Super Coder Speeds Up Yet Another SNES Classic

Blew my mind back in the day did Axelay, I especially liked lava boss and 'ED209' boss. Tunes were decent too, very moody.

Axelay but faster.

Where now after man's greatest triumph?

Here is the entire thing gang:

As a kid when games seemed to slow down like that i just thought that's the way the games were supposed to be. In Axelay, Contra 3 and Gradius 3 it never really bothered me. Now Mega man 3 however that was definitely an issue! Especially while fighting Needle man.

So what's this about super Mario world having slowdown? I certainly never noticed that. Can anyone tell me at what point it ran slower than it should have?

@RupeeClock
I may have to check that out. This is the first time I've heard anything about super mario world having flaws. Platformers especially of the 16-bit variety don't often get brought up when you hear about games with slowdown. Oh and it's super mario world! Everybody loves this one.

In fairness a lot of slow down on the SNES was companies being cheap and using slower ROM chips that forced the CPU to run at 2.68MHz instead of the chip’s full potential speed of 3.58MHz.

While the Megadrive’s CPU was a lot faster, the SNES was often capable of more if faster ROM chips had been used. There’s an interesting account from the developer of Another World where she first used the Super FX chip, then a static RAM chip, then a FastROM board to try to keep the performance high and every time she was told the cartridge was too expensive and ended up having to use SlowROM!

Is there an actual list of games that uses slowrom? I suppose its mostly earlier titles. At what point did using fastrom become normal?

Axelay still blows my mind love this game, still waiting for the sequel. Konami won't ever make it happen though, and if they did they would ruin it with some modern day crap.

Axelay is already a difficult game with a lot of sudden and unexpected attacks. I'm not sure speeding it up is a good thing.

@RupeeClock
Thanks i'll try that out! This will be interesting.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

@Axelay71 I’m gonna patch this today! Will you?

NINJA APPROVED

I've played some of these games so much with the slowdown, that I play with it just fine and have decades of knowing to just compensate for it. Take it out and it really messes me up lol

@Zeldafan79 Super Mario World is a wonderful game, but it has slowdown that pops up here and there. I've talked about it with friends. It doesn't affect the overall quality of the title. I can only vaguely recall where the game slows down. Obviously, getting as many enemies and objects on screen is the way to do it, though it doesn't take much. I think stages with those dolphins, Lakitus, the fish that leap out of the water, and maybe the switch palaces can be good ways to trigger it.

@BloodNinja I expect so mate, I have Gradius 3 sa-1 that's just perfect:)

@8bitdaysaweek I had actually looked for such a list several times, and finally found what looks to be a comprehensive one. It also shattered my expectations which were in line with yours. I assumed slowROM was just used early then fastROM became common. Turns out that a lot of later games used slowROM, including titles that surprised me. For example, I believe all Natsume games used slowROM(and loROM). Another surprise was the first Street Fighter 2 using slowROM. Here is the list for you and anyone else that wishes to search around:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J-Y2z2UeoYw5UHYP1f-rW5VswUXRdpdzsYJFFAA88Ns/edit#gid=1207031949

@Axelay71 Me too! There was a person on Etsy that installed it to a cart for me for only $50, you should hunt around! The quality is excellent!

NINJA APPROVED

I love these particular hacks. I didn't enjoy Axelay in the past, so I may have to try it again this way to see if it makes a difference for me. I didn't like the vertical sections when I played it. I will say, a fastROM hack took a game I hated, Super Ghouls and Ghosts, and turned it into a game I enjoyed very much. The unaltered game was so sluggish in its performance that I could not enjoy it.

@sdelfin i thank you for this!

Axelay was one of those early SNES games that very few managed to match visually because there is so much going on at once. Although early on developers were really willing to use every graphical effect they could even if it caused a lot of slowdown. Personally I sucked at the game regardless but loved how good it looked. This might be up there with the fixed version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 for me.

@BloodNinja luckily got mine of ebay for 30 quid so happy with that. Yes had stuff from etsy, pc engine games etc. Unfortunately its seems traders have been pulled for copies:(

she first used the Super FX chip, then a static RAM chip, then a FastROM board to try to keep the performance high and every time she was told the cartridge was too expensive and ended up having to use SlowROM!

@BulkSlash Fascinating. Do you have a source? I'd really like to read that...

Also, I thought the developer of this game, Eric Chahi, was male?

@Axelay71 That’s sad. Nobody is selling this old stuff anymore so there’s no point in that. What a great time to be into gaming, though!

@BloodNinja yes its a great time to be a retro gamer, with the new tech available makes it more accessible. I have a few raspberry pi setups with some amazing games on there. Also I do buy a lot of repro carts from Aliexpress, so much snes and megadrive on there. You should check it out.

@COVIDberry Sure, here you go 🙂

https://fabiensanglard.net/another_world_polygons_SNES/index.html

@BulkSlash The world needs more people like you. Thanks!

@Dethmunk That's the problem with his Race Drivin' hack. The game speed as-is was fine (And accurate to the arcade). All that was lacking was the awful frame rate.

But instead of just fixing the frame rate, he speeded up the entire game significantly due I assume to wanting to make it feel faster. He even had to hack stuff like the physics to try to make it playable due to that decision.

Neat effort from a technical viewpoint, but I don't like my games to run at 2X speed. What I do like is a silky smooth frame rate, but it can't come at the cost of a game running in fast forward.

@Axelay71 I definitely will! Thank you for that info, I have not heard of them!

Are you aware of any 3rd party consoles in a similar vein to the Retron 5 that support save states? I’ve got a couple games that have battery backups and it would be a nice way to extend their life span. Some of my games have battery clips installed but the guy I used to send them to no longer does the mod.

@BloodNinja no worries, i have a Retron 5 its a great system. There is another system called the retro freak, look on play-asia the trouble is its not cheap. To be honest get a raspberry pi setup you won't be disappointed mate. Need any help give us a shout:)

@Axelay71 Thanks! I might try that out. The setup doesn't look too bad, but I appreciate all the advice! If I ever get around to it I'll be sure to ask!

NINJA APPROVED

@BloodNinja no worries 👍

@Zeldafan79

The Slowdown at the End of the Level doesn't affect the Gameplay and it happens in a Way that it could be also intentional, thats why many (me included) never noticed it.

I somehow also like the Bomb in Contra 3 more with the Slowdown, it adds a "umpf" to it seeing it blow up everything a bit slower.