How far could 16 Bit have gone?

[YoshiM]

After reading through the "16 Bit: Yae or Nay" post, I remember reading somewhere (a book, magazine, I can't remember) about developers just starting to truly get a grip with programming the 16 bit machines. Something to the effect that they were going to be able to put out some really fantastic looking/functioning games when the "32 Bit" age hit and everyone had to figure out how to crank out software for that platform.

IMO, games for the 16 bit platform were getting pretty damn impressive. I personally "skipped" the "32 Bit" systems (3DO, Playstation, Saturn) and went straight to the N64 in 1996 when I was still playing my Sega Genesis and SNES regularly (though I've been back tracking, playing games on the PSX lately to see what I missed). Nothing really grabbed me to warrant the money.

What are your thoughts? Could 16 bit gaming have continued if left alone, as strong as it was when its era started? Or was it just time to move on?

[Arcade Antics]

*takes Genesis off shelf*

*drop kicks Genesis*

*measures distance*

*takes SNES off shelf*

*drop kicks SNES*

*measures distance*

Hmm. Well, the Genesis clocked in at 33.2 yards; the SNES at 28.7 yards.

I doubt either one of them could have really gone much farther than that.

Sorry, I'm just particularly hungry right now and I think it's affecting my mind. Or lack thereof.

*goes to order pizza*

[kainemaxwell]

Actually just look at the high quality of the last few SNES titles were: the DKC series, Killer Instinct for starters and import titles like Tales of Phantasia and Terrigma really pushed the system's limits. That and ToP had actual voice acting too.

[jaydubnb]

I think that we've only seen hints of what could be done on the 16bit platforms. Sure there were plenty of good/great games, but technologically, by utilizing chips included in carts (ie Starfox) we couldve seen even more amazing things not to mention hardware add-ons. The Sega CD could've extended the life of the Genny if there werent an overabundance of crap, so could've the SNES CD .

I think the prime example of this is the PC Engine/TG-16...8 bit CPU, 16 bit graphics chip. Some of the earlier games didnt look that much better than the NES's but look at some of the stunning titles that came out for it for HuCard (ie SF2:CE) and CD (ie Dracula X). NEC and Hudson even took it a step further by provding systems cards. One only has to look at Sapphire, compatible only with the Arcade Card upgrade, to see, potentially, what couldve been done on system.

[rbudrick]

Darn polygons! They really made it so no one wanted to do 2d anymore... I guess...people wanted 3d...or was it crammed down people's throats? Anyway, that's another discussion (It was, by the way, Sony wanted NO 2d games ever when PSX became popular, so there).

I think an even more intersting way of looking at this is how far could 2d have gone? Is 1997s Castlevania for PSX as good as it gets? Yes, that's a 32 bit system, but prob coulda been done well on 16 w/ enough memory (would have to be a CD).

Everything is 3d now (thank god for GBA--there's still some 2d out there). Almost never see 2d on tv consoles anymore...really sucks.

Anyway, how far could 3d have gone on 8 and 16 bit? I heard they were just starting to get the NES to do some minimal 3d when it was canned.

It woulda rocked to see how far 2d woulda gone if 3d hadn't, 16 bit or 128.

--Rob

[Raedon]

The Sega CD could have been the greatest thing in the 16 bit era.. To bad it got ruined with FMV and bad mono CD audio and not game content (in the US anyway.)

[geelw]

take a look at some mid-late mega drive and super famicom stuff. panorama cotton had superior scaling and color than most sega cd games, surging aura just looks great and duke nukem 3D (released only in brazil by tec toy) is a technical wonder. squaresoft's g-craft division was experimenting with some early polygon rotation in the first front mission game, rendered characters in super mario rpg and treasure hunter g, and some cool transparency effects in bahamut lagoon and seiken densetsu 3. enix was rocking with star ocean, tenchi sozou (terranigma), mystic ark, and taito's chaos seed looks pretty amazing. as far as sound goes, both tales of phantasia and star ocean have amazing option screens where you can fiddle with equalizers and such, and listen to the superb scores and voices...

to me, the turbo duo is slightly overrated in the game graphics department. the system DID bring the presentation aspect of games to a new (and better) level, with the CD format allowing for some awesome movies and musical scores, but many of the actual games were just above average-looking, with only a few developers making the most of the format. dracula-x, gotzendiener, snatcher, street fighter 2, a couple of the better shooters, and some great action games aside, if you were to slap these games onto a cart format, they probably wouldn't have been all that popular (if you've played altered beast, forgotten worlds or strider on the pc-engine, you'll agree just a little, lol)...=^P

[jaydubnb]

(if you've played altered beast, forgotten worlds or strider on the pc-engine, you'll agree just a little, lol)...=^P

Yeh, i agree with this...having played the PCE CD version of Strider I have to wonder why some ppl prefer it over the Genny version, Prehaps because it's CD and never came to America?


On another note, what of the NEO*GEO? I dont know the specs on it....i've heard ppl call it a 16 bitter with more power and also a 24 bitter. That machines been around forever churning out great games.

[christianscott27]

the GBA today pretty much shows you how far 16bit gaming could go.
________
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[Aswald]

The 16-Bitters, like the third-generation systems, just weren't around long enough for anyone to REALLY know. Take a look at the later Atari 2600 games as opposed to the earliest ones, and then do the same with the NES (Castlevania 3, Dungeon Magic, etc.).
The MSX games, such as the splendid Nemesis 3 and Arkanoid, as well as the 1984 Activision game Steamroller (more than 25 mazes!), give you an idea of what the ColecoVision was probably capable of, as does Super Pac-Man for the Atari 5200.

Just how much of the 16-Bitters' abilities were really used, even in the later days? We may never know for sure. Might even have matched the Neo-Geo.

[geelw]

don't forget- there WERE plenty of neo-geo to 16-bit ports done! not very accurate translations, as far as stuff like scaling effects and such, but they gave gamers who had never played or couldn't afford geo stuff a chance to see what all the fuss was about.

i think fatal fury special (sfc), viewpoint (gen), and king of the monsters (gen/snes) were the most fun. vp on the genesis ended up being much better (as far as playability) than the playstation version, lol...=^P

[rbudrick]

The GBA is actually 32 bit :-)

-Rob