SNES FX Series

[Jasoco]

Mega Man X2 and X3 both use the C4 chip, which was a custom thing that Capcom made, and was only used in those two games... They didn't use the SuperFX.

 

--Zero

That's right. I remember seeing them on that page. Forgot they were under a differnt chip. My bad.

[Video]

Super FX games for SNES were cheaper than the one SVP chip in Genesis games is probably due to production time. I believe the FX chip, for the SNES, was finished, and supposed to be part of the hardware of the SNES when it was released, but was cut due to price. But after a few years, they price to make chips comes down, so they start sticking it into games.

 

These are the only three games I know have a FX chip

Star Fox

Stunt Race FX

Doom

 

Why did everybody hate Stuntrace anyways? I didn't like it's goofy controll setup, which wanted to be analog, but wasn't. Untill recently, that is. For the first time in years, I've been playing the game and actually finishing everything. It's much more playable now for some reason.

[ubersaurus]

I hate Stunt Race due to the absolutely ABYSMAL refresh rate.

[Ze_ro]

Well, I guess calling Stunt Race FX "terrible" is a little unfair... it's fairly impressive, but I don't think it's anywhere near as good as Virtua Racing. Stunt Race FX pulls off a decent amount of texture mapping, while VR doesn't seem to do much at all (but then, the arcade version didn't do any, so this was likely intentional)... plus, Stunt Race FX does all the 3D in a window while VR is full-screen. Stunt Race FX also had much better color of course, since VR was limited by the Genesis' rather poor color capabilities.

 

Frankly, I think they tried to do too much with the graphics in Stunt Race... they put too much texture mapping and too many polygons on the screen, and the framerate drops too low. The sluggish controls I think are a result of this poor framerate. It almost reminds me a little of Checkered Flag for the Jaguar (except with a more light-hearted theme).

 

--Zero

[Jasoco]

Doesn't the 32X version of VR have better colors? It's one I gotta get. I've seen screenshots of all the stuff not in the Genny version and it looks really neat.

 

I played Stunt Race once a while ago. I don't remember a thing about it except it was cars and it was 3D.

[MsPacBitch]

Doesn't the 32X version of VR have better colors? It's one I gotta get. I've seen screenshots of all the stuff not in the Genny version and it looks really neat.

 

I played Stunt Race once a while ago. I don't remember a thing about it except it was cars and it was 3D.

 

The 32x version of Virtua Racing is quite a bit better than the already impressive Genny version... much more color, more polygons, better sound, faster frame rate, just all around better... but that's what you get when you compare a 16-bit game with a built-in chip with a game utilizing two 32-bit cpu's. The 32x version also has additional tracks and two more cars.

 

The Genny version of VR is impressive considering the hardware... I wish Sega had stuck with the FX concept like Nintendo and kept refining the chip... it would have gotten cheaper to produce after awhile.

[BatmiteReturns]

I believe the chip that SFA2 used was called the SA-1.

 

Sorry if this was mentioned previously.

[Video]

Yeah, I can accept that. Stunt race refreshes about 8 times a second (Maybe 15) And a lot of BG happenings could have been dropped to raise that number. I mean, all the 3D buildings, and airplanes, fish jumping, etc,etc, is cool looking. But I imagine that is part of what ate the framerate up.

 

Wow, Virtua Racing is full screene? I gotta get me a copy of that cause that would be cool to see.

 

I always assumed the non full screen 3D games on the SNES was due to a weekness of the FX chip. Of the three games I have, Star Fox, Doom, and Stunt Race FX, only Stuntrace doesn't have a border all the way around, but it's a flat image that borders the action screen, so it's actually showing a smaller play area than the other two games.

[Jasoco]

Yep. VR is full screen.

 

I always thought games like DOOM and the such with smaller action windows were just to make the processor render less pixels. Speed it up.

[Video]

That could vary well be why FX games are run with borders, because it can run faster that way.

[Jasoco]

That could vary well be why FX games are run with borders, because it can run faster that way.

Star Fox has no border either.

[ZylonBane]

If you're a fan of Virtua Fighter, you might be interested in knowing that Nintendo made a 3D polygon fighting game for the SNES using the SuperFX chip

That would be "FX Fighter". SNES version unreleased, but a PC port was released.

 

There was also an unreleased port of Commanche using the SuperFX chip.

[Breakpack]

I remember SFA2 SNES had loading.............

[JB]

Super FX games for SNES were cheaper than the one SVP chip in Genesis games is probably due to production time.  I believe the FX chip, for the SNES, was finished, and supposed to be part of the hardware of the SNES when it was released, but was cut due to price.  But after a few years, they price to make chips comes down, so they start sticking it into games.

That was the DSP-1, which was used in PilotWings and Mario Kart(probably some others too).

 

The SuperFX was created for StarFox.