Best Super CDRom2

[guyjin]

Best reason to own a duo? let's find out! 

[Turbo D]

I voted Lords of Thunder! Definitely a great reason to own a duo 

[MurderDate]

my first answer would be "entire library"  but if I had to vote for the one best reason to get a Duo  I wuuuuld say Gate of Thunder (especially on the CD with the 2 Bonk games).

[SignOfZeta]

I love LoT, but I like GoT even more, so I voted GoT.

BTW, and I swear I'm not being my usual self here, but is that seriously the entire list of US Super CDs? Twenty seven? Shit. No wonder I switched to imports before the US market even died. That's extremely small. The Super CD was officially released in the US...but just barely...

I assume there won't be a poll for JP SCDs since the forum script probably (hopefully) won't allow for polls with 294 choices in them.

[nat]

This is a very, very tough poll. So many fantastic games on that list.

I followed the trend and voted Gate of Thunder. I had my finger on Dungeon Explorer 2, but had to go with GoT.

[guyjin]

I assume there won't be a poll for JP SCDs since the forum script probably (hopefully) won't allow for polls with 294 choices in them.

the PCE polls are going entirely by year. I only had to resort to separate CD/SCD polls on the turbo because Pcedaisakusen.net doesn't list year of release for American CD games.

[nectarsis]

Hmmmmmmmmm..another toughie...Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes 

[Sparky]

wow...theres still a few i have not even played yet but Gates of Thunder rocks me.

[RuninRuder]

Shape Shifter.  Gate and DE2 would be next up.

[Keranu]

I voted Gate because I think it has to be the best designed game out of those choices and it would probably be my favorite as well.

[Joe Redifer]

It is hard to choose between Gate and Lords, but Gate is better.  It really shows off the Super CD.  It loads super-hyper-mega fast and is really impressive all around.  It was a giant leap over the non-Super CD games.  It impressed me and still does.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I picked Lords of Thunder, but Gate of Thunder was oh so tempting with its threesome of extra games.

my first answer would be "entire library"  but if I had to vote for the one best reason to get a Duo  I wuuuuld say Gate of Thunder (especially on the CD with the 2 Bonk games).

Don't forget about Bomberman, or you'll make him cry.

[awack]

I agree with Joe in that its hard to choose between Gate and Lords of thunder but i went with Lords of thunder, i think its better in almost every single way i can think of, which is saying a hell of allot.

[Mobius]

I agree with Joe in that its hard to choose between Gate and Lords of thunder but i went with Lords of thunder, i think its better in almost every single way i can think of, which is saying a hell of allot.

I was having the same debate and came to the opposite conclusion... How 'bout that.



(Okay, fine, Lords has a better soundtrack, but Gate wins the rest)

[PCEngineHell]

Forgotten Worlds gets my vote.

[CrackTiger]

It was between Lords of Thunder and Dungeon Explorer II for me, but I voted for DEII just because I prefer questy games and it has more replay value.

[natethegreat82]

For me it was a choice between Gate of Thunder and Lords of Thunder. I ended up giving the nod to Gate. It does have the arcade feel after all.

[esteban]

Oh no! I thought we were voting for the best simulation game. My bad.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

Lot, Got, Dragon Slayer, LOOM, DEII, or Beyond Shadowgate....

I'll roll a D6-

Beyond Shadowgate it is!!

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Oh no! I thought we were voting for the best simulation game. My bad.

Sim Earth? 

[sideshow]

This poll is really a tug of war between the two thunder games.  I picked Lords cause of the epic soundtrack.

[spenoza]

Lords has some great heavy metal, but I don't like how they mastered the volume down when the music gets heavy. GoT's music is less heavy but more melodic. I like the increased variety in GoT.

[Joe Redifer]

I agree that while the music to Lords of Thunder is good, it has some really shitty mastering/recording going on.  Did they cut all frequencies below 500Hz?  I only hear midrange and treble in this game.  I've heard cassette tapes that sound much better.  Gate of Thunder fares a bit better in that department (you can actually hear some bass) but it is still a bit too quiet and the noise floor is very high.  I guess people who like TurboGrafx do not care about good audio... or at least that's what the developers think.

[CrackTiger]

I agree that while the music to Lords of Thunder is good, it has some really shitty mastering/recording going on.  Did they cut all frequencies below 500Hz?  I only hear midrange and treble in this game.  I've heard cassette tapes that sound much better.  Gate of Thunder fares a bit better in that department (you can actually hear some bass) but it is still a bit too quiet and the noise floor is very high.  I guess people who like TurboGrafx do not care about good audio... or at least that's what the developers think.

I think that they were probably trying to keep the music from overpowering the sfx and weren't thinking of people listening to the soundtrack as a music cd. Unfortunately, the actual music turned out too good.

[Joe Redifer]

The music DOES overpower the sound effects as it is.  The TurboGrafx can't do "loud" sounds.  They are all very soft and quiet.  The ADPCM chip can be loud, but that's it.

[CrackTiger]

The music DOES overpower the sound effects as it is.  The TurboGrafx can't do "loud" sounds.  They are all very soft and quiet.  The ADPCM chip can be loud, but that's it.

Even if the Turbo can't do "loud" sounds, at some point when a game's CD music is made quiet enough it should balance.

The sound in Lords of Thunder sounds perfectly balanced to me (I want to clearly hear the music in game like this), and not just because the sfx are too loud in the Sega-CD version.

[SignOfZeta]

I agree that while the music to Lords of Thunder is good, it has some really shitty mastering/recording going on.  Did they cut all frequencies below 500Hz?  I only hear midrange and treble in this game.

I've listened to a lot of old music from Japan and to be honest, this is simply what would pass for mastering in Japan back then. It wasn't until the very late 90s that pop music from Japan actually got some bottom end to it. What's sad is that the artists were ahead of the engineers and stuff from bands like X Japan really could sound better if they had recorded abroad. Listen to the stage 2 music from GoT. Its obviously inspired (at least in the beginning) by house music, but lacks any of the bass.

I think Globe's "Try This Shoot" was the first Japanese pop single I had ever heard with real thump to it. That was like...2001, I think.

[TurboXray]

The TurboGrafx can't do "loud" sounds.  They are all very soft and quiet.

Tell that to my poor bleeding ears after doing sound coding/testing 

[OldRover]

The TurboGrafx can't do "loud" sounds.

Like hell it can't.

[SignOfZeta]

He probably means that it can be loud without sounding like crap...which is true from what I've seen.

Think of a pair of $10 ear buds playing 64kbs MP3s through a 5 watt amp; loud for sure, but also ear piercingly shrill and shitty.

[rag-time4]

I picked Lords of Thunder, but Gate of Thunder was oh so tempting with its threesome of extra games.

my first answer would be "entire library"  but if I had to vote for the one best reason to get a Duo  I wuuuuld say Gate of Thunder (especially on the CD with the 2 Bonk games).

Don't forget about Bomberman, or you'll make him cry.

And you'll also make me cry.

I don't feel it's right for me to vote because I've only played a handful of these games and I really love them all.

Of the ones I've played, I might just have to agree with runinruder's top 2.

I want to play Camp California... i'll probably like it since i like the beach boys.

[nat]

Camp California is a killer game.

[Joe Redifer]

The TurboGrafx can't do "loud" sounds.  They are all very soft and quiet.

Tell that to my poor bleeding ears after doing sound coding/testing 

Like hell it can't.

If you increase the volume high enough on even the quietest of sounds, it will seem loud.  That is probably what happens to Bonknuts.  He adjusts the volume knob to compensate for the near-inexistent volume of the PC Engine.  He becomes sad, or rather his ears do.  To display their sadness to Bonknuts, they decide to bleed.

It would be a fun test to hook up a bunch of systems to a recorder, manually set the recording level to a certain point and record various sounds from many different game systems (chip only, no redbook sounds).  I bet the PC Engine would average a lower volume than most other systems.

[PCEngineHell]

Its weird how I'm the only one who voted for Forgotten Worlds...... I figured,hey,there has to be at least 2 others out there loving the game the same as I,but no,its just me out here,all alone. At least I didn't vote Sim Earth. Id rather be a cool loner then a bored loner.

[spenoza]

Lower source volume can be a good thing. If a system outputs relatively loud it may be using poor amps. If you have any kind of home theater or stereo system you want your source volume to be low so you can let your fine quality audio equipment do the amplifying.

Take CDs, for example. Louder CDs tend to be lower quality because they are clipped and compressed. They'll sound fine in your car or as MP3s on your iPod, but in a nice stereo system they will not sound as good as a quieter, more dynamic recording that relies on your stereo to do the amping.

The LoT soundtrack is an anomaly. It's a quiet soundtrack that ALSO compresses the audio. That's just dumb.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Camp California is a killer game.

Indeed, though it's unfortunate that it lacks a save feature.

He probably means that it can be loud without sounding like crap...which is true from what I've seen.

Think of a pair of $10 ear buds playing 64kbs MP3s through a 5 watt amp; loud for sure, but also ear piercingly shrill and shitty.

Did you mean to say "it can't be loud without sounding like crap"?  If not, I'm lost.


P.S. - Joe, inexistent is an inexistent word. 

[TurboXray]

It would be a fun test to hook up a bunch of systems to a recorder, manually set the recording level to a certain point and record various sounds from many different game systems (chip only, no redbook sounds).  I bet the PC Engine would average a lower volume than most other systems.

I remember some members stating that the sound for PCM on the Duo units is lower than the TG16 units. But yeah, in relation to CD unit audio and ADPCM highest amplitude, it could be lower.

 Some games pair PCM channels to double the sound volume for an instrument or effect, but that's usually to make it stand out over other PCM channels current playing.

[Joe Redifer]

Take CDs, for example. Louder CDs tend to be lower quality because they are clipped and compressed. They'll sound fine in your car or as MP3s on your iPod, but in a nice stereo system they will not sound as good as a quieter, more dynamic recording that relies on your stereo to do the amping.

I agree completely, however you don't want the recording volume too low otherwise that raises the noise floor.  Just low enough so the loudest sounds don't clip.  Commercial music CDs recorded over the last 10-15 years or so have been awful.

Joe, inexistent is an inexistent word.

'Fraid it is, Sparky!

[spenoza]

I agree completely, however you don't want the recording volume too low otherwise that raises the noise floor.  Just low enough so the loudest sounds don't clip.  Commercial music CDs recorded over the last 10-15 years or so have been awful.

Yes, it does raise the noise floor. But if you are responsible with your recording conditions and equipment and already have a pretty low noise floor I'm not sure how much I'd worry about it. I've ripped tracks from PCE CD games before and they are, volume-wise, comparable to many CDs from the late 80s and very early 90s, which is just dandy with me.