Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii
User avatar
racketboy
Site Admin
Posts: 9784
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:28 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by racketboy »

So the server is back to normal and coming back with a vengeance via an epic post that has been well over a year in the making.

Yes, I am finally publishing the Games That Pushed The Limits of the SNES -- behold and many thanks to those that pitched in and waited so long for it to be finished!

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2011/02/ ... -soun.html
Flake
Moderator
Posts: 8075
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:27 pm
Location: FoCo

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by Flake »

I wondered where this had gone off to. I love this topic - I still feel as impressed by the SNES as I did when I was a kid.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
Hatta
Next-Gen
Posts: 4030
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 8:33 pm

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by Hatta »

That seriously is epic. Glad to see the Mana series there, beautiful games. I remember it took a while before they were emulated correctly, especially the transparency effects.

Rendering Ranger is one I was not aware of. Going to have to give that one a try on the PowerPak.

Also worth noting, one of the programmers on Axelay went on to co-found Treasure. That might help explain both the high quality graphics and gameplay.
We are prepared to live in the plain and die in the plain!
User avatar
sevin0seven
Next-Gen
Posts: 8985
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 12:18 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA
Contact:

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by sevin0seven »

never heard of Rendering Ranger R2 as well. i do think Dragon Ball Z Hyper Dimension should be on the list. it uses a SA-1 (65816) chip. It's the same chip that was used on Super Mario RPG and Kirby Dream land 3.

Image

Image
Visit my stores: Mercari Store, sevin0seven RacketBoy Marketplace
Bay Area Cali: Meet-up Thread
Custom Art Covers & Labels: Click here
Game Room: Click here
Limewater
Next-Gen
Posts: 3392
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:01 am
Location: Northern Alabama

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by Limewater »

Great article!

I did notice one thing--

It says that Star Ocean is the "only other" game to use the S-DD1 chip, but it's the only one mentioned. I am assuming that Tales of Phantasia is the other one, but it's not mentioned.
Systems: TI-99/4a, Commodore Vic-20, Atari 2600, NES, SMS, GB, Neo Geo MVS (Big Red 4-slot), Genesis, SNES, 3DO, PS1, N64, DC, PS2, GBA, GCN, NDSi, Wii
User avatar
Dakinggamer87
Next-Gen
Posts: 4532
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:13 pm
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Contact:

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by Dakinggamer87 »

Great article!! I really need to add Terranigma to my SNES collection. 8)
Odyssey,Vectrex,Atari 2600,5200,7800,Intellivision,Colecovision,NES,Master System,SNES,Genesis,32X,CD,CDX,Virtual Boy,TG-16,Neo-Geo AES,Jaguar+CD,PSX,PSOne,Saturn,3DO,N64,DC,PS2,Xbox,GCN,Wii,Xbox 360,PS3,GB,GB Pocket,GBC,Lynx,Game Gear,Nomad,NGPC,GBA,GBA SP,GB Micro,DS,PSP,PSP Slim,WS,WS Color,3DS,Vita,PC,iPhone,WiiU
A/V:55" Samsung 3D LED TV, Onkyo 7.1 TX-SR605 HTS
My gaming collection
User avatar
Dakinggamer87
Next-Gen
Posts: 4532
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:13 pm
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Contact:

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by Dakinggamer87 »

sevin0seven wrote:never heard of Rendering Ranger R2 as well. i do think Dragon Ball Z Hyper Dimension should be on the list. it uses a SA-1 (65816) chip. It's the same chip that was used on Super Mario RPG and Kirby Dream land 3.

Image

Image
That game was awesome I remember playing that via emulation years ago. It still looks great. :)
Odyssey,Vectrex,Atari 2600,5200,7800,Intellivision,Colecovision,NES,Master System,SNES,Genesis,32X,CD,CDX,Virtual Boy,TG-16,Neo-Geo AES,Jaguar+CD,PSX,PSOne,Saturn,3DO,N64,DC,PS2,Xbox,GCN,Wii,Xbox 360,PS3,GB,GB Pocket,GBC,Lynx,Game Gear,Nomad,NGPC,GBA,GBA SP,GB Micro,DS,PSP,PSP Slim,WS,WS Color,3DS,Vita,PC,iPhone,WiiU
A/V:55" Samsung 3D LED TV, Onkyo 7.1 TX-SR605 HTS
My gaming collection
User avatar
Ziggy
Moderator
Posts: 14913
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:12 pm
Location: NY

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by Ziggy »

Limewater wrote:It says that Star Ocean is the "only other" game to use the S-DD1 chip, but it's the only one mentioned. I am assuming that Tales of Phantasia is the other one, but it's not mentioned.
The only other game to use the S-DD1 chip was Street Fighter Alpha 2. What SO and ToP have in common is that they're both 48Mb games, the biggest size of an official SNES game.
User avatar
sevin0seven
Next-Gen
Posts: 8985
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 12:18 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA
Contact:

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by sevin0seven »

Ziggy587 wrote:
Limewater wrote:It says that Star Ocean is the "only other" game to use the S-DD1 chip, but it's the only one mentioned. I am assuming that Tales of Phantasia is the other one, but it's not mentioned.
The only other game to use the S-DD1 chip was Street Fighter Alpha 2. What SO and ToP have in common is that they're both 48Mb games, the biggest size of an official SNES game.
from what i recall SFA2 for the SNES is only 32 megs. they should had used all 48 megs to stop the slow down (loading) before the fight starts..
Visit my stores: Mercari Store, sevin0seven RacketBoy Marketplace
Bay Area Cali: Meet-up Thread
Custom Art Covers & Labels: Click here
Game Room: Click here
User avatar
Ziggy
Moderator
Posts: 14913
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:12 pm
Location: NY

Re: Games That Pushed the SNES To The Limits

Post by Ziggy »

sevin0seven wrote:
Ziggy587 wrote:The only other game to use the S-DD1 chip was Street Fighter Alpha 2. What SO and ToP have in common is that they're both 48Mb games, the biggest size of an official SNES game.
from what i recall SFA2 for the SNES is only 32 megs. they should had used all 48 megs to stop the slow down (loading) before the fight starts..
Yeah, I've always wondered about that myself. But I don't think the extra space would solve the slow down issues. The SNES does have a pretty slow CPU. But with the extra memory they could have included the missing frames of animation, and whatever else is missing. They might have been working against cost of production though.

Also, it would have been completely possible to have 64Mb of game data.
Post Reply