N64 Graphics on SEGA GENESIS? Sega's Answer to the Super FX Chip
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 25 июн 2024
- Because home consoles are not as powerful as arcade machines, game developers wanted to enhance their games as much as possible - so they started adding chips to their games. One of the first examples is Pitfall II for the Atari 2600, which improved the sound quality of the game. Later on, a company called Argonaut wanted to port their game Stargliders to a Nintendo console, so they started development on a chip called the Super FX.
With some support from Nintendo, they both developed a game called Star Fox. Using the Super FX chip, it improved the graphical capabilities of the SNES tremendously, allowing for 3D polygons. When Sega took notice of this, they began working on their own chip, which debuted in their port of an arcade classic, Virtua Racing.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:55 Arcade Hardware
1:43 Porting Arcade Games to Home Consoles
2:39 Chips and Coprocessors Inside of Cartridges
3:18 Enhancement Chips inside NES games
4:19 Early Super FX Chip Development
5:15 Release of Star Fox
5:39 Issues with the Super FX Chip
6:17 Issues with Sega Genesis Hardware
6:52 Development of Sega's SVP Chip
7:29 Virtua Racing Review
10:48 Issues with the SVP Chip
12:43 Conclusion
Stock footage came from pexels.com. Special thanks goes to:
Jacob Martinez
WeStarMoney Subscribe on RUclips
cottonbro
Barış Şeref
Pressmaster
Artem Podrez
Videogrammer
fauxels
Sources:
DPC Chip in Pitfall II - www.ataricompendium.com/archiv...
NES chips - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_...
MMC3 Chip - nesdoug.com/2019/11/11/23-adv...
Starglider for Amiga - www.lemonamiga.com/games/deta...
SVP Chip - www.sega-16.com/2006/03/segas...
Highway Forever - highwayforever.wordpress.com/...
All music came from Harris Heller. Shoutouts to him and his website: www.streambeats.com/
Follow and subscribe to keep up to date on all of my content. Click the bell next to the subscribe button to receive instant notifications on all uploads!
#VirtuaRacing #Sega #pojr Игры
The Virtua Racing announcer says, "Time Bonus!"
You are correct lol. I kept listening to the voice, and I thought it was maybe saying "Time Warp".
I also heared time Bonus directly
Sounds like it's saying "Time boner".
Yay! I got it right too! Good job, ears who've probably been to too many nightclubs! :P
@@pojr It's really not that hard to hear. I've always heard "time bonus" even back when I was a kid.
The SVP lock on cart did "kinda" happen in the end. Sega developed it further and it turned into the 32X.
And when you finish the three tracks in Virtua Racing, you can play them mirrored and in reverse, so you technically have 12 tracks in total.
It’s Time Bonus obviously.
It’s not pixelization....it’s dithering and lack of anti aliasing
@@secoTheSonicFan Yeah, like when he said the Sega was afraid of the Super FX chip. Sega dogged the idea and said it was too expensive and would only pass the cost on to the consumers, which it did. Sega said a better way was to create an add on with enhanced hardware and keep the game costs down, which they did with the 32X. Virtua Racing was almost a proof of concept that Sega could utilize enhancement in cartridges like big N was doing but, like Sega predicted, the cost was the biggest turn off.
@@AtariBorn yeah the 32x version is much better.
@@AtariBorn bingo! I remember that too, and he missed that essential information.
@@secoTheSonicFan 3/4 of the video is garbage, unfortunately. I had to give it a thumbs down because of it. He clearly was highly inconsiderate when he review the game, and it's 100% clear he was not around when the game was released on the genesis/megadrive.
@@Arjay82 He even points out the weird cartridge shape, brings up the plans for a lock on SVP cartridge, and manages not to connect the dots that the cartridge is weird because it's molded as if it was the lockon cartridge with a game cartridge locked on. They had the design ready to go but only ever did the one game, so there was no need to make it two separate pieces.
In 1992, "Virtua Racing" on the "Model 1" board was nothing short of revolutuionary as was "Virtua Fighter" and "Star Wars arcade". To see this in polygon form on the Sega Genisis .... EPIC.. SEGA sure had a lot of missteps... I was A proud 32X and SEGA CD owner .
I still remember the first time I saw VR in the arcade and my mouth dropped at how smooth it was at the time. I was used to Atari's polygon games with lower frame rates (such as Hard/Race Drivin' and STUN Runner.) But 30fps was a whole new level.
That was until I saw Daytona for the first time and it was when I realized how amazing 60fps was in racing games.
Fun fact: Sonic Team wanted to use the SVP to make Sonic 3 a 3D game but they determined it wasn't powerful enough to do what they wanted. However, seeing what AM2 did with Virtua Racing, I think a 3D platformer using the Virtua Racing engine would have been a distinct possibility.
Would have been interesting if Sega had used the SVP to enhance 2D graphics in Sonic 3, and/or introduce some 3D effects to make certain things pop. Sort of like Nintendo did with Yoshi's Island.
@@autofox1744 Yeah it could have been pretty neat, if Sega could have got the cost of the chip down.
They should have tried any way.
Starfox has such a big replay value. I experienced that game in a special ship booth at the shop, with Stereo sound!!!!!!!
When StarFox came out, I had it hooked up to my stereo system.
The mailman was like....... *W T F you doing man.....You got a arcade in ya house* ???
You are too young to understand how big a deal it was to get an arcade port of this quality on a home machine. The 32x had its own virtua racing which was much better, at the time of the 32x nobody saw the need for specific 3d hardware.
This guy has no idea how amazing this was when it came out. It was a game changer. The price meant nothing too, people would sell their right nut to buy it lol.
@@geoffprince2258 Yeah, those fortunate enough that could actually buy it! In Europe it was a nightmare to find the good games like this!! People would take an airplane to US just to buy a few copies and the resell in Italy at 1000 dollars each!!
@@geoffprince2258 First point yes, second point about people selling body parts for any home port of Virtua Racer? nah! It was NEVER that hot in the arcade let alone hungered for by millions of console owners, that was ALL marketing bullshit and Sega dedicated magazine hype. The 3D revolution where people went crazy to get home 3D arcade game ports didn't happen until Ridge Racer/Tekken for PS1, for Sega it took a year longer with the almost simultaneous release of Virtua Figther 2 and Sega Rally (Daytona and VF1 looked like crusty PC 486 bollox from 1992 on Saturn).Technically impressive for sure but then so would a 128 colour ray traced animation of a CGI turd be impressive. And no I don't worship Star Fox, it's too childish with all those stupid puppet characters....for little shits and lobotomised adults only (AKA Ninbendo fanbois). VR on Megadrive seems to suffer less frame drops than SuperFX games released but who knows....did anybody who had working genitals at the time of the release of either VR or SF actually give a shit? lol normal adults would play OutRun instead.
@@madcommodore You despise people that enjoy Star Fox? Wow, don't go cutting yourself on all that edge, bro.
@@ostiariusalpha No I don't despise people for liking different things, what a dumb thing to assume from my comment. I think males above teenage sort of years back then, i.e. full grown adults legally, who didn't find the puppet/animal characters constantly popping up with stupid useless comments are a bit weird or a bit mentally retarded....same way it would be weird for a 21 year old to sit and watch children's Television with puppet shows or making shit out of cardboard and vinyl wrap etc. There is nothing wrong with the game as it was released for children or people too young to drive legally. If you remove that childish aspect of the game it becomes acceptable to normal male adults in the West. Why does a dumb frog have to scream at me for help when it is nothing more than a gimmick that has nothing to do with actual game progress or gameplay. Star Fox cost 65 English Pounds, nearly half the price of a new SNES bundled with a top game so adults put up with the MISTAKE of adding those dumb idiot character animations. It's as fucking stupid as the pop up "Where did you learn to fly?" bullshit in that bundled Jaguar game (yeah we all know which one it is if you ever watched an AVGN Jaguar vid).
this thing in 1994 was mad impressive high msrp withstanding eheh
"The Lock on SVP chip didn't happen"
The 32x existed, bro.
@adam_odell 'official' This is true. The 32x would have been sold at a higher price point, while the SVP chip would have been cheaper and would have not required a separate power supply.
The graphics and sound engine was nearly identical at the silicon level but for the addition of hardware scaler and larger memory space. There was also a standalone frame buffer built in so it would not depend on doing copythrough to the MD. This allowed for higher color depth and actual texture filtering on some level. Since it was largely software driven 3d the twin SH2 were also significantly more powerful than the fixed point DSP used in the SVP.
@@pojr 32 x didn't require a sperate power supply from memory. It was just a cartridge you plugged into mega drive slot then stuck your 32x game in the top of it. There was a 32x version of this game I'm pretty certain
@@1invag The 32X needed a separate wall wart power adapter and video mixing cable. I know this because Sega used to sell a power strip to plug in the Genesis, CD, and 32X. And yes, there was a 32X version of Virtua Racing and it was the best version until the Switch version came out.
Which was a very Bad decision
I think the guy says "TIME BONUS" every checkpoint
Yes, the slightest "research" of the arcade version would have confirmed this. I don't think research was considered for this video's content.
This game is like Stafox level of graphics, not typical N64 game
far more comparable to Stunt Race FX
This is trash and I didn't know anybody who bought it. Best off, people who bought the 1st StarFox, bought the 2nd one for N64.
Blockbuster and game rentals made games like Virtual Racer viable to play for those of us who didn't want to spend a new bicycle to get a small game.
Time Bonus not hard to hear!
‘Time bonus’... simple mate
The 32X version fixed the issues the Genesis version had. It looks and sounds much better.
9:15 Yes, the Genesis does support analog controls. Check out the XE-1AP controller. The Saturn racing wheel was also originally designed for the Genesis to use with Virtua Racing, however Sega decided to cancel it and use it for the Saturn instead. That's why it only has six buttons while every other Saturn controller has 8.
i see im not the only one who youtube decided to recommend this video to today lol
I would very much like to have seen what one could have done with this tech. Imagine how Doom would have been on Sega with this chip.
I'm glad the RUclips algorithm recommended your channel. I had never heard of that custom chip!
I don't understand what Sega of Japan was thinking, instead of using chips like the FX to expand the cartridges, they tried to push useless expansions like the 32X.
Sega could've chose enhancement chips route (decompress rom storage/data, color/audio enhancement chip lock-on cart, cheaper custom 3D/2.5D chip made from sega/Hitachi) but chose the easy and expensive out with a 2nd add-on for the genesis. Which led to mismanagement, infighting and losing a lot of money once they release this horrible add-on.
I remember in Italy this game was not sold... I used to make tournaments in the Arcade version and it was a dream to have on the Sega... too bad it never shipped. It stayed a dream and then I moved to Amiga and N64, which at least had games available at shops!
It’s cheaper to play this on Megadrive than on the arcades and a lot of us who Time Attack it. Playing a great graphics racing game like VR was the whole point.
I remember one of the adverts going in US magazines in 1994 in regards to svp chip. "Luckily you don't have to understand the technology to appreciate the game"
Nintendo: *Adds Super FX chip*
Sega: "Hold my 32x and CD"
Looks like nobody held their 32x and CD
The video is misleading. Sega's "answer" to the Super FX was to create an add on that contained all of the enhancement hardware and keep the cost of each game down. They mentioned this back in the day. The 32X was the realization that an add on could do just that and Virtua Racing was confirmation that extra hardware in the cartridge was too expensive for customers.
@@AtariBorn the 32x version was far better than this version.
@@Barcrest Because the 32X had an entire architecture of its own, rather than a coprocessor or single chip added to a standard cartridge. In that aspect, Sega was right. It made more sense to build a single add on that could give the console better specs and only charge customers once for that add on rather than add expensive chips to each cartridge and charge higher prices for each game that used them.
those aren't n64 graphics, they don't even make me want to claw my eyes out
I was blown away by this on Genesis when it came out. I think I was the only one.
I rented this game when I was a kid, and I thought they actually took the real arcade version and put it in a small cartridge. But I was also a silly kid with little attention to detail lol. I was impressed.
No, you weren't the only one. This game WAS and it's STILL impressive, given the Mega Drive was launched back in 89.
I was highly impessed and still play virtua racing!
When I was a kid, I loved going to the arcade just to watch other people play the games. I got a lot of entertainment value just admiring technology, even if I felt the games themselves were pretty crap. I don't think I was the only one, either. 8)
@@Waccoon It was always fun to admire the adults or older teenagers play and do so well at arcade games. Def fun to watch other people play, I still do to this day.
A polygonal version of Virtua Fighter on the Genesis would have blown my mind back then, and it could have been a system seller.
Yes, I mentioned this above.
Instead of even thinking of releasing the 32X, SEGA should have expanded the use of this chip to deliver Virtua Fighter and it was powerful enough to render a very decent DOOM port, better than the SNES (which is great for what it achieved), Genesis/Mega Drive owners amounted around 25 million in 1993, instead of buying an expensive addon, to then be able to spend even more on different carts and play a few early 3D games, consumers would know the SVP carts were special and would be willing to spend a bit more on those games.
Like you said, it would make the base system even more appealing, forget the addons, focus on the games.
The tech demo for 32x was realtime and looked as good as the actual n64. There was a home brew a while back that was able to tap these types of visuals, something even SEGA themselves couldn't achieve with games like star wars arcade which looked more like a fancier starfox. The key was to code strictly in assembly for unhindered throughput and clever utilization of all resources. There was a method of swapping textures on the fly, but thanks to CD, that isnt even necessary. It's too bad no one made any serious projects for the console, just ports and smaller titles that just piggybacked on the original genesis.
But you have to remember, that demo had 100% of the CPU at its disposal. There was no code for AI, physics, input, etc. Neat demo though
Difficult steering, bro play checkered flag on jaguar 😆
Lol. Or Club Drive.
Interesting note, Virtua Racing doesn't work on the "3" model of the Genesis because of the SVP chip. My parents bought me the original Genesis in the early 90s and got Virtua Racing sometime in the mid 90s (IIRC, not at full retail price). Then in the late 90s my original Genesis broke and I got the Genesis 3 as a replacement, and I could play everything except Virtua Racing. I was disappointed but your assessment of the game is correct, it was just hard to play on a controller and it didn't have any real replayability with just 3 tracks.
It's now 2021 and I still have that Genesis and my entire game collection, nearly 30 years later. 😁
n64 graphics? Exaggerate much.....? it's not even half way to 32X graphics, and that was far from Saturn's graphics, while the Saturn was weaker than the N64.
Star Fox on the SNES had PS3 graphics.
Right. Regardless of the quality of the textures, the vast majority of N64 games had them. Model 1 games like Virtua Racing were distinctly texture-less.
I would say is more like a good 3d Atari Jaguar or 3DO game. Maybe a 1994 PS1 game with much more pixelation.
@@sebastianaliandkulche nah, Ps1 had way more polygon Power. even 3do is a far stretch
You can't judge an old game on how it looks and plays today, you can only judge on how it aged, and yes, it aged very badly. But back when it was released, it was one of the best racing games for the Genesis/Mega Drive, probably even for any home console at the time.
I had this game when I was a kid and I played it for hundreds of hours. The meaning of "replayability" today is definitely not the same as it was back then, nor it will be the same ten years from now.
And if you can't hear "Time Bonus" being said, I'm guessing you were born after the Arcades lost the war against home consoles.
I actually played the virtua racing on the 32x and it did not impress me back then. I only played it one time and I remember not liking it at all. Was there a big difference between the genesis version and the 32x? I don't even know the release time of those games. I was a big sega fan back then at least until the playstation came out. We had the genesis and the cd addon and bunch of fun games.
@@huldu The 32x was way better than the Genesis version: 20 vs 15fps, more polygons/colors, 2 more cars and 2 more tracks, with the gaming experience being closer to the original arcade version. It's one of those games that you either love it or hate it, but it was an impressive technical feat back then. I don't know what happened to my original game but I never bothered to buy it again, since the Saturn version is more than enough to satisfy any nostalgia for it with much better graphics and more cars/tracks than the 32x version.
@@wettuga2762 Yeah. Sega did some really questionable decisions toward the mid 90's for sure. I remember seeing the saturn for sale and the price was a big surprise. We were tempted to at least rent the console but even that was out of the question at the time. I think the store wanted the value of the console in deposit which at that time was unheard of around here.
I think if I played virtua racing today I would enjoy it and appreciate it. Many games I didn't enjoy as a child I do enjoy nowadays. Zelda 2 is a good example. As a kid I wasn't too happy with it but these days I love the game.
5:15 The inspiration was Namco's Starblade. Starfox is a 1:1 rip off from 1991's Starblade from the intro/scramble scene to muffled radio, to being more or less a rail shooter, to the second stage being an asteroid field, to the developers actually admitting they rewrote the game after they played Starblade at a local arcade.
Dont forget the octopus wannabe!
Great video. Atari weren't thinking what hardware they needed to accommodate most games. They were designing the cheapest system that could play Tank and Pong. When you look at it's capabilities it's some kind of black magic some of the games they managed to make on that system.
We can't blame Atari. For the Family Computer/NES, the only game that Masayuki Uemura determined it should play was Donkey Kong.
I just discovered your channel. Well done video. It would be interesting if Sega did not cancel plans for additional SVP chip games: Virtua Fighter, Star Wars Arcade, and Daytona USA. Instead, of releasing the 32X. Moreover, it would be interesting to use the the SVP on the Vectorman games, Sonic 3 , Sonic and Knuckles, & Sonic 3-D Blast.
You’ve got potential my friend. Some quick tidbits of note. Sega Designed the game with Analogue support and created a steering wheel for it. The wheel never released and it’s unknown if the Analogue support was stripped from the final game build. There was a twin analogue stick controller for the Mega Drive too, some 32X games even support it. Also, Virtua Racing is without a doubt the most influential and iconic racing game of that era. Having that arcade game ported home without any content cut was an unreal accomplishment. It’s still dang impressive when considering the platform limitations. Best of luck going forward, I realize you’re taking a licking in the comments, but always recommend replying to those who support you.
I remember being a kid and not being able to talk my parents into buying it for the $100. But sure did rent this a lot. The Genesis and the 32X port still plays closest to the arcade imo. Even more than the Switch remake. That feels too...modern...
FYI, $59.99 was the standard price for SNES games in the 90s. The higher priced games usually had higher ROM sizes, such as Street Fighter II, SFII Turbo, Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger, and most games 16 MBits or larger.
Snes Doom was pretty amazing for what it was. "Hey! You wanna play Doom but don't have hundreds of dollars lying around for a Next Gen system, or a PC? $70 will get you a reasonable approximation of the experience!"
You're absolutely right, it was fantastic when it came out.
????? Reasonable hahahahahahahah omg u need to find a new hobbie SNES doom was an absolute shit show
I often wonder how things would have turned out if SEGA released Genesis/Mega Drive games using the SVP chip instead of creating the 32x. Maybe 3d ports of Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop and Daytona on the Genesis/Mega Drive would have let SEGA succeed in the west while the Saturn would have allowed SEGA to succeed in the east. Sure the carts would have been expensive but the popularity of the Gen/Drive in the west may have still help SVP chip games to sell.
How on earth do you not have more subs? The production value & effort in this video is amazing! I hope you get the following you absolutely deserve
The handling is easier on this game than most arcade racing games for the time. Most games when you hit a sharp corner, you don't brake at all. You lift off throttle for a sec, then back on quickly to enduce a slide through turns. Virtua Racing braking before a corner, then getting back on the gas is more like it would work in real life. Still many of the corners can be made through in this game with either brief braking, or simply letting of the gas and coasting through it. Each corner has a different method of attack. That's how they got longevity out of racing games back in the day, vs having 50 tracks and 300 cars. Master each corner and you'll win and be able to finish the race before the time limit runs out. Now racing games you can finish the race no matter how poorly you drive.
13:15 I'm thinking it's more accurate to say they probably shifted focus to the 32x
The Super FX chip and Star Fox embody Nintendo's design philosophy. Nintendo tends to use lower specs for cheaper hardware but invests heavily on making quality games that make the most out of the hardware.
You were better off to change the title “386 pc graphics on a genesis?” Instead am mean come on the SVP chip doesn’t even come.close to ps1 graphics,let alone N64 graphics,also
I think $100 is well worth it if a game is in full screen along with smooth controls and virtua racing definitely puts starfox and stunt race fx into shame, i wish that starfox and stunt race fx just used a more powerful chip to have smooth controls with instant response time.
Winter Gold for SNES shows what the FX2 can really do.
Though it's clunky and slow, I like Stunt Race FX, but I know I'm the only one who really enjoys that weird little game.
You can overclock the Super FX chip. I remember seeing a couple videos on youtube, years ago.
@@AtariBorn yes i know that and am getting excited about it everytime i think about it,so who knows what can be more squeezed out of the super fx chip once mega overclocked😁
I feel like you should have really played or watched enough Virtua Racing Arcade to realise how big a port this was.
The research across this whole video isn't the greatest.
Had never heard of this port until today. And I owned lots of great Genesis games. Must not have been a very famous port. Also, $100 was too high an asking price. No matter how great the game was (which it wasn't, apparently).
When you're old enough to remember these games coming out, and playing them on rhe demo units at stores, and thinking, "how could it ever get more realistic looking than this?"
Crazy that Sega didn't sell the SVP as a lock-on cartridge instead of designing the wonky 32X ...
Right. I wonder how much success they would have had they did. Maybe there would have been more games supporting the SVP Chip than just Virtua Racing. Datona USA would have been cool to see.
They sell it, it's called 32x
@@wahdangun No, 32x goes far beyong (probably to far to keep a raisonnable price tag) in most 32x game the Genesis is only providing electricity and side stuff like displaying text ...
Hey! Lay off the 32X. The library is only so bad because it was announced finished around the same time it was launched so all the developers ran away. Ray man was finished for it but didn’t even get released.
The specs are way high for the 32X but it was cut short by idiots. It was supposed to be a bargain 32bit machine but never got the chance. :’(
@@jeanbono3880 it needs its own power. 32X added lots of cpu power, 3D acceleration and unlimited colour and 2 sampled channels of sound. It added (I think) 2 layers which could be added to the existing Genesis layers (background, foreground, hud, etc).
Fun little fact: this game does not start on most chinese clones :)
Doesn't surprise me. The game also doesn't work on the Model 3 Sega Genesis.
The 32X version of Virtua Racing is my favorite racing game of all time.
Haven't tried it but I heard it's better
Interesting. Halfway through the video I assumed this was the chip they used to render those 3D Special Stages on Knuckles' Chaotix, Sonic's only 32X game. Those ones reminded me quite a bit of Star Fox's space levels, especially when you get all the Emeralds and they turn into transparent wireframe tunnels.
TIME BONERS! That's what we used to shout in the arcade when someone was playing VR. And to this day I've mates still shout "TIME BONERS" from other side of the street lol.
It's interesting they did a port of Virtua Fighter on the Genesis but without implementing the SVP chip. It ended up looking like a regular 2D fighter. They might as well have taken out Virtua and just called it "Fighter".
Remember renting this at a mom and pop video store in Galena, Illinois. The owner let me know how expensive it was and begged me to treat it well.
Time bonus!!!! That's what the guy says at the check point!!!!!
Yup, you got it lol. The "bonus" part especially is hard to tell.
@@pojr its not hard to tell, its your bad emulation. But even then no one else is having an issue hearing it
The voice clip at checkpoints clearly says “Time Bonus”
This was very well put together! I'm interested in checking out your other content for sure. I subbed. Take care.
I would say the "N64 Graphics" is a stretch. More like 32xx maybe w/o the attachment.
The Mega CD already had mode 7 capability so I don't think Starfox had much of anything to do with anything other than in your head.
Sega was actually pushing Silpheed on the CD as a StarFox competitor back then.
I realize the subject of this video was the SVP chip. However, when discussing the replayability of the Virtua Racing game, it would have been good to compare it with the 32X version and the Saturn version. I'm guessing the Saturn version's Grand Prix mode would have been sufficient, while the 32X's extra cars and tracks would still have been disappointing. But that's based on someone else's summary.
The conclusion would be whether Sega should have canceled the SVP chip and waited until the Virtua Racing game, home version, was completed.
An interesting point, not apparent at the time, was that the arcade and home markets were distinct: games and game machine hardware designed for one market were inappropriate for the other. Rather than working together, the two divisions should have been left to develop on their own, and at most, sharing/licensing game concepts.
In many cases they were but the game released at a time when the arcade experience at home was a big deal. You might as well say that about every arcade port at the time.
You know the part you talked about the arcade hardwares which was used by arcade games actually reminds of an idea I had for months and it was like this "what if an arcade cabinet had technical specs just like arcade boards and each arcade cabinet has one built-in game"
Do you mean reusing arcade hardware for more than one game? They did this, a lot.
@@Barcrest no I mean if arcade games run on arcade cabinets (the type has tech specs just like arcade boards) instead of arcade boards
@@Barcrest You could say it would be an " arcade console"
Still an awesome breakthrough game imo
The 32X version of this game is actually sweet, that's the one I had as a kid and I still have my copy and 32X
Off-the-shelf DSPs were really hard to program, so it doesn't surprise me that the game wasn't very good. Also, audio was mostly done by streaming data the same way as the Z80 chip did in the Genesis. Audio quality varied depending on how "busy" the DSP was rendering the polygons and how quickly the data could be pushed to the audio registers. It was not trivial!
Hats off to the poor programmers who had to figure out all this hardware.
Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, stuff like that would have been good launch titles for the Sega Neptune.
The Sega Neptune, aka the (planned, but cancelled) Genesis 32x stand-alone console, instead of an add-on!
@@dinohermann1887 A duo console eith the 32x and genesis hardware.
awesome video, never knew this! it's still really crazy games could run 3D graphics back in 1993-1994!
This game is no gimmick. The gameplay is on point. If you can finish all three tracks on normal difficulty I would be amazed. If you can finish on hard you are godlike. Also, if you finish expert track on hard you can play the tracks in reverse.
This game plays extremely well. It’s just sooo hard. I played it years back and couldn’t understand how they could release a game which is so hard. I couldn’t get anywhere. It’s one of mission in life to finish first on hard difficulty expert track. This game has SERIOUS longevity if you want to try to beat it on hard/expert track. You almost certainly won’t. It takes the dedication of an irl F1 driver.
But the more you play it, the more fun it is as you master the tracks and commit them to memory. This game will last your whole life of you pit the effort in.
When I was young I didn’t have that much time though. So I had to move onto games which were a bit more forgiving.
PS. Apparently Virtua Fighter was in fact finished for the SVP but never released.
The 32X was released so SVP games would just move to that console/addon.
I thought Sega's answer to Star Fox was Panzer Dragoon.
Panzer Dragoon did follow Star Fox, but Sega had been making games in this genre for a long time before it, including Star Wars Arcade (1993 like Star Fox), Galaxy Force (1988), After Burner (1987), Thunder Blade (1987), Space Harrier (1985), and Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom (1982, still ran smoother than Star Fox).
@@Banderpop they ported those to the 32x as well.
Wow I was surprised that anyone would have a video about this game I was given the game for cleaning a person's Sega Genesis when I was a teenager
Great video.
How come you look like they got all the main guy characters from the MTV show 'Teen Wolf' and mashed them together to create one dude?
Didn't Virtua Fighter on 32x used the SVP chip? Nice video though
I call it the SEGA syndrome. Many arcade to NES games expanded the home ports somehow, sometimes the end result was a very different game.
Here is SEGA with their 3 track racing games for the Mega Drive, 32X and the Saturn. To them, bringing the arcade home was good enough, like console gamers would be so happy with that alone. 3 circuits, really? In an interview, Warner Interactive said they created lots of content for the Saturn home release of Virtua Racing, they acknowledged that home games required more depth, more replayability, while not arcade accurate in terms of gameplay, it's the most expanded Virtua Racing to this day.
The 32-bit era demanded more in-depth games, even if the game has an arcade feel to it, making dozens of circuits and many vehicles as possible was required. Sega Rally, Daytona USA, Touring Car Championship and others have almost nothing exclusive to the home market. Careers, cars, upgrades, customizations and so on, not barebones arcade ports, they were fun as arcade games, but in an expensive cart/console, at home?
Gran Turismo was the best selling on the original Playstation and the second best selling PS2 game, players wanted engagement, something else.
I appreciate Virtua Racing on the Genesis for what it is, a tech demo, it's fun, but not a flashed out product, specially for its price.
As for the expanded audio, this game didn't use this resource at all, but the chip provided it. They should have ditched the 32X and released Virtua Fighter and possibly DOOM using this chip instead, it would have been much more effective, 30+ millions possible costumers, instead of a few thousand who had to buy the 32X.
That dithering though.
Don't forget, Virtua Racing came out at the absolute arse-end of the Mega Drive's lifespan. They'd already released the 32X, and Saturn was about to drop. Had the SVP chip come out three or four years prior, as a lock-on cart, it could have been vary different.
Thats not how it works. The SVP would have been super expensive "four years prior".... I mean, thats approximately a year after the Mega Drive was released, it would have been a high performance 3D chip before 3D was hardly even a thing.
@@RetroGamesBoy78 OK, so I got my years slightly wrong (this was from memory of events nearly 30 years ago), but we're dealing with hypotheticals, so ultimately , it doesn't really matter.
Basically, Sega wanted a game that could rival Starfox, and that could run on a stock Mega Drive/Genesis. That meant developing bespoke hardware, at a time when Sega of Japan were focussed on the Staturn, and Sega of America were committed to the 32X. Trying to find room to develop a new, 3D processor for a single game while you're already spending time and resources on the 32X stop-gap, AND on your next generation machine was madness, and really, Sega would have been better polishing Virtua Racing, along with various other polygonal 3D titles for the 32X instead. It's telling that the 32X version is much closer to the arcade game, and had extra cars and tracks, which indicates that the SVP cart version of Virtua Racing was a compromised title, rushed out the door, simply to look like Sega had an answer to the Snes' Super FX titles.
What I meant was (and I should have been clearer) was that had Sega decided to go the SVP lock-on cart route as a stop-gap measure, rather than developing the 32X, they may have had more success. Multiple games could have been released for it, such as Star Wars Arcade, Doom, Virtua Fighter, as well as significantly enhanced versions of earlier polygon flight sims that had been released on the Mega Drive, and they could have been slightly cheaper than the £70 Virtua Racing was released for. . But again, we're dealing with hypotheticals, which happens a lot when talking about Sega, and their many missteps. As it is, the 32X probably gave various development teams a good insight into how to best develop titles for the Saturn, as they used the same set of two Hitachi Risc processors.
@@boblowes
I'm fairly sure work on the 32X was started after the release of Virtua Racing on the Mega Drive.
I agree that the SVP might have been the better way to go but thats also with plenty of hindsight taken into consideration. the 32X was a more exiting prospect and initially sold well, but the games were slow to come, and instead of using the new capabilities of the 32X, many games were what we'd already seen before, just with upgraded graphics. We'd even seen Virtua Racing before on the Mega Drive.
There are lots of "what ifs" with Sega, the truth is, Sega were terribly managed, even screwed up the US launch of the Saturn through stubbornness and jealousy, thats not the way to run a successful company.
@@boblowes I disagree your statement that the 32x helped programmers to get familiar with the Saturn CPU. If that was the case virtua fighter wouldve played better than the 32x version and not allowing a 3rd party to port virtua racing for the saturn. Sega cancelled a lot of games due to porting some of the 32x cancelled games to Saturn last minute ie sonic and ect.
@@RetroGamesBoy78 32x was already planned prior to the release of virtua racing for the genesis. Sega felt the svp chip was going to fail during the beginning of the 32-bit era and were ready give up on the genesis.
the checkpoint voice says "time bonus" btw
Also, svp was suppose port over star wars arcade, virtua fighter, daytona usa, outlaw racing and zaxxon motherbase 2000.
Virtua Racing was NOT SEGA's answer to StarFox, the arcade version predated StarFox, and filled-polygon 3D games had been around for years on PC as well.
A lock-on cartridge with an SVP chip could have been a great marketing move. Especially compared to the 32x fiasco. Think of all the polygon games that could have been ported to the Genesis. I don't just mean arcade ports -- these would obviously have some serious cutbacks in the graphics department. But there was a lot of PC/Amiga games that would have looked and played great.
The 32X fiasco?
@@RetroGamesBoy78 yes, which led to sega losing a lot of money to the point they had to cancel it.
I couldn't make it out in the arcade either, but I jokingly said it was "TIIIIIIIIIIIIIME BONER!"
Also, why VR on the Genesis was a technical marvel for the time, the money might be better spent for VR Deluxe on the 32X. It ran a lot smoother and had more detail, and was only $60 for the game rather than $100.
And yes, it still says "TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME BONER!"
about the sound; I mean, it sounds better than most genesis games.
You couldnt make out it said Time bonus? Intresting video though :)
The genesis does support analog controllers, XE-1 AP.
He’s saying “Time 🦴!” 😂
It says time bonus doesn't it? Also you deserve more than 183 subs !
Gran Turismo went out before the DualShock so I don't think a analog stick is mandatory for a racing games. The latest GT is still pretty much "playable" with a D-Pad
He's saying "TIME BONUS!".
Great video. You’ve got yourself a new subscriber. 😉
tracklist?
Wait is this story correkt? I heard (read) that Argunat made a cool game (X) on the Gameboy blowing Gunpei Yokoi mind as 3D wasent possible on the GB. Shigeru Miyamoto saw this and got the idea with Starfox/wing and Argonaut assisted making the first FX chip codename "mario".
Also you are really too young to appreciate this game. :)
Very nice video! Subbed!
"Genesis Does What Nintendon't."
No, Nintendo Is What Genesisn't.
N64 graphics? Now that's just a very wide goatse stretch.
Checkpoint voice guesses:
"Time up!"
"Diaper!"
"Right on!"
"Rygar"!
"PYLON"
"My car!"
"Pie crust!"
When would you hear the word "diaper" in a racing game
@@eugencorcodel7026 yes
The only thing that lack on Virtua Racing is the Save Option, then if you shut-off the console you lose all Time Records around the tracks...
The only way is to buy a Sega Megadrive Mini 2 that allows ti save all the gamestates with a simple click!!!
But....many people don't know there was another way in 1995!!!
Great presentation sir
!
9:45 If it has extended sound capabilities, it's probably PWM programmed in software and Virtua Racing doesn't use it.
Comparing to Super FX games, Virtua Racing does indeed have awesome 3-D graphics, it makes sense that the SVP chip has better hardware than Super FX.
Also 12:36 - I know THAT skidding sound any day.. from a certain 1997 racing title with 2-D sprites for its karts... I mean vehicles
It's quite a sad thing, to think that almost NONE of those hardware companies (both home consoles and home computers) didn't really think to create some sort of interface for a future chips that will be created by a 3rd party.
And I mean the type of cabinet that has tech specs
I'll explain what I mean . Let's use the Sega System 16 and one of games that used it which is Altered Beast
When you read an article about this games it'll say "Altered Beast is released for arcades" (because the System 16 is an arcade board it'll never get mentioned there). But in my vision it'll say "Altered Beast is released for Sega System 16 (which would be an arcade cabinet). Get it now ?