Best Super Grafx Game !!!

[Michael Helgeson]

Ah, I thought the System 16 was the "super scaler".  Too bad the Neo Geo didn't/couldn't do anything like that, but instead just had wave after wave of fighters with only a few dozen or so non-fighters (it seemed).  Lame.

The Neo could do racing games with scaling fine. It had scaling ability just as good as the OutRun hardware,and could display more sprites.All around the Neogeo had better video hardware. I think they avoided doing alot of racing titles because of the joystick interface. Riding Hero was kinda a big pain to play with it.For having a massive wave of fighters it also had these non-fighters (over 80 titles I think) to offer:

Aero Fighters 2 & 3
Alpha Mission 2
Andro Dunos
Bang Bead
Baseball Stars Professional
Baseball Stars 2
Blazing Star
Blue's Journey
Bust a Move 1 and 2
Captain Tomaday
Chibi Marukochan Deluxe Quiz
Crossed Swords
Cyber-Lip
Eight Man
Flip Shot
Football Frenzy
 Ghost Pilots
Goal! Goal! Goal!
Gururin
Irritating Maze   
Last Resort   
 League Bowling    
Magical Drop 2&3   
Magician Lord   
Mahjong Kyoretsuden
Metal Slug 1-5 and X    
Money Puzzle Exchanger
NAM 1975   
Neo Bomberman   
Neo Driftout
Neo Geo Cup '98
Neo Mr. Do!   
Neo Turf Masters
Nightmare in the Dark
Ninja Commando   
Over Top
Panic Bomber
Pleasure Goal
Pop 'N Bounce
Power Spikes 2   
Prehistoric Isle 2
Pulstar
Joy Joy Kid
Puzzle de Pon! & R version   
Quest of Jong Master
Quiz King of Fighters
Riding Hero
Shock Troopers and 2nd Squad   
Soccer Brawl
Spinmaster
Stakes Winner 1&2
Dunk Dream
Strikers 1945   
Super Baseball 2020    
Super Dodge Ball
Super Sidekicks 1-4
The Super Spy
Tecmo World Soccer   
Thrash Rally
Top Hunter    
Top Player's Golf    
Twinkle Star Sprites
Viewpoint   
Zed Blade
Zupapa!

I think the System 16 hardware A and B both only had around 40 titles to their name.

[ccovell]

Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure the Sega super scalers could both shrink and enlarge sprites, whereas the Neo-Geo could only shrink sprites.  Reading the technical docs, the NG can scale sprites vertically in 256 steps, but horizontally in only 16 steps (which is why it is sometimes juddery.)

The inability to enlarge sprites means that really large sprites on-screen take up tons of VROM/VRAM.

[Michael Helgeson]

You know,you might be right about that,but in reference to it there are alot of games where objects and characters shrink and enlarge and so on. Riding Hero,The Super Spy,Metal Slug series in certain spots. There are others too. Riding Hero was pretty much on par with Super Hang On graphically,other then looking  a little cleaner. I just cant stand to play it with a AES stick,it sucks.

Considering Riding Hero was made proves it had the ability to produce racing games like Outrun and Super Hang-on,possibly even better if more ram,money,time,and experience was invested. But I mean,SNK had no AM2 of their own to produce these types of games,and very little experience with it,and the Neo was meant to be popped in and out of normal jamma cabs,not driving cabs. Lack of analog steering and foot pedal support eliminated the driving need to produce racing games of those types on the Neo Geo. Too bad in a way,because if they would have at least produced one MVS that supported that type of cab,arcade vendors could have saved alot on newer racing titles. I don't even think SNK had any real racing titles using pedal/steering wheel untill Hyper-64 with the dedicated Hyper 64 driving game board.



Not bad considering the Neo did not have 2 68000 cpus under its belt. The Super-Scaler hardware was designed just to run the simulation titles AM2 produced,and other then its scaling power,its pretty limited in the other sprite handling aspects compared to the Neo Geo's (at the time) more modern video hardware. If Super-Scaler was used to do normal games all you would end up with is System-16 with better scaling effects,the outcome still being much the same as the normal System-16 titles like Shinobi,E-Swat,or Bayroute because they share the same 128 sprite displaying abilities.

[Kitsunexus]

Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure the Sega super scalers could both shrink and enlarge sprites, whereas the Neo-Geo could only shrink sprites.  Reading the technical docs, the NG can scale sprites vertically in 256 steps, but horizontally in only 16 steps (which is why it is sometimes juddery.)

The inability to enlarge sprites means that really large sprites on-screen take up tons of VROM/VRAM.

You are correct, sir.  I forget which board it is, but there is one Z80 scaler board that scales with CLOCK speed.... it's pretty crazy.

[Tatsujin]

riding hero showed some great grafx but sucked in gameplay, which super hang on didn't. super hang on also had some radical up/down hill courses and an amazing and unforgetable speed feeling. riding hero just didn't have any pepp in his ass. for me, there're almost no comparable parts in those two games, super hang on was just superior in any aspects of view (exept of the grafx).

[Michael Helgeson]

riding hero showed some great grafx but sucked in gameplay, which super hang on didn't. super hang on also had some radical up/down hill courses and an amazing and unforgetable speed feeling. riding hero just didn't have any pepp in his ass. for me, there're almost no comparable parts in those two games, super hang on was just superior in any aspects of view (exept of the grafx).

Exactly. All Riding Hero did was show it could be done. The game itself was not that great compared to others and too hard to play with a arcade stick. I can play it fine with a normal game pad however. The Nitro boost did help,and I do like the story mode,as the races did get better because of it,and harder to race through which I liked,but over all Super Hang On was developed by a team who had a better grasp on those types of games.

To be fair to Riding Hero I am also posting pics of how the game looks when you play Story Mode. Note the phone boot in the middle of nowhere. Got to really love that. Overall still this game is not bad for a first attempt of a type of game the company had no real experience at making,on their new hardware format for that matter. I should also point out that the cart supported link cable play with 2 NeoGeo systems and 2 Riding Hero carts. That feature was pretty cool for the time,and added play value being able to play against your friends.




 

[Keranu]

Neo Geo kicks ass. 

[FM-77]

This is the nerdiest forum in the world.

[Michael Helgeson]

No,this is the most awesome forum in the world. This is why I currently post nowhere else.

[FM-77]

Well I never said anything about nerdy being something negative, hehe.

[shubibiman]

Aldynes. full stop.

[Kitsunexus]

No,this is the most awesome forum in the world. This is why I currently post nowhere else.

FTW!!!

[Joe Redifer]

I knew you'd reply about Riding Hero.  To me, Riding Hero looks pretty bad.  Super Hang-On looks much better with the exception of the smaller backgrounds in the distance.  The road in RH is extremely skinny and it looks like the stripes are laying over the road itself.  If I recall, the scaling sucks.  By that I don't mean that it isn't smooth, I mean that the way it approaches from the background to the foreground looks extremely bad.  At least it does to my eyes since I notice things like that even in real life.  Whoever was responsible for how the sprites moved in RH has obviously never noticed how objects move in real life or in better games like Out Run or even the original Hang-On.  Batman Returns for the Sega CD has better scaling.

This is all based on my memory and I remember it looking amateur-tastic for a freakin' arcade game.  I think even the original Hang-On looks better than Riding Hero... well maybe RH has more color but I think that's the only way it is superior.  Riding Hero also has some of the most gawdawful sound ever.  When I rented the game, the sound made me ill and I had diarrhea for 6 days.  Thanks, Riding Hero!  Also, do the cars in that game only have two frames of animation (pointing straight ahead and pointing left, and then mirrored to the right)?  They look like they're going to drive off the side of the road in your screens.  They didn't care much when designing the crappy graphics for that game.

I think they just made it to tell the world "Hey!  We can almost do a racing game on the Neo Geo!"  They should have had other control options with the Neo Geo.  I rarely ever saw a Neo in the arcades, though.  And I've been to a lot of large arcades.

[Michael Helgeson]

LOL,yea the car thing is annoying,but that was common on about all racers back then. I think Riding Hero looks better then Super Hang On across the board,but everyone has a right to their own personal preference. I don't like the music for either game really. The stripes on the road,that was also a common issue on most racers back then. Roads on about all games back then were pretty ugly,including Riding Hero,Outrun,and Chase HQ. I agree,the road does not have enough space,and it makes the game harder,but really Super Hang ons road is a tad too wide too. I think the scaling is perfectly fine. I have zero complaints in that department,but again this can be left up to personal preference,or fanboyism,or both.


Probably a little of both on my side. But I also feel the scaling on the Sega racers is perfectly fine too. No complaints there either. Also, we had and still have tons of NeoGeos on commission here in my state in bars,laundry mats,pizza galleries,arcades,gas stations ect ect.. These days though they typically have Metal Slug,Sonic Wings 2-3,and or Bust A Move in them.

[Keranu]

This is the nerdiest forum in the world.

No, no, MY forum is the nerdiest forum in the world . Proof.