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Post by MadModder on Aug 21, 2006 12:25:43 GMT -5
Does anybody know why most of the US-releases often has really bad graphics compared to the european releases?
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Post by Golan Klinger on Aug 21, 2006 12:36:15 GMT -5
Can you give us a few examples of what you're talking about?
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Post by MadModder on Aug 21, 2006 14:27:51 GMT -5
Maybe there aren't so many games that are released in different versions... I could not find any more but the ones I know about; these two: CabalEuropean US RampageEuropean US
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Post by thurstan on Aug 21, 2006 14:32:16 GMT -5
Retro Gamer magazine here in the UK did an article recently on the differences between UK/Euro versions and US versions of the same games. Basically it was a 50/50 split between them. Some games looked better US version and others better UK/Euro version. It really depended on the programmers at the time.
So there are plenty of US games that looked better !
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Post by MadModder on Aug 21, 2006 14:41:20 GMT -5
Hmm.... But why make different versions? Other than timing due to 50/60Hz, there's no difference. Same resolution, same colours...
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Post by Golan Klinger on Aug 21, 2006 14:42:41 GMT -5
Oh, I see what you mean. I thought you meant the exact same code looked different depending on whether it was being run on an NTSC or PAL 64 which didn't make much sense to me. Anyway, the answer is obvious and boring. It's because different companies got the European and North American rights to games and did their own versions resulting in different graphics. As thurstan pointed out, sometimes the European versions had better graphics, sometimes the U.S. versions did. It's in the eye of the beholder though. Most of the time a game was completed first in Europe or North America and then licensed but in many cases, there was simultaneous, redundant development.
One other factor is that the 64 remained quite popular in Europe long after it had started to fade in North America where the adoption of the next generation computers (Macintosh, Amiga, ST) was already in full effect. As a result, development was more active in Europe in the late 80's and as time goes by (as you well know) programmers learn more and more about coding for a system and the quality of the software improves. Compare 64 games from 1982 and 1988 and you'll have trouble believing they're running on the same computer.
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TMR
Newbie
Posts: 38
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Post by TMR on Aug 23, 2006 5:12:44 GMT -5
Hmm.... But why make different versions? Other than timing due to 50/60Hz, there's no difference. Same resolution, same colours... The timing differences and the balance of the CPU time are the biggest ones; trying to take an existing PAL game and squeeze it into an NTSC machine takes quite a bit of donkey work even with the source code. In one or two cases ( Afterburner springs to mind) they looked at the existing version and decided it wasn't worth that effort and wrote a new game from scratch! Ironically in that particular case, the superior US version was written by a British coder. =-)
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Post by cdoty on Aug 31, 2006 19:08:27 GMT -5
Another reason is that companies sometime got the license rights only in select areas.
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