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I cant believe it...The Hyperscan lives on!


swlovinist

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Well, it is not on their website, nor do I expect it. For the 5 people in the world who collect this truly horrible system....add another one to its list. It looks like Spiderman for the Hyperscan has been released in very limited quanities. I saw some on ebay, and ordered one for myself. I will play this sucker and give my reivew of it. All I can say is that the near impossible has happened. This system came out and disappeared within 3 months of its release. Only Toys R Us gave it some legs, with Marvel Heroes coming out in limited quantities. Now, after being one step from the retail grave...another game! Check your local Toys R US stores for this one, for it truly will probably at least become uncommon. Heads up collectors.

 

A big thanks to Rick Weis for pointing this out to me!

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Well, I just picked up the console to see what its like (it was clearance).

 

Here is the sad part -- the HyperScan hardware is actually GREAT. Its

actually way more powerful that a Playstation 1 -- and roughly half as

powerful as a PS2.

 

It was cheap -- and had strong 2D and limited 3D capabilities. Seriously,

a game console that debuts for $69 in 2006. The game pads are pretty

rugged and comfortable, too.

 

The BAD: The games are anywhere from unplayable awful (X-Men) to

average (Marvel Heros, Spiderman). The Card System is slow and

cumbersome and used too often.

 

There seems to be a lot of people trying to develop homebrew software

for the console. If they succeed in making homebrew games, I expect

they will probably be superior to the 5 games released by Mattel. The good

part about this system is there is virtually no copyright protection in the

console -- so people can just burn ISOs and run them without any modding --

like the good old dreamcast.

 

....and call me crazy.... but the console's red and black screams Atari

Jaguar to me.... and I love that memory :)

 

The best fan web site I've found for the HyperScan console is probably HS

Community at:

 

http://www.geocities.com/hyperscansoftware/

 

They are the ones working on most of homebrew stuff. They are trying

to get Dev Kits from Mattel currently.

Edited by JagCD
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Seems a little pie-in-the-sky of that homebrew group to hope that Mattel will release dev kits, and even more so to announce titles that they plan on porting. I think I'd have more confidence in their plans if they stated they were in actual contact with someone within Mattel. I wish 'em luck, though.

 

I still gotta pick up a Hyperscan of my own... with only 5 titles, I might manage to get a complete collection.

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I've read a lot about this thing. They're nowhere to be found in this area. I found *a* controller for sale and a pack of cards for it, but no system and the people at walmart didn't have a clue, other than "it's a video game."

 

For me, I'm chomping at the bit to develop something. While not gonna touch M$'s xbox stuff, the WiiWare seems to be perpetually up in the air, this looks interesting. Still reading.

 

***Clarification: this is what happens when you get introduced to Linux scripting-- it's like crack and you wanna do more. Since I started linux scripting, I've been tinkering with .bat scrips for these old dos boxes and things that windows really hates. I mean win3.1 all the way to 2kPro.

 

The Hyperscan looks promising for an addict to code like me. I want a dev kit, too.

 

Nathan

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Its actually way more powerful that a Playstation 1 -- and roughly half as powerful as a PS2.

And you base this on what...? The speed of the processor? I think there's more to it than that.

 

Based on the screenshots and videos it doesn't even look as powerful as a GBA let alone a PS1. :ponder:

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Its actually way more powerful that a Playstation 1 -- and roughly half as powerful as a PS2.

And you base this on what...? The speed of the processor? I think there's more to it than that.

 

Based on the screenshots and videos it doesn't even look as powerful as a GBA let alone a PS1. :ponder:

 

Based on overall specs -- its way, way stronger than a Playstation 1:

 

Playstation 1 CPU:

R3000A 32bit RISC chip running at 33.8688 MHz

 

HyperScan CPU:

SunPlus S+ 32 Bit RISC chip clocked at 108 Mhz

 

Playstation 1 System Ram:

2 MB System Ram

1 MB Video Ram

 

HyperScan CPU:

16 MB System Ram

 

The S+ is a relatively unknown CPU. But it does have 3D capabilities that Mattel never incorporated into its games. As for benchmarks, the S+ CPU's performance is still unclear. The HyperScan's 2D games have far more detailed textures than any PS1 game I've ever seen. I believe the PS2 does have lots of games that look considerably better (Sony has much better developers), but the HyperScan does seem to come relatively close (for graphic detail) on a few HyperScan gems (Marvel Heros and Spiderman). I said its roughly half of a PS2 for this reason. HyperScan has 16MB of system Ram / PS2 has 32 MB. Although, the Emotion Engine is a far more sophisticated CPU (being 64/128 bit capable) versus a 32 Bit S+. So its kinda apples to oranges.

 

The HyperScan is strong enough to play MPEG4/Divx Videos, the Playstation 1 can't handle the processing load to manage that much video compression. There are a couple of people that have already hacked the existing HyperScan games by just renaming or changing the files on a CD. For example, I saw someone put Mortal Kombat skins onto the HyperScan X-Men game. The HyperScan CDs don't seem to have any copy protection. I know a few people working on the homebrew stuff for the system. These homebrewers have been able to communicate through the USB port on back with their computers. So if Mattel doesn't help them, they believe they can still do the homebrews -- it would just be more timeconsuming.

 

For a game console that debuted for $70 when new -- the capabilities are reasonably impressive. I mean, its $50 cheaper than a PS2. $180 cheaper than a Wii and 10% of the cost of the PS3. If Mattel game it some quality launch games -- it would have been a nice entry-level game console. I mean, what other system had new releases that debuted for $19..99?

Edited by JagCD
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Based on overall specs -- its way, way stronger than a Playstation 1:

 

Playstation 1 CPU:

R3000A 32bit RISC chip running at 33.8688 MHz

 

HyperScan CPU:

SunPlus S+ 32 Bit RISC chip clocked at 108 Mhz

 

Playstation 1 System Ram:

2 MB System Ram

1 MB Video Ram

 

HyperScan CPU:

16 MB System Ram

Sorry, I just don't think comparing the processor speed and amount of system RAM is enough to say the Hyperscan is more powerful than the PS1, or 1/2 as powerful as the PS2. What kind of 3D hardware does the Hyperscan have? How many polygons can it push around? What kind of special effects does it have built-in? Does it have Z-buffering? Transparency? Anti-aliasing? Does it have a frame buffer? Gouroud shading? Texture mapping? All the other graphical buzzwords? How about video resolution? Bit-depth? How about sound hardware? Does it have a DSP? (Even the Jaguar has a DSP.)

 

Until I see some actual hardware specs on this thing, it's nothing but a glorified Famiclone.

Edited by Gregory DG
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Nice review from DP.

 

Without specs listed anywhere either on the web or the manual, the best guess is that the CD drive is a dual speed drive, something PC users will remember being a huge deal about 17 years ago. To load and enter the first fight in the included X-Men game, total wait time is around seven minutes on a good day. No kid is going to wait that long, especially after they learn how atrocious the game is.

 

Power wise, the hardware sits somewhere between the Super Nintendo and PlayStation era. It can cleanly handle 2-D sprites with significant depth of color. Backgrounds are almost universally static, and animation barely noticeable on the characters. If the console has 3-D capabilities (and it’s doubtful) none of the four available games have used it. Audio runs off the CD, so music is cheap but clean.

 

And check out the shills on this article. One even admits it. LOL...

 

'Nother shill and a very cheap price.

Edited by Gregory DG
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Based on overall specs -- its way, way stronger than a Playstation 1:

 

Playstation 1 CPU:

R3000A 32bit RISC chip running at 33.8688 MHz

 

HyperScan CPU:

SunPlus S+ 32 Bit RISC chip clocked at 108 Mhz

 

Playstation 1 System Ram:

2 MB System Ram

1 MB Video Ram

 

HyperScan CPU:

16 MB System Ram

Sorry, I just don't think comparing the processor speed and amount of system RAM is enough to say the Hyperscan is more powerful than the PS1, or 1/2 as powerful as the PS2. What kind of 3D hardware does the Hyperscan have? How many polygons can it push around? What kind of special effects does it have built-in? Does it have Z-buffering? Transparency? Anti-aliasing? Does it have a frame buffer? Gouroud shading? Texture mapping? All the other graphical buzzwords? How about video resolution? Bit-depth? How about sound hardware? Does it have a DSP? (Even the Jaguar has a DSP.)

 

Until I see some actual hardware specs on this thing, it's nothing but a glorified Famiclone.

 

Glorified Famiclone?

You've obviously never laid eyes on an actual HyperScan. I own both a PSOne and HyperScan (among about 20 other consoles). To compare the ancient PS1 to the HyperScan is crazy -- The SunPlus C+ powered HyperScan is lightyears ahead on paper. The C+ supports Multicore (4 CPU configurations), Linux, OpenGL 2.0 -- we are way, way beyond primitive Gouround Shading....

 

Its not the hardware's fault that MATTEL SUCKS.

They never once used the OpenGL capabilities in any of their games. They outsourced the game development to RUSSIA. They had 3rd World Country Game Developers that couldn't program good gameplay to save their life.

 

All they needed was a decent 3rd Party Developer like Capcom or SNK to do some great 2D titles... and someone like ID software to port over some OPEN GL games. That would have made a nice, viable low-cost game system.

 

But what does Mattel do? They spend lots of money on a flashy web site -- and go cheap on crap game development. The HyperScan launch disgusts me much like the Atari Lynx launch -- good hardware that was poorly marketed and supported.

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Sounds like they got it backwards whereas Sony got it right with PS1: Weaker hardware can be made up for by good games.

Of course, ease of development played a role there: The PS1 was easy to write games for for what I understand. The Saturn was a complete ***** to program. Hence the more powerful machine losing to something inferior.

 

I think the jury is still out on the Hyperscan, although, I might grab one if I had the chance. With the booster pack cards, it seems a little heavy on the marketing/sales aspect and perhaps a little weak on the gaming side.

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I have a couple of these I picked up shortly after they debuted last year and pretty much promptly went on clearance. I have a small selection of games and booster packs, though not Marvel Heroes or Spider-Man, which would be interesting to get. The big problem of course was how Mattel marketed the system - as a videogame/card battling hybrid for tween boys. You have to hit on all cylinders to successfully market a product to a specific niche like that, and Mattel certainly didn't. Mattel's biggest mistake though was underestimating the fact that a huge portion of this target market already had a console or handheld with similar games of much higher quality. At the same time though, it is kind of neat that Mattel was the first original company from the classic videogame era to release a new videogame system again...

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Sounds like they got it backwards whereas Sony got it right with PS1: Weaker hardware can be made up for by good games.

Of course, ease of development played a role there: The PS1 was easy to write games for for what I understand. The Saturn was a complete ***** to program. Hence the more powerful machine losing to something inferior.

 

The reality is that Sony gambled correctly on more of a focus on 3D hardware, while Sega upgraded to it after the fact (meaning the Saturn was envisioned as a super 2D machine, with relatively minimal 3D abilities, but did a late-in-production turnaround once they got a preliminary whiff of what Sony was cooking up). Looking at the best the PS1 was able to produce software-wise, its 3D capabilities definitely outclassed the Saturn's, while the Saturn was usually the better 2D machine. The latter would have been more important had the polygon not been so heartily embraced by the game buying public...

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Check out that Target Link. You can buy the Hyperscan and also a Spongebob PS2 game? Together? Why?

 

That has to be the oddest bundle I've ever seen.

 

I can't wait for Playstation 3 Bundles that come with Xbox 360 games! Only from Target, LOL!

 

15 Minutes of X-Men is probably all a person can take! I've own the game and its a horrible pack-in title.

Marvel Heros is a much better game, even if a different genre (fighter versus platform game).

 

I've just homebrewed my X-Men game -- I've changed all the .WAV files to songs that I like. I've changed all the .MOV files to stuff I downloaded off of YouTube. Then burned it to a CD-R, it plays fine. No mod chip required. This thing has no copyright protection. It is a fun little hacker box! I have no programming knowledge, just changed the files around!

 

I think the homebrew stuff will grow for this thing. The hardware is being clearanced cheap -- and its got potential. No lockout chips, either.

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Cheaper still, and the shipping is like $3.50.

 

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Mattel-Hype...roductDetail.do

 

Should I order one? Does indeed sounds interesting for the price.

 

 

Here's a cheap one from www.shopgoodwill.com

 

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?ItemID=3246949

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Cheaper still, and the shipping is like $3.50.

 

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Mattel-Hype...roductDetail.do

 

Should I order one? Does indeed sounds interesting for the price.

 

 

Here's a cheap one from www.shopgoodwill.com

 

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?ItemID=3246949

 

For 11.00 I am getting one.

 

Added in edit: Done.

Edited by DragonmasterDan
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Ditto. I figure for 11 bucks, it's worth taking a look at and giving to my nephew if it's as bad as claimed. He likes those card game things.

 

Cheaper still, and the shipping is like $3.50.

 

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Mattel-Hype...roductDetail.do

 

Should I order one? Does indeed sounds interesting for the price.

 

 

Here's a cheap one from www.shopgoodwill.com

 

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?ItemID=3246949

 

For 11.00 I am getting one.

 

Added in edit: Done.

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good hardware that was poorly marketed and supported.

Good hardware? So far you still haven't shown me any specs... There's a reason Mattel doesn't want you to know what's under the hood. My Genesis can do better than the Hyperscan. :roll:

 

Dude, there is a thing called google.

Do I have to spoonfeed everything.

 

The specs are well publicized on multiple sources on the internet. But, the most comprehensive source I found is:

http://www.geocities.com/hyperscansoftware/developer.html

 

...and personally I could care less what you think. The fact that a PS1 fanboy can't handle that his ancient system is obsolete compared to a 1 year old game console is sad.

 

Mattel is lame -- its a shame this hardware was crippled by bad games.

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