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Rebel Assault Comparison page is up!
Topic Started: Sep 10 2007, 01:12 PM (684 Views)
sheath
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I have almost finished uploading two comparison videos of the Sega CD and 3DO versions of Rebel Assault. The Sega CD game is taken through the 32X output, and the 3DO through the S-Video output. Gameplay wise, the two games are basically identical. The 3DO version has better stereo sound and music, a larger videos size, and something to the tune of 256 colors on screen. The Sega CD version has what sounds like very compressed sound, with a strange lopsided stereo that almost sounds mono. The Sega CD's video size is significantly smaller than the 3DO's and the colors are naturally limited to less than 64 on screen simultaneously. The trick is, that even Gif movie Gear can't tell that the Sega CD video is so low color. While other Genesis games register between 15 and 60 colors per screenshot, Rebel Assault for some reason shows up as 256 color video, taken as BMPs straight from Gens with no filtering on. See the videos for yourself, and decide whether you think that the 3DO's extra colors made a difference in the overall image quality.

Scott
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Belpowerslave
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When something like FMV is on screen, it's hard for GMG to get the exact color count because there's so much dithering and other stuff going on. I think this is what has people believing that EC:CftDS uses a full 256 color palette for its FMV...

As for the extra color, resolution and better video output of the 3DO, it definitely shows. Though I don't think it'd make me give up my hate for that game, I still have to admit it whips that pants off the sorry SCD version. The 3DO version, like you mentioned on the phone, really does look like what the PC version did.

Great movies, loved the length, loved the slower transition effects!

Bel
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sheath
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Belpowerslave
Sep 10 2007, 03:36 PM
When something like FMV is on screen, it's hard for GMG to get the exact color count because there's so much dithering and other stuff going on. I think this is what has people believing that EC:CftDS uses a full 256 color palette for its FMV...

As for the extra color, resolution and better video output of the 3DO, it definitely shows. Though I don't think it'd make me give up my hate for that game, I still have to admit it whips that pants off the sorry SCD version. The 3DO version, like you mentioned on the phone, really does look like what the PC version did.

Great movies, loved the length, loved the slower transition effects!

Bel

It's difficult for me to really pick a favorite, I've always liked Rebel Assault. Since I played it on the PC I wanted it, and when it came to the Sega CD I was totally enthusiastic about it. My friend and I couldn't figure out why it got bad reviews at the time. Since it technically had everything from the PC game with toned down graphics (I didn't noticed the smaller video), I was well pleased with it. As time went on, some of the gameplay slowness wore on me, but I still think fondly of the Sega CD version.

The 3DO version though, just trumps it in every way. I may even end up selling my Sega CD version eventually as a result. On the subject of whether I think the 3DO's color count is an absolute advantage though, I'd have to give that a solid "maybe." On the one hand the cut scenes look a lot better, on the other hand some of the artifacts from the video compression in the gameplay is pretty nasty. I don't think some of those hills in the 3DO version are pushing more than a dozen colors still. Overally, I think that it is an interesting comparison that will help me make a point for the general introduction. Did the 3DO provide $400 more quality? You could have paid $300 for a Sega CD in the end of 1992 like I did, and would you have been kicking yourself a year later when the 3DO came out at $700? I was kind of kicking myself for the $300 and never would have dreamed of spending the $700 for a 3DO. There just wasn't enough of a difference for me to care.
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It's difficult for me to really pick a favorite, I've always liked Rebel Assault.  Since I played it on the PC I wanted it, and when it came to the Sega CD I was totally enthusiastic about it.  My friend and I couldn't figure out why it got bad reviews at the time.  Since it technically had everything from the PC game with toned down graphics (I didn't noticed the smaller video), I was well pleased with it.  As time went on, some of the gameplay slowness wore on me, but I still think fondly of the Sega CD version. 

I understand completely. I've got a lot of love for a lot of games that would be considered "sub-par" by most, and compared to the original...but due to the fun and memories it brings up, it's alright in my book.

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The 3DO version though, just trumps it in every way.  I may even end up selling my Sega CD version eventually as a result.  On the subject of whether I think the 3DO's color count is an absolute advantage though, I'd have to give that a solid "maybe."  On the one hand the cut scenes look a lot better, on the other hand some of the artifacts from the video compression in the gameplay is pretty nasty.  I don't think some of those hills in the 3DO version are pushing more than a dozen colors still. 

More than anything, it's probably the extended color palette that the 3DO could use that helps. Like I've always said, it's not the amount of colors the Genesis could put out on screen, it was the limited palette it could choose them from. Imagine if the Genesis could have picked 64 on screen colors from a palette of 32,768 or something like that. I think this could really have helped in the war against the SNES. We'd definitely of had less of those bullshit "washed out" comments going on...

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Overally, I think that it is an interesting comparison that will help me make a point for the general introduction.  Did the 3DO provide $400 more quality?  You could have paid $300 for a Sega CD in the end of 1992 like I did, and would you have been kicking yourself a year later when the 3DO came out at $700?  I was kind of kicking myself for the $300 and never would have dreamed of spending the $700 for a 3DO.  There just wasn't enough of a difference for me to care.

Honestly, there is *nothing* about the 3DO that, even back then, I found worth $700...especially when the Neo Geo was $600. Nowadays, I could almost see buying a 3DO for about $50 or something...but even then I'd probably of just bought it to resell for $100 on ebay. ;)

Bel
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sheath
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I can't think of a more interactive FMV title than Rebel Assault. Everything else only allows directional changes at fixed points accompanied by crosshairs, or a totally non-interactive experience of mashing buttons at the right time. Considering what 3D graphics were like on the PC, 3DO and Sega Cd at the time, I think the FMV backgrounds are acceptable, and the cutscenes were really amazing at the time. I really couldn't figure out for years how they got the cutscenes to look so much like the movies. If more FMV titles allowed this level of interactivity, and had this quality of cutscenes, I would have had no problem with their prevalence on the Sega CD. I also think that the genre might have had the potential to take off if Rebel Assault was the minimal amount of creativity applied to it.
I think you're probably right about the color palette, though to be fair I haven't taken video straight from the Genesis output yet to make sure that the colors were actually that different. I think you're definitely right though, that had the Genesis just had more, or more different, colors available to it the color differences between systems wouldn't have mattered. I, too, would have chosen a NEO GEO first, if the games weren't $200+. The 3DO literally never appealed to me, but with so much hype around it I thought that owning it would be a fun excursion. As it is, the games that I have already purchased justify it in my library, and there are still a half dozen more that I want. I wouldn't have wanted to pay more than $40 for the system though, to be sure. I also wouldn't have bought the system before the DUO, SNES or NES or the Sega systems that I've owned all along. That's a pretty low status I suppose.
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Belpowerslave
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I can't think of a more interactive FMV title than Rebel Assault.  Everything else only allows directional changes at fixed points accompanied by crosshairs, or a totally non-interactive experience of mashing buttons at the right time.

You know, that's a good call...most FMV-based games have little interactivity, and those that due generally just have the "gun" cursor and you simply kill sprites floating above the video. Maybe I should give RA another chance...

One of the best uses for FMV, imo, has always been for backgrounds. Back in the day, when I first saw Killer Instinct, I was fucking amazed. Those backgrounds were incredible for the time...it was only after a long while that I realized that they were pre-rendered video shuffling either forwards or backwards, depending on where the fight was going. Still, the effect was amazing. Dracula on Sega CD did something similar, and I was damn impressed with it as well...but it just wasn't a good game.

http://www.whipassgaming.com/genesisreview...lacd_choose.htm
(choose High Bandwidth to see the backgrounds in motion)

Quote:
 
Considering what 3D graphics were like on the PC, 3DO and Sega Cd at the time, I think the FMV backgrounds are acceptable, and the cutscenes were really amazing at the time.  I really couldn't figure out for years how they got the cutscenes to look so much like the movies.  If more FMV titles allowed this level of interactivity, and had this quality of cutscenes, I would have had no problem with their prevalence on the Sega CD.  I also think that the genre might have had the potential to take off if Rebel Assault was the minimal amount of creativity applied to it.

I agree 100%. Even though I didn't much care for RA as a game, it's use of FMV was surely innovative.

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    I think you're probably right about the color palette, though to be fair I haven't taken video straight from the Genesis output yet to make sure that the colors were actually that different.  I think you're definitely right though, that had the Genesis just had more, or more different, colors available to it the color differences between systems wouldn't have mattered.

I started noticing this when I was messing around with a SNES emulator, just taking random screenshots on a few different games. Seemed like most didn't use more than 70 colors on screen most of the time, yet they somehow looked much more vibrant than most Genesis titles. It just sort of hit me: It's not about how many you can get on screen, but rather the palette you can choose from.

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  I, too, would have chosen a NEO GEO first, if the games weren't $200+.

Yup.

Quote:
 
  The 3DO literally never appealed to me, but with so much hype around it I thought that owning it would be a fun excursion.  As it is, the games that I have already purchased justify it in my library, and there are still a half dozen more that I want.  I wouldn't have wanted to pay more than $40 for the system though, to be sure.  I also wouldn't have bought the system before the DUO, SNES or NES or the Sega systems that I've owned all along.  That's a pretty low status I suppose.

Well, rightfully so, imo. I really see the 3DO as that "gaming unit" that was there between the 32X and the Saturn/PSX. Most of the good titles made it off the 3DO, and then I played them and found that most were crap, so that didn't help my opinion of it...but still, Gex is excellent. :)

Bel
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