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Would it be cool if Digital Foundry analyzed old games?

Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
For some reason on Saturday morning, when I woke up and read the SM3DW Digital Foundry analysis, I kept thinking they were talking about Super Mario 64. I have no idea why. The whole time I was like, "Wow, it's so neat they're looking at this old game." Then I realized what I was reading, but I thought...maybe this WOULD be a good idea.

This gen might get slightly boring for platform comparisons but I think at least a hobbyist audience would love to see some tech analysis of some old games.

I could think of a few topics.

1. SNES vs. Genesis multiplatform titles -- this gen is one where the multiplatform gap was at its largest

2. Saturn hi-res mode

3. N64 expansion pack impact and effects

4. Would love to see analyses of big Nintendo titles from the 64 era, including Ocarina of Time

5. PS2...height of Japanese programming dominance. Show us the tricks and explain how people did things they did.

I'd really like to see this.
 
G

Ghazi

Member
How will they be able to start huge debates on resolution, AA, and particle effects!?!?!?! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!


But yes, I think the PS1 and PS2 (against Xbox) eras are ripe for comparisons, at least.
 
D

Dizzy

Banned
That would be great. I've been looking into saturn vs ps1, and ps1 vs n64 comparisons recently.

Its interesting how different some of the games are. It would be nice to have them properly analyzed.
 
N

NeoGash

Member
Yes, they should. It would be harder to reach out to the developers on older games and get them to explain the technology they used though I'd imagine. I'd like to see some N64 games analysed.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I think some really old arguments could be laid to rest. Blue Shadows analysis please.

I watched a playthrough of Turok 2 today and it was like 10 fps. I want to see exactly what FPS it was. lol.
 
S

soxinthebox

Member
Y2Kev said:
I think some really old arguments could be laid to rest. Blue Shadows analysis please.

I watched a playthrough of Turok 2 today and it was like 10 fps. I want to see exactly what FPS it was. lol.
Click to expand...

Turok 2 was the first thing I thought of. I'd love to see some N64 games pulled apart.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
Turok 2 would be great. I actually played it the other day. It's like a bizarre mix of being incredibly impressive and also repulsive?
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Y2Kev said:
I think some really old arguments could be laid to rest. Blue Shadows analysis please.

I watched a playthrough of Turok 2 today and it was like 10 fps. I want to see exactly what FPS it was. lol.
Click to expand...

There are so many N64 games that would be really interesting to see broken down. Would love to see that.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
EmCeeGramr said:
Turok 2 would be great. I actually played it the other day. It's like a bizarre mix of being incredibly impressive and also repulsive?
Click to expand...

I was super impressed by Adon's voice acting. The whole game is somewhat impressive, actually, even if I don't think it is all that good a game, but I'd love to see how they did that. Besides, I mean, drop the framerate to 10 fps.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Would be interesting to see the Jak games dissected, those games couldn't even be 100% recreated on PS3 due to some of the PS2 quirks they took advantage of.

Also some early gen versus late gen comparisons: how much did they improve, and what tradeoffs were there if any? As I recall FFX had much higher poly count models than FFXII (higher poly counts period?) but FFXII had large open environments and higher detailed textures, and MGS3 was mostly 30 FPS versus MGS2 being mostly 60.
 
K

King_Moc

Banned
I thought that was such a good idea, that i've literally tweeted the thread to them. They'll probably never see it, as it's 2am here in the UK, but still...
 
R

RedSwirl

Junior Member
It'd make the most sense to analyze games that pulled off unusual technical feats for their time.

Turok 2 is definitely a good choice. Another older example might be something like Gunstar Heroes or the original Star Fox.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
Imagine if there was a Digital Foundry comparison of all the console versions of Doom. Missing or alternative music, every version had different amounts of levels, changes in level geometry, the different resolutions/screen sizes, differences in sprites, differences in textures.
 
M

MormaPope

Banned
Games I want to see covered:

MGS1: Framerate seemed really uneven, the tank boss battle with Raven was really bad performance wise

FF7: Battles seemed really dodgy framerate wise, cutscenes also were really choppy

Shenmue 1&2: Incredibly impressive on a technical level, would like to know a lot of little details about everything.
 
K

King_Moc

Banned
EmCeeGramr said:
Imagine if there was a Digital Foundry comparison of all the console versions of Doom. Missing or alternative music, every version had different amounts of levels, changes in level geometry, the different resolutions/screen sizes, differences in sprites, differences in textures.
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah, SNES vs Jaguar!

That SNES version seemed great to me at the time. Really can't stomach it now though.
 
K

Kazerei

Banned
I would've loved this back in the PS2/GC/Xbox era. Lots of multiplatforms and I never really knew which version to buy. Apparently Beyond Good & Evil is better on GC than PS2, but I only played the PS2 version :\
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
EmCeeGramr said:
Imagine if there was a Digital Foundry comparison of all the console versions of Doom. Missing or alternative music, every version had different amounts of levels, changes in level geometry, the different resolutions/screen sizes, differences in sprites, differences in textures.
Click to expand...

What got me interested in Doom in particular was the AVGN commentary on that. The 32X version in particular with the horrible music.
 
D

DMczaf

Member
Perfect Dark with Expansion Pack vs Without Expansion Pack

faq-pd-expak.jpg
 
D

Dead Man Typing

Member
Resident Evil - all of them.

RE1 - Saturn vs psone vs DS vs pc
RE2 and RE3 - PSone vs Dreamcast vs pc vs Gamecube
CV - Dreamcast vs Dreamcast Complete vs PS2 vs Gamecube vs PS3 vs 360
RE4 - Gamecube vs PS2 vs Wii vs pc vs ps3 vs 360

There's a month of content right there.
 
T

Timu

Member
Y2Kev said:
1. SNES vs. Genesis multiplatform titles -- this gen is one where the multiplatform gap was at its largest
Click to expand...
That would be amazing, such differences in multiplats that could never be repeated again I think, not just in graphics and performance but also sound!
 
D

DMiz

Member
This has a lot of interest for me as well.

As someone who is recently getting into 3D modelling, I actually really like playing PS1 games to get a sense for how the foundations started and building from there. It might not be the most instructive way to do it, but I find that people used certain tricks back then that still come in handy, even with the less stringent criteria that exists now.
 
M

Madness

Member
I think the time has passed. Maybe only to do it for remakes. Like here's how ocarina of time 3D holds up to the original, here's Halo 2: Anniversary compared to Halo 2 on Vista and Original Xbox.
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
Lens of Truth actually did a bunch of retro comparisons a few years ago

Resident Evil - PSone vs. Saturn
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-resident-evil/

Resident Evil 2 - PSone vs. N64
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-resident-evil-2/

Street Fighter Alpha - PSone vs. Saturn
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-street-fighter-alpha-warriors-dreams/

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 - DC vs. Xbox
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-marvel-vs-capcom-2/

Madden '94 - SNES vs. Genesis
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-madden-nfl-94/

Rayman - Jaguar vs. PSone
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-rayman/

Chrono Trigger - SNES vs. PSone
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-chrono-trigger/

DOOM - Jaguar vs. 32X
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retrospect-head2head-doom/

Mortal Kombat - SNES vs. Genesis
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retrospect-head2head-mortal-kombat/

Street Fighter III Third Strike - Xbox vs. DC
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retrospect-head2head-street-fighter-iii-3rd-strike/
 
Chobel

Chobel

Member
This is a brilliant idea.

Dark10x if you're here, please! Please! Tell this to the other members of DF.
 
E

Elvick

Banned
I hope they would do some Wayforward Shantae analysis then. They did some impressive things on GBC.

I'd love this, be far more interesting than new stuff.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Need more like that, ssx. The mortal Kombat comparison is cool. I own both psx and Saturn resident evil but I didnt think they were that different.
 
X

XANDER CAGE

Member
SolidSnakex said:
Lens of Truth actually did a bunch of retro comparisons a few years ago

Resident Evil - PSone vs. Saturn
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-resident-evil/

Resident Evil 2 - PSone vs. N64
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-resident-evil-2/

Street Fighter Alpha - PSone vs. Saturn
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-street-fighter-alpha-warriors-dreams/

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 - DC vs. Xbox
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-marvel-vs-capcom-2/

Madden '94 - SNES vs. Genesis
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-madden-nfl-94/

Rayman - Jaguar vs. PSone
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-rayman/

Chrono Trigger - SNES vs. PSone
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retro-head2head-chrono-trigger/

DOOM - Jaguar vs. 32X
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retrospect-head2head-doom/

Mortal Kombat - SNES vs. Genesis
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retrospect-head2head-mortal-kombat/

Street Fighter III Third Strike - Xbox vs. DC
http://www.lensoftruth.com/retrospect-head2head-street-fighter-iii-3rd-strike/
Click to expand...

Lens of Truth is such a joke, though. Their breakdowns are the least technical out there.
 
H

Hutty211

Member
I love this idea, satisfies my obsessive need for technical minutae and my love of retro-gaming. Does Leadbetter ever stop by GAF?
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Y2Kev said:
For some reason on Saturday morning, when I woke up and read the SM3DW Digital Foundry analysis, I kept thinking they were talking about Super Mario 64. I have no idea why. The whole time I was like, "Wow, it's so neat they're looking at this old game." Then I realized what I was reading, but I thought...maybe this WOULD be a good idea.

This gen might get slightly boring for platform comparisons but I think at least a hobbyist audience would love to see some tech analysis of some old games.

I could think of a few topics.

1. SNES vs. Genesis multiplatform titles -- this gen is one where the multiplatform gap was at its largest

2. Saturn hi-res mode

3. N64 expansion pack impact and effects

4. Would love to see analyses of big Nintendo titles from the 64 era, including Ocarina of Time

5. PS2...height of Japanese programming dominance. Show us the tricks and explain how people did things they did.

I'd really like to see this.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with you on that. The only way to do that now is to pore over a lot of ramblings on random message boards, and try to assess whether or not someone's claims about a different version are believable.

I would not mind having a trustworthy resource for this.
 
C

Celine

Member
Dead or Alive on Saturn run at 704x480 while the PS1 port run at 512x480.
Also I think DoA on Saturn was 60 fps but just 30fps on PS1 but I could be wrong.
 
K

KOCMOHABT

Member
I have to say that I don't really trust their competence.
Many times they will just provide pictures and say "yeah lighting looks better in this one". I don't have any solid examples in my head, but many games are judged in a very amateur way, rather than from a rendering engineer's perspective.
 
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