Favorite Valis game?

[Spooky]

PCE > NEO GEO

This is true.

5>1

What's that? Couldn't quite hear you over all the BLAST PROCESSING 

[DragonmasterDan]

It's better than Syd of Valis.

Or is it?

I actually like Syd of Valis more than Valis 1 for Genesis.

[esteban]

It's better than Syd of Valis.

Or is it?

I actually like Syd of Valis more than Valis 1 for Genesis.

Yeah, I'm not s big fan of either....so I can't really be fair unless  I played 'em side-by-side.

But neither one impresses me much.

I feel that Death Duel has aged much better. I know, totally random, but I was just playing Death Duel. And I still love this damn game. It prevented me from trying any Valis games in Genny.

Trü storie.

[Black Tiger]

Clearcut unbiased logic that only blind fanboys would disagree with:

Parallax: 1<2

Sprites palettes for 3 unique characters: 1>3

Stages 6>12

Speed 65%>100%

Cinemas 8>16

Redbook = uninspired chip tunes

What's that? Couldn't quite hear you over all the BLAST PROCESSING

I take it that Blast Processing is a term you vaguely remember from the article on reddit where you first learned of the Sega Genesis a year or two ago? It's not the ability to scroll two tile layers independently, the Genesis had that ability in hardware from day one. It would have been a terrible marketing idea to brag about the Genesis being able to scroll one less layer than SNES.

Blast Processing is a technique developed for Sonic 2 which literally scrolls 2D games as fast as the Genesis is able to. Sega did not share this technique with third parties and Valis III is actually an early game which predates Blast Processing by a year and a half.

It's a good thing that Valis III doesn't use Blast Processing, because as it is, the game runs noticeably slower than an early unpolished third party PC Engine game.

[Gredler]

Clearcut unbiased logic that only blind fanboys would disagree with:

Parallax: 1<2

Sprites palettes for 3 unique characters: 1>3

Stages 6>12

Speed 65%>100%

Cinemas 8>16

Redbook = uninspired chip tunes

What's that? Couldn't quite hear you over all the BLAST PROCESSING

I take it that Blast Processing is a term you vaguely remember from the article on reddit where you first learned of the Sega Genesis a year or two ago? It's not the ability to scroll two tile layers independently, the Genesis had that ability in hardware from day one. It would have been a terrible marketing idea to brag about the Genesis being able to scroll one less layer than SNES.

Blast Processing is a technique developed for Sonic 2 which literally scrolls 2D games as fast as the Genesis is able to. Sega did not share this technique with third parties and Valis III is actually an early game which predates Blast Processing by a year and a half.

It's a good thing that Valis III doesn't use Blast Processing, because as it is, the game runs noticeably slower than an early unpolished third party PC Engine game.

This discussion is so rad, and in full disclosure I've yet to play a Valis game, and this certainly is inspiring me to flex my newly acquired TED to check them out

I had always assumed the term "Blast Processing" was a buzzword they used, like explosive gameplay or far out graphics. I thought they just wanted to convey that Sonic was super fast, and only genesis could make it so fast - not that it was an actual technique used by developers. I remember seeing it at the time and thinking, as a 12 year old kid, that it made all Sega games faster for sure - so it must've worked!

I do think, unbiased towards platform and based on screenshots, the color and execution in the PCE sprites is much more favorable for Valis' look.

[ClodBuster]

I had always assumed the term "Blast Processing" was a buzzword

It is just a buzzword.

[Black Tiger]

With something like "Blast Processing", it doesn't matter how it was done if it wasn't the promise of additional hardware which didn't actually exist. Just like how He-Man/MotU for Intellivision features "New! SuperGraphics".

Right up to recently, homebrew developers have been figuring out all kinds of crazy techniques to do things with stock Genesis hardware that no one would have believed possible before. Like Wolfenstien 3D, Mario Kart/F-Zero and Star Fox. The programming techniques involved created results which would have been impressive if accelerator chips had been used.

But Sega explained bitd what Blast Processing resulted in. What was actually happening under the hood* would have been as much jibberish to the average gamer as explaining the process if rendering a single sprite on-screen.


*the way I've heard it described is that it helped the Genesis do more faster by rendering more like a PC Engine.

[ClodBuster]

I don't care if there's a technical background made up later on. I place my bets on that the people who invented that marketing campaign had no idea of actual Genesis specs, but blast processing sounds violently cool even in retrospective.

[tool]

"blast processing" is only achieved in CD format only correct? Carts don't have that possibility afaik.

[Black Tiger]

"blast processing" is only achieved in CD format only correct? Carts don't have that possibility afaik.

No, Sonic 2 is a cart game.

The Sega-CD is itself a major hardware upgrade, with its own powerful cpu.

[Spooky]

Parallax: 1<2

You figured that out all by yourself?

Redbook = uninspired chip tunes

Sorry for taking things on a case-by-case basis, as opposed to assuming that CD quality audio is inherently superior to chiptune in all circumstances. I bet you think the soundtrack to Hellfire S is superior to the Genesis port, too. 

I take it that Blast Processing is a term you vaguely remember from the article on reddit where you first learned of the Sega Genesis a year or two ago? It's not the ability to scroll two tile layers independently

Cute, but I've been a Genesis fan for 20 years, thank you. And I'm quite aware that Valis III doesn't utilize blast processing, I was making a joke. Not that I should expect humorless people to pick up on that. 

You're doing a great job of avoiding the issue of the Genesis version having tighter controls, btw. Then again, aesthetics are clearly more important than how a game actually plays, right?

[Gredler]

You're doing a great job of avoiding the issue of the Genesis version having tighter controls, btw. Then again, aesthetics are clearly more important than how a game actually plays, right?

Danm, no Mega EverDrive and no copy and Valis III makes me pull out of this argument

I suppose I could attempt a completely speculative obey-nion, hack together an case for PCE Controllers vs Genny controllers, or try and make a ugly hacked together knock off of Estaban's turricant "PCE Valis Does What Gennicant" or something.. Guess I got to at least try the PCE versions before my next thread contribution hahah

[geise]

Lol.  Spooky you're still rantin'?

[Arkhan]

how do you guys judge parallax quality by looking at a still-shot?

Sounds retarded to me.

lol

[Punch]

Blast Processing.