8 replies to this topic

[positiveContact]

https://arstechnica....th-ray-tracing/

 

So awesome.  I don't know why.  But just yes.

[dondewey]

Could it have been done with fpgas contemporaneous to the snes?

[positiveContact]

No idea. I'm not familiar with what was available back then.

[dondewey]

It says 3 cores running at 50MHz. I have no context for that.

[BrewerGeorge]

It says 3 cores running at 50MHz. I have no context for that.

Says 50 MHz is an order of magnitude faster than what was available then.  So as interesting as this is it doesn't mean a whole lot.  The original hardware is just being used to display what the new hardware is drawing.

[positiveContact]

Says 50 MHz is an order of magnitude faster than what was available then. So as interesting as this is it doesn't mean a whole lot. The original hardware is just being used to display what the new hardware is drawing.

That's already what the superfx chip was doing anyway.

Copy/paste:

My gut feeling is that there's nothing there which wouldn't have been technically feasible in the '90s if you had really tried, but it likely would have been far too expensive to actually release a game with.

Edited by Mando, 16 December 2020 - 01:55 PM.

[positiveContact]

It says 3 cores running at 50MHz. I have no context for that.

 

to summarize it would have been very expensive but it was feasible.

 

for those not aware the superFX chip was a coprocessor in the game cartridge.  it was a way to get more out of the limited hardware of the SNES.  in this case this guy just made a crazy version of the superFX chip.  so I'd say still completely in the spirit of the original but without the limitation of 1990s size, power or cost.

Edited by Mando, 17 December 2020 - 05:26 AM.

[dondewey]

I didn't realize they did that (had some processing done in the cartridge). This really is awesome.

[positiveContact]

I didn't realize they did that (had some processing done in the cartridge). This really is awesome.

The genesis had a similar concept but I think it only got used for virtua racing. The nostalgia I have for that period of gaming is just... Man I loved those times.