N64 picture quality

[RCBH928]

I was reading this racketboy guide:
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/nintendo ... today.html

and I find the picture quality of the screenshots are very clear...
How can I get a picture quality like this out of the console?

or is this enhanced by an emulator?

[bacteria]

Emulator screenshots I suspect, you don't get an image that crisp and defined from the N64 console!

[renardqueenston]

definitely emulated shots. they're very hi-res compared to the N64. actual N64 output is a little bit (who am i kidding, extremely) blurry.

[Incognito D]

why is the N64 so horribly blurry anyway?

[8bit]

why is the N64 so horribly blurry anyway?

From Wikipedia....

"The smaller storage size of ROM cartridges limited the number of available textures, resulting in games that had blurry graphics. This was caused by the liberal use of stretched, low-resolution textures, and was compounded by the N64's 4096-byte limit on a single texture. Some games, such as Super Mario 64, use a large amount of Gouraud shading or very simple textures to produce a cartoon-like image. This fit the themes of many games, and allowed this style of imagery a sharp look. Cartridges for some later games, such as Resident Evil 2 and Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Earth, featured more ROM space, allowing for more detailed graphics."

[jfrost]

The images also are small, helps giving the crisper look.

[Incognito D]

why is the N64 so horribly blurry anyway?

From Wikipedia....

"The smaller storage size of ROM cartridges limited the number of available textures, resulting in games that had blurry graphics. This was caused by the liberal use of stretched, low-resolution textures, and was compounded by the N64's 4096-byte limit on a single texture. Some games, such as Super Mario 64, use a large amount of Gouraud shading or very simple textures to produce a cartoon-like image. This fit the themes of many games, and allowed this style of imagery a sharp look. Cartridges for some later games, such as Resident Evil 2 and Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Earth, featured more ROM space, allowing for more detailed graphics."

but it's exactly the same low-res textures when playing a game on an emulator and yet the same games still look much sharper round the edges. Is it something to do with what a PC can output compared to the N64?

[t0yrobo]

It's because emulators can use much higher resolution and anti aliasing, they can't do anything for the textures (well they can but that's replacing the textures) , but it makes the 3d parts look much better. It's the same with PSX emulators.

[flamepanther]

definitely emulated shots. they're very hi-res compared to the N64. actual N64 output is a little bit (who am i kidding, extremely) blurry.

It's not the output, it's the texture filtering. You make it sound as though the system had a faulty RF modulator or something

Like the Wikipedia quote 8-bit posted says, games that either used a lot of untextured models or that had more storage for textures were able to look pretty sharp (for a standard definition image, anyway). The RAM expansion was able to help with that a lot too. Besides RE2 and S&P as mentioned in the article, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Evangelion, and to some extent, Majora's Mask and Super Smash Bros. were all able to get a pretty detailed image. Mega Man 64/Legends looks much better on the N64 than on the PSX, IMO (too bad the controls are poor). A select few of the later games were able to pull off graphics nearly worthy of the Dreamcast.

[CRTGAMER]

The images also are small, helps giving the crisper look.

Agree, I think its this. Also as flamepanther points out, RAM expansion on games such as Star Wars. CRT screen and using a S-Video cable also helps.