[neoxalucard]

I just stumbled on this yesterday looking for some old Sega adverts.

"Sega had come up with the buzzword for another bit of technology that the Genesis used to speed up its games: Blast Processing. Technically, it was to describe the way the Genesis could display one image while loading another into memory -- something the SNES couldn't do..." The Essential 50 Part 28 -- Sonic the Hedgehog from 1UP.com :lol:

I remember there was a debate on Wikipedia for a while as to whether or not this "image loading" technique was real or not. Then i read this "Damien McFerran. "Retroinspection: Mega-CD". Retro Gamer Magazine (61): 84. "Sadly I have to take responsibility for that ghastly phrase," admits [former Sega of America technical director] Scot Bayless with a grimace. ... "During the run-up to the Western launch of Mega-CD ... I mentioned the fact that you could just 'blast data into the DACs'. [The PR guys] loved the word 'blast' and the next thing I knew 'Blast Processing' was born".

Anyway, share you're thoughts.

 

[Dennemark]

Wow. It would be quite cool if the Genesis did something the SNES really couldnt do


Which leads me to wonder, if Sega comes back to the hardware market with an console version of the RingWide/RingEdge, what 'strange kind of' word are they gonna 'invent' to blast them back on the top charts ?

 

[Cid Highwind]

Sega does what Nintendon't

 

[Proto]

... I will punish you if you keep that up.

 

[Mako Eyes]

... I will punish you if you keep that up.

Hahaha

Isn't "Blast Processing" just double-buffering?

 

[Proto]

That's what is sounds as. I guess the idea applied to computer graphics was more or less new back in the late 80's

 

[Cid Highwind]

... I will punish you if you keep that up.

 

[ElijahTW]

Reminds me of when I was reading about the Jaguar and how they heavily advertised it's 64bit processor back when game systems were measured in bits. Of course the term 64bit meant nothing, really. But I guess back then when you heard 64bit you were like "OMFG SIXTY FOUR BITS! THAT MEANS IT LOOKS 4x better than 16BIT CONSOLES!".

Actually, iirc correctly the Jaguar didn't even really have a 64bit processor.

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

well back then, bits referred to gfx capabilities iirc.

 

[ElijahTW]

I believe bits meant what it does today, like I have a 64bit processor.

The thing is everytime the bits went up, the graphics were improved, so yes, bits did somewhat have todo with GFX capabilities, but once you got past 32bit it was no longer a valid way to measure power.

 

[emwearz]

The Sega Mega Drive kicked ass (And many of its games have aged really well and are still really awesome to play today, just played through Sonic and Sonic 2, for reviewing) there advertising seems funny as hell today (Nintendon't, etc) but its all old news.

Say what you want about Sega (they made some of the biggest mistakes in console history after the Mega Drive) they slapped Nintendo in the face with there aggressive advertising aimed towards showing how 'slow and childish' Nintendo consoles were. Funny today, but it worked back then.

Reminds me of when I was reading about the Jaguar and how they heavily advertised it's 64bit processor back when game systems were measured in bits. Of course the term 64bit meant nothing, really. But I guess back then when you heard 64bit you were like "OMFG SIXTY FOUR BITS! THAT MEANS IT LOOKS 4x better than 16BIT CONSOLES!".

You read, or you watched AVGN?

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

the only thing Sega needs, is wonderboy in monster world.

 

[ElijahTW]

You read, or you watched AVGN?

Both, I saw AVGN talking about it then I read a little bit about it.

 

[Coolsvilleman]

Hahaha

Isn't "Blast Processing" just double-buffering?

Ya, thats exactly what it sounds like.

 

[bkwegoharder]

I think that I heard somewhere that the "Blast processing" or double buffering was why sports games played so much better on the Genesis, and that it was the reason why Sonic ran so fast.

 

[ElijahTW]

I remember having some basketball game for both the SNES and Genesis and neither of them really played better.

Did anyone here have the Genesis Channel? I know it's a bit off topic but I loved that thing!

 

[neoxalucard]

I think that I heard somewhere that the "Blast processing" or double buffering was why sports games played so much better on the Genesis, and that it was the reason why Sonic ran so fast.

Yeah that's exactly what they wanted you to think. I had both systems back in the day and many multiplatform titles (and still do). The Gen hand no advantage over the SNES except for a clever marketing scheme (which apparently worked) and Sonic. And Sonic could run just as fast on the SNES if they wanted him to, their was no technical limitation that would prevent that.:thumb:
And what sports games played much better on the Gen?

 

[StriderVM]

But the Genesis did have the faster processor.......

But I think some programmers have a tendency to push the SNES to the wrong limit, plus add the extra colors the SNES is capable thus making some Genesis games "faster", biggest example being Wrestlemania (Midway).

 

[neoxalucard]

But the Genesis did have the faster processor.......

But I think some programmers have a tendency to push the SNES to the wrong limit, plus add the extra colors the SNES is capable thus making some Genesis games "faster", biggest example being Wrestlemania (Midway).

Indeed it did, This is a well known and documented fact... Apparently when they were "putting the SNES together" at the time in Japan RPGs were a big thing, so N felt "do you need a faster clock to play RPGs?"

And yes a lower color pallet on the Gen, "speed" but at what cost. Visual quality, in the case of Wrestlemania, MK, Madden, Ect. But all of that is beside the point. Maybe saying "the Gen hand no advantage over the SNES" was a rather broad statement. I should have been more specific. But as I said before their is no technical limitation that would prevent Sonic from running just as fast on the SNES as he would on the Gen if they wanted him to.:thumb:

What do you mean "push the SNES to the wrong limit"?

 

[StriderVM]

Well, the best I can say is that most programmers have a tendency to just push as many stuff without regards to how fast it will happen. If you're gonna push 256 colors on a palette of 16.7m versus 64 colors of 256, of course you're gonna get slower on the SNES first.

Then there's, 128 sprites versus 80 for Genesis.

In a PC sense, the Super NES has something like a good video card with a sub-par processor. And you're putting too much strain on the processor by maxing the capabilities of the video?