Turns out the copy of OutRun in Yu Suzuki Game Works Vol. 1 on the Dreamcast isn't merely an emulated version of the arcade original as people suspected - it's an updated "HD" version of the game, with good chunks of the graphics being redrawn for the 640x480 resolution. I originally thought only the car was different (altered so that it doesn't resemble a Ferrari Testarossa anymore), but turns out backgrounds were replaced too. The result is smoother gameplay, and you can now read some of the signs in the intro!
For the record, this is the same version of OutRun seen in the Shenmue II.
HG101 can't confirm whether similar techniques have been applied to After Burner II or Space Harrier, only that the copies of Power Drift and Hang-On seem to be straight ports. YouTube doesn't help because the quality of the videos up there are crap.
Turns out the copy of OutRun in Yu Suzuki Game Works Vol. 1 on the Dreamcast isn't merely an emulated version of the arcade original as people suspected - it's an updated "HD" version of the game, with good chunks of the graphics being redrawn for the 640x480 resolution. I originally thought only the car was different (altered so that it doesn't resemble a Ferrari Testarossa anymore), but turns out backgrounds were replaced too. The result is smoother gameplay, and you can now read some of the signs in the intro!
For the record, this is the same version of OutRun seen in the Shenmue II.
HG101 can't confirm whether similar techniques have been applied to After Burner II or Space Harrier, only that the copies of Power Drift and Hang-On seem to be straight ports. YouTube doesn't help because the quality of the videos up there are crap.
Really interesting! Frustratingly, Game Works Vol. 1 isn't emulator-friendly right now, but it might be worth burning a disc and seeing how the game plays.
The most important thing to notice is that the signs in the starting line are actually legible. What's more, a few of them even changed slightly - that one in the lower-right corner of the arcade version has an OutRun logo, but it's been changed to a cat in the Dreamcast one.
I own this game/book bundle and besides of the different car never noticed this. This is the same as the version used in Shenmue II by the looks of it as well (much like how Hang on on the disc is from Shenmue I). Will have to check this out again when I get back home.
I remember Hang-On had some changes as well (the text in the billboards was different), but I'm not sure if they also "enhanced" the graphics like that.
Yep, there's quite a few changes to the Dreamcast version of OutRun beyond the Ferrari. It's a conversion based upon the original code, rather than emulation as far as I can tell.
The scaling you see on the signs will simply be because the game is run in a higher resolution, as opposed to the graphics themselves being in higher res.
The "Marlboro" sign (removed for obvious reasons) is stored at better resolution in the sprite ROMs, but simply loses visibility when scaled down at 320x224.
And here's an image to prove it:
This post has been edited by reassembler: 27 November 2012 - 06:37 AM
After some discussion in the comments on my blog, we think the Dreamcast scaling might actually be an emulation bug.
Can you explain what you mean?
In any case, thanks to these pictures, now I want to buy this for my Dreamcast! I only have Wetrix+ and Sega Rally for it right now, so another game is probably a good idea.
This post has been edited by dsrb: 20 January 2013 - 06:58 PM
After some discussion in the comments on my blog, we think the Dreamcast scaling might actually be an emulation bug.
Can you explain what you mean?
In any case, thanks to these pictures, now I want to buy this for my Dreamcast! I only have Wetrix+ and Sega Rally for it right now, so another game is probably a good idea.
It would be because Dreamcast emulators don't attempt to preserve the resolution the hardware runs at. They render at the size of the emulation window, so if the window is 640*480, it scales up the polygons rather than the framebuffer.
I got out my Shenmue II discs and save files and checked on real hardware. The signal information from my monitor says it's a 640*480 signal, but it's definitely running in 320*224 at 30 FPS. It doesn't have the color problems the picture in the link has.
Also, it doesn't simulate the max-sprites-per-line limitation, and doesn't seem to have the shadow bug or scaling bug.
Thanks! So, these graphical enhancements are lucky side-effects of the emulators rather than specifically new features in the code itself? The higher resolution looks pretty great, either way.
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