I've always been fascinated by cartridge games that incorporate their own unique hardware enhancements, rather than simply being a ROM like your typical cartridge. Virtua Racing on the Mega Drive and Star Fox on the Super Famicom are probably the most well known. This technique of boosting the hardware capabilities with on-cartridge enhancements goes WAY back however. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns on the Atari 2600 is a masterpiece both technically and in terms of game design. David Crane designed his own custom "Display Processor Chip" to dramatically enhance the capabilities of the 2600. Predictably, the drawback with these is that they're not cost effective to produce since you have to produce custom IC's for inclusion in every copy of the game, rather than just having that functionality integrated as part of the original hardware.
Having discovered this video, I'm impressed. As someone who codes games for a living, it's nice to see a video that actually discusses the technical aspects and techniques we use. Good work.
SEGA AM2 I believe actually stands for "Amusement Machine Research and Development" Team #2... As far as I know it's not actually a reference to staying in the office until 2:00 AM.
I literally lost my mind when I got Virtua Racing for my Genesis. It cost me $100.00 at the time and when I bought it I was expecting perhaps Star Fox quality...we got so much more. It ran so fast and looked jaw dropping in its day. The SVP smacks the FX and FX2 chips around kicking them down a flight of stairs for good measure. I had both the Sega Genesis/Sega CD and Snes at the time this game released. Yes, we had a polygon game shootout at my house that day. A friend brought his Stunt Racer FX over and...no comparison. Yes, I got the 32X for Doom and this. I loved Virtua Racing for my 32X but Doom was very disappointing. I thought the SVP was a chip built by Lockheed Martin...well it's a Samsung product and that really says it all. I have been purchasing Samsung solely (not any other manufacturer ever) screens since the switch to 1080p in 2005. I purchased my first high end, high definition screen the day the Xbox 360 launched (yes, I got an Xbox 360 that night as well). I have had so many different displays always moving up as I continue to chase that perfect picture. My fiance and I are huge gamers that play everything. We are rocking two Samsung Series 9 Curved 4K UHD displays and two of every console including the enhanced versions. We also have a full arcade in our home and a room totally dedicated to all things old school. We have a grand total of 9 different Samsung displays in our home right now...;)
Great video. Thank you for your hard work. I especially appreciate you always noting which system your video clip is representing. So many review/comparison videos forget to do this consistently. Great channel. Thanks again.
Just discovered you. I had all and anything Sega but sadly had to sell during hard times. Very comprehensive vid. Thoroughly enjoyed. I am thankful that emulation exists now I had to part with my beloved collection.
That is always sad to hear, I have been fortunate to keep much of my equipment since the glory days. Emulation does help keep the retro fire burning for far less cash, 👍
Takes me back down memory lane of playing the arcades. Remember playing virtua racing in my local stardust for the very first time, I was barely old enough to get in. The sense of speed with the 3D graphics speeding by at a fair lick and the immersion i felt, a wow moment. Urg that RF cable lol, share your pain. Really enjoyed your video and looking forward to the resident evil 4 analyst.
Cheers man, it was a true game changer and nothing came close to what this entire game, cab and speed felt like, I loved it and I miss the arcades, going in and seeing what new cabinets had been delivered...heady days :-)
Am looking to cover as much as possible on my Retro series, after I started last year I wanted to refine the process and I am still tweaking and looking for feedback. Thank you
Great video. This game was so much fun yet so simple. I really enjoyed the simple polygons add they are nice and clean. Wouldn't mind seeing a 4k version of this.
Thank you for always keeping your videos classy and giving us actual insight to what is going on under the hood. I love how you also explain how often things happen and/or the cause of such.
This video was made in 2016. PC emulation for Snes and Genesis had been pixel perfect for at least 10 years at that point. Now, there are many different emulators, but the most popular ones like Kega Fusion, ZNES ect were perfectly fine. Hardware clones are a completely different story though.
Disthron Very close on many things and almost pixel perfect, but not quite, you would only see it though if you compared side by side. 16-bit is much easier to compare and emulate, but the results can vary, certainly in performance. 32-bit is much further away from being perfect but like all things, is getting closer.
Indianapolis 500 (filled 3D polygons racing game) was released in 1989 which is before Virtua Racing's 1992 release date. Indianapolis 500 scales with higher CPU power e.g. Amiga's CPU accelerator cards or Amiga 2500/020 at 14Mhz or 1990 era Amiga 3000/030 at 25Mhz. If Commodore has today's factory overclocked mentality, Commodore should have overclocked the 68000 CPU into 14.3 Mhz like ICD AdSpeed. MicroProse's Formula One Grand Prix (filled 3D polygons racing game) was released in 1991. 68040 couldn't replace 68000's year 1988 price segment, hence blame Motorola. Virtua Formula was released in 1993, while I was playing the 1993 era IndyCar Racing which has filled 3D polygons + texture racing games. 1993 was my shift to gaming PC while I still owned an Amiga 3000. I'm not fazed by Sega's hype when "PC master race" was it's ascendant e.g. Doom, Rise of Triad, IndyCar Racing, Duke Nukem 3D, and 'etc'.
Everything is great here, apart from the aspect ratio of many of the 4:3 games. Handbrake can adjust the aspect ratio, if you're looking for a tool to carry that out. I also used an old tool back in the day - called Restream that could alter the aspect ratio of MPEG files. I've not used it in over a decade however, so I don't believe it worked with h.264 video files.
I miss Sega it was the arcade Style Games Like No other console, i miss today that Nobody fill that gab. There are still very good Sega arcade Machines Like Walking dead sad it will Not come in our homes
Yes, I have a few up from my first sets a few years ago in the Metal Gear Solid series, res 4, Destruction Derby, Wipeout and a Sonic one up this week, hope you get chance to watch them and my new stuff.
Well I tried - and im an avid retro fan plus a professional programmer - but Jesus- you jump from one thing to another to the point I couldn't be bothered to keep up.
Nice vid but (no offense) I can not understand a lot of words you’re saying, with my American ears. What kind of accent do you have, some kind of heavy British accent, right? Anyway nice vid. :)
Sega "dominating" console games is a stretch. They did well for a while in a few territories. Failed in their home country their whole console making life.
NX Gamer stay true and you'll grow huge. don't let them buy you, because once you lose your journalistic integrity, we all see it. and then there's no coming back.
"the chip was made by the am2 team", can a dev team design hardware now? they all use stock stuff, and game engine already made now, am2 is godlike for racing games! They ridiculised nintendo with fzero gx...
Really good video ! Sadly no Game Boy Advance version of the game :-/ P.S. Yes, i am sure that the GBA can replicate at least the Sega Genesis version of Virtua Racing. If you guys want to know why i'm sure of that, just take a look at my channel where i show the true 3D capabilities of the GBA (a console that despite the fact that doesn't have an hardware capable of true 3D can generate the unthinkable with the right software).
I've always been fascinated by cartridge games that incorporate their own unique hardware enhancements, rather than simply being a ROM like your typical cartridge. Virtua Racing on the Mega Drive and Star Fox on the Super Famicom are probably the most well known. This technique of boosting the hardware capabilities with on-cartridge enhancements goes WAY back however.
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns on the Atari 2600 is a masterpiece both technically and in terms of game design. David Crane designed his own custom "Display Processor Chip" to dramatically enhance the capabilities of the 2600. Predictably, the drawback with these is that they're not cost effective to produce since you have to produce custom IC's for inclusion in every copy of the game, rather than just having that functionality integrated as part of the original hardware.
Loved Virtua Racing. Still think it looks great to this day. On my beloved 32x of course :)
Having discovered this video, I'm impressed. As someone who codes games for a living, it's nice to see a video that actually discusses the technical aspects and techniques we use. Good work.
liar lol I know you and you work as a hotdog seller
Late reply I know, but really happy to hear your enjoyment of my work, as I am sure I am of yours.
Frankly, I still find Virtua Racing on the Genesis impressive for what it is and the hardware it's running on.
I bought a used copy back in the '90s. The full MSRP was a lot, but arguably worth it considering how much time I personally spent playing it.
SEGA AM2 I believe actually stands for "Amusement Machine Research and Development" Team #2... As far as I know it's not actually a reference to staying in the office until 2:00 AM.
I literally lost my mind when I got Virtua Racing for my Genesis. It cost me $100.00 at the time and when I bought it I was expecting perhaps Star Fox quality...we got so much more. It ran so fast and looked jaw dropping in its day. The SVP smacks the FX and FX2 chips around kicking them down a flight of stairs for good measure. I had both the Sega Genesis/Sega CD and Snes at the time this game released. Yes, we had a polygon game shootout at my house that day. A friend brought his Stunt Racer FX over and...no comparison. Yes, I got the 32X for Doom and this. I loved Virtua Racing for my 32X but Doom was very disappointing.
I thought the SVP was a chip built by Lockheed Martin...well it's a Samsung product and that really says it all. I have been purchasing Samsung solely (not any other manufacturer ever) screens since the switch to 1080p in 2005. I purchased my first high end, high definition screen the day the Xbox 360 launched (yes, I got an Xbox 360 that night as well). I have had so many different displays always moving up as I continue to chase that perfect picture. My fiance and I are huge gamers that play everything. We are rocking two Samsung Series 9 Curved 4K UHD displays and two of every console including the enhanced versions.
We also have a full arcade in our home and a room totally dedicated to all things old school. We have a grand total of 9 different Samsung displays in our home right now...;)
Could you take a look at the new 60fps 1080p Switch port? It doesn’t get enough love.
Great video. Thank you for your hard work. I especially appreciate you always noting which system your video clip is representing. So many review/comparison videos forget to do this consistently. Great channel. Thanks again.
Fantastic in-depth feature on my favourite racing game, thanks!
bombjack Thanks, this stuff I really love to make, and only requires dipping Into my own memory banks.... Ohhhh dangerous.
Must have sunk at least $200 Australian dollars into the Virtua Racing machine back in the day. Thanks for doing this, NX - bringing back good times!
No worries, I also lost a healthy portion of my cash into this game, it simply was like nothing else.
Just discovered you. I had all and anything Sega but sadly had to sell during hard times. Very comprehensive vid. Thoroughly enjoyed. I am thankful that emulation exists now I had to part with my beloved collection.
That is always sad to hear, I have been fortunate to keep much of my equipment since the glory days. Emulation does help keep the retro fire burning for far less cash, 👍
You can always emulate. Its usually pretty close to hardware especially nowadays
Takes me back down memory lane of playing the arcades.
Remember playing virtua racing in my local stardust for the very first time, I was barely old enough to get in. The sense of speed with the 3D graphics speeding by at a fair lick and the immersion i felt, a wow moment.
Urg that RF cable lol, share your pain.
Really enjoyed your video and looking forward to the resident evil 4 analyst.
Cheers man, it was a true game changer and nothing came close to what this entire game, cab and speed felt like, I loved it and I miss the arcades, going in and seeing what new cabinets had been delivered...heady days :-)
I always enjoy your videos. When I see one in my you tube feed, I watch as soon as I can.
Always a treat to hear, thanks
Excellent content in your video sir. Liked and subscribed.
Yeah...! In-depth retrostuff! This is awesome, keep em coming 😀👍🏻
Am looking to cover as much as possible on my Retro series, after I started last year I wanted to refine the process and I am still tweaking and looking for feedback. Thank you
Anyone watching this in 2020, its on the Switch and is pretty much arcade perfect!
Gotta do an update one of these days covering the Switch version :)
RETROPERSPECTIVE is awesome, NX Gamer! More of this, please.
Thanks, I have my next one due this week, stay tuned.
Great video. This game was so much fun yet so simple. I really enjoyed the simple polygons add they are nice and clean. Wouldn't mind seeing a 4k version of this.
I would snap up an update on many of these older games, such great times and games. Thanks very much
NX Gamer keeps delivering, one of my fav youtubers!
Appreciate that a lot, thanks :0)
Thank you for always keeping your videos classy and giving us actual insight to what is going on under the hood. I love how you also explain how often things happen and/or the cause of such.
Means a lot to hear that, glad you and others enjoy my work.
The arcade version of Virtual Racing is coming out for Nintendo Switch soon
This is great! This game blew my mind in the arcade. Such nostalgia.
You and me both :-)
Another informative video. Thanks for all the work you put into these videos.
Appreciate the support and kind words.
Good stuff NXG! Really enjoyed the video
Happy to hear that, thanks
What a f**king awesome video!
Fan-bloody-tastic!!!!
This video was made in 2016. PC emulation for Snes and Genesis had been pixel perfect for at least 10 years at that point. Now, there are many different emulators, but the most popular ones like Kega Fusion, ZNES ect were perfectly fine.
Hardware clones are a completely different story though.
Disthron Very close on many things and almost pixel perfect, but not quite, you would only see it though if you compared side by side. 16-bit is much easier to compare and emulate, but the results can vary, certainly in performance. 32-bit is much further away from being perfect but like all things, is getting closer.
Love this shit , can watch it all fuckin day! Thx man, I miss the nirvana grunge days
256x192? That’s what I assumed it would be too but it appears to be 320x192 from my own capture and scaling.
Indianapolis 500 (filled 3D polygons racing game) was released in 1989 which is before Virtua Racing's 1992 release date. Indianapolis 500 scales with higher CPU power e.g. Amiga's CPU accelerator cards or Amiga 2500/020 at 14Mhz or 1990 era Amiga 3000/030 at 25Mhz.
If Commodore has today's factory overclocked mentality, Commodore should have overclocked the 68000 CPU into 14.3 Mhz like ICD AdSpeed.
MicroProse's Formula One Grand Prix (filled 3D polygons racing game) was released in 1991.
68040 couldn't replace 68000's year 1988 price segment, hence blame Motorola.
Virtua Formula was released in 1993, while I was playing the 1993 era IndyCar Racing which has filled 3D polygons + texture racing games. 1993 was my shift to gaming PC while I still owned an Amiga 3000. I'm not fazed by Sega's hype when "PC master race" was it's ascendant e.g. Doom, Rise of Triad, IndyCar Racing, Duke Nukem 3D, and 'etc'.
Everything is great here, apart from the aspect ratio of many of the 4:3 games.
Handbrake can adjust the aspect ratio, if you're looking for a tool to carry that out.
I also used an old tool back in the day - called Restream that could alter the aspect ratio of MPEG files. I've not used it in over a decade however, so I don't believe it worked with h.264 video files.
Played this many times in the Arcade as a Teen
Excellent work dude, great vid
Cheers
I still have my lovely 32X version.
I miss Sega it was the arcade Style Games Like No other console, i miss today that Nobody fill that gab. There are still very good Sega arcade Machines Like Walking dead sad it will Not come in our homes
Great video....i had the luck to play most of those games!
And what great titles they were, simply on another to level to what was available at the time, thanks
20:09 what's wrong with the saturn's audio? Other than that EXCELLENT video
Fantastic stuff as per the norm thank you mate!!
Appreciate the support, glad you enjoyed.
Can you be mindful of the image ration when publishing video from older 4/3 games?
Otherwise this is nice to have that kind of comparison.
Virtua Racing always struck me as the videogame equivalent of Scalextric.
It is more rigid and certainly an ARCADE racer, but at the time, this was something else.
Ooh, DF Retro and now this. We live in a beautiful time!
Thanks, I have much more in the works.
Very interesting series, looking forward to the Resident evil video!
Thanks, just adding my finishes touches to it as it has been a real-deep dive into multiple versions not all released.
Really nice man! Thanks!
Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed it.
I would hope for a Virtua Racing and Daytone port on PS4
I seriously doubt that I am afraid.
love the saturn version and play 2 player, great game. Ps2 version is a favourite but the tyre screeching, my god is does my ears in.
haha, yep the flat, same sample does grate like a chalkboard.
Sonic Mars model I see ( I wish that game came out : ( )
What about Amiga's F1 GP polygonal game way before Virtua Racing?
VR an Donington park in one video
are you going to do another retrospective?
Yes, I have a few up from my first sets a few years ago in the Metal Gear Solid series, res 4, Destruction Derby, Wipeout and a Sonic one up this week, hope you get chance to watch them and my new stuff.
What did you use to emulate the arcade game? Was it MAME, or is there a dedicated Model 1 emulator?
02:22 Super Soccer developed by Human Entertainment in 1991 ! not by Konami in 1993
Well I tried - and im an avid retro fan plus a professional programmer - but Jesus- you jump from one thing to another to the point I couldn't be bothered to keep up.
I like the video. Subscribed. So late? 😅
The colors seems to be off in the PS2 version.
Could you do an Ezio Collection analysis?
Good stuff. That's some twitchy and sketchy-driving Virtua Racing footage though 😉
Ha ha, yes some of the footage is my Son playing, getting him into racing and retro games. Also good to have a hand helping me in captures :-)
Good on you, i take it back!
Fantastic Content. Thanx from Ukraine
It's too bad nobody mentions Race Drivin' as a predecessor to Virtua Racing 😞
Great video but the 32X version got the best soundtrack of the home versions imo.
ohhhh statement...I can see where you are coming from though :0-)
Nice vid but (no offense) I can not understand a lot of words you’re saying, with my American ears. What kind of accent do you have, some kind of heavy British accent, right? Anyway nice vid. :)
Sega "dominating" console games is a stretch. They did well for a while in a few territories. Failed in their home country their whole console making life.
Ahhhhh I just came ha ha ha ha only kidding, I love old graphics
looks better than gran turismo.... oh wait, it hasn't come out yet.
I am looking at that title as we speak, really looking much better.
if you say "SEGA" as in "SEH-GAH" why would you sat KEGA as KEEGAH and not KEH-GAH ? just asking
Because I can, there is only 1 EH-GAH!
so much better than Digital Scoundrely.
Thanks you enjoy my work.
NX Gamer stay true and you'll grow huge. don't let them buy you, because once you lose your journalistic integrity, we all see it. and then there's no coming back.
Audfile
It wont happen at all, there is more to that story but be safe in the knowledge I am honest and factual always :-)
Was Virtua Racing really that important? It came out 3 years after Hard Drivin' and snitched most of its ideas.
SVP, not VSP
Jeremy Johnson Not sure what you mean, I do say SVP?
You''re right, I must have had a serious brainfart - I could have swore I heard VSP! Apologies, and respect for the accurate information.
Jeremy Johnson No need to apologise, I did check as I have done it before, talking fast and all that, ;-) thanks for watching and commenting.
Xbone X was a mistake
Sega just could not get good arcade ports unfortunately. Probably what let them down in the console wars.
"the chip was made by the am2 team", can a dev team design hardware now? they all use stock stuff, and game engine already made now, am2 is godlike for racing games! They ridiculised nintendo with fzero gx...
Yes, true that, it came from the hardware team based on the requirements from the Devs and the quality from AM2 was always sky high.
Nice video but... Super Soccer from Konami? LOL ;p
No offense, but you talk really fast and I can't understand the video (native English)
Really good video !
Sadly no Game Boy Advance version of the game :-/
P.S. Yes, i am sure that the GBA can replicate at least the Sega Genesis version of Virtua Racing.
If you guys want to know why i'm sure of that, just take a look at my channel where i show the true 3D capabilities of the GBA (a console that despite the fact that doesn't have an hardware capable of true 3D can generate the unthinkable with the right software).
Stopped watching as soon as I saw the stretched aspect ratio. Can't stand that.
Rob Young yeah, the rest of the video is not, that was done just for the intro as it looked odd at 4:3. I hope you return to watch the rest.
NX Gamer A fair bit of footage is stretched elsewhere in the video too... but I can bear it since this video is pretty good. ^_^
Gotta do an update one of these days covering the Switch version :)