Genesis real vs. Kega Fusion comparison
While watching a video of Thunder Force III tonight I noticed that the colors seemed more vibrant or eye-catching than I was used to seeing. In the description of the video the uploader (Ace9921) says that he's captured it off an s-video modded Genesis, non-TMSS model that says "High Definition Graphics" at the top. My point in making this comparison however is to show the differences that original hardware seem to show versus emulation, rather than how it is modded.
I just want to do a few quick comparisons to demonstrate something. I used the latest version of Fusion (3.64), and most of the screengrabs were taken from Ace's video at 720p with the video set to expand in size.
In this shot you can see the SEGA logo as it is on the old hardware versus the emulation:
While some may prefer the sharpness of the pixels in the right image, I just want to point out how the colors are blended in a smoother fashion in the left pic.
(see the diagonal shading of the letters? It looks fine in its perfectly-clear emulated version, but the older hardware shows more blending, so that there is actually more color on screen. If you compare each up close in an image editor there are more shades of blue and white in the left image, and if you save just one or the other as an uncompressed file, such as .png, the right image is smaller because it requires less data to store the colors).
Here is another, this time of the title screen (you may want to maximize your browser to enlarge the images):
Again, some may prefer the latter, with its sharpness and clarity, however I am not trying to say one is better than the other, but rather point out the differences. I notice for instance that the glass on the ship looks smoother, more like glass, more rounded. The red parts of the ship on either side are also better shaded (the TV output gives the illusion of this, even though the hardware is pushing out the same thing as seen in the emulator).
Other things may be more a matter of opinion, but to me the stars don't look as good when they are perfectly sharp. Now you see they are only a few pixels, but if you examine this image closely in an image editor they are more like 15-30 pixels.
Here is another example:
Note that the color blending produces a more spherical object. Also the fiery planet looks more orange and saturated, although this is perhaps due to Ace's recording requipment or TV settings.
Whatever the case, I think the artistic effect of the fire looks more real, or better overall, than the one on the right, which looks splotchy. I am aware however that if you sit back from your screen a bit your eyes may do some of the blending effects naturally even with good vision.
As a point of comparison, check out the second half of this video, where an artist is painting a dragon:
At the 5:23 mark he says he wants to soften the chalky areas. And elsewhere it shows him softening parts of the image, or blending colors together. This gives it a more lifelike, three-dimensional look, so that the scales look soft to the touch, perhaps even cool in temp.
Some emulators have filters which try to emulate some of the effects of TVs and wires, such as Blargg's NTSC filters in Fusion, which is also found in Nestopia. In this one,
... you can see that the right image does have some decent blending going on, but it is not as strong as the left image. In ZSNES, however, Blargg's filter has options for all sorts of levels to set and you can change it quite dramatically.
Finally, some gameplay:
(to view this last image in full, click here: http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5...derforceii.png. It may be cut off by the borders of this message board. To view the rest as an album, click here: http://imageshack.us/g/526/acefusionthunderforceii.png/ )
Again, back to the regular output of Fusion (set to normal, non-brightened, etc). The right image looks pleasant enough, but the blending of everything is preferable on the left, particularly the explosion effects which look rounder and more three-dimensional. It is like this basic drawing example many people are familiar with:
http://www.discover-how-to-draw.com/...h-shading.html
The final images always encompass a certain amount of smearing, which is why pencil or charcoal is used, along with thick paper.
I also took some pictures of Thunder Force III on my TV, which is LCD, but they turned out poor. The effect looked vaguely like emulation, however, even though I'm using composite output and Ace was using s-video. I don't know how that works exactly, but certainly on a CRT there is more blending, I think, even with RGB.
Another effect I forgot to mention, but is prevalent in the last image, and better visible in motion, is the after-glow of the lasers. In emulation when a picture disapears there is no noticeable effect of this kind.
I am not sure how much of this can be simulated in computer programs, but it would be nice if the real effects of CRT televisions, or this old hardware, can be better achieved in the future. Most emulator authors are trying to imitate the game console hardware only, and leave the projection of its contents (what you actually see and hear) up to your display device. This may be for the better of course, but I thought I'd make a thread anyway.
Matt
P.S. Chris Covell has an excellent comparison of RGB, composite, emulator, etc., on his website, but in particular look at this page and scroll down to the Blaster Master section:
http://www.chrismcovell.com/gotRGB/rgb_compare.html
He wrote, "Sunsoft's artists really knew what they were doing on the Famicom. They blended their colours and used dithering methods that suited NTSC composite perfectly, creating lifelike, earthy tones that just might look better than RGB..."
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Originally Posted by stalepie
