Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Bassa-Bassa]

What does saying the games should only be 224 or 240 vertical have to do with 4:3 vs. 16:9? Sticking to those vertical resolutions is what is going to compromise the games on HD screens just to make them work better on obsolete CRTs that few care about.

The games improving with a smaller viewport goes for both, vertical and horizontal resolutions. If they understand that staying true to the original aspect ratio and resolution (or 320x240, for that matter) is the proper thing to do with games like these for the reasons exposed, cool, but if they feel there's a need for a wide format because of flat panels, the full screen thing and too many kids and journalists complaining otherwise, something like 426x240 will do (kind of) for getting both, a smaller viewport than the current and 15khz CRT compatibility, even if the latter is just a side effect.

But since that's brought up again, I'll say this: if they're going to stick to original resolutions and aspect ratio, why bother to remake the games at all? Just stick roms in an emulator and release them equivalent to the Hamster games. Updating them while changing effectively nothing is a waste of their talents in my opinion.

Gotta ask - how remaking the graphics like they've done until now and adding so much brand new content is "changing effectively nothing"?

[BrianC]

They don't seem to be credited anywhere (at least in the US version), and I can't translate that page at the moment, but if that's true it's HUGE and gives me BIG HOPE!

I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. Natsume has worked with Taito before. They did the AC version of Cleopatra's Fortune.

[Sima Tuna]

I see this whole line of complaint as pointless.

The original games still exist and you can run them through mister fpga, your emulator of choice or original hardware on your CRTs. If you have a CRT then you probably have CRT-compatible game systems and an interest in buying/playing old games on original hardware.

If what you want is to play a new game based on those older Natsume titles, but with dramatically improved visuals and new gameplay features, then the Tengo Project games are perfect. They're built for 16:9 and modern displays because that's what people have.

It's not as if these new games are complete piles of shit, disgracing the beloved memory of the franchises they're built on. These new games are excellent. If you prefer the old versions, that's totally fine. The old games still exist.

Should Tengo Project have deliberately built their new games for 4:3 or some compromise aspect ratio when 99% of people playing games on the systems Tengo release for are using an HD display in 16:9? I'm sure Joe Average Gamer really wants to play a brand new game with 4:3 massive letterbox on a 16:9 display. Wild Guns in particular has screen scrolling in 4:3, which is why the 16:9 version is harder. But screen scrolling isn't going to appeal to many players, when they will ask the obvious "why not just make it native 16:9 in the first place to fix this."

Considering the 4:3 versions a) still exist and b) are basically free (thanks to emulation,) there's no issue. Both markets are served. I want to play Tengo games on my Switch in portable on 16:9, or on PC in 16:9.

[Air Master Burst]

I'm sure Joe Average Gamer really wants to play a brand new game with 4:3 massive letterbox on a 16:9 display.

The average gamer doesn't give a shit how it looks either way if they play it in full screen. They didn't draw the pixel art any bigger for the remake.

You can make all the commercial rationalizations you want, but I still find it tragic from an artistic perspective. Some devs still seem to care, though. Sonic Mania and Devil Blade (and shockingly Slay the Spire) offer native 4:3 options; Cave's PC ports, M2's Darius ports, and Bitwave's Toaplan ports are also set up with custom menus to support actual 4:3 monitors. There are a bunch more, too, those are just off top.

[Steven]

The only Tengo game I have played is Kiki Kaikai, but I think it's worth noting that that game isn't 16:9. I don't know exactly what it is and it has been quite some time since I played it, but it's closer to 4:3 and they just stretch it to fill a 16:9 area by default. You can tell because it isn't scaled properly at 16:9, but at least you can use the game's video options to display it at its true aspect ratio, where it uses square pixels.

Sonic Mania isn't actually 16:9 either and uses interpolation, but it still looks really good.

[Sumez]

Complaining that Tengo Project games don't compromise their resolution and appearance on displays that probably 99% of people play them on so that they'll look better on a display type that hasn't even been manufactured by anyone in 20 years is as ridiculous as complaining that the games aren't on the PS2 instead of the PS4.

Lol yeah. I'm the guy who plays mostly 4:3 games still, in 2024, and even I think that's ridiculous

These games are inherently compromised on HD screens.

What? I don't even know what to say. How are they compromised? They look fantastic, and exactly like they should.
I feel like I'm usually the person who's irrationally fond of the CRT look, but this is way past that.

Even if you do get a 4:3 mode, I can't imagine the hoops you'd need to go through to convert the video to proper 15khz analog. Are their vertical resolutions even kept within 240p? Since you're already willing to stretch so much, I'd recommend just getting a 16:9 CRT and fix your issue for every modern low-res pixel art game

They locked arcade mode behind story mode, though. Not the same thing and there's the extra characters thing. This unlock stuff mentality sounds particularly modern to me, but likely I consider modern anything post year 2000, so bear with me. I wouldn't ever say that locking hard modes was "extremely common" in earlier eras anyway, but indeed it's not modern philosophy per se.

Can I assume that you didn't play the game either? The "story mode" is literally just an arcade game with some boring and completely skippable Ninja Gaiden style cutscenes between stages.
Unlocking extra characters behind multiple playthroughs isn't exactly a modern thing either. I absolutely recommend playing the game with the default characters first time through either way.

If you think they did it this way to satisfy some sort of modern AAA/journalist audience, you're absolutely wrong. Hell, they even included a code to access those modes immediately if you want that, just like most games of the classic era did. It's completely old school design.

The original games still exist and you can run them through mister fpga, your emulator of choice or original hardware on your CRTs. If you have a CRT then you probably have CRT-compatible game systems and an interest in buying/playing old games on original hardware.

If what you want is to play a new game based on those older Natsume titles, but with dramatically improved visuals and new gameplay features, then the Tengo Project games are perfect. They're built for 16:9 and modern displays because that's what people have.

And this is exactly why I love the fact that the new games don't "replace" the originals. They just add to an already fantastic repetoire

[Sima Tuna]

I want to reiterate again that the reason why Wild Guns Snes is easier (the main reason) in 4:3 is because the game has screen scrolling in the SNES version. 16:9 removes screen scrolling with the wider aspect ratio. So it's a nearly objective improvement. The knock-on effect is that the game becomes harder because more stuff is on the screen. But it's not unplayable hard. Just harder. To me, a (side) scrolling screen in a gallery shooter, vertical shmup or (vertically oriented) top-down run and gun is the definition of working within compromised design. The game is better when it's able to fully display the complete image, AKA the entire Gallery screen in Wild Guns or the full left and right of the screen in Raiden. Don't misunderstand me saying that all shmups should be vertizontal though-I'm just pointing out specific instances of screen scrolling that are a clear concession to 4:3 and 3:4 aspect ratio limitations, and saying that those particular games are better without it. Yes, they have to rebalance games to make them work in 16:9. And Tengo Project do this. The balance might be a little harder on average. Or it might be easier. Depending upon your point of view and the individual game. But technologically, the product IS less compromised. Because you can see the entire gallery at once in a gallery shooter. In Pocky and Rocky Reshrined, you can see threats well in advance of what you could in 4:3. Making a retro game in 16:9 is perfectly viable as long as it's designed for that aspect ratio, which these Tengo remakes are. So I don't see how these remakes are

inherently compromised on HD screens.

When it seems to me that the original aspect ratio with its screen scrolling (which then forced them to design mercy mechanics on invisible enemies) is the compromised version.

[Air Master Burst]

What? I don't even know what to say. How are they compromised? They look fantastic, and exactly like they should.

Do you understand how dithering works? I'm not trying to be condescending here, but even if you love the sharp bare pixel look there are lots of graphical effects in classic games that just look wrong on HD screens. You can slap a digital filter over it, but they still don't look right.

Even if you do get a 4:3 mode, I can't imagine the hoops you'd need to go through to convert the video to proper 15khz analog

All it takes is a couple of cables, a free program, and a gpu with analog output. It costs under $100 USD and you can set it up in an evening. Emudriver can take a bit of tinkering to dial in the settings, but it's only once for each game.

[BIL]

I'm feeling in the mood for some hacky slashy barbarian action. I've got Rastan and Volgarr, and I was thinking of adding Rygar to the list. Maybe along with some action-rpg arcade stuff like Valkyrie no Densetsu, Cadash and Vandyke. I know BIL loves Rygar. What are people's thoughts on ACA Cadash and Valkyrie?

As Jeneki says, Cadash is a memorable coinop ARPG, but really only functional, action-wise. Don't expect Rastan's masterclass assault course, just not that kinda deal. More about plotting out a time and resource-efficient route, then reaching the finale with a healthy bump budget. Inns heal all, but each stay jacks up the price exponentially, so you want to learn to go without.

Some intermittent FOV issues aside (big sprites, tight zoom, bulky HUD), I enjoyed it a lot. EN rev is more generous with resources, but plays identically otherwise, so it's an excellent way to familiarise yourself with the game's layout, if you ever want to try the harder JP rev.

Handy Resources:

> ST, Arcade: Character Differences (Vanguard)
> VER: Arcade vs Mega Drive vs PC Engine (Vanguard)
> ST, Arcade: Hidden Secrets [1] [2] [3] (Vanguard & CIT)
> Mega Drive: 1CC Review & PC Engine Comparison (CIT)

VAN's 1CCs: > Priest > Ninja > Mage > Fighter

I'd give Aicom's The Astyanax a go, too. Similar to Rastan in tenor, though mechanically a bit tighter. No crazy x3 damage boost on jump attacks, but no insidious EurotickDamage™, either. Has some native input latency, doesn't hurt its methodical pace imo. Relatively easy 1CC, but never boring. Strong on Death From Above and Below

CHOP U.MP3 (■｀w´■)

Spoiler

GET LOST SUGAR TITS (｀w´メ) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Spoiler

Rygar is really in a class of its own here, built around ultra-precise 1HKO action closer to a supercharged Green Beret. Could've easily passed for a ninja sidescroller. Actually I'm pretty sure the nameless protagonist is a warrior monk of some sort, with the barbarians encountered on his trek... one's man's paladin is another's reaver, I suppose! He did chop a motherfucker's head off in the JP flyer. At any rate, you won't go wrong with it. While it's a bit long for such an utterly distilled action/platformer (~30min ALL), the stage design is so consistently excellent, and the tension so high, it flies past at the controls.

The SPECIAL COMMANDO OPERATIONS in XMILLIONTH YEARS B.C. (■｀w´■)

Spoiler

Got more to say but am half out the door, will continue later. Again!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I want to reiterate again that the reason why Wild Guns Snes is easier (the main reason) in 4:3 is because the game has screen scrolling in the SNES version. 16:9 removes screen scrolling with the wider aspect ratio. So it's a nearly objective improvement.

NOT TO BE THAT GUY but technically Wild Guns Reloaded has a bit of screen scrolling, but it's very, very slight. You can see 95% of the screen and only scroll it when you move to the edge to push it. It's so little screen scrolling that it's a bit unusual it even scrolls at all, it feels like it might as well not exist!

I've played WG (SNES) and WGR (PC) a bit obsessively (have a nomiss run of WGR Hard Mode on YT) I'd actually argue that a large factor that makes it tougher isn't the screen scrolling, but the size of the crosshair relative to the screen size. Not only is there more of the screen shown at once (and usually a fair bit more enemies), but the crosshair occupies a smaller % of the screen size, meaning you have a lot more distance to cross to switch targets when enemies are all over the screen. The SNES version lets you zip fairly quickly from one onscreen enemy to the next, whereas the larger scale of WGR means your crosshair has to do a lot of travel to reach enemies. There's more vertical height to the screens to aim at relative to the SNES too.

[velo]

On Tengo Project's stuff, I'm definitely in the camp that prefers the SNES originals, though I haven't had the chance to play Reshrined yet. I still think Reloaded and Once Again are phenomenal games, but neither of them exactly match the games they're based on. Wild Guns loses a lot of its particular cadence and flow by stretching the playing field out, which makes its action feel less kinetic (on top of it just being easier) and as BIL said, Ninja Warriors turns into a little more of a speedrun / high-performance assault course game than a raw survival challenge due to its weaker enemies, which is still very appealing, but less so than what the original was going for. (I would disagree on the bosses being powered up though; I think most of them save stage 7's Zelos are actually effectively weaker - they don't even have wakeup iframes to save them from grabs anymore, despite crowd control being easier in the remake than the original.)

I honestly don't think OA is easier than the original, although varies from character to character. Reshrined seems like it would be much harder than the original if not for being so much more generous with 1ups... I would expect a 1LC to be harder. Overall I think Tengo has been shooting for about the same difficulty as the old ones, but it's somewhat subjective.

The new version of Shadow of the Ninja is likely to conform to the same design philosophy. It will be less an HD remaster and more of a complete overhaul designed around native 16:9 widescreen, modern hardware and hd displays.

It's bound to be the most different from the original by far, and truth be told, it could benefit from an overhaul. The original left a lot of room for things to be fleshed out.

Copyright renewals don't always go anywhere, so I wouldn't take the S.C.A.T. news as set in stone.

I'm feeling in the mood for some hacky slashy barbarian action. I've got Rastan and Volgarr, and I was thinking of adding Rygar to the list. Maybe along with some action-rpg arcade stuff like Valkyrie no Densetsu, Cadash and Vandyke. I know BIL loves Rygar. What are people's thoughts on ACA Cadash and Valkyrie?

Valkyrie really is so cool. It was a big positive surprise for me. Only caveat is the Japanese, although it's not that text-heavy anyway. I just winged it but I'm sure you could whip out google lens for the shop screens or whatever.

[BIL]

Man, I was so busy regarding those lovingly-sculpted Night Elf tits (and her kawaii sweatdrop uwu ^o^), I didn't notice that bat's little soul leaving his body as he got chopped clean in two. Rest well Mr. Bat! Dig Oni's super-buff leap from parallel squat, too! You can tell these are the Totsuzen Machoman/GUN-DEC/Blazing Pulstar dudes! Consummate artists.

[Bassa-Bassa]

I'd actually argue that a large factor that makes it tougher isn't the screen scrolling, but the size of the crosshair relative to the screen size. Not only is there more of the screen shown at once (and usually a fair bit more enemies), but the crosshair occupies a smaller % of the screen size, meaning you have a lot more distance to cross to switch targets when enemies are all over the screen. The SNES version lets you zip fairly quickly from one onscreen enemy to the next, whereas the larger scale of WGR means your crosshair has to do a lot of travel to reach enemies. There's more vertical height to the screens to aim at relative to the SNES too.

No less. Though I think you and Sima Tuna are saying the same thing? If you have to scroll on the original it means you don't have to deal with the enemies you keep outside the viewport (or you do it more discretionally), hence no scrolling means larger viewport (for the same crosshair) and more on-screen enemies (therefore, more difficulty).

That's all theoretically anyway as you'd indeed expect they measured every other factor (crosshair's speed, etc.) to compensate, even if just subtly. I myself found the new larger viewport way too big for a game like this, even if some enemies were also enlarged.

What I'm not buying is this though:

But technologically, the product IS less compromised. Because you can see the entire gallery at once in a gallery shooter. In Pocky and Rocky Reshrined, you can see threats well in advance of what you could in 4:3. Making a retro game in 16:9 is perfectly viable as long as it's designed for that aspect ratio, which these Tengo remakes are.

It's precisely technologically where the product is truly compromised. Pixel art's natural presentation happens only when displayed 1:1, otherwise you get aberrations like this:

https://i.postimg.cc/CBpcnTP8/zplocky.jpg

Besides, seeing threats well in advance thanks to a larger viewport isn't technically better either as you seem to imply - the game indeed is designed around whatever particular viewport. Much like with Wild Guns, the Kiki Kaikai remake is (re)balanced around the new viewport... much like the original was designed around the old one. In my eyes though, part of the intensity of the original game is lost and the new game feels a bit slower which obviously is, in great part, consequence of having a larger, zoomed-out viewport, and it's a shame because that was one of the defining qualities of the SFC game.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I myself found the new larger viewport way too big for a game like this, even if some enemies were also enlarged.

I think it works fine. It's an adjustment and it's clear the rebalancing is meant to make 4 player multiplayer fun, but you're still plenty strong enough that even if the screen does get more hectic than the SNES at times it remains strategically manageable once you learn how to deal with it.

There's two things I absolutely loathe about WGR though:

1) There's no difficulty selection for multiplayer, and the stages you get are predetermined by # of players. To get the Hard mode stages in 2 player, you have to plug in extra controllers, start as 4 players, let the two extra dummy players lose all your extra lives and die, and play from there. 3 players uses Normal route stages and 2 players uses Easy route stages. Why not just allow you to select difficulty and number of players independently? Are the Easy route stages really that broken having 3 or 4 players? I doubt it.

2) The stage with the darkness gimmick kinda sucks. I don't like the gimmick of having the nice stage artwork covered up by black blobs most of the time, and the stage enemies themselves aren't that fun to fight.

[Bassa-Bassa]

1) There's no difficulty selection for multiplayer, and the stages you get are predetermined by # of players. To get the Hard mode stages in 2 player, you have to plug in extra controllers, start as 4 players, let the two extra dummy players lose all your extra lives and die, and play from there. 3 players uses Normal route stages and 2 players uses Easy route stages. Why not just allow you to select difficulty and number of players independently? Are the Easy route stages really that broken having 3 or 4 players? I doubt it.

Yes, I mentioned that. I think it's about getting some factual distinction among the different modes to fool journalists and kids and modern mentalities, but not everybody agreed, I believe.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Copyright renewals don't always go anywhere, so I wouldn't take the S.C.A.T. news as set in stone.

It's not actually a renewal, it seems. They registered "Cybernetic Attack Final Mission" in Japanese, which mixes up both original names, the one for Japan and the one for the US. Basically the same they did for the new Kage in Japan, so there's that.

[BIL]

Cybernetic Attack Final Mission

Super rad name. Wonder if we'll get Super Rescue Shatterhand.

For the uninitiated, Final Mission and its NES ver, whose name I refuse to type - this is a family friendly Killing Motherfuckers establishment! - have subtly differing OSTs. Both are superb, enjoy both!

[Sumez]

its NES ver, whose name I refuse to type

What's wrong with "Action In New York"??

[BIL]

its NES ver, whose name I refuse to type

What's wrong with "Action In New York"??

That is definitely the classier of its two porno localisation titles As long as they don't do a limited edition Scat Action In New York, I mean!

[Sumez]

Even if you do get a 4:3 mode, I can't imagine the hoops you'd need to go through to convert the video to proper 15khz analog

All it takes is a couple of cables, a free program, and a gpu with analog output. It costs under $100 USD and you can set it up in an evening. Emudriver can take a bit of tinkering to dial in the settings, but it's only once for each game.

That definitely sounds like hoops to me, but YMMV. I'm sure you could easily pick up a 16:9 CRT for less than $10 as well, so what's holding you back? I still regularly see people ready to just toss those out.

Do you understand how dithering works? I'm not trying to be condescending here, but even if you love the sharp bare pixel look there are lots of graphical effects in classic games that just look wrong on HD screens. You can slap a digital filter over it, but they still don't look right.

People tend to conflate CRT screens and shitty video quality quite a bit. Pixels looks sharp on my CRTs, and it looks great. I wouldn't want to comporomise the video signal for some "intended" pixel smearing.
You're right however that there's no way you could even replicate the look of a real CRT with filters on an LCD screen, it will always just look like a picture of a CRT, and there are definitely ways in which CRT pictures just look better. I agree there.

But we aren't talking "classic games", we're talking remakes where all the graphics were completely redrawn. There are definitely old games where the artists designed their artwork to consider the awful composite or RF video connections people would be using to hook up their consoles - especially true for games which predate higher color count or transperency effects, though it really came down to the indivisual artist.
But this isn't your Sonic waterfalls. There is no way you are going to convince me that Shunichi Taniguchi drew the graphics for their new games expecting people to see them through the phosphor lights of CRT monitors. They are definitely intended to be watched on modern flat screen monitors, that's what they knew people would be using.

[Sima Tuna]

Got more to say but am half out the door, will continue later. Again!

Thanks so much for the post, BIL. I WILL be referring to this again. I got some gift card credit for the old shop, so I figured I'd use it on ACA. I've got Rygar and LORD OF KING on my short list. Vanguard's character info for Cadash was great too. I knew the different versions were, well, different, but didn't realize people might prefer the harder edition of arcade Cadash. Or that characters were so different.

Probably my favorite post by anybody on this forum is the line "Tongue my butthole, you ass-licking troglodyte!" From your Rygar megapost some time ago. I still think about that when I see the little chameleon dudes flicking their tongues out. I probably owe it to give Rygar some play for that alone.

[Steven]

Got both of the Castlevania collections on Steam in the sale. Anniversary will replace the Switch version for handheld mode on the Steam Deck, and Advance because I don't have that one at all and haven't played any of the GBA games. Dracula XX I have played, however.

Thought about getting Contra and possibly the Konami arcade collection as well, but decided not to as of right now because I already spent a lot of cash on games in the past two weeks. I may still do it before the sale ends, but we'll see. Wild Guns is also 50% off, but not Kiki Kaikai or Ninja Warriors. I was hoping for Kiki Kaikai the most, but not this time.

[Bassa-Bassa]

There is no way you are going to convince me that Shunichi Taniguchi drew the graphics for their new games expecting people to see them through the phosphor lights of CRT monitors. They are definitely intended to be watched on modern flat screen monitors, that's what they knew people would be using.

I don't think anybody is trying to deny that here. But R-Type I on the PC Engine was also intended for RF video signals because there was nothing else when released and it doesn't mean it doesn't look several times better with good RGB equipment, available some years later.

Here's the new Kiki Kaikai at 240p (cropped):





Find me a reason why a 15khz RGB CRT isn't the perfect display for that.

The original game, for reference:

[Steven]

PC Engine R-Type sucks. Play the arcade version. It's better.

[Air Master Burst]

That definitely sounds like hoops to me, but YMMV.

You said you couldn't imagine them, so I was just trying to give you an idea of what it actually entails. They are hoops, but easily surmountable ones.

But this isn't your Sonic waterfalls.

I wasn't talking about Sonic waterfalls, I was talking about basic dithering. It's a blending technique that gives little checkerboard patterns when looked at on an HD screen instead of actually blending nicely like a CRT screen will do. For example, there's a shitload of it going on in this screenshot:



Modern pixel art games don't need to use dithering to blend because any color palette limitations are self-imposed. They should have done that here, it would have looked better on HD screens. Now, lots of modern games with retro style pixel art still use dithering anyway; not because it's an effective technique for the medium they're working in, but simply because it's how the old games that inspired them did it, and they probably all played them on emulators so don't realize why 99% of the population (usually including themselves) will never experience it correctly.

They are definitely intended to be watched on modern flat screen monitors, that's what they knew people would be using.

These versions of these games are intended to be seen on HD monitors, but the graphics never were.

[Lander]

On some level the faithful approach is an easy win, since the original art is still good even without phosphor bleed to smooth out dithering.
Redrawing it could result in something definitively good, or in a weird uncanny valley like Tactics Ogre where everything looks like it was put through SuperEagle despite having enough extra detail to imply being done by hand.

Though going by the screenie, the modern version breaks the palette limit anyway by adding bloom around bright stuff like the fires and green hitflash effect. Might look a bit odd displayed on a CRT that does that stuff naturally.

Beyond the domain of pixel art, I think dithering can look great on modern displays, though most effectively in cases where it's a stylistic backbone like Obra Dinn, or delightfully Lynchweird steam indies like Who's Lila and Critters for Sale.

:O

Gets me wondering if those'd look good on an actual CRT or facsimile thereof; whether the intentional dot-pitch effect would be improved, or just muddied by the introduction of phosphor bloom.

[Air Master Burst]

Gets me wondering if those'd look good on an actual CRT or facsimile thereof; whether the intentional dot-pitch effect would be improved, or just muddied by the introduction of phosphor bloom.

You'd probably want a CRT monitor for those as opposed to a TV, but I bet they'd look great! Like playing an old Mac game.

[Steven]

I see Wild Guns doesn't scale properly to 1920x1080, either. How can people stand playing games with obvious visual distortion like that? Don't answer, please; I don't really care or want to know, although I will take this opportunity to complain about it. Devs: add some fucking (optional) interpolation for both axes. It's really not that hard to do it properly and yet you don't!

At least Tengo will let you use square pixels (for Kiki Kaikai, at least). Hamster is the truly guilty one. For as much as I love ACA, their video options are unacceptably poor. M2 isn't much better.

[Sumez]

Here's the new Kiki Kaikai at 240p (cropped):

I'm sure it'd look cool, but saying the graphics are compromised without it is a stretch

These versions of these games are intended to be seen on HD monitors, but the graphics never were.

I'd like to reiterate. Even though the games look similar, the graphics are entirely recreated for the new versions - the backgrounds too. They actively prefered the dithered look for the HD console port, and honestly I think I do too.
Either way I've said my piece, and I've heard your opinion. Definitely not worth a fight over

Though going by the screenie, the modern version breaks the palette limit anyway by adding bloom around bright stuff like the fires and green hitflash effect. Might look a bit odd displayed on a CRT that does that stuff naturally.

Just to clarify - the original SNES can do that as well. I can't remember the exact blending effects used by the remake, so I don't know if it can do it exactly the same way. But The 15-bit color space tied to a series of 16-color palettes is only a limitation for the palettes - the actual potential color output is much wider thanks to the color math capabilities of the console.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Here's the new Kiki Kaikai at 240p (cropped):

I'm sure it'd look cool, but saying the graphics are compromised without it is a stretch

The art is digitally upscaled without it, that means altered, what else do you need?

I'm aware there's a taste for upscaled pixel art (a friend of mine always blames the late DOS era for that, lol) and that the digital medium we have to deal with somehow imposes it, but it doesn't mean it's the natural thing to do with 2D graphics.

Gets me wondering if those'd look good on an actual CRT or facsimile thereof; whether the intentional dot-pitch effect would be improved, or just muddied by the introduction of phosphor bloom.

You'd probably want a CRT monitor for those as opposed to a TV, but I bet they'd look great! Like playing an old Mac game.

If they're like Kyoufu no Sekai/World of Horror which doesn't mashes up assets at different resolutions, they'll indeed look gorgeous on a VGA CRT so long as you can get them displayed 1:1, that's just the best possible display for them. Kyoufu no Sekai is 640x360:



The same goes for the 3D/light effects - if the game can be displayed at the assets' native resolution, everything will look fine. The problem comes when you have to brute force a lower-than-standard resolution because not everything was drawn the same or because the graphics come anamorphically prescaled, like some of these Tengo games. Quite tragic there given the art quality - I even had to ask for help to get those 1:1 240p Kiki Kaikai screens.