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SNES Limit pushers - that do the impossible!
ethomaz
Banned
Or how many are just little tricks
Belthazar
Member
Or how many are just little tricks
Those tricks are at least interesting in how they squeezed potential of a set hardware. Adding horsepower is definitely not.
DoABarrelRoll
Neo Member
Donkey Kong Country.
Captain Toad
Banned
Well, often games did do things that the SNES literally couldn't do. They did it with extra processing chips in the games themselves. Which was cool, but resulted in some pricey games.
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Deerock71
Member
Or how many are just little tricks
_Ex_
Member
Yep me too. I distinctly recall when I bought FF3(6) at Walmart in 1994 it was $74. That's $143 in today's money, accounting for inflation. It was worth it though.
Mohawk and Headphone Jack did some interesting Mode-7 stuff on SNES:
Chiggs
Member
Didn't watch the video, but how many of these actually "push the limit" without the assistance of an add-on chip? SNES was the king of cramming in add-on chips to help games...and I'm not just referring to the Super FX, either.
Edit: Beaten
Edit: Beaten
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I gladly paid that money...one of my favorite games..this is kind of why I don't mind paying 70 for PS5 games, not to derail the thread. That's crazy though $143 bucks in todays money
RAIDEN1
Member
Apparently this game gives a nauseous feeling with that camera spinning around
electricmastro
Neo Member
SimCity 2000. It could get pretty busy on there.
AREYOUOKAY?
Member
Well not sure if this is limit pushing, but I thought this was interesting.
01011001
Banned
Donkey Kong Country didn't push any limits... it used simply sprites on simple parallax backgrounds.
the sprites were created using a high end computer at the time, but the SNES itself doesn't do anything out of the ordinary when actually playing the game
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Not that impressive, except it was rotating all game. But cool at the time. Good game, but hard as hell. Watching YT videos makes it look easy. Never came close to beating it.
electricmastro
Neo Member
Ah yeah, On the Ball as well. I suppose some might not see it as too demanding in console power, but I think it still would have been a good showcase of what the SNES could do back in 1992.
cireza
Member
I think that this isn't Mode 7 by the way. Simply clever programming with tiles and sprites.
Multiple people posting this as if its a foregone conclusion and the answer is:
None.
Axelay, Jim Power, Onizuka and Batman all didn't use add-on chips.
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RoboFu
One of the green rats
That’s the sad part about gaming today with its standardization of hardware. We just don’t get the huge jumps like we did with old consoles.
If you look at the first games of any console from the nes - ps2 and compared them to their last games there’s a huge leap in tech there as devs learn the ins and outs of the machines or line in the nes case new carts with new mappers + new programming techniques.
I personally think the original PlayStation is the most impressive with what devs could get out of it in the end with no add on hardware.
If you look at the first games of any console from the nes - ps2 and compared them to their last games there’s a huge leap in tech there as devs learn the ins and outs of the machines or line in the nes case new carts with new mappers + new programming techniques.
I personally think the original PlayStation is the most impressive with what devs could get out of it in the end with no add on hardware.
Ev1L AuRoN
Member
I don't know if it qualifies as a limit pusher, but Donkey Kong Country 2 is jaw dropping on SNES, anyone who experienced it on a CRT can confirm that.
Chiggs
Member
Multiple people are posting it because they’re familiar with the SNES’s inherit weaknesses, and we’ve all seen YouTube “list” videos that get it wrong. If this one didn’t, great.
Also, if you’ll note the first sentence in the message you quoted of mine…it ends with a question mark. That’s not a declarative statement.
RAIDEN1
Member
I never knew that the SNES got a Sim City 2000 port
cesar2xtreme
Member
Alpha 2 too, even with that modded rom now, man I wish have a repro with that rom on a cart <3
RAIDEN1
Member
I assume you mean Streetfighter Alpha 2?
cesar2xtreme
Member
Yes sir, Street Fighter Alpha 2 <3 (I get is not a super graphical wonder as other games, but to actually see the sprites from the arcades so well done in SNES, makes me happy even remember it)
93xfan
Banned
Same. Does it still have Dr. Wright?
I Love Rock 'n' Roll
Member
Road Avenger on Super Nintendo is a crazy thing, even if it needs a MSU1 cartridge.
RAIDEN1
Member
Road Avenger on the Super Nintendo puts the Sega CD version to shame, and is a showcase, of what FMV would have been like on the Nintendo Super CD, or Super Nintendo CD..
Strider Highwind
Banned
When I was a kid I thought Super Turrican was the greatest thing I'd ever seen lol
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
Yeah it is.
Adding a chip or two isn't exactly the same as adding new hardware.
Also cartridge games capabilities some times improved as the cartridge sizes increased.
a multicultural team of v
Member
Well it depends on the game, some chips are very substantive. There is a Shogi game that has a 32 bit ARM processor in the cart lol
Sid Of Bee
Member
I'm going to be 43 next month... The SNES was introduced in the prime of my gaming life. It was a magical time, perhaps magnified by nostalgia. It really wasn't much of a debate that the SNES had better graphics than the Genesis amongst my friends. Some of which were Genesis owners.
Yeah, there were a few games that seemed better on Genesis but overall the SNES just seemed superior at the time. I'm a hardware collector now and I do know the intricacies of these hardwares and respect the Genesis a lot more these days. Yeah there was the resolution. Yes, there was the speed. But the colors. The effects. The Super Nintendo stomped all over it and that is what was impressive at the time.
CamHostage
Member
That "gameplay" looks terrible, but the effect is pretty cool.
Kind of reminds me of the Mode7 hockey game, which looked pretty amazing for the time (and the gameplay was intense at the time) but the actual mechanics were screwed enough that if the opponent pulled the goalie and you shot an open-net goal, sometimes you'd miss while the camera spun around. Sometimes the look was more important than the logic.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
I'll always support my fav game on SNES Axelay as peak graphical effects. Ya, the slowdown can be bad, but the mode 7 and awesome ships and gunplay were solid.
Their mode 7 wasnt the typical scaling or rotation too. In the vertical levels, they did it it to try faking some 3D warping effect to simulate you flying over things. Might be cheesy now, but at the time, it was pretty cool. Not sure what kind of effect that was, but maybe all they did was stretch out a sprite. Looked good to me at the time.
Level 1's brown rocks are a good example.
Their mode 7 wasnt the typical scaling or rotation too. In the vertical levels, they did it it to try faking some 3D warping effect to simulate you flying over things. Might be cheesy now, but at the time, it was pretty cool. Not sure what kind of effect that was, but maybe all they did was stretch out a sprite. Looked good to me at the time.
Level 1's brown rocks are a good example.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
NHL Stanley Cup. In theory, the 3D effect could be good to simulate some third person perspectives where every other hockey game at the time were overhead kinds of camera angles. But worst hockey game I played in my entire life by a mile. Played nothing like hockey. Made worse by no stat tracking or player names.
StateofMajora
Banned
Yoshi's Island. And donkey Kong country.
2 very different styles but both pushing snes.
2 very different styles but both pushing snes.
cartman414
Member
Now we're seeing SA-1 hacks of games bringing them, quite literally, up to speed.
I wonder if some crackpot (said with love) will eventually come out of the woodwork with some insane Super FX(2) mods that add sprite scaling/rotation, etc.
I wonder if some crackpot (said with love) will eventually come out of the woodwork with some insane Super FX(2) mods that add sprite scaling/rotation, etc.
Trogdor1123
Gold Member
Could you share some examples?
nush
Member
As someone who could not afford a next gen console at the time but was a fan of Street Fighter this port was very, very welcome.
electricmastro
Neo Member
Yeah, even though the first game is arguably the most famous one, 2000 still got ported around quite a bit:
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cireza
Member
This is the game that demonstrates the best the strengths of the raw console (not with a 21 MHz proc added in the cart lol) in my opinion.
It uses very well the color palette for subtle gradients, which is only possible when you have a lot of colors available.
It displays a lot of colors on screen, and uses some technique for the sky to up the number and make, again, subtle gradients.
Some good effects with water, for example.
Music is also very good despite the memory limitation of the console.
Sprites are big and well animated. Not many things at once on screen, which helps the console and its limited proc to keep gameplay smooth.
You can hardly do better, in my opinion. It is a showcase for the console (as well as its sequels).
This one uses a 21 MHz additional proc. At this level, this is like putting half of a 32 bits console in the cartridge... Great game nonetheless.
cireza
Member
This wasn't Mode 7. It is called line scrolling, for information.
When it is very smooth and not pixelated, then it most certainly isn't Mode 7
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assurdum
Banned
WTF. I never knew about it. How the did it in a cartridge? Jesus.
I Love Rock 'n' Roll
Member
Check this out: Zelda 3 with FMV and ehanced soundtrack on Super Nintendo! And off course, it needs an extra MSU1.
I always love everything on the « basic » Zelda 3! For me, it’s best game on Super Nintendo.
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electricmastro
Neo Member
I'd say this pushed what music the SNES could do:
cartman414
Member
Of the SA-1 hacks? You've probably seen a couple before already, Gradius III being the most notable so far.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Oh shit. Didn't know that. Out of all the games I had it was the only one that did that kind of cool effect, so I assumed it was mode 7.This wasn't Mode 7. It is called line scrolling, for information.
When it is very smooth and not pixelated, then it most certainly isn't Mode 7