Digital Foundry Retro Discussion [2016 - 2017]

[Sigfried1977]

Analogue Nt Mini, new retro console starting at 449$. Quite an unforeseen, unexpected article tbh, it's the first time I read about this device.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-analogue-nt-mini-review

I almost bought their wood-paneled, consolized Neo Geo AES system when I was hammered. It was $999 I believe. Thankfully I wasn't quite drunk enough, and so I remembered that I always loved the allure and the cult status of the console more than the actual product. If you aren't a die-hard fan of quarter munchers, the Neo Geo obviously hasn't an awful lot to offer.
That said, I would love to have a proper, non-emulated way of playing Top Hunter. A game I love dearly, but which for some reason SNK deems unworthy of rereleasing. Instead we get a bajillion versions of Metal Slug.

 

[Nesh]

Analogue Nt Mini, new retro console starting at 449$. Quite an unforeseen, unexpected article tbh, it's the first time I read about this device.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-analogue-nt-mini-review

At the part where he explains how the NES was doing parallax, he says that the background and foreground never intersect because they are the same layer. But the video showed 2 examples where it did seem to intersect in some areas. See battletoad and sword master. So how did they pull it off?

 

[bunge]

At the part where he explains how the NES was doing parallax, he says that the background and foreground never intersect because they are the same layer. But the video showed 2 examples where it did seem to intersect in some areas. See battletoad and sword master. So how did they pull it off?

Rygar did it (I believe) with sprites. The first level had a sun in the distance that was sprites that didn't move.

I just found this and it's impressive:

Edit: http://www.dustmop.io/blog/2015/12/18/nes-graphics-part-3/

 

[steveOrino]

I wonder how the Neo Geo can run a game like this (look at the Stage 2 background at the 1:53 mark):

Massive sprite (or stripe as SNK define it) pushing ability. It didn't have a BG layer or a blitter and did everything you see with 96 16x16 tiles with each stripe having a max vertical size of 32 tiles. The NeoGeo would chain these sprites in hardware so you could have elaborate scrolling backgrounds like Blazing Star. Not very efficient but again, this is arcade hardware not home consoles with limited cart sizes.

 

[Nesh]

Massive sprite (or stripe as SNK define it) pushing ability. It didn't have a BG layer or a blitter and did everything you see with 96 16x16 tiles with each stripe having a max vertical size of 32 tiles. The NeoGeo would chain these sprites in hardware so you could have elaborate scrolling backgrounds like Blazing Star. Not very efficient but again, this is arcade hardware not home consoles with limited cart sizes.

But wait, the part Cyan is talking about looks like its made out of polygons!
The only explanation I have for this is that the background is actually animated imagery like a video played in a loop, not actual geometry.

 

[steveOrino]

looks like its made out of polygons!

Because its just pre-rendered images that were converted and cut up into sprite tiles. a lot of the ships are also pre-rendered and converted to sprites.

 

[Cyan]

new feature, now it's the turn of Master Blaster. I've never played that game tbh, but this is another interesting video as usual.

I wonder what's the game that appears after the 18:40 minutes mark.

 

[Cyan]

Metal Gear Solid 2, the game that changed everything for the PS2. Another labour of true love from the author. Longest DF Retro video yet!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-metal-gear-solid-2-df-retro

BTW, IMPORTANT: at the end of the video John Linneman asks people to reply and vote in the comments about the generation we prefer to be featured in the next DF retro video. You have 3 options.

If you write in the comments of the video...

140.98 /here you are voting for a game of PS, N64, Saturn era to be featured/

If you write in the comments...

141.00 /a new episode of DF Retro about a game of the PS2, Xbox and GC era/

And finally if you write in the comments...

140.95 /writing this you choose anything 16 bits!!/

 

[Cyan]

Hallo Combat Evolved makes its way into the Videogames Hall of Fame --along with "Donkey Kong," "Pokemon Red and Green," and ''Street Fighter II".

Rest of the finalists were "Final Fantasy VII", ''Microsoft Windows Solitaire," ''Mortal Kombat," ''Myst," ''Portal," ''Resident Evil," ''Tomb Raider" and "Wii Sports."

https://www.usnews.com/news/busines...o-game-hall-of-fame-to-announce-class-of-2017

10 years later, a new Halo 3 glitch and zone was discovered. Amazing setup to achieve that!:smile2:

 

[Shifty Geezer]

10 years later, a new Halo 3 glitch and zone was discovered. Amazing setup to achieve that!:smile2:

That was so damned impressive. Right up until the conclusion when all they managed was to get behind a few bars into a small room. The epic music doesn't really fit.

 

[Nesh]

Hallo Combat Evolved makes its way into the Videogames Hall of Fame --along with "Donkey Kong," "Pokemon Red and Green," and ''Street Fighter II".

Rest of the finalists were "Final Fantasy VII", ''Microsoft Windows Solitaire," ''Mortal Kombat," ''Myst," ''Portal," ''Resident Evil," ''Tomb Raider" and "Wii Sports."

https://www.usnews.com/news/busines...o-game-hall-of-fame-to-announce-class-of-2017

10 years later, a new Halo 3 glitch and zone was discovered. Amazing setup to achieve that!:smile2:

Why Halo? Halo did have an impact in console gaming FPS scene. But if there is one game that did have a bigger impact in FPS is Half Life. There also past games like Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Why Halo? Halo did have an impact in console gaming FPS scene.

The irony of Halo being lauded as an example of a great first person shooter was that Halo was originally designed as a third person shooter with a massive variety of vehicles.

Here it is being unvieled during an Apple keynote in 1999 by Steve Jobs. Yeah.. werid times, indeed.

 

[Cyan]

Why Halo? Halo did have an impact in console gaming FPS scene. But if there is one game that did have a bigger impact in FPS is Half Life. There also past games like Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake.

Do you mean cultural impact or impact in the genre? Before Halo FPS console games had very bad controller schemas and a lackluster online. I wanted Solitaire to be included in the list.

 

[Nesh]

Do you mean cultural impact or impact in the genre? Before Halo FPS console games had very bad controller schemas and a lackluster online. I wanted Solitaire to be included in the list.

Thats the thing. Halo was an exemplary game for consoles only. Thats where it had an impact. It was released on a console with state of the art capabilities as a launch exclusive. The first AAA killer game to be a FPS on console. But if you take the genre as a whole, Half Life, Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake had a much bigger impact on their respective genres or even gave birth to whole genres. Multiplayer gaming pretty much became huge with games like Quake and Unreal. And this is why Halo, in comparison to those games, never became that super huge on PCs, whereas on XBOX it has received all the marketing and recognition to become a cultural hit as well as being recognized as the best FPS ever by some when, although an exceptional game and some new elements, it has never been that huge for the genre as a whole across all platforms

 

[Cyan]

Thats the thing. Halo was an exemplary game for consoles only. Thats where it had an impact. It was released on a console with state of the art capabilities as a launch exclusive. The first AAA killer game to be a FPS on console. But if you take the genre as a whole, Half Life, Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake had a much bigger impact on their respective genres or even gave birth to whole genres. Multiplayer gaming pretty much became huge with games like Quake and Unreal. And this is why Halo, in comparison to those games, never became that super huge on PCs, whereas on XBOX it has received all the marketing and recognition to become a cultural hit as well as being recognized as the best FPS ever by some when, although an exceptional game and some new elements, it has never been that huge for the genre as a whole across all platforms

From your list I'd choose Doom first, Quake after it and then Half Life. Unreal, the original one, was a great game at the time for those who had a 3D accelerator card, the intro loop with the camera moving around was a tech showcase back then, and the Skaarj had a great AI that rivals Halo and its Elites years before. My favourite Unreal was the first Unreal Tournament, I spent many many hours playing maps like Facing Towers -one of the best multiplayer maps I've ever seen-.

Doom would be my choice, it was a milestone in every possible way. Not only for the genre but it also had map editors, that were as addicting as the game itself. I made quite a few maps or modified the original ones in cool ways.

 

[Michellstar]

It is explained in the link why Halo, moreover Doom it's already in the Hall of Fame, just elected another year.

 

[Cyan]

talking of Doom, one of the games I am going to install when I get my new PC is this one:

 

[Cyan]

That was so damned impressive. Right up until the conclusion when all they managed was to get behind a few bars into a small room. The epic music doesn't really fit.

so impressive to the point that in fact this one looks like the impossible mission from Mass Effect 2, but this is actually almost impossible to perform that well.

 

[Nesh]

It is explained in the link why Halo, moreover Doom it's already in the Hall of Fame, just elected another year.

Well the explanation is underwhelming. It convinces me even more that Halo's Hall of Fame is too much for it.

 

[Cyan]

This is one of the games I am going to install on my PC. Age of Empires Gold (the version that I have). I feel like collecting berries... One of my favourite videogames songs yet. Age of Empires should be in the videogames Hall of Fame.