When Lack Of Pixelation Leads To Consternation

Thanks to GameSpy for its 'Pixel' column discussing the problems inherent in translating classic remakes to modern consoles. The author argues plaintively: "For reasons both technical and probably cultural, most video game companies not giving their reissued classics the polished, flawless presentations that they deserve." He explains of Mega Man 2 from the forthcoming Mega Man Anniversary Collection for PlayStation 2: "The low-res, 256x224 graphics of the original NES game have been line-doubled for display on the PS2, are run in an interlaced (flickery) screen mode." He also laments: "Believe it or not, things were a good deal better back on the original PlayStation and Saturn... Looking back, the 32-bit era was a golden age of classic game reissues, with great products like Irem's R-Types, the Namco Museum line and the Capcom Generations series offering 99% accurate renditions of dozens upon dozens of classic video games", although it's suggested "the 32-bit renaissance was more likely due to technical limitations than actual care on the part of the developers."

Comments

Why didn't they

[foidulus]

just make the mega man collection a ps1 game instead of a ps2 game(like Final Fantasy origins), I find it hard to believe that they could not pack all the data onto a cd. Plus, releasing it for the ps1 would have reached a larger audience, maybe not your core audience, but when you have backwards compatability and no need to put a game on a DVD, why bother?

Re:Why didn't they

[Anonymous Coward]

Slightly harder to pirate on ps1 vs ps2? only explaination I can think of, plus say someone has a ps1 and is sortof casually looking at getting one of the next gen of consoles, this could push them towards ps2...?

What about the Gamecube?

[wheresdrew]

This same collection is coming out for the Gamecube. Will it be plagued by the same problems?

What I don't understand...

[th1ckasabr1ck]

I realize that when rereleasing a game on a new console, they want to keep it as true to the original as possible, but they should give that a second thought when it comes to load times.

This is definitely noticible in Final Fantasy Anthologies (FF5 and FF6), and Final Fantasy Chronicles (FF4 and Chrono Trigger). After hitting the menu button there is a good two or three seconds of black screen before the menu itself actually pops up. I find it hard to believe that my PS2 (or PS1) really needs that much time.

Re:What I don't understand...

[DLWormwood]

After hitting the menu button there is a good two or three seconds of black screen before the menu itself actually pops up. I find it hard to believe that my PS2 (or PS1) really needs that much time.

Actually, I'm surprised it wasn't worse. The PS1 re-releases of the SNES originals were emulations of the original cartridge ROMs. The SNES did memory accesses assuming ROM latency, not CD latency. There was no streaming or pre-caching of data via asynchronous memory access.

The original game ROMs are too large to fit within the PS1's working RAM. Everytime the PS1 version tried to change the graphics context (between menu, combot, and field modes), a synchronous CD hit was required, slowing things down. (Things might have been different for FFIV if Square waited to port it to PS2 instead, that older game may have fit in the PS2 RAM.)

Load Times

[fwitness]

Agreed. I still wince when I see Crash Bandicoot:Wrath of Cortex in game stores. I rented that once, and the load times made it absolutely unplayable. Sad, since my girlfriend would have really enjoyed that game.

I am a programmer, and I know there are techniques to avoid this, but it takes some design thinking, and of course, time.

GTA and GTA:VC do this beautifully (especially VC) for huge environments, and Jak and Daxter does it even better (which they mostly acheived while using LISP, if you can believe that).

If there are game developers out there, please listen:"Load times suck. Long load times may not decrease sales, but they will decrease your company's image. Oh, and hire me will you? I'll fix the load times. Swear."

Re:Load Times

[mausmalone]

I recently tried out the *achem* less than legal PSO gamecube hack (lets you run ISO's across 10 MBit ethernet). I'm quite shocked that Zelda: Four Swords runs ::gasp:: really well across it. The little video clip in the menu runs at like 1 fps, but the actual game's load-time is barely affected at all.

But Nintendo's great at that. Take Animal Crossing, for example... it's done loading by the time it finishes saying "Nintendo!" at the logo. Try it for yourself, you can take the game out after the logo and boot it on another system. One copy is good for a whole party, since the entire game finishes loading before the title screen is displayed. :)

Classics on Modern Hardware - Zelda Collection

[extrarice]

The GameCube Zelda Collection, released this past Christmas, is a good example of the proper way to release older games to a nostalgic audience. The sprites are the same, the music is the same, and most importantly: the games have the same slow-down in the same places they did in the original releases. It seems like the Zelda Collection disc just has a real-time NES emulator that loads on the cube and runs a ROM, keeping the speeds the same as the original.

Though FFOrigins for the PS1 is a fantastic remake, I would not want to see the same treatment done to the MegaMan Collection.