Did any Genesis and Sega CD games break the 56 color barrier?

[Xian042]

I remember hearing that Snatcher used more that 56 colors on screen at once. Did any other games pull this off? Any cartridge games go over this limit?
Were all Sega CD FMV's in 56 colors? (not counting 32X CD games)

[megasdkirby]

I heard RangerX (Genesis) and Eternal Champions for Sega CD did.

Not sure, though.

[108Stars]

The color limit of the Genesis/Sega CD was 64, not 56.

As for games that break that barrier, our own Pier Solar has 68 colors on-screen right here:

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/778/47647427kr0.th.gif (http://img137.imageshack.us/my.php?image=47647427kr0.gif)http://img137.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

[MrSparkle]

I'm fairly certain i remember reading that a large number of games used a technique where you would place two colors side by side and rely on the tvs inaccuracy to blend the colors thus enabling you to present what appears to be more than the 64 color max. I forget the name of the technique... something or other dithering perhaps.

[108Stars]

The technique you mention is indeed dithering. It works pretty well if you have connected your console via RF or composite, but not so much in RGB. It was commonly used in not only MD, Genesis games.

Of course it is only a trick on the eyes, as the system does not really display any more colors.

The trick we use to really get more colors on screen is the rarely used shadow and hightlight modes. Basically you draw graphics in 64 colors and then put the shadow effect on one part of the screen; that effects darkens the displayed colors, thus creating new colors in addition to the 64 already used in areas wehere shadow is inactive. You could also add a highlight effect to another part of the screen, which brightens colors and adds even more colors on screen.
That´s at least how I, not being the coder myself, understand it works.

[MrSparkle]

It's always interesting reading about old hacks that these guys used to push the systems past their limits.

[otaku]

Very cool I'm familiar with dithering but not this new technique you mention. Can't wait to see peir solar sounds impressive

[c0ldb33r]

From the Sega CD FAQ at Gamespy:
http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=51&game=12


III. System Specs

The Sega CD adds graphics and sound capabilities to the standard Genesis
console. Graphically, it provides superior scaling and rotation. Most
of the sound for Sega CDs comes right off the disk, in addition to game
sound effects which can be provided by the Genesis.

...

Colors:
* Originally 64, same as Genesis
* Using programming tricks, can get 128 colors via HAM ("Hold and
Modify")
- Originally developed on the Commodore Amiga to boost color
capabilities
- Basically a graphic over a graphic = a double-color
* Using Cinepak and TruVideo:
- 128 to 256 colors
- Increase screen size from 1/4 to full
- Advanced compression scheme, used in Win 95
- Software-based upgrade
* Eternal Champions CD uses 256 colors simultaneously (only game to
do so)

[ccovell]

III. System Specs

The Sega CD adds graphics and sound capabilities to the standard Genesis
console. Graphically, it provides superior scaling and rotation. Most
of the sound for Sega CDs comes right off the disk, in addition to game
sound effects which can be provided by the Genesis.

...

Colors:
* Originally 64, same as Genesis
* Using programming tricks, can get 128 colors via HAM ("Hold and Modify") Bullsh*t
- Originally developed on the Commodore Amiga to boost color capabilities And that's where it stayed.
- Basically a graphic over a graphic = a double-color Bullsh*t
...
- 128 to 256 colors
* Eternal Champions CD uses 256 colors simultaneously (only game to
do so) Dubious

Many game systems could increase the real number of colours on-screen by changing the palette once or twice mid-way down the screen. Or they could take advantage of the shadow & highlight modes of the MD/Genesis. There is no "HAM" mode on the MD/Gen.

I would NOT trust years-old system specs from FAQs.

[j_factor]

Hold and Modify is something specific to the custom video processor in the Amiga. I'm not sure how anyone ever thought Genesis and/or Sega CD had it. Even on the Amiga it was never used that much for games, it was mainly for other applications.

Technically, the 61-color limit is per scanline, not for the whole screen. You can easily surpass 61 simultaneous colors by switching pallettes partway down the screen. That's a "trick" that goes all the way back to the Atari 2600 and games like Freeway. In fact, at the last CGE, the Atari discussion panel specifically talked about using this trick in VCS games. :D

The Sonic games (and Ristar) used this for the water stages, when you are able to see both above and below the water line on the screen. I'm pretty sure more Genesis games used this than the shadow/highlight feature, although Vectorman used the latter pretty well to emulate light sourcing.

[tomaitheous]

Technically, the 61-color limit is per scanline, not for the whole screen. You can easily surpass 61 simultaneous colors by switching pallettes partway down the screen. That's a "trick" that goes all the way back to the Atari 2600 and games like Freeway. In fact, at the last CGE, the Atari discussion panel specifically talked about using this trick in VCS games.

What j_factor said :)

Though the trick amounts to something pretty limiting. You can't update all 61 colors in a single scanline without showing garbage/artifacts across the screen(not a solid line, but a pattern in 16pixel width increments). Sonic tries to hide some of the garbage pixels with interleaving water "tops" sprites across the screen that alternate every 1/60 sec. If you primed the VDP before each scanline, you can transfer up to 6-8 colors before you start to see artifacts mid screen. Still, you could do a nice vertical gradient 3rd BG layer like a lot of amiga games did.

Shadow/highlight method is nice and more flexible, but it is also limited in that it only gives *shades* of a specific color and doesn't allow you to pick new/separate colors. Its other draw back is that it costs you one BG layer or/and sprites (cutting into you sprite per scanline limit, i.e. flicker/blank out).





I always wondered if Sega was referring to dithering/vertical line method or if they were referring to shadow/highlight for Ranger-X. Plus, I'm sure they were touting the theoretical onscreen color ability and not the actual in game screens. For EC and some others, they were definitely talking about dithering/blending method from the unique properties of the Megadrives RF/composite output. It blended like no other ;)

[triverse]

It was widely purported in magazines like EGM and Gamefan around the time that Ranger X was coming around that the Genesis had H.A.M. capabilities and that RX was the first game to use it.

[j_factor]

That's weird. Anyone in the Amiga scene will tell you that you can't use HAM in a side-scroller, because it won't look right. You'll see the wrong colors. Also, HAM is not a "programming trick", it's a screenmode built in to the Amiga's video processor.

In any case, Ranger-X doesn't seem to me to be all that much more colorful than a lot of other Genesis games. It might break the 61-color barrier, but probably not by that much.

[tomaitheous]

It was widely purported in magazines like EGM and Gamefan around the time that Ranger X was coming around that the Genesis had H.A.M. capabilities and that RX was the first game to use it.

That doesn't surprise me. EGM said a lot of stupid crap and was always getting the specs wrong, more so than other mags like Gamefan, Gamepro, VG&CE, etc.