I've noticed how when Genesis and SNES fanboys compare platforms, they tend to judge everything based around how close anything is to their favorite console, at the exclusion of rival console's strengths. So you'll find blind Genesis fans judging things not by how good or bad they are, but how Genesis-like they are or aren't. Like how a game is pathetically weak if it doesn't move fast enough to make it unplayable. Super SNES nerds though, tend to dismiss outright anything that Nintendo hasn't touched, because by default it can never even
come close to comparing.
The only thing that Genesis and SNES super fans always seem to agree on though, is when the PC Engine is being discussed along with the other two consoles, they instantly dismiss any and all positives/superiorities that the PC Engine has. The craziest part of that, is that it's mainly the
actual graphics that these people are saying don't count. You know, the pixel art that makes up the entire image before any gimmicks are tossed around.
It's even crazier when people start to point out what only the Genesis or SNES can do and how the PC Engine can't. End of discussion. It's crazy because the same people ignore the fact that the graphics in PC Engine games like Forgotten Worlds are IMPOSSIBLE to achieve on either Genesis or SNES. Period. If we're talking about what CAN'T be done on other consoles, then both the Genesis and SNES
can't produce resolutions and onscreen color, or actual graphic quality, as the lowly "8-bit" PC Engine can and has in published games. They'll go on about how a warping pixelated mess or 60fps transparencies can
never be matched by similar techniques on other consoles. But when the
actual graphics themselves are of a higher and unmatched technical quality... all of a sudden technical feats no longer count.
You know what other hardware lacks true Mode 7 and real transparencies? Neo Geo, CPS1 and CPS2. Can those platforms
never compare to the power of the SNES? One thing they all have in common with each other and the PC Engine is that they're capable of higher resolutions plus more onscreen colors and are known for amazing in-game animation. Do the flicker transparencies in CPS2 games
really look so bad that those of us who think the games look good are really just "kidding ourselves"? And all the animation found in games for those three platforms, is it really no substitute for warping and pixelated effects? Because the way I see it it's the other way around. Much of the special effects on 16-bit consoles are substitutes for real art and animation. Are Seiken Densetsu 3's Intellivision-quality pixelated O's really more impressive than animated art?
The other ridiculous stereotype that's been floating around since back in the day, is the notion of "real" and "fake" effects. Like how the PC Engine can only do "fake" parallax. I've got some terrible news for Genesis and SNES fanboys, ALL of your favorite console's graphics and scrolling is fake. These systems don't move around layers of graphic art. They cobble together of bunch of little swatches called "tiles" and create the
illusion of pieces of art. It's just a simulation. But
then, instead of sliding around these layers in real-time with magic invisible computer hands, these sections of tiles
instantly teleport to different locations. That's right, the Genesis and SNES use ANIMATION to simulate movement, just like how the PC Engine does. There is no such thing as real-time in game graphics. It's all an animated illusion that tricks human minds with simulated movement.
Not that it matters how the little monkeys work things under the hood, but for the people ridiculing the PC Engine for
only having two layers like some 8-bit chump, it actually has 3 layers. There's the tiles, sprites and a solid color layer that is normally invisible. Why does it matter? It is used at times for things like transparency effects. That rolling tunnel in Metamor Jupitor would be impressive enough on its own. But what's all the
more impressive is that it actually has shading with a gradient that the graphics are rolling through. I believe that Chris Covell's Axelay SuperGrafx demo also uses that third layer for the transparency at the horizon.
One minor note: Earlier people were talking about the SuperGrafx transparency demo(s) with Zelda graphics. Tomaitheous actually made those demos. He also made a cool transparency demo for PCE that uses Thunder Force IV graphics. It doesn't matter what kind of demos show the potential the PCE has though, there are loads of PCE games with cool translucency, silhouette and misc "transparency" like effects. Many of which are impossible to do with and look better than slapping a SNES transparency layer over something. Also those fugly flicker transpencies allow multiple layers and transparent sprites, something the SNES can't do in "hardware" either.
Anyway, if the actual graphic quality is negligible and a better measure of true "16-bit"ness or Genesis/SNES caliber graphics is scrolling a background layer vertically and horizontally behind the foreground... then I give you "real" 16-bit graphics that has been "deceptively" (LIES!
) described as "8-bit" to this day-
