Could 'Maria' have been an expansion?

[Phredreeke]

"maintain aspect ratio" doesn't necessarily mean it aspect corrects for what a normally calibrated TV will show. (for several emulators, it means square pixels -very few emulators offer realistic NTSC aspect ratio modes, but a few do -and all such modes require antialiasing since you're scaling the pixels)

 

And yes, 3.58 MHz pixels are pretty wide, but not 2:1 aspect ratio wide.

 

I decided to take some screens from 7800 and NES versions of Donkey Kong, and correct the aspect ratio using the pixel aspect ratios found here

 

While the 7800 version is still a little fatter, it's nowhere as obvious as before.

[kool kitty89]

"maintain aspect ratio" doesn't necessarily mean it aspect corrects for what a normally calibrated TV will show. (for several emulators, it means square pixels -very few emulators offer realistic NTSC aspect ratio modes, but a few do -and all such modes require antialiasing since you're scaling the pixels)

 

And yes, 3.58 MHz pixels are pretty wide, but not 2:1 aspect ratio wide.

 

I decided to take some screens from 7800 and NES versions of Donkey Kong, and correct the aspect ratio using the pixel aspect ratios found here

 

While the 7800 version is still a little fatter, it's nowhere as obvious as before.

Yep, and those are graphics not intended for the 7800's resolution. (granted, the only other option is modifying the art design more -probably a stylized version of the arcade original, Mario Bros could have been closer to the arcade than the NES game even since that one isn't all that faithful -like the tiny shellcreepers with missing animation- the Atari XE Mario Bros is the closest port to the Arcade at the time iirc, though the colors are limited -a shame the 7800 version wasn't a more colorful version of that game; the A8 DK also has all the levels and looks pretty good given the limitations -better than the CV game in some areas on top of the added content- though the C64 version is arguably better still -made by Atarisoft and very similar to the A8 game but with a bit more color, though weaker sound IMO)

 

 

Of course, PAL users would have it look pretty much like the double wide emulator screen shots, but also extra wide for the NES (and CV), but proportionally similar.

 

Edit: there's a later DK conversion on the C64 by Ocean that's a good bit improved over the Atarisoft game, and they seem to have used coarser graphics to cater better to the resolution and aspect ratio at the expense of detail. (seems to be especially be converted for PAL, so even more extreme) The sound is definitely better than the C64 atarisoft game. (the A8 sound is arguably better though)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrmR9k8k9vk

 

 

Edit:

Hmm, seems like the A8 version does stylize things too:

(DK's aspect ratio is kept better, btu he looks rather different -also caters more to the lower color) So not as close to the C64 as I though. Edited February 12, 2011 by kool kitty89