Could the N64 have done the original Killer Instinct?

[cityside75]

I'm sure you all remember that Killer Instinct said it was based on "Ultra 64" hardware, and this of course turned out to be untrue. KI Gold was definitely a step down from KI2 and the original KI in terms of graphics, presentation, sound, etc.

But here's my question. I know people say that the cartridge format was a primary reason for the lower quality, since you couldn't have the FMV, digital music, etc. But by the end of the system's life you had games like RE2 that had a lot more video than Killer Instinct and lots of voice and music in good quality.

So, if they used one of those king size Resident Evil 2 cartridges, could they have accurately reproduced the original arcade game, thus making that 'Ultra 64' claim a little less embarassing? It's too bad they didn't try.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Better question ... did Rare take the KI license with them in the Microsoft buyout?

Even if the N64 couldn't, the 360 definitely can handle KI 1 or 2, and I'd even pay upwards of 1200 MS points for those!

[Damaramu]

Hmm...good question. I've always wondered if the N64 could handle Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

[cityside75]

Better question ... did Rare take the KI license with them in the Microsoft buyout?

Even if the N64 couldn't, the 360 definitely can handle KI 1 or 2, and I'd even pay upwards of 1200 MS points for those!

Agreed! In lieu of that I have to give props to KI XXX on my modded Xbox. It's almost arcade perfect. Highly recommended if you have a modded Xbox.

[DreamTR]

KI is a licensing nightmare. Rare owns it, but Nintendo and Midway were involved with this, so I don't expect to see it anytime soon.

[emceelokey]

I wonder what the hell happened to that IP. The Xbox could have definitely handeled that game and I think that would have been a great game for MS to push when they acquired Rare. Especially since that's a fighting game and that would have been such a great game to push on Xbox live when they were still trying to establish that service in it's infancy. Yet they do essentially a graphical remake of Conker, and Ghoulies which was ok at best. Then when they head to the 360 they put PDZ which was again OK at best and Kameo which was a brand new IP that turned out to be meh and probably won't get to many people to follow to a sequel. Pinata seems to be the first non Nintendo game that gained a following yet still no KI. Not even a character popping up in a game somewhere.

On the subject. I think they could have possibly. They probably would have had to compress some of the FMV and did the same thing they did with the backgrounds in KI Gold where they used 3d models instead of the moving 2d stuff it had but that's really the only thing that I could see taking a "loss" in quality from the arcade. Gold had just as many character and they all played perfectly, the sound was great, all the moves were there so I don't know why KI wouldn't with the mentioned exceptions. There were a few games that had FMV on the SNES so it was possible to get the FMV as far back as NBA Jam so 4 years later I would suspect they progressed a little bit with that.

[Rob2600]

On the subject. I think they could have possibly. They probably would have had to compress some of the FMV and did the same thing they did with the backgrounds in KI Gold where they used 3d models instead of the moving 2d stuff it had but that's really the only thing that I could see taking a "loss" in quality from the arcade. Gold had just as many character and they all played perfectly, the sound was great, all the moves were there so I don't know why KI wouldn't with the mentioned exceptions.

Yes, Killer Instinct Gold had amazing music, especially considering it's from 1996...and a near-launch title. Wow.

The graphics are very good, too. KI Gold runs at 60 frames per second and the resolution seems higher than the arcade version.

Overall, I think Rare did a fantastic job. KI Gold fit on a 12 MB cartridge. It makes me wonder why Metal Gear Solid 4 won't fit on a 50 GB Blu-ray disc.

[heybtbm]

KI Gold fit on a 12 MB cartridge. It makes me wonder why Metal Gear Solid 4 won't fit on a 50 GB Blu-ray disc.

...and there is our DP false dichotomy of the day.

[emceelokey]

N64 carts were 12 mb? Wow! That's like a handful of songs on an MP3 player. Right. Doesn't seem right.

[Rob2600]

N64 carts were 12 mb? Wow! That's like a handful of songs on an MP3 player.

Nintendo 64 cartridges ranged from 4 MB to 64 MB. The developers did a lot with such a "tiny," "limiting" amount of space.

[Volcanon]

Then again the cartridges cost more than CDs. Games like FF7, which were what, four CDs, were 2400 MB.

[Rob2600]

Then again the cartridges cost more than CDs. Games like FF7, which were what, four CDs, were 2400 MB.

Not really. Final Fantasy VII was released on three CD-ROMs, which provided roughly 2 GB of storage. However, that doesn't mean the game took up 2 GB of space.

I assume a certain percentage of the data on each disc was redundant. Also, the full-motion video and pre-rendered backgrounds could've been compressed like in the N64 version of Resident Evil 2.

Or the video scenes could've been rendered in real-time using the game engine.

I'm not saying that Final Fantasy VII definitely could've fit onto a 64 MB N64 cartridge. It might have...it might not have...I don't know. What I do know is that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a huge, expansive adventure with great graphics and music and the entire game fit onto a 32 MB cartridge.

[cyberfluxor]

I'm not familiar with the sizes of games but with a quick search FFVII ISOs are around 1.3 gigs. If that is accurate, could you image about 15 N64 cartridges for it? They would have done something quite different. But yes, I always appreciate what older game coders could do with resources so limited.

[Ed Oscuro]

Heh, false dichotomies aside...Rob, could you enlighten me about what sort of ROMs Nintendo used in N64 carts? There was a discussion about that recently. I imagine the 12MB one could've used 3 * 4 MB chips, for instance.

Anybody who's cracked open an N64 cart, for that matter, and taken a look at the chips inside...would be interesting to know what they used in there.

[Rob2600]

Rob, could you enlighten me about what sort of ROMs Nintendo used in N64 carts? There was a discussion about that recently. I imagine the 12MB one could've used 3 * 4 MB chips, for instance.

Anybody who's cracked open an N64 cart, for that matter, and taken a look at the chips inside...would be interesting to know what they used in there.

Ed, good question. I really don't know the answer. I've never seen that information published, only the total cartridge size.