Donpachi, few questions

[Neon]

I got the game this weekend, for Saturn (again). Curious about a few things...

1. Is the game properly emulated, the music sounds very scratchy in mame vs. the ports.

2. I haven't owned the PSX version in a long time, does it have the score attack mode (w/stage select?) Otherwise I'm fine with the Saturn version, all the important sound effects are intact. Longass loads, few other problems but the stage select is highly important for this game.

Also, does the PSX version feature the same options to switch the display to RGB optimised? (via pause menu on Saturn) otherwise the Saturn version might be better in RGB, unless PSX defaults to RGB settings...

[nZero]

1. Is the game properly emulated, the music sounds very scratchy in mame vs. the ports.

Yeah, the arcade one just plays back the whole song as one sample instead of generating it on the fly, so it's monoaural and compressed, and hence scratchy. The additional storage the CD format offers lets the Saturn and PSX versions use the same fidelity as the game's original soundtrack on playback. You'll notice most of the Cave PCBs of the era sound like crap compared to their respective OSTs and/or home ports.

[system11]

1. Is the game properly emulated, the music sounds very scratchy in mame vs. the ports.

You'll notice most of the Cave PCBs of the era sound like crap compared to their respective OSTs and/or home ports.

They also sound like crap compared to competitors offerings. The technology to use decent sampled music just wasn't around then. Lazy.

[Valgar]

I was wondering why Uo Poko sounded scratchy.

[AWJ]

They also sound like crap compared to competitors offerings. The technology to use decent sampled music just wasn't around then. Lazy.

Well, I don't think the technology to do, say, DDP's guitar riffs on a sequencer (let alone one you could afford to put on an arcade board) was around either.

DonPachi is just nasty, though. Streamed music on an OKI6295... Along with the AM radio audio quality, you'll also notice the music "skipping" in certain places--that's when the game is switching ROM banks.

[ResOGlas]

1. Is the game properly emulated, the music sounds very scratchy in mame vs. the ports.

Yeah, the arcade one just plays back the whole song as one sample instead of generating it on the fly, so it's monoaural and compressed, and hence scratchy. The additional storage the CD format offers lets the Saturn and PSX versions use the same fidelity as the game's original soundtrack on playback. You'll notice most of the Cave PCBs of the era sound like crap compared to their respective OSTs and/or home ports.

Yeah, the DonPachi, DoDonPachi, EspRaDe, Dangun Feveron, and Guwange PCBs all suffer from "staticy" audio.

[AWJ]

The sound chip the later Cave games use (Dodonpachi and everything after) is capable of CD-quality output, but Cave digitized the music at a low quality in order to use fewer/smaller ROM chips. Listen to Battle Bakraid for what the games could have sounded like if they weren't so stingy.

[zlk]

The donpachi music CD sounds low quality as well. It may not be the pcb sound chips fault that the music doesn't sound so great.

[AWJ]

The donpachi music CD sounds low quality as well. It may not be the pcb sound chips fault that the music doesn't sound so great.

It may be intentionally recorded at low quality to get that "old war movie soundtrack" effect...

[ccovell]

This is surprising... In the late '90s were there no more talented FM musicians? I noticed with Neo-Geo games like Pulstar and Blazing Star how the music was one long sample. It's good music, but sounds low-quality, repeats too soon, and just seems cheap.

Were all the FM musicians laid off when arcades started going bust?

[sven666]

This is surprising... In the late '90s were there no more talented FM musicians? I noticed with Neo-Geo games like Pulstar and Blazing Star how the music was one long sample. It's good music, but sounds low-quality, repeats too soon, and just seems cheap.

Were all the FM musicians laid off when arcades started going bust?

in the early 90s they could no longer suppress the airborne viruses with excessive cocain use and thus they all died.. just like war of the worlds.. but sadly.

[Neon]

Shameless, rulebreaking bump. I'm still curious about the other two questions. Could anyone with the psx version tell me the next time they play it?

[Ghegs]

Shameless, rulebreaking bump. I'm still curious about the other two questions. Could anyone with the psx version tell me the next time they play it?

Sorry, no Stage Select or Score Attack.

PSX outputs RGB if you have the proper cable and make the appropiate changes in PSX's internal config.

[Neon]

Shameless, rulebreaking bump. I'm still curious about the other two questions. Could anyone with the psx version tell me the next time they play it?

Sorry, no Stage Select or Score Attack.

PSX outputs RGB if you have the proper cable and make the appropiate changes in PSX's internal config.

That sucks, but thanks anyways. Think I'll wait on picking it up then.

[dpful]

1. Is the game properly emulated, the music sounds very scratchy in mame vs. the ports.

Yeah, the arcade one just plays back the whole song as one sample instead of generating it on the fly, so it's monoaural and compressed, and hence scratchy. The additional storage the CD format offers lets the Saturn and PSX versions use the same fidelity as the game's original soundtrack on playback. You'll notice most of the Cave PCBs of the era sound like crap compared to their respective OSTs and/or home ports.

Yeah, the DonPachi, DoDonPachi, EspRaDe, Dangun Feveron, and Guwange PCBs all suffer from "staticy" audio.

For really great audio, try Taito F3 (or g-net, too).

[Neon]

I just got Dante's PSX copy...I'll do a pepsi challenge with the graphics next time I'm home from school.