special effects

[turbog]

I was wondering which US games had special effects that were otherwise uncommon to see on the system. Maybe we can get a list going. I'll get it started:

The titlescreen of bomberman had a cool vertical stretch type effect on the title.

[Tatsujin]

only stuff in US games (exclusively stuff?), or also stuff in their JPN counterpart?

[turbog]

Either is good really.
I wonder if in any cases, the effects were changed between US and JPN versions of the same game.

[Sadler]

Love these threads! Allow me to ignorantly spout off what I think.... Here's a few of the games that made me say "wtf?! PCE can't do that!"

Metamor Jupiter
Rayxanbar  III
Star Parodier
Art of Fighting
Gulliver Boy
Galaxy Fraulein Yuna
John Madden
Faceball
Jackie Chan
Darkwing Duck

Perhaps more commonly mentioned:

Air Zonk
Dead Moon
Download
Download 2
Flash Hiders
L-Dis
Magical Chase
Martial Champion
Sapphire
Space Invaders (seriously! wireframe 3D is pretty good!)

Those are the ones that immediate jump to mind. There are many more, I guess it depends on what you consider a special effect. Line scrolling exists in many PCE/TG games. More complex parallax is easily found as well. Distortion effects are hardly uncommon. I'm too lazy to dig it up right now, but there are threads that enumerate many games with transparency effects. Scaling and rotation mostly seem to be done by precomputed sprites. Gunboat and Falcon (while awful games) are technically 3D polygons, so that has to count for something.

[turbog]

Great list!

Art Of Fighting is such a great port. Don't ya think?
The huvideo stuff is really nice as well. Ever wonder what would have happened if it were used in Sherlock or ICFTD.
Metamor Jupiter is really impressive too. I wasn't expecting it when I first saw it.

I'm assuming you put Darkwing duck on the list because of the magnifying glass effect which was done pretty well, I think.

Sapphire is of course a great example. Superb animations!

I also thought the 3D wireframes in SI were done well. I wonder if they used it in any of their other stuff.

I totally forgot about gunboat and falcon. I really wanted to enjoy gunboat but haven't been able to so far. There was a time I used to love Falcon though. Speaking of which, has anyone ever played it in multiplayer networked mode?

[roflmao]

+1 to Sadler's post.  Spriggan is a standard CD game and some of the stuff it pulls of is incredible.  I love the lava effect.  And the underwater effect in Star Parodier took me by surprise when I first saw it.

The victory screen in multiplayer Bomberman '93 has some impressive scaling (for it's day).

[turbog]

Just thought of another. New adventure Island had nice transition effects that I haven't seen elsewhere. Not to mention that game is just oh so great!

[Sadler]

Great list!

Art Of Fighting is such a great port. Don't ya think?

Haven't actually played the Neo Geo original so I'm not sure!

The huvideo stuff is really nice as well. Ever wonder what would have happened if it were used in Sherlock or ICFTD.

I'm not a big fan of sports games, but even outside the huvideo I found the playing field in Madden to be a pretty decent pseudo 3D effect.

Metamor Jupiter is really impressive too. I wasn't expecting it when I first saw it.

Agreed. Stage 3 might be the biggest "holy shit" moment I've experienced and I haven't even played the game! Just watched videos...

I'm assuming you put Darkwing duck on the list because of the magnifying glass effect which was done pretty well, I think.

Yep. There was another game that used a similar effect but I don't remember the name. I think Tats pointed it out in a thread describing how the Darkwing effect was done. It was an RPG I think?

EDIT: Tats let me know, it's Sol Moonarge.

I also thought the 3D wireframes in SI were done well. I wonder if they used it in any of their other stuff.

I haven't seen anything that smooth in other titles, but I'm hardly an expert of the PCE library. Download 2 had kind of similar effects, but they are obviously prerendered. I don't think Space Invaders is prerendered.

I totally forgot about gunboat and falcon. I really wanted to enjoy gunboat but haven't been able to so far. There was a time I used to love Falcon though. Speaking of which, has anyone ever played it in multiplayer networked mode?

I havent! Honestly I have no interest in doing so. Neither of those games ranks high on my "want to play" list.

[Sadler]

+1 to Sadler's post.  Spriggan is a standard CD game and some of the stuff it pulls of is incredible.  I love the lava effect.  And the underwater effect in Star Parodier took me by surprise when I first saw it.

The victory screen in multiplayer Bomberman '93 has some impressive scaling (for it's day).

I don't know how technically difficult it is, but I totally agree about Star Parodier! The fact that there's parallax and distortion was just awesome!

[CrackTiger]

Vasteel:

[SignOfZeta]

I really think Art of Fighting takes the cake. While the SNES port just sat there at a fixed level of zoom and puny characters the PCE version simulated the Neo's scaling with a similar looking but completely different effect. Switching resolutions mid game? That shit was brilliant. Nauseating, but brilliant.

Another good one is the light sourcing tricks used in Sapphire in that one stage where your ships are shining lights onto the floor of a building. Sorry, I can't remember the stage.

[Arkhan Asylum]

We're talking about US games though you weenies.


I vote double dungeons .  That nice smooth scrolling is sexy.

[roflmao]

We're talking about US games though you weenies.

Initially we were, but then it opened up to both. 

only stuff in US games (exclusively stuff?), or also stuff in their JPN counterpart?

Either is good really.
I wonder if in any cases, the effects were changed between US and JPN versions of the same game.

[Arkhan Asylum]

LISTEN, STAY ON TOPIC OR GTFOFO

:3

[BigusSchmuck]

How about the transistion effect on Parasol Stars or the zooming in and out on the 3 in 1 Gate of Thunder disc?

[VestCunt]

There's that vertical parallax in Ninja Spirit.

The titlescreen of bomberman had a cool vertical stretch type effect on the title.

Doesn't Insanity do that too?

or the zooming in and out on the 3 in 1 Gate of Thunder disc?

Mode 7 blast processing!

[Arkhan Asylum]

shitchyea Insanity does that effect.

and it loops and does it over n over!!!!!!!!

[grahf]

I always like the Gate of Thunder bundle disk, and the bios screen that falls away.

[soop]

Is there any game that utilises screen-shake?  And does anyone know how it would be done?

[Arkhan Asylum]

Look no further than fucking CHINA WARRIOR

It's just rapid back and forth scrolling on both the X/Y axis.  Pretty simple really.

[soop]

Look no further than fucking CHINA WARRIOR

It's just rapid back and forth scrolling on both the X/Y axis.  Pretty simple really.

Oh yeah...  I don't know why I thought it would be so hard...

[turbokon]

Does voices count? Champion Forever Boxing has a nice intro hip hop tune with a little lyrics in there.