This has been one of the ambitious DF Retro projects we’ve ever undertaken. What if Digital Foundry – with all of the modern tools at its disposal – could have covered the mid-90s Sega Saturn vs Sony PlayStation cross-platform releases? We have a general idea of how the systems compared, but does the modern DF methodology make the case or bust the myths? It took time for our digital-based workflow to adapt to the analogue days of yesteryear – particularly on Saturn where no HDMI mods exist – but here we are, and we think you’re going to enjoy it. John Linneman kicks off proceedings with a look at the fifth generation consoles’ line-up of driving and racing games.
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These are the df videos I like to watch.
I've got to ask as someone who is old enough to play on a PlayStation and Saturn at the time and still own both, what's the point of these videos? Intellectual curiosity? Nostalgia self masturbation? Who cares if the PS1 or the Saturn ran a game better? This is ancient shit from 30 years ago, nobody cares
PlayStation had the best North American and Japan release games. The Sega Saturn didn't really have alot of good games in the USA because of Sega America dumb decisions. Same thing happened with the dreamcast and that's why sega consoles were no more lol
That was an emotional one for me. Seeing all these games, especially Wipeout, reminded me on my great childhood. Our parents made it possible for us to play these games and I want my little now 2 year old son to have similar memories with gaming when he is old enough.
😊
I love this series – it really hits me with nostalgia. The first game I ever played on a PS1 was V-Rally on a neighbours console which blew my mind since I was used to Mario Kart on SNES at that point. Our family ended up getting a PS1 not long after that since my dad wanted to play rally games too. I didn't know anyone with a Saturn though.
45:40 woah I never knew this was on anything but pc..
PS1 was a juggernaut. For every Saturn exclusive game, PS had a comparable alternative. Sega Rally? Colin McRae. Virtua Fighter? Tekken. Daytona USA? Ridge Racer. Sonic R? Crash Team Racing. I think the only specific genre PS1 didn't have was Panzer Dragoon games, which was "flying dragon shooting game." I don't remember any PS1 game that was similar to that. Ace Combat was probably the closest, but still not the same.
However, PS had games that Saturn didn't have any comparable alternative. Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy 7, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Digimon, etc.
Simply Gold – best yt Video that i watch for ages. danke aus Deutschland
Hi Octanes's wierd polygon structure is probably a legacy of using a heightmap (the Magic Carpet engine mentioned) grid with only vertical height stored. Maybe the star pattern was to have smoother hills without a collapsing inner 'fold' at certain angles?. either way its not a great choice for a track based racing game. its why most of the wipout style '/__/' track takes place on cardinal directions and theres rarely trackside wall detail on diagonals or corners, opting for a more offroad/smooth approach as you just couldnt continue the walls as it deviates off the heightmap grid.
What pogkappen said. Thanks DF.
Incredible work, as always ! And WHAT ?! A shmup Face-off ?! Is it going to be 8h long ?
I liked the Sega Saturn more than the PlayStation. But now I'm a Sony gamer since Sega left the console market
I love seeing these deep dives John/DFRetro. Props to the Psychic Force music at 42:25
This was great 😀
i love this video, ite better than just talking tech, cant wait for the next part
cinci reppin
How does Mass Destruction pull off the transparent hud and radar textures on Saturn?
The warping near camera issue is likely due to lack of any near-plane clipping (or any clipping for that matter) in the hardware/SDKs. Developers had to do it themselves, but a lot of us didn't really know what we were doing at the time 🤣(and the platforms didn't really support the features necessary). As the points of the polygons closest to the camera approach the near plane the math gets funky. So you need to break them into smaller polygons so you can fully discard them as they near/cross the near clip plane to avoid geometric distortion.
As a developer who cut his teeth in console gaming during this era, I love series like this. Hopefully one of the games I worked on gets the full treatment soon!
I love John's DF Retros! Takes me back…
I'm not one for conspiracy theories so when I see Wipeout made by a recently acquired Sony studio run and look suspiciously worse on Saturn I don't think a big deal of it. Maybe the Saturn was harder to program for and being so new no one had experience with it yet. No problem.
Now, when the sequel came out with the same performance difference PLUS a transparent sprite CONSTANTLY in front of the screen to remind you of the dithering, I became a believer. Wipeout looks like a port designed to make the Saturn look weaker.
Maybe it would have been a good move by Sega to release Sega Rally on Playstation running at 20fps with half the draw distance and textures wobbling all over.
I loved Wipeout on the Saturn, I guess if you don't know any better 🤷🏼♂️
9:00 PSX also uses hardware dithering that greatly helps with amplify that effect. Also works great with proper 90s home CRTs.
Starting with racing games is why you're the GOAT
The crappy daytona port always pissed me off. Daytona CCE runs so much better and without the awful draw distance too. They should have just delayed the original and brought us that. Feel sorry for the folks that bought the first release, Sega owe them a free upgrade. On the other hand they changed the handling which annoyed a lot of people.
Anyone know the name of the song that plays at the Andretti Racing part..? Thanks
Street Racer from Ubisoft and Off-World Interceptor Extreme still looks so good, the atmosphere of these games is amazing. Great idea for an episode and series- the history of games, non-obvious problems of developers in the past, building the foundations for what now seems to be the norm – and everything seen from a modern perspective – it's fascinating! And the audio-video production itself is at a high level , cheers ❤
Could Saturn run Silent Hill?
bruh, the ps1 era was so fun.
15:46 Sega Rally Championship on the Saturn – one of the greatest soundtracks in all of racing game history!
I wish you could talk someday about Racing Lagoon (PS1)… Square Soft was ahead of the time with that title ^_^
27:01 one distinction is that the Saturn is using dithering for shadows, rather than a a transparent texture
Not sure there has ever been a video more up my alley than this. I was target demo during this generation, and was (still am) very into racing games. Excellent work as always, DF Crew.