Did any games use the SNES hi res mode?

[vxkens]

Just curious... Does anyone know of any SNES games that used the 512x448 mode in any way, even if only for a still image?

Edit: Actually I just read on another site that the SNES had several possible resolutions. I guess what I should say is, are there any games that used a resolution besides the standard 256x224?

[Damaniel]

I'm pretty sure that Seiken Densetsu 3 uses it for the character select screen. Other than that, I can't think of any other examples.

[Eyedunno]

I'm pretty sure that Seiken Densetsu 3 uses it for the character select screen. Other than that, I can't think of any other examples.
It used it for more than just the character select screen. All in-game dialog and menu text layers use the high-res mode, which makes for some scrunched-up kanji. It looks good though. I do believe this is only in the original; I'm pretty sure the fan translation either uses the regular mode, or perhaps made the text twice as wide so it looks like normal SNES text.

But it's not only SD3. SD2 (Secret of Mana) also uses the hi-res mode for menu screen text (e.g. on the status/weapon info screens).

I'm definitely curious about any others anyone happens to know about though...

Edit: Oh, I just paid more attention to the OP and its edits. I should say that these two games used 512X224. I don't know about 512X448, but I would like to know this stuff as well.

[Jehusephat]

I seem to recall a screen in Earthbound that had a higher resolution than the rest of the game. It was a full-screen image of the planet, but I can't find a screenshot of it anywhere, nor can I remember what part of the game it was in. I could just be imagining things.

[Cauterize]

Power Drive does for all it's menus!

[Eyedunno]

Just looked it up. Apparently RPM Racing and Ranma 1/2: Chounai Gekitou Hen are the other titles that used the hires mode (512X448 in those cases). Not very popular though, in any case.

[Eyedunno]

Power Drive does for all it's menus!
I just verified this. It's not ALL of its menus, but some of the logos and so on do indeed use 512X448. What else, I still wonder...

[Damaniel]

Just looked it up. Apparently RPM Racing and Ranma 1/2: Chounai Gekitou Hen are the other titles that used the hires mode (512X448 in those cases). Not very popular though, in any case.

I was reading the article on the SNES on Wikipedia -- Mode 5 (the mode that supports the 512 pixel resolutions) supports 2 graphics layers -- one 16-color, one 4-color. That would be severely limiting compared to the 256-color modes. I loaded up the Ramna 1/2 game, and you can tell that it doesn't use many colors -- but at least it uses them pretty well.

Since the 16-bit era was more graphics/color oriented than resolution oriented, I can see why the hi-res mode wasn't used very much.

[vxkens]

I guess RPM Racing was the only game that ever used the mode in-game. That would explain why the game's backgrounds look so bland and colorless.

[Eyedunno]

I loaded up the Ramna 1/2 game, and you can tell that it doesn't use many colors -- but at least it uses them pretty well.
See vxkens' post above. If it doesn't use many colors, that's to save on space and not a result of the high-res mode (though I also loaded it up and thought it looked just like a typical SNES game). The only place the high-res mode is used in Ranma is the menu text.