Can someone explain to me pc engine resolutions, such as how they work and which use the higher resolutions, because as far as I can tell most run at 256x224 ntsc though some say games such as Bonks revenge runs at higher. Thanks ahead of time. ~Stevacus Update I found a page that makes some sense of it, though I would still like to know which ones run at particular resolutions. http://forums.magicengine.com/en/viewtopic.php?t=1798
Looks like the resolution is variable, according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboGrafx-16 ...it says there "The majority of TurboGrafx-16 games use 256×239" however. Would explain the general blockiness of the games.
You can't just list 2 or 3 resolutions for the PC-Engine, because it doesn't simply work like that. If by resolution you mean the pixels get smaller or wider, and not so much the number of pixels per scanline or how many scanlines - then you need to look at the DOT clock frequency of the PCE and a few other consoles by comparison. The PCE has three DOT clock resolutions: 5.37mhz, 7.16mhz, and 10.74mhz. They are normally listed as 256x240, 342x240, and 512x240. All vertical resolutions of NTSC consoles of that era fixed; they all have the same vertical resolution. The only thing that changes, is clipping. On the Genesis, the vertical resolution is 240 but the visible amount of scanlines is 224 of that 240 (PAL modes allow showing 240 scanlines, but PAL actually have a different and higher vertical resolution than NTSC). SNES is 224 or 240, selectable. NES is 240, SMS is 192. But they all have the same vertical resolution, just different clipping. I.e. one scanline isn't fatter or skinnier than another. For the NES, SNES, and Genesis, the horizontal resolution window "width" are the same between them. Even the Genesis higher res mode (and the SNES higher res mode as well). They all clip to the same width regardless of the horizontal pixel resolution (how skinny or fat that pixel is). On the PCE engine, you have three different pixel horizontal widths to choose from, but you aren't limited in clipping. The PCE can show a horizonal width, of any dot clock, from as little as 8 pixels, to the start and end of a scanline. So while is can show 256x240 window, which is the same width and pixel resolution as on the NES, SNES, Genesis, it can also show up to ~288 pixels on that scanline too. It won't increase the pixel width, but it will show more pixels on the scanline (no clipping/border). Same with the vertical resolution; it can show anywhere from 242 scanlines to only one scanline. Again, the width of the line doesn't change - just the clipping. Some PCE games will run mid res mode (342x240) and clip it to 336x240 or 320x240, but that's just clipping and not a resolution difference. So dot clocks are a better measurement of what's going on and how to compare them: NES,SNES,Genesis low res, PCE lowest res: 5.37mhz Neo Geo (there is only one res, the rest is clipping): 6mhz Genesis high res: 6.71mhz PCE mid res: 7.16mhz PCE high res: 10.74mhz All of the Bonk games use low resolution mode. All of the IREM ports that I tests use mid res mode. Some games allow you to switch between low and mid res mode (these are mostly shmups and some need a cheat code to access this option). A PCE can switch resolution mode mid screen (i.e. status bar could be in a different res mode). Sherlock Holmes FMV games use high resolution to make the dithering blend better. Most PCE games stick with low resolution simply for the fact that you don't get more sprite pixel bandwidth per scanline (which results in flicker/pixel dropout on sprites) increase to match the resolution increase. The PCE can show 256 sprite pixels per scanline. If the mid res mode is used, it's still 256 (unlike the Genesis, which actually gets a sprite bonus from running high res mode). If you want to figure out which game is running in which resolution mode; then run an emulator like mednafen and take snapshots as you're playing the game. And then open them in a graphic editor to example the resolution of that snapshot.
