted the ability to purchase the game from their online store, so maybe all the gaming sites are waiting for that to get sorted before they post any new coverage for the SNES version. I dunno.
Sweet. Can't wait to see all the borders people produce for various GB games on the SNES now, to give them just a wee bit more of an authentic SNES look.
Unlike some famous people who try to convince you they know anything about video games, I actually believe what he's telling me when he says "I wouldn't call myself a gamer", but clearly was back in the day.
I think the touchscreen is totally unnecessary, especially given it surely adds to the cost and just using the d-pad and buttons would clearly work better anyway, but the actual quality of screen looks lovely.
I wonder if there are any prior examples from other companies of the American-style console wars marketing around these two systems before Sega of America's Genesis Does and "Blast Processing" ads that were part of its often quite aggressive and confrontational Genesis marketing campaign, which it seems was then picked up by a bunch of eager and malleable American [at least initially] teenage Genesis fans who bought into that kind of attitude and mentality and reenacted it [originally] in school playgrounds, which still continues to this day, although obviously no longer restricted to school playgrounds in our modern global digitally-connected times.
If anyone can find any prior examples of whatever console/games company and fans of whichever system doing such a thing prior to Sega of America and the Genesis, it would be interesting to see them.
@X68000 Just like you, I don't know if anyone outside of the US had any clue as to what "Blast Processing" was about initially. And, yeah, both Genesis Does and "Blast Processing" definitely started as Sega of America marketing tools.
@Sketcz Yeah, it was definitely a let down for me. It's a shame really, because it would have been very interesting to see how a proper direct port with a few of the SNES' specific bells and whistles added on would have fared.
Is this another one of those cases where it's going to be put on everything but not the kinda most obvious next choice for a game originally made for Genesis. I think most of the upgrades made for the GBA port would translate well to the SNES too, including things like the much improved colour and added transparency effects. So, yeah, I'd really like to see an updated and tweaked version of this game on SNES as well, and ideally sooner rather than years later.
Do you think maybe all the 16-bit console wars stuff, which still goes on to this day, started with Sega of America and its Genesis Does and "Blast Processing" ads that were part of its often quite aggressive and confrontational Genesis marketing campaign, and was then picked up by a bunch of eager and malleable teenage fans who bought into that kind of attitude and mentality and reenacted it in school playgrounds.
@NintendoJunkie Nothing particularly unique about Genesis in that regard other than it has the likes of SGDK, which seems to be a really matured set of modern development tools that most people interested in working on Genesis can get to grips with pretty easily. But all it took was someone making that in the first place, and the rest happened from there imo.
The NES already has a very robust modern indie/homebrew scene. And the likes of NESmaker have opened that up to masses too. So it's sorted from everything I can see. There's plenty of new games coming out for it in modern times, possibly even more than Genesis, and lots of options for people to dive in.
PC Engine really only has one main dude working on it that I am aware of, but he is doing some very cool stuff. Outside of that, I have no idea what options are there for anyone interested in working on new PC Engine games.
SNES does have some modern indie/home support, with Xeno Crisis about to launch for it as one example, and at least one still underdeveloped SDK called PVSnesLib, but imo it needs both a more mature SDK and ideally a much more casual-friendly tool closer to something like NESmaker to really get the scene going there. And, just like with Genesis, I believe if either or both of those things eventually get made, the SNES support will dramatically increase. I for one would be on that in an instant.
For everything it did just utterly stunningly well at the time it released, and always keeping in mind I'm thinking of it relative to its time, I'm not going to argue with them.
@jesse_dylan Yeah, I agree that the port of Rondo on SNES is pretty meh. I think Castlevania IV is already a much better game than Rondo on SNES all round and overall, and I know for a fact the SNES can do even more than seen in that early title for the system. I mean, Castlevania IV wasn't even running in FastROM on SNES for a start. So, I'd have to guess that Rondo is just a bit of a lazy port that didn't properly play to the SNES' strengths. Outside of the cimatics and audio, which is due to the CD ROM attachment in the PC Engine CD version, the SNES version of Rondo really should have been better across the board. The fact it wasn't is on the developer rather than the hardware.
@EarthboundBenjy Now that these specific NES games are running natively on SNES, it becomes trivial for talented ROM hackers to go in and give them the "All-Stars" treatment visually and even add CD quality MSU1 audio too, as well as a bunch of other stuff, like the FMV intro infidelity already added to his port of DuckTales for example.
What this does is turn the SNES into basically a SNES plus NES in one system---some might argue that should have been the case all along--and with the ability to make any of these NES ports look and sound like SNES games too, without any of the negatives that might arise if someone were trying to create and program them entirely from scratch for SNES or just emulate them or whatever.
Yeah, for a NES game, this one has left me dang impressed with what I've seen so far.
Genuinely, there's moments where if someone told me this was an early PC Engine or Genesis game, I'd not have blinked an eyelid.
And, I feel I have to get this in there and say, when developers can push the NES like this given the right tools and enough time, dedication, and talent, I can only imagine what they might be able to achieve on the SNES under the same conditions.
Maybe one day we'll get to see more examples of that.
No offense to a bunch of modern indie/homebrew developers, given it's usually just a couple of guys in a room doing their best, but boy do many of these modern indie/homebrew games make me realise just how truly brilliant the designers and artists were at the likes of Capcom, Konami, Treasure, Sega and Nintendo back on the day. Pixel art rarely reaches the same level anymore imo, and we're like 30+ years in the future with everything learned in that time and far more advanced and easy to use tools and such. Maybe those Japanese designers and artists were just on another level, possibly a lot of the fundamentals they comprehensively mastered have been forgotten/lost to most modern pixel artists, and we mostly haven't seen their likes since.
The NES one looks kinda awesome, to the point I was even considering purchasing it. Not so convinced with the C64 one, which rather than looking retro chic stylish just looks old and dated imo.
@DestructoDisk Actually, the PlayStation SotN resolution is 256x208 during gameplay. The menu screens on SotN were in a higher resolution, which the developer said were actually kinda placeholder but just got used as is, almost as if the game wasn't ever really designed with the higher resolution in mind but they decided to add a few menu screens at the higher resolution after the fact rather than redo the entire game in the higher resolution. And the 256 horizontal resolution was standard or the default on pretty much every home console from around the NES era right up to the SNES, but not beyond and not on any Sega consoles from the Genesis forward. And yet, SotN on PlayStation, a system that was once in development as a literal CD expansion for the SNES, was in the same 256 horizontal resolution as the SNES.
None of those graphical things I mentioned were possible on the Genesis in the way they were seen in PlayStation SotN and the way they work and look on SNES, be it the specific way the Mode 7-style rotation and scaling looks (rather than a low-res, low frame rate, low-colour facsimile of it), the specific coloured semi-transparency effects plus gradients (not simple white/black shadow/highlight effects or palette swaps), the amount of proper background layers that often go beyond the two real backgrounds on Genesis vs the standard three and up to four on SNES, the full orchestrated CD audio that's much better suited to SNES PCM sampled audio and also would have been perfectly suited to the once-in-development SNES/PlayStation CD system (as opposed to the one optional PCM audio channel and everything else being FM of the Genesis), the amount of controls/inputs and the way they were specifically mapped to the controller's diamond-layout face buttons and shoulder buttons (as opposed to three action buttons on the default Genesis controller, or the separately-purchased six-button controllers' face buttons that are mapped in a way that's closer to an old arcade button layout than the now industry standard diamond-shaped face button layout plus shoulder buttons that started on the SNES), etc.
But, hey, no argument when it comes to the fact any actual evidence links the PlayStation SotN game to 32X in some tangible albeit very small way rather than SNES in any concrete way, obviously. But my point wasn't arguing objective facts in some court of law, rather just making an observation where quite a few things seem to coincidentally line up to me, which I think points to a possibility that what I said about SotN being in development or at least consideration for SNES at some point might actually be quite plausible imo.
@bring_on_branstons TiagoSC has some legit skills, having done a SNES version of Sonic, a PlayStation version of Sonic, a Genesis version of Mega Man X, etc.
@KingMike Very close: The PC Engine didn't have 15-bit colour. It was actually the same 9-bit as Genesis (a 512 colour master palette). But it could show 482 colours on-screen, so more than both Genesis and SNES totals, just with a much smaller colour gamut than SNES (the SNES had a whopping 32,768 colour master palette).
Yeah, it's possible the PC Engine Rondo of Blood had a big influence there. Well, it definitely did, because SoTN acts like a direct follow on with the first boss in SotN being the last one in RoB. And, yeah, apparently around 90% of PC Engine games run in 256 horizontal resolution just like the SNES.
I think once a couple of games like Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing were shown, it was kinda beyond doubt. They were just so graphically stunning to see that at least I knew I was seeing the future there.
I feel very similar when I look at some of the stuff in VR today (and did when I first saw it in '90s arcades too). The first couple of years with the Oculus CV1 and such really felt like another one of those total "Wow!" moments for me personally, which I haven't really felt since I first saw Super Mario 64 demoed on the N64. And I think we're basically living another one of those paradigm=shifting moments with VR [and AR], where I believe ultimately they're going to be even more impactful than 3D graphics in some many ways, especially in terms of gaming and such.
PS. What a very strange thing to totally omit mentioning the groundbreaking N64 at any point. I mean, yeah, Sony and Sega were major players in that first generation of 3D, but the N64 arguably did more for cementing home console 3D out the gate than the Saturn and PlayStation did. And I mean not just in terms of the absolute commitment to 3D polygons, but also the absolute commitment to proper 3D control day one too, which was just as essential a component in making 3D gaming truly work. The N64's anti-aliased 3D polygons, the N64 controller with its proper analog stick, and Super Mario 64's revolutionary 3D take on the classic platformer genre were the most all-in on 3D ever seen [in the home] at that time as far as I'm concerned. It probably should have popped up somewhere in an article talking about the paradigm shift that was the 3D revolution.
And there's also this too, which proposes a way to take advantage of some of the specific SNES features to expand the demo just a little further visually there as well:
@N64-ROX I'm talking about the PlayStation version having all this graphical stuff and such that's bizarrely parallel to what SNES specifically could do technically, which is why I'm kinda convinced someone somewhere must have been thinking about making some version of SotN for SNES at some point.
I edited my post to make it clear what I was talking about. Hope that helps.
And, correct, none of that stuff is in the 32X version that I'm aware of, which only consists of those three sprites thus far that I can tell.
It's great Genesis is seeing all this love. SNES 100% deserves to be seeing it too.
And, if it's basically just about shoving as many stars and colours on-screen as possible, I can easily think of a way to display say 3584 stars and God knows how many colours on-screen on SNES using Mode 0's four background layers and some HDMA to update a few of the 96 visible background colours across all four layers plus the backdrop colour per scanline 224 times down the screen, as well as do colour math blending between layers, etc., before a single sprite has even been used. In fact, if someone were to get real creative with the SNES' colour window capabilities, they could even add another simple layer of stars on top of what I just said too, still before any sprites were used.
But, hey, I doubt anyone will believe me unless they see it running on SNES directly and at that point be beyond question.
If we ever get that SNES game development tool that the average punter can actually use though . . .
My actual point being, it still seems strange to see the modern indie/homebrew scene largely overlook SNES when it's also capable of some very impressive graphical feats if approached with the same can-do attitude.
The Genesis demo above is extremely impressive though, especially because all the stars are being done with full sprite multiplexing, if a total visual eye bleeder.
I'm telling you, I believe SotN must have been in development or at least consideration for SNES at some point before moving to 32X.
The resolution is the same as SNES rather than the standard resolution of any of Sega's post Master System consoles (that's the biggest one imo), it uses patent Mode 7 style effects in multiple places (like the rotating photo in the intro and the sky when Death first appears), the colours port across almost perfectly to SNES' 15-bit palette in many places, it uses proper coloured gradient transparency effects in almost the same way you would do on SNES (like on the text boxes for example), the number of background layers often match up well to SNES, the controls map almost perfectly to SNES, it has music that maps very well to SNES' more orchestrated audio (and obviously would have mapped perfectly to the cancelled SNES/PlayStation CD attachment/system), etc.
Nothing about it screams its main destination was originally supposed to be 32X imo, even though some random Castlevania game was indeed heading that way at some point, which people now think was an early version of SotN.
Just an observation.
And now I'd love to see someone actually try to do a SNES port taking everything I've just said into mind, which these videos of some SotN tests made to SNES' specs suggest would be very feasible:
I mean, it's already coming to Genesis and looks pretty good actually, so clearly it can be put on these old 16-consoles with a few changes and things cut or reduced here and there where necessary.
The standout thing for me here is the scaling and rotating player ship at the start of the levels, which is done with a whole bunch of pre-rendered and pre-stored frames streaming in on the fly rather than any actual real-time sprite scaling and rotation. So I can see where a bunch of that large cartridge memory must have went for sure, especially if they've got a lot of stuff like that in the game.
That's why you couldn't really do this stuff on these systems in the past, other than on Neo Geo where it had huge memory cartridges and had stuff like that actually quite a lot. It's not a technical limitation or indeed a technical feat, just a memory consideration. But, with the size of cartridges you can get for these old systems today, it's now actually practical to include this kind of thing in new indie/homebrew games for these old 16-bit consoles beyond the Neo Geo. I can only imagine the kind of animation you can do like that on these systems today if you want to devote enough space to it.
I wonder how smooth and visually impressive say a modern indie/homebrew fighting game for these old consoles with fully pre-rendered characters and hundreds rather than tens of pre-stored animation frames might look for example, or a driving game where each car can have way more frames depicting really smooth turning and the like.
Comments 968
Re: iPhone NES Emulator Pulled From App Store "Out Of Fear"
Silly move imo. Unless he's stolen Nintendo code or something, there should be no legit reaon he can't have an emulator like this on the App Store if Apple is okay with that. Again, unless he's actually stolen some Nintendo code or something, despite what it might actually say, Nintendo really shouldn't have any legit say in this at all. Emulators are legal in and of themselve and also protected under law as far as I am aware.
Re: Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers Gets Fanmade SNES Port
Another very nice port from NES to SNES to add to the growing list. Always appreciate the general updates and benefits of going to SNES, along with any MSU1 stuff if that's added too.
Re: Events: Retro Computer Museum's Awesome World Famous Legendary Gathering, April 2024
Wish there was something like that up in Edinburgh.
Re: This Astonishing Metal Gear Anime Is The Work Of Just One Person
@Daniel36 Yeah, same for me with Castlevania too. Basically, many of these animations look like they were done by amateur fans of anime cartoons mimicking what they saw growing up, and probably not even from the likes of Japan where they were masters of this kind of look and feel back in the day, rather than the actual top class talented artists and animators that should be working on them imo. It get the impression these new artists and animators have learned simply through copying and replicating what they have seen instead of actually going to proper art and animation school to learn and understand the fundamentals of things like anatomy, line of action, slow in/out, overlapping actions, staging, appeal, squash and stretch, etc, which is also why so many characters in animations these days look like this are made from lots of unnatural sharp angles and such--one of my major pet peeves with so much modern TV animation.
Re: Game Boy Emulator That Topped iPhone App Store Gets Yanked For Copyright Infringement
@KGRAMR Not sure how you got anything contrary to that from my comments, but I'm in full agreement with you on that. I do not support someone taking someone else's emulator and basically passing it off as their own. But I support the creation and use of emulators, which are entirely legal as far as I'm aware.
Re: This Astonishing Metal Gear Anime Is The Work Of Just One Person
Very nice.
I was watching Invincible the other day and lamenting how it's such a good show but the quality of the art and animation is just sub par, and it really doesn't to it full justice.
If Invincible had art and animation of this quality or beyond, the show overall would just be brilliant.
Today's TV animation standards really aren't great in terms of the art and animation imo, especially given where we're at with modern technology and such that should allow for TV animations basically on par with what Disney was doing decades ago with its feature films imo.
Anyway, that was just a tangent point. This guy's art and animation looks relatively lovely for what it is.
Re: Game Boy Emulator That Topped iPhone App Store Gets Yanked For Copyright Infringement
@Jhena OK, got it.
Re: Game Boy Emulator That Topped iPhone App Store Gets Yanked For Copyright Infringement
@Jhena Okily dokily.
"An emulator, which is stealing someone elses work. Quite ironic."
But, how is it "ironic" if not in that context?
I read your comment there are suggesting that stealing the other guy's emulator work when offering this "new" emulator on the App Store is the same as emulators themselves basically stealing the work of the original hardware creators in the first place, hence the irony here of this guy getting upset that someone else is taking his emulator and pretty much offering it as their own.
And hence my point that emulators are not stealing the original hardware creators' work, as emulators are perfectly legal. Taking someone else's emulator and basically distributing it as your own is a problem though.
Re: Game Boy Emulator That Topped iPhone App Store Gets Yanked For Copyright Infringement
@Jhena Well, whatever people ultimately use the emulators for, emulators are entirely legal in and of themselves as far as I'm aware. I mean, you can legit use them for playing homebrew games or for development purposes and such.
Re: Game Boy Emulator Tops iPhone App Store Before Getting Yanked For Copyright Infringement
@Jhena Emulators are not stealing someone else's work. They are emulating something else, but are otherwise written from scratch by the emulator creator, and are totally legal so long as they don't use any original source code and such. You might be confusing emulators with illegal game ROM copies. Although, under certain circumstances, I think it's still legal to copy official game ROMS too, such as for backup purposes in case the original gets broken or something like that. At least that used to be the case, but the laws are constantly changing.
Re: Hands On: Xeno Crisis On SNES Really Is A Dream Come True
@Soupbones Ah, yeah. That one is certainly a very niche option. For the handful of people lucky enough to have both the Dreamcast and the twin stick controller though, it must be a very cool way to play the game.
Edit: Actually, I was just checking out the review below of the various ways to play the game on Dreamcast, @GhaleonUnlimited, and apparently the guy didn't really find the twin stick controller particularly great for it:
https://youtu.be/3s7SxGYfocw?si=B1V8OkosxSi5UiPQ&t=265
Now that I'm reminded the default Dreamcast controller has a d-pad and face-button layout similar to the SNES controller, I think I would personally just go with the default Dreamcast controller on that version to be honest.
Re: This Fanmade Terranigma Prototype Has Us Once Again Wishing For A Remake
Some very nice work there.
Re: Run-And-Gun Classic Contra Has Been Ported To SNES
@KingMike Still, when you add all these things together, it's clearly the Japanese version is the way to go.
Re: Run-And-Gun Classic Contra Has Been Ported To SNES
@madgears He will eventually release it for everyone, but the Patreon backers get to try it early.
Re: Star Fox Level Viewer Pulled From Source Code
I dunno what this really means or is good for, but it sounds kinda interesting.
Re: Metroid II Gets A Colourful Super Game Boy Upgrade
Tried to use this myself the other day, and it's surprisingly easy to get to grips with and create something in really a matter of minutes and inject it directly into a GB rom.
I might make some proper borders myself at some point.
Really wish actual SNES development tools were this easy and intuitive to use. I'd be developing directly for SNES right now if they were.
@TransmitHim @Pillowpants You can set the palette colours to whatever you want with this tool.
Re: Hands On: Xeno Crisis On SNES Really Is A Dream Come True
@BitmapBureau This is great news.
Re: Hands On: Xeno Crisis On SNES Really Is A Dream Come True
@GhaleonUnlimited Which Dreamcast controller are you referring to with twin sticks?
Re: Hands On: Xeno Crisis On SNES Really Is A Dream Come True
Yay! Happy to see a review for this (well, a hands on). It's the only one I've seen thus far, despite the game being out on SNES for like two weeks already (at least being shipped to Kickstarter backers anyway). There's not even an official release trailer from Bitmap Bureau yet.
And really happy the developer did a great job.
I mean, I know it's ultimately just a port of a game that was really designed specifically with Genesis in mind initially, so it was never going to be a truly system-pushing game on the SNES, but they didn't cut it down in any crazy ways outside of the obvious horizontal resolution stuff, and they even added in a few little things specific to the SNES version too (some proper transparency effects, environmental effects like rain and mist in some levels, way more high quality voice samples, actually slightly faster loading times into the levels). Also, that default SNES controller really is ideal for this kind of dual 8-way movement and 8-way shooting in games like this, which is great for SNES players.
Thanks to the developer and whomever did the SNES port (who, rather than being internal Bitmap Bureau, I actually assume was some external SNES programmer hired just to do the SNES port?), and good times for any SNES fans looking for some great new indie/homebrew games for the system. The more the merrier.
Re: SNES Port Of 2000 Freeware RPG Mysterious Song Is Finally Nearing Completion
@MARl0 It's a brand new 2024 indie/homebrew game for SNES [with even some elements unique to the SNES version], and I personally think it absolutely deserves to be covered even for that reason alone, especially on this site of all places.
For the literally tens of millions of SNES fans in the world--no idea how many of them visit here--I'm absolutely sure they'll be happy to hear more about this specific version, such as how good the game feels to play with the frankly perfectly-suited default SNES controller, how the transparency effects have been added and used uniquely in this version, how there's some added environmental effects like rain and fog in a couple of the levels, how the additional voice samples and audio that uses an extra chip sounds on SNES, how it has slightly faster loading times into levels, how it's been changed from the original to work on SNES specifically and sometimes that means a bit of a compromise in certain areas, etc.
For SNES fans specifically interested in the SNES version, it's actually really not been covered much at all. And I expect there are many people who are particularly interested in this specific version, with SNES maybe being the main retro system they own or follow, who would like to see more on it. I'm one of those people.
So, yeah, hopefully the gaming journalists on the site see the value in covering the SNES version properly, just like they did with other versions of the game over the years.
To Raphael, apologies for going off on a slight tangent. This SNES port of the Mysterious Song game looks cool too.
Re: SNES Port Of 2000 Freeware RPG Mysterious Song Is Finally Nearing Completion
Nice to see something new coming to the SNES. Doesn't get near enough of it these days. So this is more than welcome.
PS. Also, despite the fact it started shipping to backers more than a week ago now [and me even messaging the site about it], I haven't seen an article on any of your sites covering the recent release of Xeno Crisis on SNES yet. So, I guess I'll just link the article below here, as there will surely be people who aren't even aware it's now out, since it's not really being reported on:
https://inceptionalnews.wordpress.com/2024/04/08/my-thoughts-on-xeno-crisis-for-snes/
I think there's some issue with Bitmap Bureau moving stock to their new warehouse or something, which has temporarily halted the ability to purchase the game from their online store, so maybe all the gaming sites are waiting for that to get sorted before they post any new coverage for the SNES version. I dunno.
Re: Metroid II Gets A Colourful Super Game Boy Upgrade
Sweet. Can't wait to see all the borders people produce for various GB games on the SNES now, to give them just a wee bit more of an authentic SNES look.
Re: Fallout And Twin Peaks Star Kyle MacLachlan Stayed Up Late To Finish Mega Man
Unlike some famous people who try to convince you they know anything about video games, I actually believe what he's telling me when he says "I wouldn't call myself a gamer", but clearly was back in the day.
Re: Just Like Switch, Game Boy Color Now Has An "OLED Model"
I think the touchscreen is totally unnecessary, especially given it surely adds to the cost and just using the d-pad and buttons would clearly work better anyway, but the actual quality of screen looks lovely.
Re: Retro Emulators Are Coming To iPhone's App Store
@drstory Yeah, that's probably what it's going to translate into.
Re: BAFTA Poll Declares Lara Croft The Most Iconic Video Game Character
It's Mario. We all know it, even if, for whatever reason(s), we won't allow ourselves to just come out and say/admit it and be honest about it.
Re: Random: Did You Know About This Not-So-Subtle Nintendo Dig Hidden Inside 'Battle Mania'?
@X68000 Well, the UK gave us this via the pages of Viz:
http://www.digitiser2000.com/uploads/4/0/6/6/40667199/published/viz1.jpg?1538380859
I wonder if there are any prior examples from other companies of the American-style console wars marketing around these two systems before Sega of America's Genesis Does and "Blast Processing" ads that were part of its often quite aggressive and confrontational Genesis marketing campaign, which it seems was then picked up by a bunch of eager and malleable American [at least initially] teenage Genesis fans who bought into that kind of attitude and mentality and reenacted it [originally] in school playgrounds, which still continues to this day, although obviously no longer restricted to school playgrounds in our modern global digitally-connected times.
If anyone can find any prior examples of whatever console/games company and fans of whichever system doing such a thing prior to Sega of America and the Genesis, it would be interesting to see them.
Re: Random: Did You Know About This Not-So-Subtle Nintendo Dig Hidden Inside 'Battle Mania'?
@X68000 Just like you, I don't know if anyone outside of the US had any clue as to what "Blast Processing" was about initially. And, yeah, both Genesis Does and "Blast Processing" definitely started as Sega of America marketing tools.
Re: Flashback: The Lost 32X Castlevania That Led To Symphony Of The Night
@Sketcz Yeah, it was definitely a let down for me. It's a shame really, because it would have been very interesting to see how a proper direct port with a few of the SNES' specific bells and whistles added on would have fared.
Re: Demons of Asteborg Is Being Remade For GBA And Neo Geo
Is this another one of those cases where it's going to be put on everything but not the kinda most obvious next choice for a game originally made for Genesis. I think most of the upgrades made for the GBA port would translate well to the SNES too, including things like the much improved colour and added transparency effects. So, yeah, I'd really like to see an updated and tweaked version of this game on SNES as well, and ideally sooner rather than years later.
Re: Castaway Is An Adorable New Zelda-Like From The Developer Of Lunark
For what it is, looks pretty cool.
Re: Random: Did You Know About This Not-So-Subtle Nintendo Dig Hidden Inside 'Battle Mania'?
Do you think maybe all the 16-bit console wars stuff, which still goes on to this day, started with Sega of America and its Genesis Does and "Blast Processing" ads that were part of its often quite aggressive and confrontational Genesis marketing campaign, and was then picked up by a bunch of eager and malleable teenage fans who bought into that kind of attitude and mentality and reenacted it in school playgrounds.
Re: Yuzo Koshiro's Shmup 'Earthion' Is Pushing Sega Genesis To Its Absolute Limit
@NintendoJunkie Nothing particularly unique about Genesis in that regard other than it has the likes of SGDK, which seems to be a really matured set of modern development tools that most people interested in working on Genesis can get to grips with pretty easily. But all it took was someone making that in the first place, and the rest happened from there imo.
The NES already has a very robust modern indie/homebrew scene. And the likes of NESmaker have opened that up to masses too. So it's sorted from everything I can see. There's plenty of new games coming out for it in modern times, possibly even more than Genesis, and lots of options for people to dive in.
PC Engine really only has one main dude working on it that I am aware of, but he is doing some very cool stuff. Outside of that, I have no idea what options are there for anyone interested in working on new PC Engine games.
SNES does have some modern indie/home support, with Xeno Crisis about to launch for it as one example, and at least one still underdeveloped SDK called PVSnesLib, but imo it needs both a more mature SDK and ideally a much more casual-friendly tool closer to something like NESmaker to really get the scene going there. And, just like with Genesis, I believe if either or both of those things eventually get made, the SNES support will dramatically increase. I for one would be on that in an instant.
Re: Game Informer Readers Label Ocarina Of Time "The Greatest Game Of All Time"
For everything it did just utterly stunningly well at the time it released, and always keeping in mind I'm thinking of it relative to its time, I'm not going to argue with them.
Re: Flashback: The Lost 32X Castlevania That Led To Symphony Of The Night
@jesse_dylan Yeah, I agree that the port of Rondo on SNES is pretty meh. I think Castlevania IV is already a much better game than Rondo on SNES all round and overall, and I know for a fact the SNES can do even more than seen in that early title for the system. I mean, Castlevania IV wasn't even running in FastROM on SNES for a start. So, I'd have to guess that Rondo is just a bit of a lazy port that didn't properly play to the SNES' strengths. Outside of the cimatics and audio, which is due to the CD ROM attachment in the PC Engine CD version, the SNES version of Rondo really should have been better across the board. The fact it wasn't is on the developer rather than the hardware.
Re: Run-And-Gun Classic Contra Has Been Ported To SNES
@EarthboundBenjy Now that these specific NES games are running natively on SNES, it becomes trivial for talented ROM hackers to go in and give them the "All-Stars" treatment visually and even add CD quality MSU1 audio too, as well as a bunch of other stuff, like the FMV intro infidelity already added to his port of DuckTales for example.
What this does is turn the SNES into basically a SNES plus NES in one system---some might argue that should have been the case all along--and with the ability to make any of these NES ports look and sound like SNES games too, without any of the negatives that might arise if someone were trying to create and program them entirely from scratch for SNES or just emulate them or whatever.
So it really a best of all worlds imo.
Re: Run-And-Gun Classic Contra Has Been Ported To SNES
Well, we all guessed it was Contra.
Re: Former Dawn Is An Impressive-Looking NES RPG That's Also Coming To PC
Yeah, for a NES game, this one has left me dang impressed with what I've seen so far.
Genuinely, there's moments where if someone told me this was an early PC Engine or Genesis game, I'd not have blinked an eyelid.
And, I feel I have to get this in there and say, when developers can push the NES like this given the right tools and enough time, dedication, and talent, I can only imagine what they might be able to achieve on the SNES under the same conditions.
Maybe one day we'll get to see more examples of that.
Re: Cyber Mission Is A Promising Genesis / Mega Drive Game Inspired by Capcom's Forgotten Worlds
No offense to a bunch of modern indie/homebrew developers, given it's usually just a couple of guys in a room doing their best, but boy do many of these modern indie/homebrew games make me realise just how truly brilliant the designers and artists were at the likes of Capcom, Konami, Treasure, Sega and Nintendo back on the day. Pixel art rarely reaches the same level anymore imo, and we're like 30+ years in the future with everything learned in that time and far more advanced and easy to use tools and such. Maybe those Japanese designers and artists were just on another level, possibly a lot of the fundamentals they comprehensively mastered have been forgotten/lost to most modern pixel artists, and we mostly haven't seen their likes since.
Edit: The new title screen does look cool though.
Re: 8BitDo's Next Retro Mechanical Keyboard Is Based On The Commodore 64
The NES one looks kinda awesome, to the point I was even considering purchasing it. Not so convinced with the C64 one, which rather than looking retro chic stylish just looks old and dated imo.
Re: Flashback: The Lost 32X Castlevania That Led To Symphony Of The Night
@DestructoDisk Actually, the PlayStation SotN resolution is 256x208 during gameplay. The menu screens on SotN were in a higher resolution, which the developer said were actually kinda placeholder but just got used as is, almost as if the game wasn't ever really designed with the higher resolution in mind but they decided to add a few menu screens at the higher resolution after the fact rather than redo the entire game in the higher resolution. And the 256 horizontal resolution was standard or the default on pretty much every home console from around the NES era right up to the SNES, but not beyond and not on any Sega consoles from the Genesis forward. And yet, SotN on PlayStation, a system that was once in development as a literal CD expansion for the SNES, was in the same 256 horizontal resolution as the SNES.
None of those graphical things I mentioned were possible on the Genesis in the way they were seen in PlayStation SotN and the way they work and look on SNES, be it the specific way the Mode 7-style rotation and scaling looks (rather than a low-res, low frame rate, low-colour facsimile of it), the specific coloured semi-transparency effects plus gradients (not simple white/black shadow/highlight effects or palette swaps), the amount of proper background layers that often go beyond the two real backgrounds on Genesis vs the standard three and up to four on SNES, the full orchestrated CD audio that's much better suited to SNES PCM sampled audio and also would have been perfectly suited to the once-in-development SNES/PlayStation CD system (as opposed to the one optional PCM audio channel and everything else being FM of the Genesis), the amount of controls/inputs and the way they were specifically mapped to the controller's diamond-layout face buttons and shoulder buttons (as opposed to three action buttons on the default Genesis controller, or the separately-purchased six-button controllers' face buttons that are mapped in a way that's closer to an old arcade button layout than the now industry standard diamond-shaped face button layout plus shoulder buttons that started on the SNES), etc.
But, hey, no argument when it comes to the fact any actual evidence links the PlayStation SotN game to 32X in some tangible albeit very small way rather than SNES in any concrete way, obviously. But my point wasn't arguing objective facts in some court of law, rather just making an observation where quite a few things seem to coincidentally line up to me, which I think points to a possibility that what I said about SotN being in development or at least consideration for SNES at some point might actually be quite plausible imo.
Re: Has This Indie Dev Completely Maxed Out The Genesis / Mega Drive?
@bring_on_branstons TiagoSC has some legit skills, having done a SNES version of Sonic, a PlayStation version of Sonic, a Genesis version of Mega Man X, etc.
Re: Flashback: The Lost 32X Castlevania That Led To Symphony Of The Night
@KingMike Very close: The PC Engine didn't have 15-bit colour. It was actually the same 9-bit as Genesis (a 512 colour master palette). But it could show 482 colours on-screen, so more than both Genesis and SNES totals, just with a much smaller colour gamut than SNES (the SNES had a whopping 32,768 colour master palette).
Yeah, it's possible the PC Engine Rondo of Blood had a big influence there. Well, it definitely did, because SoTN acts like a direct follow on with the first boss in SotN being the last one in RoB. And, yeah, apparently around 90% of PC Engine games run in 256 horizontal resolution just like the SNES.
Re: Even Yu Suzuki Didn't Expect 3D To Become So Big, So Quickly
I think once a couple of games like Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing were shown, it was kinda beyond doubt. They were just so graphically stunning to see that at least I knew I was seeing the future there.
I feel very similar when I look at some of the stuff in VR today (and did when I first saw it in '90s arcades too). The first couple of years with the Oculus CV1 and such really felt like another one of those total "Wow!" moments for me personally, which I haven't really felt since I first saw Super Mario 64 demoed on the N64. And I think we're basically living another one of those paradigm=shifting moments with VR [and AR], where I believe ultimately they're going to be even more impactful than 3D graphics in some many ways, especially in terms of gaming and such.
PS. What a very strange thing to totally omit mentioning the groundbreaking N64 at any point. I mean, yeah, Sony and Sega were major players in that first generation of 3D, but the N64 arguably did more for cementing home console 3D out the gate than the Saturn and PlayStation did. And I mean not just in terms of the absolute commitment to 3D polygons, but also the absolute commitment to proper 3D control day one too, which was just as essential a component in making 3D gaming truly work. The N64's anti-aliased 3D polygons, the N64 controller with its proper analog stick, and Super Mario 64's revolutionary 3D take on the classic platformer genre were the most all-in on 3D ever seen [in the home] at that time as far as I'm concerned. It probably should have popped up somewhere in an article talking about the paradigm shift that was the 3D revolution.
Re: Has This Indie Dev Completely Maxed Out The Genesis / Mega Drive?
@bring_on_branstons This is the most developed version of that SNES Sonic demo I've seen:
https://youtu.be/DlrxKECsogE?si=y4NTHmHuCHDfCpZF
And there's also this too, which proposes a way to take advantage of some of the specific SNES features to expand the demo just a little further visually there as well:
https://inceptionalnews.wordpress.com/2023/02/16/sonic-on-snes-vs-genesis/
Re: Flashback: The Lost 32X Castlevania That Led To Symphony Of The Night
@N64-ROX I'm talking about the PlayStation version having all this graphical stuff and such that's bizarrely parallel to what SNES specifically could do technically, which is why I'm kinda convinced someone somewhere must have been thinking about making some version of SotN for SNES at some point.
I edited my post to make it clear what I was talking about. Hope that helps.
And, correct, none of that stuff is in the 32X version that I'm aware of, which only consists of those three sprites thus far that I can tell.
Re: Has This Indie Dev Completely Maxed Out The Genesis / Mega Drive?
@bring_on_branstons I totally hear you.
It's great Genesis is seeing all this love. SNES 100% deserves to be seeing it too.
And, if it's basically just about shoving as many stars and colours on-screen as possible, I can easily think of a way to display say 3584 stars and God knows how many colours on-screen on SNES using Mode 0's four background layers and some HDMA to update a few of the 96 visible background colours across all four layers plus the backdrop colour per scanline 224 times down the screen, as well as do colour math blending between layers, etc., before a single sprite has even been used. In fact, if someone were to get real creative with the SNES' colour window capabilities, they could even add another simple layer of stars on top of what I just said too, still before any sprites were used.
But, hey, I doubt anyone will believe me unless they see it running on SNES directly and at that point be beyond question.
If we ever get that SNES game development tool that the average punter can actually use though . . .
My actual point being, it still seems strange to see the modern indie/homebrew scene largely overlook SNES when it's also capable of some very impressive graphical feats if approached with the same can-do attitude.
The Genesis demo above is extremely impressive though, especially because all the stars are being done with full sprite multiplexing, if a total visual eye bleeder.
Re: Flashback: The Lost 32X Castlevania That Led To Symphony Of The Night
I'm telling you, I believe SotN must have been in development or at least consideration for SNES at some point before moving to 32X.
The resolution is the same as SNES rather than the standard resolution of any of Sega's post Master System consoles (that's the biggest one imo), it uses patent Mode 7 style effects in multiple places (like the rotating photo in the intro and the sky when Death first appears), the colours port across almost perfectly to SNES' 15-bit palette in many places, it uses proper coloured gradient transparency effects in almost the same way you would do on SNES (like on the text boxes for example), the number of background layers often match up well to SNES, the controls map almost perfectly to SNES, it has music that maps very well to SNES' more orchestrated audio (and obviously would have mapped perfectly to the cancelled SNES/PlayStation CD attachment/system), etc.
Nothing about it screams its main destination was originally supposed to be 32X imo, even though some random Castlevania game was indeed heading that way at some point, which people now think was an early version of SotN.
Just an observation.
And now I'd love to see someone actually try to do a SNES port taking everything I've just said into mind, which these videos of some SotN tests made to SNES' specs suggest would be very feasible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Cd4lnOfI4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WO-sr04GY8
I mean, it's already coming to Genesis and looks pretty good actually, so clearly it can be put on these old 16-consoles with a few changes and things cut or reduced here and there where necessary.
Re: Iconic Issues: CVG's Complete Guide To Consoles
Another classic gaming magazine. And the Complete Guide series was great too.
Re: Yuzo Koshiro's Shmup 'Earthion' Is Pushing Sega Genesis To Its Absolute Limit
The standout thing for me here is the scaling and rotating player ship at the start of the levels, which is done with a whole bunch of pre-rendered and pre-stored frames streaming in on the fly rather than any actual real-time sprite scaling and rotation. So I can see where a bunch of that large cartridge memory must have went for sure, especially if they've got a lot of stuff like that in the game.
That's why you couldn't really do this stuff on these systems in the past, other than on Neo Geo where it had huge memory cartridges and had stuff like that actually quite a lot. It's not a technical limitation or indeed a technical feat, just a memory consideration. But, with the size of cartridges you can get for these old systems today, it's now actually practical to include this kind of thing in new indie/homebrew games for these old 16-bit consoles beyond the Neo Geo. I can only imagine the kind of animation you can do like that on these systems today if you want to devote enough space to it.
I wonder how smooth and visually impressive say a modern indie/homebrew fighting game for these old consoles with fully pre-rendered characters and hundreds rather than tens of pre-stored animation frames might look for example, or a driving game where each car can have way more frames depicting really smooth turning and the like.