Dreamcast capable of other 128 bits consoles graphic level?

Hi everyone.

I´m just asking since 2001 (when i got a Dreamcast) if the Dreamcast could run games of the other 128 bits consoles or PSP with the same graphic level (you know multiplattform titles like NFS, Silent Hill 2, Prince of Persia, MOH Frontline and a HUGE ETC), if it would be survived the entire generation and the third parties would be releasing some of their titles for it (Even EA). In my opinion games like Shenmue 2 or Ikaruga proves that it could be possible...but..what do you think? Wasn´t Dreamcast capable of reach the multiplattform games level of the rest of the 128 bit era?:encouragement:

 

Probably completely plausible, with a decrease in polygons mind you, DOA2 was on both dreamcast and ps2, everyone hails the dreamcast version as superior graphically, so that rather speaks for itself

 

In fact, the PS2 Version is slightly superior. It have extra costumes , stages and characters (some incluided in japanese limited edition of Dreamcast, even Bayman and a playable version of Tengu); slightly better lighting effects, some special effects in 3 or 4 stages (the motion blur effect against Tengu is the most famous), plus the possibility of choose more stages in tag mode. But it fails in the resolution and anti aliasing department, and this two flaws are more notorious than all their new new minimal graphical add ons; that´s why is still said that the DC version is better...

 

I didn't mean to start a debate about the superiority.... just using it as an example. It was on both platforms it looks as good as a lot of the games from the same gen, personally cant tell the difference between the two at a glance *shrug*

My point is it seems to me that the multiplatform games would have been perfectly possible with a few graphical reductions and programming tweaks here and there.

 

IMO it could probably have been close to the PS2, but it would probably be impossible to come close to many titles designed from the ground up for the xbox. The disparity between the DC and the xbox in terms of hardware capabilities was pretty significant.

Take a look at this for comparisons
http://www.segatech.com/technical/consolecompare/index.html

 

The Dreamcast had 16mb of RAM to the PS2's 32mb to the XBox's 64mb. In terms of texture size/resolution as well as framebuffer sizes the Dreamcast couldn't compete with the XBox by a long shot. But who fucking cares the Dreamcast had great games.

 

PS2 has double the main ram as the dreamcast, but half the graphics ram. So the dreamcast has a few advantages. However it's only really the exclusive games that are worth it. The controller was horrible and I don't remember that many of the games being really fun. I ought to dig it out again.

 

I may have to agree with you. There are quite a few game releases that came out on the other 3 consoles where the PS2 can't even keep up with its 2 rivals. One of my favorite racers comes to mind... XGRA. The game is pretty damn impressive on the Xbox in terms of framerate, speed and ambitious level design. The game looked to make decent use of the Xbox hardware in certain aspects. The Gamecube port of the same game does a damn good job in performing just as good as the Xbox version. The PS2 version of XGRA is unfortunately, a massive piece of shit! Heavy loading times, a laughable framerate that completely cripples the game, muddy graphics and the most dull colors I've ever seen on the console (I seriously can't tell tell much of a difference between levels played in Day or Night time in the game!).

 

that was my major gripe with the PS2 back in its day and also why i didnt bother getting one (until recently when i got one for free)

the other consoles all seemed more crisp clear and more vivid.

the dreamcast could have lived alot longer, and is capable of some pretty nice graphics and gameplay

i do agree the gamepad maybe could have been better but it was far from terrible (d pad sucked for fighters though but there was always the arcade stick and analogue)

got to remember also the dreamcast(1998) was released before the PS2(2000) and XBOX(2001) and Gamecube also 2001

if they had waited for a year or 2 and used DVD storage technology and broadband adapter as standard over the modem, things probably would have been alot different

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the PS2 (the 900XX slim model is easily my most favorite of all), but not when it concerns multiplatform game releases because it usually equals to a half assed conversion.

That is certainly true.

The Dpad on the controller isn't as much of an issue as people hype that shit up to be, especially with regards to fighters. Take it from a fighting game junkie like me... the Dpad works better than all other Dpad available during that console generation. You just gotta know how to properly use it. The biggest issue really is the 4 face buttons instead of 6. But your right, there are other better alternatives like Agetec or Ascii FT special Arcade Sticks.

Perhaps so, but to be quite honest, I'm glad the console came out when it did even if it came at the unfortunate price it had to pay. That year between 98 ans 99 was a very interesting time within the gaming front in just about every market (PC, Arcade etc). As a result, the system was blessed with some truly amazing software that had no where else to go.

 

Read somewhere that Grandia 2 looked better on Dreamcast? I own the PS2 version as well but never bothered to check the differences

 

agree on most points, i dont know why they scrapped the megadrive / saturn button config (eg 6 buttons + 8 way D-Pad) its just personal preference for me gave my sore thumbs after playing too long on it lol

 

It does actually. Grandia 2 Xtreme or whatever the fuck it's called on the PS2 is a shitty mess.

Skies of Arcadia on DC looks and sounds better than on GCN

Crazy Taxi looks better on DC than on PS2 on GCN

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 looks SO much better on DC than on PS2 on Xbox

Capcom Vs. SNK 2 looks and is better overall on DC than on PS2, Xbox and especially GCN

 

Dreamcast was one of the first console to be powerful enought for the graphics not to be a distraction factor. I mean blockyness and warped polygons were so much reduced compared to N64 or PSX that you could immerse in games without being remembered every 3 seconds that the scene was a cheap rendition of reallity, see Shenmue or PSO.

Yet, games were still developped in the old-fashionned line of though "gameplay first" and stuff was highly optimised,using almost all the resources of the console. I can't tell about PS2, but for many (mainly early) xbox games, it's obvious that the developpers simply made sloppy ports of PC games, or used the extra power of the console to save on optimisation instead than pushing the console to its limit, using extra power for overhead in the end.

But I'm a DC fanboy, my point of view is completely biaised.

 

Jejejee don´t get me wrong..i dind´t mean to argue...i just was pointing the differences. In fact, i believe that this DOA Hardcore could possible 1:1 on the DC...

 

In my experience...i remember when i just had my Dreamcast for a couple of years, and when i watched (in magazines mainly) the screenshots of the PS2/GCN and Xbox Games, i used to think "wow, even the scrappy games for children are out of the graphic league of the DC", but when i got my Gamecube in 2005 (a little late in the gen jejeje) i just realized that the graphic gap wasn´t all that big in the third party games (even games like Blood Omen 2 are clearly inferior in the graphic department compared to titles like Headhunter, Code: Veronica, and obviously Shenmue). That´s why i´m just wondering, since that time, how would look the versions of multiplattform games, and maybe how would look some cancelled games...do you think that GTA 3, Max Payne, Soul Reaver 2 and Virtua Fighter 4 would look as good as the PS2 version ? worst? better?. And some of the exclusives...do you think that the Dreamcast has the horsepower enough to handle Metal Gear Solid 2, Gran Turismo 3, Resident Evil 4? I thinks that the DC could handle MGS 2...with little sacrifices and bigger load times...but it would capable...

 

max payne was never amazing graphically i think DC could have handled it easy, also any racing games, things like the ferrari game looked very good on the DC, soul calibre and virtua fighter 3tb etc all looked nice.

 

It's been a while since I played GTA3 but as i recall it looked absolutely abysmal on the ps2 so yeah it wold probably run nicely on a dreamcast, can't see why not. and soul reaver 2 didn't look that much better than the dreamcast version of soul reaver 1. Though perhaps these are both the due to being developed for the dreamcast first, difficult to say really isn't it.

 

I'm not so sure the Dreamcast could handle the whole 3D open world affair as in GTA3 with lots going on due to memory limitations, a lot of DC games loaded smaller areas while still looking impressive, but what do I know, massive popup and fogging may have made it possible :congratulatory:

 

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