Layer Section II (RayStorm) on Saturn...
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Herr Schatten
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1. The supposed superiority of SWS on PSX is a myth. Both versions look and play identically and run with zero slowdown. The only noticeable difference is the mix of the music, which is slightly different on both systems, but not better or worse on any of them.Neon wrote:Sonic Wings Special is usually considered better on the PSX, I thought. Why, I have no idea, but maybe a SWS expert can fill us in...
2. Btw, the impact of slowdown is generally exaggerated when it comes to comparisons of different versions of a game and in Saturn TFV, slowdown isn't an issue.
3. This whole argument is totally pointless, ever was, ever will be. Calm down, shut up, play the games, enjoy. (Not aimed at you, Neon.)
The music is different on the PS and sounds thicker and the sound fx sound fatter. Also the PS has a FULL Screen TATE mode. The Saturn version has a couple of lines missing.Herr Schatten wrote:1. The supposed superiority of SWS on PSX is a myth. Both versions look and play identically and run with zero slowdown. The only noticeable difference is the mix of the music, which is slightly different on both systems, but not better or worse on any of them.Neon wrote:Sonic Wings Special is usually considered better on the PSX, I thought. Why, I have no idea, but maybe a SWS expert can fill us in...
Indeed no big differences, but if you have to choose take the PS one unless you hate the PS-pad the go for the Saturn version or buy a joypad converter for your PS.
As far as is known today, the original configuration had a single 16-MHz NEC V60. After Sega got hold of the Playstation's specs I would imagine they beefed up more or less everything, and it definitely shows in places.Bar81 wrote:That's incorrect. The Saturn always had the dual CPUs.D wrote: The Saturn has two processors. If Sony wouln't have entered the market they would have made the Saturn with one processor.
It loads so long because you have to pull in all that data from disc. The expansion memory doesn't speed up anything as such, it just gives you a faster place to store data.Moogs wrote:Funny how Dungeons & Dragons Collection entered into this conversation. I was always under the impression that Saturn couldn't handle the game, either. Why else would it load so damn much and for so long, even with the 4Meg RAM cart?
It's the sprite-sprite transparencies the Saturn has issues with. There's only one blending mode (half transparency, which is why they look dull and smudgy), there's a significant performance hit and due to the idiotic way the sprites are actually drawn you can get glitches if they're not rectangular. Most of the impressive examples of transparencies on the Saturn are done using the background blending modes which don't have any of these problems.As for transparencies, I find it odd that the SNES was able to do them without a problem, yet the Saturn, from what I've read, needed extra special attention to do them.
That’s true.
The original Saturn was called GigaDrive & its specifications were designed around the NEC V60 16MHZ CPU same as the System 32 & Model 1 Arcade Boards. It was in 1993 that SEGA renamed it to Saturn & the President of SEGA Japan Nakayama-san after comparing the specs with the new PlayStation, based on the RISC 33MHZ R3000A, Silicon Graphics CPU (Which dwarfed the Saturn prototype Specs); he asked 27 of SEGA’s Engineers (Known as the “Away Team”) to redesign the Saturn in order to compete with the PSX in less than a year. They chose the parallel Hitachi SH-2 configuration as a mean to attain 32Bit power in an affordable way. At that time Kalinske President of SEGA US, had contacted Silicon Graphics and had come up with an alternative single chip simplistic design that could compete with Sony. But to their surprise, Nakayama-san overruled them in favor of the “Away Team”.
The problem with this parallel CPU configuration was that it was very difficult to make them work in tandem limiting the systems resources & gaming possibilities. Combined with the fact that the Saturn’s background processor (VDP-2) had trouble generating texture transparencies, playfield rotation, light sourcing & other special effects in a 3D environment & the lack of programming libraries, made it a very stiff platform to develop games on.
As a result the PSX with the one central RISC CPU & simpler design turned out to be more powerful than the Saturn’s Dual CPU configuration & was also easily programmable with C, rather than having to learn the Saturn’s Hardware to program on.
The only Saturn game I’ve seen with real transparencies is Keio Flying Squadron 2. At the 1st level the Waterfalls & at the 2nd level the Lamps on the poles.
Other than that, all other examples mentioned are not the transparencies you see on other systems.
The original Saturn was called GigaDrive & its specifications were designed around the NEC V60 16MHZ CPU same as the System 32 & Model 1 Arcade Boards. It was in 1993 that SEGA renamed it to Saturn & the President of SEGA Japan Nakayama-san after comparing the specs with the new PlayStation, based on the RISC 33MHZ R3000A, Silicon Graphics CPU (Which dwarfed the Saturn prototype Specs); he asked 27 of SEGA’s Engineers (Known as the “Away Team”) to redesign the Saturn in order to compete with the PSX in less than a year. They chose the parallel Hitachi SH-2 configuration as a mean to attain 32Bit power in an affordable way. At that time Kalinske President of SEGA US, had contacted Silicon Graphics and had come up with an alternative single chip simplistic design that could compete with Sony. But to their surprise, Nakayama-san overruled them in favor of the “Away Team”.
The problem with this parallel CPU configuration was that it was very difficult to make them work in tandem limiting the systems resources & gaming possibilities. Combined with the fact that the Saturn’s background processor (VDP-2) had trouble generating texture transparencies, playfield rotation, light sourcing & other special effects in a 3D environment & the lack of programming libraries, made it a very stiff platform to develop games on.
As a result the PSX with the one central RISC CPU & simpler design turned out to be more powerful than the Saturn’s Dual CPU configuration & was also easily programmable with C, rather than having to learn the Saturn’s Hardware to program on.
The only Saturn game I’ve seen with real transparencies is Keio Flying Squadron 2. At the 1st level the Waterfalls & at the 2nd level the Lamps on the poles.
Other than that, all other examples mentioned are not the transparencies you see on other systems.