Optional 8-bit glitches to reappear in MegaMan 9
by Nick Doerr 
{ Aug 4th 2008 at 4:30PM }
The old MegaMan games didn't allow more than three enemies on-screen at once without the sprites starting to flicker to support them ... this also resulted in slow-down. While we're not sure if the slowdown will be an option to turn on, Takeshita said "you can adjust [sprite flicker], unlike the old games. We purposely put some of those old-school bugs into this game, so it does recreate that feel." At least the sprite flicker option is just that -- an option. We're not sure why you'd want it on, but it's there just in case.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
reson8er @ Aug 4th 2008 4:43PM
Yes, and it will be packaged peripheral that uses an old slider switch box which only connects to 2 screws on the back of your TV antenna.
gamingeek @ Aug 4th 2008 4:50PM
Um-- why not just use an emulator?
Devin @ Aug 4th 2008 4:53PM
because that's illegal. I remember when the "slow mo" effect would turn on when too many things were happening on my Game Boy.....good times
hhhenryhhh @ Aug 4th 2008 5:05PM
because it's a new game, just done in the classic styles of old
Laurens Holst @ Aug 5th 2008 5:15AM
@Devin: Emulators aren’t illegal… Where did you get that idea from.
EngineerLackey @ Aug 5th 2008 9:35PM
Probably because using an emulator would mean that they would actually have to develop the game for NES instead of just duplicating the style, and if anyone still at Capcom has any NES coding experience they're probably producers/executives by now.
Gambit07 @ Aug 4th 2008 4:59PM
In my NES days, I used to think that slow downs was there on purpose, so it helps us see what's happening on screen better, specially with games with lotsa bullets flying.
Popfrogs @ Aug 4th 2008 6:36PM
Yeah I can't count the number of times slowdown saved my ass in games like Gradius.
Gambit07 @ Aug 4th 2008 11:02PM
Don't forget Life Force. If only we knew it was bad programming, we would be bashing the game, kinda like what we do these days :)
EngineerLackey @ Aug 5th 2008 10:04PM
On the older consoles, slowdown was almost never intentional; it was just a matter of having too much to calculate in 1/60th of a second (not a hard limit to run into on a 1.79MHz CPU, especially if the game you're porting was designed for an arcade board with a 16MHz 68000). Some games on newer hardware do have intentional slowdown though.
Sprite flicker, on the other hand, is always intentional; it's a technique to deal with a hardware limitation rather than being the direct result of one. NES actually only has 4 hardware sprites; the trick is that it also has hardware that automatically updates them on each line of the display, giving the illusion of having more. The catch is that if more than 4 sprites overlap the same video line, only 4 can actually show up on that line. Flicker happens because the programmers intentionally have all the sprites take turns being drawn instead of having certain sprites vanish persistently.
EngineerLackey @ Aug 5th 2008 10:09PM
On the older consoles, slowdown was almost never intentional; it was just a matter of having too much to calculate in 1/60th of a second (not a hard limit to run into on a 1.79MHz CPU, especially if the game you're porting was designed for an arcade board with a 16MHz 68000). Some games on newer hardware do have intentional slowdown though.
Sprite flicker, on the other hand, is always intentional; it's a technique to deal with a hardware limitation rather than being the direct result of one. NES actually only has 4 hardware sprites; the trick is that it also has hardware that automatically updates them on each line of the display, giving the illusion of having more. The catch is that if more than 4 sprites overlap the same video line, only 4 can actually show up on that line. Flicker happens because the programmers intentionally have all the sprites take turns being drawn instead of having certain sprites vanish persistently.
Gambit07 @ Aug 6th 2008 1:54AM
Thanks for the lesson, I'm one of those guys with ideas, but no programming skills, I dropped out of college after I took a month of Computer programming, I wonder where I'd be if I stuck with it...
BLee @ Aug 4th 2008 5:01PM
haha.. thats great.. now THATS true retro..
pomme @ Aug 4th 2008 5:15PM
Because Vespa wouldn't be Vespa if you put chopper's engine into it, same here ... if everything is so smooth and stuffs, why bother making/playing retro Rockman anyway?
Prince King @ Aug 4th 2008 5:19PM
im guessin you guys haven't heard anything new about White Knight Story. am i right?
Roto13 @ Aug 4th 2008 5:26PM
Wow, they're really going to try their best to make the game feel as much like a NES game as possible. xD This is going to be a very interesting experience.
Senecal @ Aug 4th 2008 6:51PM
"We're not sure why you'd want it on, but it's there just in case."
Well I'm not sure why my $600 space aged game/movie/music player is going to have an 8-bit game, but I'm super siked!!
koehler83 @ Aug 4th 2008 7:10PM
I cannot wait. Cannot wait. Cannot wait. Cannot wait. Im hoping it supports remote play. That would be so friggin' rad.
Daniel Gaunt @ Aug 4th 2008 7:53PM
yes thats exactly why I bought a £400 console, so I could play 8bit computer games. My god they'll be expecting us to fork out to play PS1 games next... oh wait they already do!
http://freeextras.blogspot.com/
http://lifeorsomethingnotquitelikeit.blogspot.com/
Popfrogs @ Aug 5th 2008 1:50AM
Are you actually complaining about having games to play?
I'll never understand some people.
John @ Aug 4th 2008 8:29PM
You would want it on because that's the way it was in the original. I'm glad they included this, I think it's awesome that they can represent to that level.
meatee @ Aug 5th 2008 1:26AM
They've put a lot of time into exactly emulating the NES hardware for this game, and I will certainly play the game with all the bugs turned On, because that's the way the developers intend for the game to be played.
Max Headroom @ Aug 5th 2008 4:41AM
"We're not sure why you'd want it on..."
Noob.
SapporoBBOY @ Aug 5th 2008 2:20PM
I cant see myself playing this without having the glitch turned on, when they first announced this I got so excited because alot of us remember when this stuff was cutting edge and this WAS new, i am glad that they are keeping it 8-bit, they are doing this for us, the ones who remember playing mega man exactly as it was, 8-bit, slowdown, everything...I Cannot wait
btw did anyone else burn with hatred for needle man from mega man 3? thats the earliest memory i have of getting pissed off at a game
Alaska Nebraska @ Aug 5th 2008 5:30PM
LOL, ilu Capcom