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sega cd- Silpheed.. FMV backgrounds?

R

racerx77

Banned
60128-silpheed-sega-cd-screenshot-level-3s.png

Pretty nice game, IMO.
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I just don't recall it having a grainy look to it like all the other FMV games. Perhaps my memory is clouded, but if they WERE fmv, why was the planet level I posted so choppy in comparison? ALL the other levels were smooth, and this one had noticeably choppier framerate. Any insight?
 
It's been awhile since I played it but I don't remember suspecting the backgrounds were FMVs. And if iirc, Sega CD had some really, really shitty FMV capabilities. Like, just remembering the quality of that Sonic CD intro makes me sad.

Gonna watch some YouTube to refresh my memory.
 
racerx77 said:
60128-silpheed-sega-cd-screenshot-level-3s.png

Pretty nice game, IMO.
large.jpg

I just don't recall it having a grainy look to it like all the other FMV games. Perhaps my memory is clouded, but if they WERE fmv, why was the planet level I posted so choppy in comparison? ALL the other levels were smooth, and this one had noticeably choppier framerate. Any insight?
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Sega Cinepak compression had to do with the choppiness....
 
There was no grain and the framerate was higher in the "space" levels because they could use less colors and since everything was made of solid colors the simple compression used on each frame was much more efficient (the background in the FMV was transparent and the far away background was just a rotating 2D plane).

I don't think they were much different from animated GIFs.
 
racerx77 said:
ALL the other levels were smooth, and this one had noticeably choppier framerate. Any insight?
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Harder to compress with the type of compression they were using. (more detailed frames would need more data that takes longer to read/uncompress) All the other levels use big blocks of the same colour, it's probably like a big 16 colour animated gif or something, you'd have the same issue there.
 
Just remembered something. The levels that appear smoother are also the earlier ones. We have to remember that these assholes only had ~500 MBs to work with in the stone age.

It's likely they[GameArts] dedicated more mem to earlier level's streaming backgrounds, as they considered that not many gamers would be able to (or bother) getting to later levels.
 
All FMV backgrounds, with some primitive polygonal elements, as well as sprites overlayed.

Not a very good shooter by any means, but it's FAR from terrible..

It had a brief "WOW" moment at the time - but ultimately it was short and shallow, with games like StarFox easily overshadowing it.

For a Sega CD owner, it was a good, middle of the road game to have. :)
 
One of my first fanboy rages (sad because I was 19-ish at the time) revolved around an editorial in EGM by Ed Semrad about this game -- how the poly count of the backgrounds in Silpheed will kick Starfox to the curb.

It just baffled me because after seeing the game in action I knew those backgrounds were prerendered and streaming.

Someone pull that issue up and repost that editorial, please.
 
Must have been very impressive back in 1993.

I don't get why Sega didn't ramp up the number of maximum colors on the Mega CD, not that it would have helped Silpheed, but it would at least have put the Mega CD on par with the SFC.
 
iidesuyo said:
Must have been very impressive back in 1993.

I don't get why Sega didn't ramp up the number of maximum colors on the Mega CD, not that it would have helped Silpheed, but it would at least have put the Mega CD on par with the SFC.
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They were saving all the colors for the 32X!
 
crankypants said:
One of my first fanboy rages (sad because I was 19-ish at the time) revolved around an editorial in EGM by Ed Semrad about this game -- how the poly count of the backgrounds in Silpheed will kick Starfox to the curb.

It just baffled me because after seeing the game in action I knew those backgrounds were prerendered and streaming.

Someone pull that issue up and repost that editorial, please.
Click to expand...

My brother had a SNES, while I was the Sega fanboy - I knew it was pre-rendered bullshit, but I would never admit it. :)
 
crankypants said:
One of my first fanboy rages (sad because I was 19-ish at the time) revolved around an editorial in EGM by Ed Semrad about this game -- how the poly count of the backgrounds in Silpheed will kick Starfox to the curb.

It just baffled me because after seeing the game in action I knew those backgrounds were prerendered and streaming.

Someone pull that issue up and repost that editorial, please.
Click to expand...

Well, technically, the number of polygons seen in Silpheed's background is higher than the number of polygons seen in StarFox's background. EGM's editorial wasn't wrong, as long as the phrase "rendered in real time" wasn't used.
 
Danthrax said:
Well, technically, the number of polygons seen in Silpheed's background is higher than the number of polygons seen in StarFox's background. EGM's editorial wasn't wrong, as long as the phrase "rendered in real time" wasn't used.
Click to expand...

Let's read the editorial together before we argue semantics, shall we? :)
 
crankypants said:
One of my first fanboy rages (sad because I was 19-ish at the time) revolved around an editorial in EGM by Ed Semrad about this game -- how the poly count of the backgrounds in Silpheed will kick Starfox to the curb.

It just baffled me because after seeing the game in action I knew those backgrounds were prerendered and streaming.

Someone pull that issue up and repost that editorial, please.
Click to expand...

AQM56.jpg
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LTTIw.jpg
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I know, a scan. I'll remove if you want me to!
 
iidesuyo said:
Must have been very impressive back in 1993.

I don't get why Sega didn't ramp up the number of maximum colors on the Mega CD, not that it would have helped Silpheed, but it would at least have put the Mega CD on par with the SFC.
Click to expand...

It was in one of the magazines from the past. I don't remember the details, but I do remember the gist of it being was that adding the chip would have been 5-10 dollars per unit which would have been another 50-100 at retail for the thing. To keep costs low they continued to use the genesis chip as the main one.
 
hmm, looks OK to me. They don't say that the planet level is using 500,000 polygons in the background specifically. I wonder where they got that number, though. They also cite highlights, shadows, music and sound effects as reasons for Silpheed's superiority over StarFox, not just the number of polygons.

On another note, haha, Nintendo was far from one year away from CD technology.
 
I really do not understand why detail in video playback has anything to do with framerate. Added resolution and colors, yeah.. I could understand it then, but If it is simply playing back pre-recorded video, then why would it be an issue?
 
I enver knew it had pre-rendered backgrounds back then. I'm always a bit skeptical about it, even to this day.

It seems Novastorm also have pre-rendered backgrounds.

I always though they looked good believable on the SegaCD.

Sapiens said:
I know, a scan. I'll remove if you want me to!
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Jesus, that Nintendo vs Sega vs 3DO piece is horribly written. Even my 15 year old Sega Fanboy Self think it's a bit too much. I also love how 20 FPS is described as high framerate. Simpler times, simpler times...
 
Reiko said:
Final Fantasy VIII did this too.
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I really like the way it was done in FFVIII, the parade was pretty spectacular. I never got very far into the game though.

REmake essentially does this too right? For the animated backgrounds. I quite like the look when it's done right.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
It was terrible. We can fight about it if you wish. Put up your dukes.
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well it's way better than a lot of the widely praised SNES STGs. i'd play silpheed over axelay, that's for sure. that mode 7 horizon that makes 20% of the screen effectively useless is a far more damning graphical decision as it directly impacts the quality of gameplay.
 
cheststrongwell said:
I remember Gamefan going NUTS(!) over this game.
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yup I remember this as well! Silpheed was indeed impressive in its day, and in print looked like something quite special - but getting one's hands on it, and comparing it to the likes of Starfox (which it was clearly being positioned against) - well, it didn't really hold up at all. The game was clearly not anything more than a very barebones shooter overlayed over some impressive (although not terribly engaging) visuals, whereas Starfox actually thrust you into a bonafide (if primitive) 3D interactive world, with elements that would effect your gameplay. Starfox just looked better to boot!

I never played it, but Core's "3D sprite-based" Soul Star was probably the most impressive immersive spaceshooter-y outing on the Sega CD, and something that really would have given the SNES a run for it's money, technically - too bad it released rather late in the game, and with little fanfare. Check out some YouTube vids, there's still some sequences in this game which can be quite impressive to see, even now (I want to pick up this game!)
 
iidesuyo said:
Must have been very impressive back in 1993.

I don't get why Sega didn't ramp up the number of maximum colors on the Mega CD, not that it would have helped Silpheed, but it would at least have put the Mega CD on par with the SFC.
Click to expand...

Douche McBaggins The 3rd said:
It was in one of the magazines from the past. I don't remember the details, but I do remember the gist of it being was that adding the chip would have been 5-10 dollars per unit which would have been another 50-100 at retail for the thing. To keep costs low they continued to use the genesis chip as the main one.
Click to expand...

For extra colors it also would've required an external video cable from the Genesis to the CD system.

Just like the what the 32X had to do, with an external video-in and video-out.
 
Eric C said:
For extra colors it also would've required an external video cable from the Genesis to the CD system.

Just like the what the 32X had to do, with an external video-in and video-out.
Click to expand...

The 32X only connected to the cartdidge port on the Genesis, while the SegaCD connected to the auxiliar connector on the site.

I don't know what went through that connection (or if it had any return channels), but maybe you didn't need an extra cable in that scenario.
 
TheJollyCorner said:
isn't this the game that Dave Halverson called "the greatest game that will likely ever be made"?


Or was that Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar?
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Cybernator for the Jaguar was that game :)

I bought Silpheed recently, I remember the game getting massive amounts of hype back in the day but it wasn't until a few years ago I learned it was prerendered streamed backgrounds. The game has a "loose" feel to it and isn't quite on the level as say Robo Aleste but is a decent game. And has some cool chiptune-y sounding music. The "game over" voice that sounds like a stereotypical gay guy kinda threw me for a loop the first time I played.
 
djtiesto said:
Cybernator for the Jaguar was that game :)

I bought Silpheed recently, I remember the game getting massive amounts of hype back in the day but it wasn't until a few years ago I learned it was prerendered streamed backgrounds. The game has a "loose" feel to it and isn't quite on the level as say Robo Aleste but is a decent game. And has some cool chiptune-y sounding music. The "game over" voice that sounds like a stereotypical gay guy kinda threw me for a loop the first time I played.
Click to expand...

Robo Aleste had some incredible tunes for the time, I still listen to them....
 
Could the sega CD have done the game in real time? Were its scaling/rotation ablitites beyond the SVP chip used in virtua racing?
 
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