I used to do emulation on my Raspberry Pi. It had an analog AV output, so I connected it to an old tube TV I had. The games managed to look better on that than on my HD monitor with HDMI. Even moreso once I figured out how to set the Pi’s video output to 240p (the resolution for most consoles at the time).
Apparently some older games took advantage of CRT screen artifacting to create effects, but they don’t translate very well to LCD or LED screens. Like the waterfalls in the 16 bit Sonic games. On a newer LCD they look like shit, but on a CRT they have a transparent look.
Sub-720p resolutions + dogshit antialiasing (QAA, FXAA, etc) + dogshit scaling to 1080p == some of the most gross fuckin video output I have ever seen. You get a PS360 game running high res in RPCS3 or Xenia they look great, but like, Sonic Unleashed rocking that 880x720 + FXAA framebuffer
I remember being so frustrated with Xbox 360 games by the end of its lifespan- muddy, jagged visuals and awful framerates. Who gives a shit how many fancy new effects you crammed in when the presentation looks like shit?
Then you popped in some PS2 remaster and you got crystal crisp 3D and 60fps. I honestly would have preferred “outdated” graphics if it meant the games would have run better
I know right, shit was wild. The precious few 1080p (Sacred 2) or 60fps (Bayonetta, Ridge Racer 7) games made it even more jarring. The PS3 and 360 have to be some of the worst hardware generationally, they were squeezed for EVERYTHING, although mostly ram lol.
God we really did go a whole decade with antialiasing that looked like this
And it was beautiful
Back then the blurry CRT TV screens did the antialiasing and motion smoothing for free.
I used to do emulation on my Raspberry Pi. It had an analog AV output, so I connected it to an old tube TV I had. The games managed to look better on that than on my HD monitor with HDMI. Even moreso once I figured out how to set the Pi’s video output to 240p (the resolution for most consoles at the time).
Apparently some older games took advantage of CRT screen artifacting to create effects, but they don’t translate very well to LCD or LED screens. Like the waterfalls in the 16 bit Sonic games. On a newer LCD they look like shit, but on a CRT they have a transparent look.
It’s not like the PS3 and Xbox 360 were that much better to be honest
Sub-720p resolutions + dogshit antialiasing (QAA, FXAA, etc) + dogshit scaling to 1080p == some of the most gross fuckin video output I have ever seen. You get a PS360 game running high res in RPCS3 or Xenia they look great, but like, Sonic Unleashed rocking that 880x720 + FXAA framebuffer
I remember being so frustrated with Xbox 360 games by the end of its lifespan- muddy, jagged visuals and awful framerates. Who gives a shit how many fancy new effects you crammed in when the presentation looks like shit?
Then you popped in some PS2 remaster and you got crystal crisp 3D and 60fps. I honestly would have preferred “outdated” graphics if it meant the games would have run better
I know right, shit was wild. The precious few 1080p (Sacred 2) or 60fps (Bayonetta, Ridge Racer 7) games made it even more jarring. The PS3 and 360 have to be some of the worst hardware generationally, they were squeezed for EVERYTHING, although mostly ram lol.