Is the (acd) arcade card worth it? Sapphire and Strider

fraggore · 06/07/2012, 06:16 PM

never really played Kunio games but i do agree Guardian Heroes was class.

CrackTiger · 06/07/2012, 07:38 PM

Even if you don't enjoy Sapphire for whatever reasons (usually due to spamming bombs/continues), it is still one of the most impressive 16-bit console games.

fraggore · 06/08/2012, 11:58 AM

yea pretty good looking considering the pc engine is really a 8bit console i know it has a 16bit graphics chip but the cpu is 8bit who would think you would see 3d rotating polygon sprites on a console from 1987.

SignOfZeta · 06/08/2012, 02:54 PM

Quote from: fraggore on 06/08/2012, 11:58 AMyea pretty good looking considering the pc engine is really a 8bit console i know it has a 16bit graphics chip but the cpu is 8bit who would think you would see 3d rotating polygon sprites on a console from 1987.

The bots are getting smarter!

But seriously, "3D polygons" and "sprites" are two different things. What Sapphire has is pre-rendered grpahics, in some places. The same was done with Viewpoint, Donkey Kong Country, Sonic 3, and a million other games from that era. Instead of drawing it by hand you get a computer to do it for you. Its not a bit deal. It also ages horribly in many cases. That crappy rock boss in Sapphire is prety lame. Looks so "PS1" it hurts. Meanwhile, the first boss in Lords of Thunder looks as awesome as he ever did.

hoobs88 · 06/08/2012, 03:15 PM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 06/08/2012, 02:54 PMMeanwhile, the first boss in Lords of Thunder looks as awesome as he ever did.

You can select any stage in Lords of Thunder... so all of the bosses have the potential of being "the first boss".

SignOfZeta · 06/08/2012, 04:13 PM

Quote from: hoobs88 on 06/08/2012, 03:15 PM
Quote from: SignOfZeta on 06/08/2012, 02:54 PMMeanwhile, the first boss in Lords of Thunder looks as awesome as he ever did.
You can select any stage in Lords of Thunder... so all of the bosses have the potential of being "the first boss".

I honestly thought that when I typed that I wouldn't have to clarify, but I should have known better...

The boss on the stage that is by default selected when you start the game. The one in the upper left, a sandy location. The boss is multi-legged. It was in all the advertisements because its so cool.

JapanTokei · 06/09/2012, 01:42 AM

it is worth it. go for the Arcade Card Pro if you can get it. you're pretty much covered for all gigs going forward. I have the real mcoy Sapphire and it is worth it for sure. Strider is good as well, not arcade quality but def worth getting in my book.

also there are a lot of supposed enhanced versions using ACD... most noteble is Popful Mail.... though I am not sure what the difference is... (I have it too).

CrackTiger · 06/09/2012, 02:47 PM

Quote from: fraggore on 06/08/2012, 11:58 AMyea pretty good looking considering the pc engine is really a 8bit console i know it has a 16bit graphics chip but the cpu is 8bit who would think you would see 3d rotating polygon sprites on a console from 1987.

Bits have never meant anything when it comes to consoles. The SNES cpu is mostly 8-bit. The Intellivision has a 16-bit cpu. The Xbox has a 32-bit cpu.

The PC Engine cpu is twice as fast as the SNES and about as fast as the Genesis, but even that doesn't tell the whole story. Bad games don't show you what a console is capable of either, but good ones can. There are hundreds of PCE games that would be very impressive on Genesis or SNES.

3D polygonal sprites, scaling, rotation, and other effects had been done on PCE and Genesis for years. There are two real-time polygonal TurboGrafx-16 games and a ton of impressive ones for Genesis. But the Gameboy, NES, SMS and Game Gear all have 3D texture mapped, shaded, lit, high polygonal sprites which twist and rotate and spin around in all kinds of ways. Donkey Kong Country for Gameboy is the most obvious one.

What is impressive about Sapphire is everything. The number of sprites filling the screen, 2-player gameplay, parallax, overlapping bgs, animation, artwork, etc. Somehow the developer lined everything so that slowdown and flicker aren't a problem.

In the meantime, until you familiarize yourself with the PC Engine library, here is a quick way to see how well cross platform PCE games hold up-

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=6609.msg129420#msg129420

Here is how the PCE and the Arcade Card (topic of discussion) compare to the SNES-

fraggore · 06/09/2012, 04:34 PM

lol world heroes midgets version the neo geo games are very impresive i had a neo go aes at the time and was paying £200 for a game and would have been happy with the pc engine ones for far less, i do think the pc engine is a power house and has been my favourite console till this day.

would be interesting to see some video comparisons running on the original hardware got a megadrive as well if i had a good recording set-up would give it ago.

fraggore · 06/09/2012, 04:37 PM

also the fames of animation seems more on the pce in a lot of cases using less memory.

MottZilla · 06/23/2012, 04:29 PM

I wouldn't compare SNES Final Fight to much of anything. Remember Final Fight was one of the earliest if not the first Capcom SNES game. If you want to compare the SNES for beat em ups, use Final Fight 3 which was so much better as I recall.

I have some of the Sapphire bootie CDs back from when they were given away so generously. Still haven't bought a Arcade DUO card yet but I will. As I remember Strider on ACD was alright. I never noticed anything so wrong with it. But it's fairly pointless with the far more affordable and better Strider Hiryu 1&2 for Playstation. It is amusing how they messed up and put the wrong labels on each disc.

And just because it's true, Lords of Thunder is awesome. Definitely one of my favorite PCE games and one of my favorite shooter games.

Tatsujin · 06/23/2012, 10:50 PM

Sapphire is probably the most impressive shooting game within the whole 8-/16-bit console generations (not counting the AES). So yes, an arcade card is the most required add-on for your DUO, CD or Super-CD you possibly can get.

Dyna138 · 06/24/2012, 05:22 PM

If your a PCE fan and you want to see what the system is capable of with an arcade card why not get one? I don't think an arcade card will break the bank, they are fairly cheap to find. Besides Sapphire the Neo Geo ports are very impressive and worth picking up and most of them are dirt cheap.

fraggore · 06/24/2012, 05:32 PM

I maybe not a big fan of some of the games but there still worth playing so the arcade card is still worth picking up if you love your pc engine i don't regret getting mine.

city41 · 06/25/2012, 12:09 AM

Quote from: Dyna138 on 06/24/2012, 05:22 PMIf your a PCE fan and you want to see what the system is capable of with an arcade card why not get one? I don't think an arcade card will break the bank, they are fairly cheap to find. Besides Sapphire the Neo Geo ports are very impressive and worth picking up and most of them are dirt cheap.

I bought FF2 for the PCE just to see how good the port is (I'm a huge Neo Geo fan). I was pleasantly surprised, Hudson did a great job. From what I understand the FFS port is even better.

Besides, if you don't have a Duo then you might as well just get an Arcade Card Pro, just a smidge more than a 3.0 card.

Tatsujin · 06/25/2012, 02:35 AM

Quote from: city41 on 06/25/2012, 12:09 AMFrom what I understand the FFS port is even better.

Right. and not at least, because it is the better game from begin with.

Also try ryuko no ken and world heros 2. rather impressive ports for the lil pce.

rag-time4 · 06/27/2012, 06:14 AM

Quote from: Tatsujin on 06/25/2012, 02:35 AM
Quote from: city41 on 06/25/2012, 12:09 AMFrom what I understand the FFS port is even better.
Right. and not at least, because it is the better game from begin with.

Also try ryuko no ken and world heros 2. rather impressive ports for the lil pce.

I think Fatal Fury 2's soundtrack sounds far better than Fatal Fury Special on PCE.

geise · 06/27/2012, 10:59 AM

Hell, I still rock out Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury 2, special, and World Heroes 2...and that's with also owning them on AES/MVS. I would personally pass on Strider unless you want it for the redbook. I was mighty disappointed in Strider ACD, when I bought it in the 90's. I was lucky and got Sapphire when it first was released, and really was the main reason I wanted the ACD card. Even if you plan on just using a cd-r of Sapphire it's worth picking up a ACD card for it. Not to mention some of the other games that are SCD/ACD hybrid. There are a few you can tell a difference in the cut-scenes.