Its cool, I just had to voice my opinion in response to 'sms is superior'.Originally Posted by Arkanoid_Katamari
Ive been playing Kirby alot the past few days and recording my runs. Every time I play Im just really impressed at how nice it looks and how well done the sprite animations are.
I was told the SMS was unable to do the same sprite 'flickering' trick to help improve performance, and would often by plagued by higher then unusual slow down vs comparable NES games.
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You need to stop getting tech specs from the schoolyard. ;-D
As for flicker, go play SMS R-Type and swear to me it doesn't flicker.
While a few SMS games do amazing stuff with its slow CPU, it is a fact that the Z-80 is slower than the NES' 6502-like (read up on Z-80 M-cycles vs. T-cycles vs the 6502 yourselves) and so it is more prone to slowdown in theory. The SMS' video chip is even more restrictive in terms of timing and when it can be safely accessed compared to the NES' PPU, leading to more games (that I've noticed) skipping frames on the SMS, compared to NES games which tend to draw every frame but slow down as a result.
Trouble with Nintendo way back was their communistic attitude threatening stores mot to stock any other system besides NES, otherwise SMS would've done much better in USA and you would have seen the gorgeous games only Europe got.
But there you go, land of the free was dictated by a Japanese company, go figure.
That does not make any sense, you make it sound like Nintendo put a gun to the retailers head forcing them not to sell anything but Nintendo product.
Have you lived in America? Retail stores stocked SMS systems and games and they were not hard to find.
Nintendo games however, could be hard to find because they would sell out so fast. I remember my dad took me to 5 different stores searching for a copy of Super Mario 2, and at the last store they had one copy left. I was more than happy to spend all my 55$ on that game.
So maybe SMS games diddnt sell so well because Nintendo stuff was just way more popular???
Also regarding developers, maybe they just diddnt want to make games for a system which utilizes a controller with only 2 buttons? Nintendo controllers have 4 buttons in addition to the d-pad. You cant play Kirby's adventure with a sega master system controller, it uses the select button. How could you play a mega man game with a master system controller? Every time you need to switch weapons you would have to toggle the start button on the system which would be a huge pain. You would have to sit right next to the system as well. That is assuming the pause button on the system can bring up other menus in addition to just pausing the game. Many games on Nintendo utilize more than just the A and B buttons.
I agree that was a rambling post about 'communism' and the NES which that term doesn't even fit either even if they did get away with what was implied there. I remember the SMS was all over the place as a kid, no one much wanted it except the rare kid who was very into the arcade games and was a Sega fan and liked to have home editions. Nintendo was what it was on the public side (and retail) because of popularity, fun, and media manipulation all rolled together. Try and remember a SMS commercial, you may get a brain cramp, but I bet you'll remember if you are that old NES ads ran on TV, any network channel prime time or otherwise (hours when kids were not in school or asleep (like after 10) ran them all the time for the system on the whole and various games too. Then you had all the big ad spots and kiosks in stores, special events, give aways, brochures, NP magazine and more. The market wasn't dictated by a Japanese imperial dictator, it was manipulated by one and very well. The only borderline illegality was the threats upon developers if they wanted to make games they almost always couldn't make them for sega or anyone else until that court trial brought that down. Sega though had plenty on their own to offer and a few others did have the balls to put stuff on the thing too so it wasn't lacking. It just didn't have the popularity behind it or the ad machine either that fueled it.
You hit the nail on the head, that's almost how it was, scaring tactics. This is well known and documented. As a matter of fact, Nintendo never played by 'American' rules (Game Over)
Last edited by tom; 08-29-2014 at 05:59 AM.
That's just stupid reasoning.
Space Shuttle on the Atari VCS uses 7 buttons, but you only have a 1-buttoned joystick, but it works perfectly, so where's the problem?
And anyways, Sega could've released a 5 buttoned joypad if needed, they updated pads with the Genesis.
Last edited by tom; 08-29-2014 at 03:08 AM.
Well Space Shuttle uses the switches on the console itself, so I dont see how thats a relevant argument. SMS does not have a TV Type, Left and Right difficulty, or game select switches.
The point of a controller is so that you don't have to sit next to the console. :P
We could debate the graphics and the frame rates of each console all day, but bottom line is the NES had 3 Castlevania games, 3 Ninja Gaidens, 3 Contra games, 3 Mario's, Metroid, Kirby, 6 Mega Man games, Duck Tales, 3 Double Dragons, AND Color A Dinosaur.
Hell you could shorten that argument to just saying: Nintendo had Capcom, Konami(w/Ultra), Koei, Tecmo, SNK, and Taito in their pocket. Take the franchises they all created or published and it's a drive by on Sega big time with the NES.
Very true. They also had Hudsonsoft, Rare, and Hal Lab's. And all the other companies, Akklaim, Jaleco, LJN... Altho I've yet to encounter a really awesome SNK game on the NES. I haven't played them all yet, but the ones I have did not impress me. If u know of any exceptional SNK games on NES, let me know. Akklaim has been redeemed in my eyes cuz they made Smash TV, and I love Smash TV.
Last edited by Arkanoid_Katamari; 08-30-2014 at 02:21 AM.
Smash TV is a really good game. I wish more NES games utilized 2 controllers. Crazy Climber does but I dont know of any others.
I think the NES version of Smash TV seemed surprisingly well considering (I'm pretty sure) the same developer as Back to the Future made it. :P
Libble Rabble for the SFC is the one other dual-controller game I know of. And despite that the SNES has the buttons to support it (and they even included a plastic coin to put over the ABXY buttons for that D-pad feel), they included a few control options: D-pad + ABXY (normal), and three two D-pad modes: rotate clockwise (to hold the controllers by the top), rotated counterclockwise (held by the bottom) and the first one upright and the second upside-down (not sure of the point on that one).
Arkanoid -- SNK = Crystalis and Baseball Stars come to mind. Beyond that, it's especially up to taste with the arcade conversions such as Heavy Barrel and the others, but most aren't loving towards Athena or the Ikari Warriors games.
I didn't list more developers as I figured that was much a blow out already with those but yeah I suppose throwing in Rare, Natsume(through other publishers mostly), and Hudson should have been noted.
bbhood -- Silent Service, just not as a dual stick setup. Controller 2 controls firing the rear torpedo tubes, lets you look around without turning the boat, and if you're sinking you can blow ballast tanks causing an emergency surfacing of the sub.
Again, due to Nintendo's bullying and threatening tactics, these companies weren't allowed to code for other platforms, otherwise they would've.
Anyway, Western companies are better than Japanese ones. SMS had many great European companies, no worries there.
Last edited by tom; 08-31-2014 at 02:08 AM.
To each his own, pal.
Whoa whoa whoa. Lets not go crazy now.
New Comics for the Week of 10-03-12
Hah western companies make better games? Haha. I take it this show will be run a few nights a week before moving on to the next club?
They make a few specific types of games better, hands down no argument, but on the whole western developers are pretty closed or narrow minded on what they really love to dig into a lot and really develop, and if you're not into WRPGs, sports, FPS games, and a few other 'tough' type things you can forget it. Japan still has the edge on plenty of genres on how to do a game right and better.
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