Most *Technically* Advanced machine of each generation?

[Numan]

How can you not include the DC, RC?

 

Jet Set Radio, Skies of Arcadia, Grandia II, Shenmue I and II, Rez, Headhunter, Sega Sports, Phantasy Star, online-gaming, etc., etc.

[Retro Rogue]

I'll do these by generation rather than bits

 

first generation: Astrocade

second generation: Atari 5200

third generation: Nintendo Entertainment System/Jaguar/NEO GEO (tie)

forth generation: Playstation 1

fifth generation: Playstation 2/Xbox (tie)

 

Your generations are kinda screwy:

 

Think about it like this:

 

Gen 1: Fairchild, 2600 etc.

Gen 2: Intv, 5200, Colecovision

Gen 3: NES, SMS, 7800

Gen 4: Genesis, TG-16, SNES, Neo Geo

Gen 5: 3DO, Jag, 32X

Gen 6: PSX, Saturn, N64

Gen 7: Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, X-Box

 

As far as the early generations are concerned, yours are a little messed up as well with regards to the commonly accepted divisions. Intellivision is generally refered to as a 1st generation console series.

 

Gen 1: (1976-1981) Fairchild VES, RCA Studio II, Atari VCS, Bally Professional Arcade, MP1000/M1000, Odyssey2, Intellivision.

Gen 2: (1982-1985) Arcadia, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, Vectrex. (Technically you could include the ChannelF System II and INTV2 in this period, but they actually were revisions of their earlyer versions and not technological advancements).

 

Now, as far as the original question - it depends what you mean by advanced. Most advanced graphics, advanced expandibilities, advanced games, advanced controllers?

 

For graphics rendering and ammount of ram, the Bally Professional Arcade is tops for 1st generation with 160x102 bitmapped resolution (though the chips are capable of displaying 320x204 with enough ram), 4k ram (expandable to 64K) and 3 Voice + Noise & Vibrato sound. However, it did not have sprite/playfield hardware support and the Intellivision would win in that area - but - it did have blitter hardware for something similar. As far as expansion, it would have to be a tie between the Bally and Intellivision systems. The Bally's graphics chips (though expanded with display ram) capabilities were also demonstrated quite well with Gorf and Wizard of War in the arcades, which did run on modified Bally hardware.

 

As far as 2nd generation graphics support the 5200 has it over the Colecovision (320x192 vs. 256 x 192) though the Colecovision beats it in sprite support (32) and they are tied in colors on screen at once (16). As far as RAM, the 5200 has 16K - but - the 5200 has 8K ram and 16k display ram. The 5200 wins on sound (4 channels vs 3), but the Colecovision wins hands down on expandability. And really, you can't compare the Vectrex with any of the other 2nd gen consoles - it's like comparing apples and oranges because of the differences in base technology.

[JB]

The Final Fantasy characters were definitely not hi-res, so maybe it was just the pre-drawn backgrounds?  The backgrounds don't really look hi-res though...not to my eyes.

I think I recall them being used in the battle mode for FF8 and 9.