Topic: Filter in TG-16 games

Why is there a blurry filter over the regular TG-16 games, and not the Turbo-CD games? I've always wondered why this was. I sent Hudson an e-mail a while back asking why this was, but I never got a reply (I sent it to the American division of Hudson, so I'm sure they had no clue what the heck I was talking about).

I know that TG-16 games (minus CD games) are displayed at 480i while most VC games (except N64) are displayed in 240p. I guess when they were first developing the emulator for TG-16 games, Hudson (assuming they were the ones responsible) probably thought 480i was the way to go, but then noticed that all of the other consoles were displaying at 240p instead, so they adopted the same resolution for PC-Engine CD games, but never bothered to go back and 'fix' this in the other emulator.

Has this ever bothered anyone else, or am I alone? I suppose it wouldn't look too bad on an HDTV, but on my tube TV, I've always found it somewhat annoying. I want my pretty scanlines, darnit!

Sadly any VC game NEOGEO, NES, SNES, Genesis/MD, or TG-16 are going to be filtered and blurry on a regular TV or HDTV. It's like running emu's on a LCD Monitor. They would have to make the game Hi-Res since it's displaying in 480p on a HDTV. When I use an HDTV I keep my old SDTV CRT connected, which helps but just not alot. HDTV's are just not good for old classic games.

I've noticed the same thing. Bonk's adventure and New Adventure Island have a noticable blurry look to them compared to other VC games. I wish Hudson would correct this but I doubt they will. The blurry look is not as noticable on Super Star Soldier and Soldier Blade.

Weirdly (in the UK at least), it seems 'import' games do not have the filter while regular ones do, whether CD or otherwise.

For example, The Dynastic Hero has the filter while Street Fighter 2 does not.

Dunno why though, looks much better without to me - at least Rondo of Blood is nice and clear!

@Tony Yeah, it's kind of annoying, isn't it? Like you say, though, I doubt they'll ever fix it. It probably won't stop many people from playing these great games, and it probably shouldn't. It would be nice if they gave us the option to turn it off at least...

I also noticed it seems less noticeable when playing shoot-'em-ups. Blazing Lazers looks ok, but in Bomberman '93 it drives me to distraction!

@Ristar42 Agreed, Rondo of Blood looks delicious, as do many of the Turbo-CD games. That's interesting about Street Fighter, I don't have that one yet so I wouldn't know. Any NTSC owners able to confirm this?

That's also weird about Turbo-CD games having a filter in the UK. Ys 1 & 2 is in 240p and is sharp and clear here in North America.

of course on the other hand if Nintendo makes any changes to the Virtual Console service with the new system then maybe this will be addressed. You never know.

@proffrink1986 Be interesting to see. In the titles I have downloaded it seems import is what makes the difference, as another example Soldier Blade is filtered whereas Final Soldier and Bomberman 94 are not. The non filtered titles look much better on my HD television.

Edit - Just checked Ys and it doesnt have the filter here either, so much for my 'import' theory then!

Ah, I think I've figured it out, then. It seems to be the older releases on the VC that have this filter problem, while the newer releases seem to have fixed this. Shame they never went back and fixed the older titles. I guess they figured that they had already made their money, for the most part. Ah, well.

I like Tony's theory, though. Perhaps this will be addressed once the new system comes. Apparently there's also going to be some support for the TG-16 on the 3DS virtual console as well, according to this: http://vc.nintendolife.com/news/2011/03/game_gear_and_turbogr... . Would be nice if this meant some more TG games as well. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

I'm not sure if this is exactly the problem you're writing about. But well, let's see.
With my old TV set (component cabled) i had the problem that all my retail games with an i-resolution were very blurry (for example Elebits and Metal Slug Anthology). The same goes for Gamecube games (i guess it was all of them) and all the VC games. I didn't get the effect in TG16 games and import games though.
Long story short that TV died and i got one with Full HD. With it i don't get these blurry effects anymore.
On the downside i can't get any singal from Ice Climbers now. _{Though i don't really care much for the game. I've got the same problem with some other VC titles. I just can't remember which games exactly.}
Maybe it had something to do with 60 Hz for the import titles, i don't know.

Eh, no, that sounds more like poor deinterlacing on the part of your old TV. Your new TV sounds like it does a much better job of deinterlacing.

No, this has to do with the fact that some TG-16 games are displayed at 480i (as opposed to 240p, or what Nintendo likes to coin 'double strike' mode), and they also appear to have some sort of graphics filter applied that blurs the image (in a false attempt to make it more 'palatable' to modern players). Granted, this is coming from someone who has never really liked the graphical filters available in many emulators (I prefer to see the originals in all their sharp, pixelated glory). Still, I've seen much better filtering than that shown in these games.

If you're having trouble seeing VC games on your new TV (i.e. you get a black screen), you might want to try the following:

1. Start a virtual console game
2. Press the Home button to bring up the Home menu, and then click on Operations Manual
3. Attach a Nunchuk controller to your Wii remote
4. Press A+2+Z simultaneously (A and 2 are on your Wii remote, Z on your Nunchuk)
5. You should hear a sound confirming that you've done this correctly. This should activate 480i mode for all virtual console games.

I haven't tried this myself, but supposedly this fix comes from Nintendo, so hopefully it'll work for you. The reason you can't see most of your VC games is that they are being sent as a 240p signal to your TV, and your fancy new TV can't understand this old signal type. If it's sent as 480i, however, it should be able to display it.

(For the record, to switch back to 240p mode for VC, follow the same steps as above, but press A+1+Z instead).

Hope this works for ya!

@proffrink1986 - Weird that that was supposed to be a 'temporary' fix but they never came up with a better solution.
I think the shop channel still says which games dont even support this mode (Toe Jam and Earl for example).

Really agree about the filter, went back to look at The Dynastic Hero and it looks more out of focus than anything else, I like to see the pixels.

Thanks for all the effort, proffrink1986. I have tried it before and it didn't work. Maybe i'd have to change the resolution in the Wii Options or use a RGB / Composite cable. _{The cable option was what Nintendo told me to do.} But i don't really care for these games right now so ...