I’m really enjoying it so far! Streaming somewhat newer games from my PC isn’t too bad depending on the game and because I can actually render the games at 640x480 but on the PS5 the text is definitely difficult to read in most games. Some give accessability options for text size but I may be better served using the Nintendo Switch with its homebrew PS Remote play app, something about this is more comfortable though despite the rougher visuals lol.
This is part of the reason I bounced off the 7th Generation of consoles. I didn’t have an HDTV until about 2011, so text in games like Mass Effect 1 and 2 was pretty tough to make out on my 20" Sanyo.
That said I always love seeing downscaling setups, looks great!
Finally got my set of Dreamcast SCART cables with the built in 15/31khz switching. Got this mostly so I don’t need a convoluted setup to switch between VGA for 480p and S-video for 240p. Everything on one cable which is awesome. But man, I didn’t expect to be this blown away by the quality. S-video was good but RGB is another level entirely. Here are some 240p shots + a couple of bonus 480p shots. Apologies for the glare on some of these.
8 Likes
Don’t mind me,just making my way through Metroid Fusion. For all the flak it gets - the atmosphere is great, while it is a black sheep I find it to be much more enjoyable than Samus Returns on 3ds.
PVM20L2, Carby component cables, Game boy Interface.
8 Likes
Another reminder I really need to set up GBI and Swiss on my GC.
5 Likes
Been messing around with the OSSC to see if I can get that arcade monitor/aperture grill look I grew up on, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out:
5 Likes
#FREEMVC2
Originally Posted: September 25, 2020
Testing out 480p downscaled to 240p!
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 [Sega Dreamcast]
JVC - TM-H1950C Color Video Monitor
Sega - Dreamcast VGA Box HKT-8100
TVOne - Corio2 1T-C2-400
Extron - Crosspoint 450 Plus Series
9 Likes
Stunning. I kind of hate how MVC2 looks in 480p. I wish I could downscale it to 240p but the GBS control I have doesn’t play well with the DC’s VGA signal.
2 Likes
Is it possible to force 240p for mvc2 without downscaling?
Nope. 480i/480p only I’m afraid.
(Mistakes were made lol)
This is the way, 240p sprites on 480i/p background assets look bad to me, this and SvC1/2 look amazing downscaled.
Btw does Jin’s neutral crouch animation look weird on the Corio2? I wonder how it compares to the GBS downscale which looks off, I think it might be a 60hz flicker issue since downscaling fails at the ‘shadow flicker’ technique used in some games.
If you have a 480p capable CRT, would it look just as good with less lag just to render the game at 480p and use a scan line generator to blank out every other line rather than downscale?
I don’t have the game but always wanted to buy it. And I may use the scanline generator in my Toro box to tackle this particular one rather than bothering with the Corio 2 (which to this day I have still not used despite buying a few years back).
I always wondered why so many aftermarket devices with the Dreamcast include a scanline generator and it strikes me that MVC2 must be the reason why lol. It was a very popular game back in the day.
Even with 480p scanlines, it looks pretty bad to me. Sprites just look so off on those backgrounds. Same sprites from MVC1 look way better (also because it’s in 240p). There’s like 50+ characters so I get some concessions had to be made and sprites reused, but the 3D backgrounds were a bad choice. KOF 1999 Dream Match on the DC nailed the 3D background look, where they look like enhanced versions of their 2D counterparts. Helps that the game runs in 240p too of course.
Yeah SLG was really popular amongst arcade fans! It’s been a while since I’ve used one but it was an improvement over just 480p.
The problem with scanline generators and say a PC CRT is that brightness takes a big hit, so faking a 15khz look isn’t as good (still decent though) as a real 15khz screen imo of course the downside is that any downscaled games that use ‘flickering tricks’ like shadows in SNK fighters get messed up, at least with the downscaling method GBS uses.
@akumagorath SNK’s 3D backgrounds are amazing, they really made an effort it match the sprites. I do like some of the Capcom 3D backgrounds, more CvS2 than MvC2 though. Most of the MvC2 backgrounds are desolate or just don’t really relate to either Capcom or Marvel…you have these super-rich worlds and you make a background set on a raft going down an empty canyon?
1 Like
Don’t get me started man, the presentation on MVC2 is so bad it’s kind of sad because the game itself is timeless. The 3 preceding games were masterpieces in presentation, then all of a sudden MVC2 comes on much better hardware, 50+ characters…but then a weird smooth jazz soundtrack and bland stages like a clock tower and a theme park…that have nothing to do with either Marvel or Capcom?
1 Like
Yeah it’s almost like they had these background assets sitting there as tech demos and just shipped it like that. The generic final boss Abyss just lends to that theory also.
The music, at this point, is so bad it’s good. The character select sounds are imprinted in my brain, so if that was the goal, mission success.
2 Likes
Happened with Third Strike too but not to such a degree, you can see Capcom was cutting the budget on titles as 2D arcades started to die. SvC1 using reused/tweaked assets too…that game deserved new sprites!
Yeah the music is a meme now lol back in the day the music was so bad that there were mod guides out on how to swap the music. I remember our fight group swapping in tracks from EX3 and MvC1.
Some of the songs are actually good, like the character select theme is a classic earworm. I’m also partial to the River stage theme. Just as an overall package it feels off. The Vs series was always about those upbeat guitar synth themes that Capcom was famous for. Each game had a different sound font but they all fit the games.
@Vespa 3rd Strike seemed like a very focused effort, that while different still really complimented the action. Also the songs were just really good, not to mention the sprite work being unparalleled imo. An incredible effort from Capcom.
Yeah, it’s not MvC2 level of corner-cutting but there was a drop in quality of the backgrounds (compared to both NG and 2i), fewer animated characters (and an odd switch from stylised characters to realistically proportioned background actors), lack of parallax on certain stages, majority of them are desolate, duplicate/shared stages (might be a memory constraint to be fair), no multiple round settings (again, might be a memory constraint) and use of photography to fill in elements not to mention the pre-rendered 3D elements clashed more than they did with previous SF3 games. Character sprite work and OST is godlike though. It’s still pretty good overall and Akuma’s stage imo is his best in any SF game.
The tell for me is a stage like Urien’s which is completely hand-drawn and incredibly detailed but then you can see in Dudley’s stage that photo elements have crept into the buildings but because it’s sort of above the ground staging it’s not always in your face. Which coupled with what the producers said about 3s being a last-ditch effort confirms for me that certain elements took a back seat.
1 Like