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Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

earthiongame.com

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Re: Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

#31

Post by gryson »

dleslie wrote: post #5
wmil wrote: post #3

Does anyone have a video of it on an actual CRT TV? Looking at the youtube gameplay, it looks like it would have some problems with text on the overscan getting cropped. I am curious how some of the effects look on a CRT.

There's a bunch on Youtube. The art has the typical issues of modern 16-bit and 8-bit games where the designers and artists are not targeting the full hardware stack of the era. Rather, they're targeting simulated machines (emulators) and sometimes also flash carts on original hardware but rendered on modern display hardware. What I notice is that the highly detailed sprite work doesn't produce the elegant artifactin…

The game makes good use of dithering throughout.

Pixel bleeding? Are you referring to color distortion caused by the use of composite video? Why would you expect to see that in a screenshot viewed on your LCD screen? You'd have to actually see the game output via composite from a Mega Drive to a CRT to see it (which you would, since the art uses dithering well).

This is one of the best-looking Mega Drive games released in a very long time, developed by the company responsible for games like Streets of Rage and Beyond Oasis.

Re: Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

#32

Post by gryson »

wmil wrote: post #3

Does anyone have a video of it on an actual CRT TV? Looking at the youtube gameplay, it looks like it would have some problems with text on the overscan getting cropped. I am curious how some of the effects look on a CRT.

I suspect the developers had enough foresight to not include text outside the display window.

Re: Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

#34

Post by gryson »

mrandish wrote: post #14
dleslie wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a bunch on Youtube. The art has the typical issues of modern 16-bit and 8-bit games where the designers and artists are not targeting the full hardware stack of the era. Rather, they're targeting simulated machines (emulators) and sometimes also flash carts on original hardware but rendered on modern display hardware. What I notice is that the highly detailed sprite work doesn't produce the elegant artifactin…

It bothers me when a new creative work tries to adopt a distinct historical style without understanding its form, structure, context, constraints and motivation. Without that understanding it's just derivative imitation which might evoke echoes of the original but can never match, add to it or take it new directions. While it may sound odd to want new pixel art to be "authentic" in the same way as new music should re…

Are you referring to Earthion specifically or just making some grandiose comment about pixel art in the good old days?

What are "CRT bloom and blending"? Are you referring to artifacts caused by composite video output? That is not due to the CRT but rather the signal distortion. RGB output on a CRT will look pixel perfect and colors will not merge. I'd say most gamers using original hardware on CRTs these days are using RGB, so if anything, it reflects the current user trends if the Earthion designer did not use dithering (which he did, making this comment irrelevant).

Re: Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

#35

Post by gryson »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #30
ekianjo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sonic being the exception

Right! That one looked cheerful.

Doesn't that mean it's not the hardware's color limitations, but rather how color is used by the artists?

There are plenty of gorgeous games on the Mega Drive in terms of color. 61 colors on screen at once is more than enough.

Re: Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

#36

Post by gryson »

cedel2k1 wrote: post #22

Haven't seen so many uninformed comments in a while on HN :-/ This is a MegaDrive game running in an emulator for the modern ports. Made by Makoto Wada and Yuzo Koshiro. Doesn't get mich more authentic than that imho. Original hardware, original artists. I understand it's not everyone's tea (anymore) tho.

Don't you know - everyone's an expert because they saw a YouTube video about how modern pixel art isn't authentic...

Seriously, this game is a miracle, and the amount of love Ancient put into it is unlike anything we've ever seen for a modern commercial release on hardware that came out in 1988!

It certainly beats out a good portion of the games originally released on the Mega Drive.

Re: Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

#37

Post by movedx »

alwaysmrno wrote: post #33

"Physical editions of Earthion are coming to North America! Pre-order the Standard or Collector’s Editions at Limited Run Games" Yikes. Seems like i'm not getting a physical copy then. I'm not giving any money to LRG. Which is a shame because it looks like a cool game.

LRG? Limited Run Games? I've never heard of them before. How come you're shunning them?

Re: Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

#39

Post by throwatdem12311 »

This game is so close to be amazing but the bullet visibility problems bring it down greatly. If they can solve the pixel layer limitations, even if it’s only on the non-MD version, so enemy bullets are always above everything else, then it’s a an easy buy. Until then, it’s just only if you’re a dedicated shmup guy that loves MD games.

Re: Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up

#40

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

gryson wrote: post #35
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right! That one looked cheerful.

Doesn't that mean it's not the hardware's color limitations, but rather how color is used by the artists? There are plenty of gorgeous games on the Mega Drive in terms of color. 61 colors on screen at once is more than enough.

Thats not how exceptions work.
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