Superiorities of PCE games vs. the others?

[Black Tiger]

The AES is consolized arcade hardware that has zero original games in its library. It's literally all arcade roms.

Although he PCE is technically superior to the Neo Geo in some ways, I think most of us can agree that we're talking about PCE/MD/SNES.

[Tatsujin]

The AES is consolized arcade hardware that has zero original games in its library. It's literally all arcade roms.

Although he PCE is technically superior to the Neo Geo in some ways, I think most of us can agree that we're talking about PCE/MD/SNES.

if you go into other forums, it would more be like PCE/NES/SMS   *ignorants*

[Nando]

The CD unit was 400 bones, that was quite expensive back in the day. If I recall, the console it self was about $200 which was about reg. price for consoles back then.

The AES was what, 650$?  with one packin game that wasn't really that fun unless you like Nam or Baseball.

I'd rather drop the cash on a TGCD.  Any day.

Me too, but the Neo was on a class of its own back then, and even today. I knew more people that owned a TG16 than a Neo. Just saying, price point was okay for the core unit. The CD unit made it more expensive and a higher burden of entry, but it also gave it an edge over the other consoles. Obviously we know that marketing and the lack of WOW games killed the console here.

I just don't think price point was really the strength of the system, when it came to the CD unit. Once the Duo came out, it was an easier price tag to take.

[Necromancer]

NeoGeo doesn't count, for it's 24 bit.  Duh.

[Opethian]

PCE über alles

[SamIAm]

To me, when it comes to what's in the actual games and not the purely on-paper stuff, the one meaningful advantage that PCE games have which relates directly to the technical side of things is the color palette. Were I to try to convince a Genesis/SNES purist about something cool and unique in PCE technology, that's what I would start with.

[Nando]

To me, when it comes to what's in the actual games and not the purely on-paper stuff, the one meaningful advantage that PCE games have which relates directly to the technical side of things is the color palette. Were I to try to convince a Genesis/SNES purist about something cool and unique in PCE technology, that's what I would start with.

I don't get it.

It's a limited color palette when compare to the SNES. Obviously blows the Genesis palette away. Now that's not to say that some gorgeous games didn't come out. I've already stated as much.

[Nando]

NeoGeo doesn't count, for it's 24 bit.  Duh.

Real Hot Dog stuff!

[Black Tiger]

To me, when it comes to what's in the actual games and not the purely on-paper stuff, the one meaningful advantage that PCE games have which relates directly to the technical side of things is the color palette. Were I to try to convince a Genesis/SNES purist about something cool and unique in PCE technology, that's what I would start with.

I don't get it.

It's a limited color palette when compare to the SNES. Obviously blows the Genesis palette away. Now that's not to say that some gorgeous games didn't come out. I've already stated as much.

He meant the displayable palettes. Golden Axe arcade has a master palette four times larger than PCE, but wound up with swatches of often-clashing monochromatic colors (several types of objects together all shaded the same, jumping from grey to blue to brown).

The most common Mode for SNES games only allows for something like 4 colors for the matte layer. This results in many games featuring NES/Gameboy looking huds. SFII is a good example. On PCE you get nicely colored and shaded fonts and icons instead.

[Nando]

Okay that makes more sense. Thanks!

[SamIAm]

I don't get it.

It's a limited color palette when compare to the SNES. Obviously blows the Genesis palette away. Now that's not to say that some gorgeous games didn't come out. I've already stated as much.

I agree about the SNES being better in a lot of ways, but I still think that the PCE palette has an inherent vibrancy that gives it a different look which is hard for the SNES to match. And yes, the greater number of sub-palettes (or whatever they're called) can be an advantage at times.

The other really meaningful advantage is the CPU power over the SNES, but that's a bit flimsier than the palette IMO. The difference in the amount of RAM can wind up balancing it out in some cases because you don't have to access/decompress stuff from the ROM so often with the SNES.

[nodtveidt]

IMO, the skill of the designers has a lot more to do with the way the game turns out than the hardware does. The Genesis may have a very limited set of subpalettes but can easily do things with its video hardware that are real headaches on the PCE. The SNES has the widest range of colors but can't display as many on-screen as the PCE can, though its overall graphics capabilities are beyond both the Genesis and PCE. The PCE buries both in terms of displayable colors as well as free cycles, but that's all for naught if you don't know how to exploit these things, and it seems like so few companies really knew how to work the hardware back in the day. Ultimately, if you were to take one game and develop it concurrently on all three consoles... which would look the best? My money's on either the PCE or the SNES. Which would play the best? Either the PCE or the Genesis version. Which would sound the best? Depends on whether or not you used the CD... the CD gives the Genesis and PCE a distinct advantage over the SNES in this department. Without it though, it's hard to say... just depends on how well you can work their respective sound capabilities.

There is no absolute best between the three, no matter how fanboyish we may get around here. There is always going to be *something* that one of the other consoles can do better with the same game, no matter which one you're defending.

[Nando]

I thought massive otakuness was the order of this thread.

[ccovell]

IMO, the skill of the designers has a lot more to do with the way the game turns out than the hardware does. The Genesis may have a very limited set of subpalettes but can easily do things with its video hardware that are real headaches on the PCE. The SNES has the widest range of colors but can't display as many on-screen as the PCE can...

Not true.  You're totally forgetting the SNES' transparency mode, which multiplies the number of colours on-screen, as well as the 256- and 2048-colour bitmap modes, native to the PPU(s).

[Tatsujin]

To me, when it comes to what's in the actual games and not the purely on-paper stuff, the one meaningful advantage that PCE games have which relates directly to the technical side of things is the color palette. Were I to try to convince a Genesis/SNES purist about something cool and unique in PCE technology, that's what I would start with.

that's basically what this thread is about