Mushihimesama PS2 + slowdown w/ lots of sprites

bay · Post by **bay** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:27 pm

I've been playing the PS2 port of mushi for awhile now & there are times when there are so many sprites on the screen that the game slows down. I'm wondering if this is a PS2 feature (ie: lack of 2d processing power) and if the arcade pcb version exhibits these same slowdowns? I would hope (tho not pleased) that it's just in the PS2 port and is a hardware limitation (or perhaps lack of optimization in code)

Anybody else notice this and/or know more on the subject? Porting can definately be tricky, but since Mushi was apparently ported by Cave (and published via Taito) I would hope Cave did the best they could on the port.

.02$

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:29 pm

I'm pretty sure it's the game. The PS2 can actually process a ridiculous number of simultaneous sprites.

zak · Post by **zak** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:35 pm

It's definitely on the PCB too

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:37 pm

There's a lot more slowdown in the arcade version of Mushihime Sama, which makes especially the Original mode considerably easier. The PS2 has less slowdown. Worse yet, it has the "stutter"-type of slowdown, while the arcade original slows down and speeds up very smoothly.

LUNardei · Post by **LUNardei** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:49 pm

About Original I can't tell, but in Maniac there are less slowdowns in the PS2 version, but ULTRA for what I've seen is a bit slower.

bay · Post by **bay** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:57 pm

Herr Schatten wrote:There's a lot more slowdown in the arcade version of Mushihime Sama, which makes especially the Original mode considerably easier. The PS2 has less slowdown. Worse yet, it has the "stutter"-type of slowdown, while the arcade original slows down and speeds up very smoothly.

it's interesting to see less slowdown on a port & have that taken as a negative feature?

as for the stutter-type slowdown this is what i notice most, which is downright annoying at times because it pulls you out of the game to realize it is a game rather than really being in the game/zone.

i'd think a smoother slowdown would be more acceptable, it's just unfortunate when its a limitation of the hardware & the game was still designed this way..

note: im not complaining about the PS2 port at all, i just need to find an arcade with mushi in it to feel the difference for myself.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:00 pm

Herr Schatten wrote:There's a lot more slowdown in the arcade version of Mushihime Sama, which makes especially the Original mode considerably easier. The PS2 has less slowdown. Worse yet, it has the "stutter"-type of slowdown, while the arcade original slows down and speeds up very smoothly.

The sudden or stutter-type slowdown is terrible in ULTRA. It really makes fighting the bosses incredibly difficult when mid-bullet-formation, the game spontaneous leaps in speed.

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:07 pm

Seems exactly the same throughout to me.
L3 needs it FFS

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:33 pm

It was said that the slowdown is programed in the code.

In other words, that means it is inteneded and is not due to hardware limitation.

The slowdown in Flying Shark and Batsugun is likly due to hardware limitation.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:02 pm

bay wrote:it's interesting to see less slowdown on a port & have that taken as a negative feature?

That's usually only the case, in my experience anyways, when the game cuts out the slowdown but gives you no "wait" option to put it back in if you want to. The Saturn port of Batsugun is an example: it pretty much eliminates the slowdown from the arcade version, but gives you no way to adjust it otherwise: this makes the later stages of the "special version," in which enemies send tons of suicide bullets your way, more difficult than in the arcade.