Neo-Geo Virtual Console games...

Dr_Ackula

Dr_Ackula

kyuuketsuki
..why do they look so crappy? It had been a long time since I owned the original hardware (close to 5 years now), so I had been thinking that maybe my memory was just flawed. Then I started thinking that maybe it was an issue with the resolution on my HDTV. The games just look so terribly pixelated and jaggy.

Well tonight I was able to get about 75% of the Neo-Geo library up an running on my Wii via emulation through the Homebrew Channel, and they look 100% better than on the Virtual Console! These look exactly like I remember, and play just as well too. I'm just wondering why it is that Nintendo cannot get their Virtual Console games to look as accurate and true to the original hardware?
 
Did you know that Magician Lord on the VC doesn't support component cables on the Wii? I had to find that out the hard way :(
 
MegaDrive20XX said:
Did you know that Magician Lord on the VC doesn't support component cables on the Wii? I had to find that out the hard way :(
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Yes it does. You just have to activate interlaced mode for Virtual Console games that give you the black screen. It works fine for me with component cables. All Virtual Console games do, even European and Japanese regions.

The following fix should help users who do have problems with some virtual console games for the Nintendo Wii that display only a black screen after starting them while the sound remains normal. This does not work in all occasions but should work if you get the Wii menu when you press Home and works only for games that received an update for the interlaced mode.

Try out the following to see if this fixes the issue. Start the game normally until you see the black screen. Connect the Nunchuck to the Wiimote and press Home to see the menu options. Now press A + 2 + Z together which should result in a short “ping-like” sound.

This should have activated the interlaced mode. Leave the menu and you should see the normal game screen and not the black screen anymore. To change the mode again press A + 1 + Z using the same method as above.

This was tested on various Wii systems with component cables and was found on the Wii Errors website.
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http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/24/fix-for-black-screen-in-nintendo-wii-virtual-console-games/

The problem with the pixelated, jaggy mess, seems to lie with the resolution that the Wii is running them at. That is an educated guess, but it seems to make sense. The emulator I'm using displays them in a windowed mode, cropped to the proper resolution and screen size, and they look perfect.
 
Dr_Ackula said:
The problem with the pixelated, jaggy mess, seems to lie with the resolution that the Wii is running them at. That is an educated guess, but it seems to make sense. The emulator I'm using displays them in a windowed mode, cropped to the proper resolution and screen size, and they look perfect.
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There's your answer. How do they look if you stretch them to fit your entire screen?
 
@Mega.. see the instructions in my post above, or follow the hyperlink. But basically....

Start the game normally until you see the black screen. Connect the Nunchuck to the Wiimote and press Home to see the menu options. Now press A + 2 + Z together which should result in a short “ping-like” sound. This should have activated the interlaced mode. Leave the menu and you should see the normal game screen and not the black screen anymore. To change the mode again press A + 1 + Z using the same method as above.
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Once you have done it it will stay that way until you decide to turn interlacing off, but I'm not sure why you'd want to. You could also go into the Wii's settings and change the resolution to fix the problem as well, but that is more like a band-aid than a fix.

@CreepinDeth... There is no option to stretch it to fit the screen, and I wouldn't see why you'd want to really. It would fit the screen of an old school CRT TV I'm sure, but since I have a 16:9 plasma, it is cropped at the sides. I'm just not sure why Nintendo doesn't at least give you the option to run the VC games at the original aspect ratio and/or resolution.
 
Dr_Ackula said:
@CreepinDeth... There is no option to stretch it to fit the screen, and I wouldn't see why you'd want to really. It would fit the screen of an old school CRT TV I'm sure, but since I have a 16:9 plasma, it is cropped at the sides. I'm just not sure why Nintendo doesn't at least give you the option to run the VC games at the original aspect ratio and/or resolution.
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That was kind of the point of my question. You wouldn't want to since it will just make it look as bad as the VC version. It's just how it goes since the Wii can only do 480p. One of the reasons why I like Xbox Live Arcade is because the old school games do get upconverted, and thus, look much better on an HDTV.
 
Upconverted in what way? Are the running in a windowed mode or are they cropped at all? I had read something somewhere a while back saying that Garou looked horrible on that hardware. I'm curious now..do tell.
 
Dr_Ackula said:
Upconverted in what way? Are the running in a windowed mode or are they cropped at all? I had read something somewhere a while back saying that Garou looked horrible on that hardware. I'm curious now..do tell.
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Meaning the original source gets upconverted to whatever your console is set to. Does it still look pixelated? For the most part yes, but it will always be like that no matter what. It still looks way better than 480p though. That's just the nature of the beast when it comes to old school games on HDTV's.

They are all in their original aspect ratios as well, but you can stretch them to fit the screen if you'd like. They also usually contain art on the sides where you would normally see black.

I also believe this is the case for PS3 as well.
 
CreepinDeth said:
Does it still look pixelated? For the most part yes, but it will always be like that no matter what.
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That just isn't true, really. With the emulators I run on Wii, they use graphical filters that smooth out the pixels and create the effect of looking much smoother and closer to the way they looked on our old wood grain TV sets from the 80's and early 90's. There are usually several different graphic filters you can choose from, some that provide a very alarming effect of making the games look better than they did on the original hardware. I prefer the regular filter that simply smooths it out though, I like my old school games to look as close to the source as possible. The main problem with LCD and plasma is the lack of scan lines, but this can be easily remedied with filters, I'm just not sure why the actual companies porting these do not do that. I can think of only one that has a slight filter on it, and that was the Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 2 on PS2, but it was only a slight smoothing filter that was optional in the settings.

Of course I could go out and buy an old TV and hook up the original systems I own to it through old school RCA cables, but that is just not economically sound for myself or the environment to be honest. So I prefer emulation of games I actually own, or have owned, over that path.
 
Dr_Ackula said:
That just isn't true, really. With the emulators I run on Wii, they use graphical filters that smooth out the pixels and create the effect of looking much smoother and closer to the way they looked on our old wood grain TV sets from the 80's and early 90's.
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It is actually, because you're still artificially smoothing the pixels. You can do the same on the Xbox, but I prefer not to play with smoothing. I've also seen it on PC emulators, but the smoothing still looks worse to me than the original source.

Either way, it's going to be pixelated unless you have the option to smooth.

The main problem with LCD and plasma is the lack of scan lines, but this can be easily remedied with filters, I'm just not sure why the actual companies porting these do not do that.
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Because you're in the minority. Less time and resources needed to code for functionality that not many people either don't want or care for.
 
CreepinDeth said:
What is?
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Start the game normally until you see the black screen. Connect the Nunchuck to the Wiimote and press Home to see the menu options. Now press A + 2 + Z together which should result in a short “ping-like” sound. This should have activated the interlaced mode. Leave the menu and you should see the normal game screen and not the black screen anymore. To change the mode again press A + 1 + Z using the same method as above.

This ^ Nintendo would NEVER let anyone know about this, but is it in the system manual?
 
It is not in the system manual. I think it may be on Nintendo's website though IIRC. I believe the function came with one of the update patches in the past, it wasn't a function available right out of the box for my Wii.
 
Dr_Ackula said:
It is not in the system manual. I think it may be on Nintendo's website though IIRC. I believe the function came with one of the update patches in the past, it wasn't a function available right out of the box for my Wii.
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That is awesome!!!....thanks Doc :)
 
Yeah, it is a life saver for sure. When I first got Dracula X: Rondo of Blood it gave me the black screen with sound, and I freaked out! To have waited so long only to be let down, but luckily an online friend of mine had already dealt with the problem and directed me on how to fix it.
 
Hey Dr. Ackula, thank you so much again! I just tried it and the one thing I learned, is you have to click on the operation guide first since you have to be in that menu in order for it to work. All the games work fine except just Magician Lord. Now I can finally play it :D
 
No problem, glad to help. Strange on Magician Lord though, it worked for me after I did that little trick. I played through the whole game on VC before finally getting the Neo-Geo emulator set up on my Wii.
 
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