![02. [FPGA 4K] Dinosaurs for Hire (Genesis) - Level Two @WhiteKhakis](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O6wHq57_Eu4/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
No Commentary / 4k60 (x9 Integer9 Upscale) / High Res Audio / Capable Player
Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47cFeVP5ZPojNHCpuwcSEUX
Full Title: "Tom Mason's Dinosaurs for Hire"
This is being played on an "Analogue Mega Sg" FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
----
Originally a comic book, this game is about 3 wisecracking dinosaurs that are actually aliens who LOOK like small dinosaurs running a mercenary gig while wielding ginormous firearms.
It's better not to worry about it.
This is contra-esque run and gun with some wonky platforming and design choices - but - overall is a fine brainless time once you know what's coming.
----
Technical Notes:
------
TL;DR: YouTube was provided a perfect video so pixels are sharp and shapes are correct. Audio is "high resolution" compared to a Genesis system due to no processing constraints. Watch in 4k or 1440p if your computer can handle it.
This video has suffered no lossy compression before reaching YouTube! It's a lossless video file with no chroma subsampling (4:4:4). Essentially, it's a perfect copy until YouTube works its magic which now makes it a 4:2:0 video with lossy compression, yes. However, the better the initial copy... the better!
The video was originally captured in a 320 x 224 resolution, the native "square pixel" resolution of most NTSC Genesis games, and then integer upscaled x9 times to 2880 x 2016 with black borders added along the outside for a clean 4k display!
This results in a "pixel perfect" output that is slightly wider than what you might have seen on your old CRT TV set! However, the pixels are sharp this way AND the art was designed in this "pixel perfect" resolution before being squashed to 4:3 back in the day. In short: Pixels are sharp AND circles are circles and squares are squares.
Some games were a 256 x 224 resolution, originally. These will be uploaded in 1440p to fill the screen as much as possible and maintain a pixel perfect integer upscale. The native resolution is far too thin for what the game looked like on a CRT OR for the art, so the width is integer scaled a step higher to result in a 4:3 aspect ratio (256 x 7 for 1792 and 224 x 6 for 1344 = 1792 x 1344). These will look a little thinner than the 320 x 224 games I'm uploading, but the art will be crisp AND be how it looked in the old days!
Some games switch between 320 x 224 resolution and 256 x 224 resolution (Sonic 2 special stage, Lion King Stampede level, etc.). I will generally upload levels containing large sections in 256 x 224 resolution as 1440p to maintain perfect integer upscales and preferred ratios. 320 x 224 does not change ratio between 4k or 1440p. You will know when the genesis is using 256 x 224 'cause the screen will shrink a little in these videos!
About the Mega SG... It's a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based game system which to explain in layman's terms (BY a layman): It's a "chip" dense with circuits and stuff that can be programmed to use only so many in whatever ways necessary to replicate another "chip". Basically, if you can reverse engineer a genesis exactly, you can pretty much program this "chip" to behave like a genesis exactly. Which is what this is.
I'm playing in "Zero Delay" mode so the game is running marginally faster. 0.15%, to be exact. That's less than 1/7th of a single percent. I've also cropped out the colored border Genesis games tend to have.
The sound has been tweaked slightly per FirebrandX's recommendations, I've enabled "YM2612 High Quality Mode" for uncompressed audio, and I have not engaged the ladder effect or lowpass filter. This will definitely sound different than a normal genesis because of the latter option. It's essentially listening closer to what the source sound would be like before the Genesis muffles it a bit.
I also want to mention dithering for just a moment here. In Genesis games you'll often see lines of color alternating here and there, this is because on an old CRT tv the screen would be a bit blurry resulting in those colors bleeding together and becoming a mix of the two. This can also result in transparencies if used correctly. Unfortunately with a clean digital image this won't happen. The only way to enable these "extra colors" is to blur the digital image and this certainly would not be "pixel perfect" as is my goal. I like to think that we are now able to see how the artists tried to achieve their effect! You can always squint your eyes a bit if you want to try to replicate the blurriness!
No Commentary / 4k60 (x9 Integer9 Upscale) / High Res Audio / Capable Player
Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47cFeVP5ZPojNHCpuwcSEUX
Full Title: "Tom Mason's Dinosaurs for Hire"
This is being played on an "Analogue Mega Sg" FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
----
Originally a comic book, this game is about 3 wisecracking dinosaurs that are actually aliens who LOOK like small dinosaurs running a mercenary gig while wielding ginormous firearms.
It's better not to worry about it.
This is contra-esque run and gun with some wonky platforming and design choices - but - overall is a fine brainless time once you know what's coming.
----
Technical Notes:
------
TL;DR: YouTube was provided a perfect video so pixels are sharp and shapes are correct. Audio is "high resolution" compared to a Genesis system due to no processing constraints. Watch in 4k or 1440p if your computer can handle it.
This video has suffered no lossy compression before reaching YouTube! It's a lossless video file with no chroma subsampling (4:4:4). Essentially, it's a perfect copy until YouTube works its magic which now makes it a 4:2:0 video with lossy compression, yes. However, the better the initial copy... the better!
The video was originally captured in a 320 x 224 resolution, the native "square pixel" resolution of most NTSC Genesis games, and then integer upscaled x9 times to 2880 x 2016 with black borders added along the outside for a clean 4k display!
This results in a "pixel perfect" output that is slightly wider than what you might have seen on your old CRT TV set! However, the pixels are sharp this way AND the art was designed in this "pixel perfect" resolution before being squashed to 4:3 back in the day. In short: Pixels are sharp AND circles are circles and squares are squares.
Some games were a 256 x 224 resolution, originally. These will be uploaded in 1440p to fill the screen as much as possible and maintain a pixel perfect integer upscale. The native resolution is far too thin for what the game looked like on a CRT OR for the art, so the width is integer scaled a step higher to result in a 4:3 aspect ratio (256 x 7 for 1792 and 224 x 6 for 1344 = 1792 x 1344). These will look a little thinner than the 320 x 224 games I'm uploading, but the art will be crisp AND be how it looked in the old days!
Some games switch between 320 x 224 resolution and 256 x 224 resolution (Sonic 2 special stage, Lion King Stampede level, etc.). I will generally upload levels containing large sections in 256 x 224 resolution as 1440p to maintain perfect integer upscales and preferred ratios. 320 x 224 does not change ratio between 4k or 1440p. You will know when the genesis is using 256 x 224 'cause the screen will shrink a little in these videos!
About the Mega SG... It's a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based game system which to explain in layman's terms (BY a layman): It's a "chip" dense with circuits and stuff that can be programmed to use only so many in whatever ways necessary to replicate another "chip". Basically, if you can reverse engineer a genesis exactly, you can pretty much program this "chip" to behave like a genesis exactly. Which is what this is.
I'm playing in "Zero Delay" mode so the game is running marginally faster. 0.15%, to be exact. That's less than 1/7th of a single percent. I've also cropped out the colored border Genesis games tend to have.
The sound has been tweaked slightly per FirebrandX's recommendations, I've enabled "YM2612 High Quality Mode" for uncompressed audio, and I have not engaged the ladder effect or lowpass filter. This will definitely sound different than a normal genesis because of the latter option. It's essentially listening closer to what the source sound would be like before the Genesis muffles it a bit.
I also want to mention dithering for just a moment here. In Genesis games you'll often see lines of color alternating here and there, this is because on an old CRT tv the screen would be a bit blurry resulting in those colors bleeding together and becoming a mix of the two. This can also result in transparencies if used correctly. Unfortunately with a clean digital image this won't happen. The only way to enable these "extra colors" is to blur the digital image and this certainly would not be "pixel perfect" as is my goal. I like to think that we are now able to see how the artists tried to achieve their effect! You can always squint your eyes a bit if you want to try to replicate the blurriness!
![02. [FPGA 4K] Dinosaurs for Hire (Genesis) - Level Two](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O6wHq57_Eu4/mqdefault.jpg "02. [FPGA 4K] Dinosaurs for Hire (Genesis) - Level Two
No Commentary / 4k60 (x9 Integer9 Upscale) / High Res Audio / Capable Player
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47cFeVP5ZPojNHCpuwcSEUX
Full Title: Tom Masons Dinosaurs for Hire
This is being played on an Analogue Mega Sg FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
Originally a comic book, this game is about 3 wisecracking dinosaurs that are actually aliens who LOOK like small dinosaurs running a mercenary gig while wielding ginormous firearms.
Its better not to worry about it.
This is contra-esque run and gun with some wonky platforming and design choices - but - overall is a fine brainless time once you know whats coming.
Technical Notes:
TL;DR: YouTube was provided a perfect video so pixels are sharp and shapes are correct. Audio is high resolution compared to a Genesis system due to no processing constraints. Watch in 4k or 1440p if your computer can handle it.
This video has suffered no lossy compression before reaching YouTube! Its a lossless video file with no chroma subsampling (4:4:4). Essentially, its a perfect copy until YouTube works its magic which now makes it a 4:2:0 video with lossy compression, yes. However, the better the initial copy... the better!
The video was originally captured in a 320 x 224 resolution, the native square pixel resolution of most NTSC Genesis games, and then integer upscaled x9 times to 2880 x 2016 with black borders added along the outside for a clean 4k display!
This results in a pixel perfect output that is slightly wider than what you might have seen on your old CRT TV set! However, the pixels are sharp this way AND the art was designed in this pixel perfect resolution before being squashed to 4:3 back in the day. In short: Pixels are sharp AND circles are circles and squares are squares.
Some games were a 256 x 224 resolution, originally. These will be uploaded in 1440p to fill the screen as much as possible and maintain a pixel perfect integer upscale. The native resolution is far too thin for what the game looked like on a CRT OR for the art, so the width is integer scaled a step higher to result in a 4:3 aspect ratio (256 x 7 for 1792 and 224 x 6 for 1344 = 1792 x 1344). These will look a little thinner than the 320 x 224 games Im uploading, but the art will be crisp AND be how it looked in the old days!
Some games switch between 320 x 224 resolution and 256 x 224 resolution (Sonic 2 special stage, Lion King Stampede level, etc.). I will generally upload levels containing large sections in 256 x 224 resolution as 1440p to maintain perfect integer upscales and preferred ratios. 320 x 224 does not change ratio between 4k or 1440p. You will know when the genesis is using 256 x 224 cause the screen will shrink a little in these videos!
About the Mega SG... Its a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based game system which to explain in laymans terms (BY a layman): Its a chip dense with circuits and stuff that can be programmed to use only so many in whatever ways necessary to replicate another chip. Basically, if you can reverse engineer a genesis exactly, you can pretty much program this chip to behave like a genesis exactly. Which is what this is.
Im playing in Zero Delay mode so the game is running marginally faster. 0.15%, to be exact. Thats less than 1/7th of a single percent. Ive also cropped out the colored border Genesis games tend to have.
The sound has been tweaked slightly per FirebrandXs recommendations, Ive enabled YM2612 High Quality Mode for uncompressed audio, and I have not engaged the ladder effect or lowpass filter. This will definitely sound different than a normal genesis because of the latter option. Its essentially listening closer to what the source sound would be like before the Genesis muffles it a bit.
I also want to mention dithering for just a moment here. In Genesis games youll often see lines of color alternating here and there, this is because on an old CRT tv the screen would be a bit blurry resulting in those colors bleeding together and becoming a mix of the two. This can also result in transparencies if used correctly. Unfortunately with a clean digital image this wont happen. The only way to enable these extra colors is to blur the digital image and this certainly would not be pixel perfect as is my goal. I like to think that we are now able to see how the artists tried to achieve their effect! You can always squint your eyes a bit if you want to try to replicate the blurriness!")
![08. [FPGA 4K] Trampoline Terror! (Genesis) - Final Area](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OKQfNYVoyvw/mqdefault.jpg "08. [FPGA 4K] Trampoline Terror! (Genesis) - Final Area
No Commentary / Practiced Run) / 4k60 (x9 Integer Upscale) / High Res Audio
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47IclgImr9bf4a3S2Lk73Q6
*I edited out the losses more subtly*
This is being played on an Analogue Mega Sg FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
You are the fearless gymnast known as the Trampoline Terror. You are not afraid of heights. You can run, jump and maneuver where ordinary men dare not go. The alien invaders only make you laugh. Ha!
- Manual Excerpt
So, if Im understanding the story, the Balos Empire has put a grid around the planet Ahas and you, the Trampoline Terror, are the only person who can destroy it because of conveniently placed explosive switches throughout it? Cool, cool.
The games a pretty straightforward maze-platform-puzzler of sorts, but if you hit switches in a row:
Yellow 1-4: More points
Blue 3: Invulnerability , 4: Early Level Completion
Red 3: Enemies Freeze, 4: All Enemies Destroyed
Green 3: Trampolines Repaired, 4: 1-Up
Technical Notes:
TL;DR: YouTube was provided a perfect video so pixels are sharp and shapes are correct. Audio is high resolution compared to a Genesis system due to no processing constraints. Watch in 4k or 1440p if your computer can handle it.
This video has suffered no lossy compression before reaching YouTube! Its a lossless video file with no chroma subsampling (4:4:4). Essentially, its a perfect copy until YouTube works its magic which now makes it a 4:2:0 video with lossy compression, yes. However, the better the initial copy... the better!
The video was originally captured in a 320 x 224 resolution, the native square pixel resolution of most NTSC Genesis games, and then integer upscaled x9 times to 2880 x 2016 with black borders added along the outside for a clean 4k display!
This results in a pixel perfect output that is slightly wider than what you might have seen on your old CRT TV set! However, the pixels are sharp this way AND the art was designed in this pixel perfect resolution before being squashed to 4:3 back in the day. In short: Pixels are sharp AND circles are circles and squares are squares.
Some games were a 256 x 224 resolution, originally. These will be uploaded in 1440p to fill the screen as much as possible and maintain a pixel perfect integer upscale. The native resolution is far too thin for what the game looked like on a CRT OR for the art, so the width is integer scaled a step higher to result in a 4:3 aspect ratio (256 x 7 for 1792 and 224 x 6 for 1344 = 1792 x 1344). These will look a little thinner than the 320 x 224 games Im uploading, but the art will be crisp AND be how it looked in the old days!
Some games switch between 320 x 224 resolution and 256 x 224 resolution (Sonic 2 special stage, Lion King Stampede level, etc.). I will generally upload levels containing large sections in 256 x 224 resolution as 1440p to maintain perfect integer upscales and preferred ratios. 320 x 224 does not change ratio between 4k or 1440p. You will know when the genesis is using 256 x 224 cause the screen will shrink a little in these videos!
About the Mega SG... Its a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based game system which to explain in laymans terms (BY a layman): Its a chip dense with circuits and stuff that can be programmed to use only so many in whatever ways necessary to replicate another chip. Basically, if you can reverse engineer a genesis exactly, you can pretty much program this chip to behave like a genesis exactly. Which is what this is.
Im playing in Zero Delay mode so the game is running marginally faster. 0.15%, to be exact. Thats less than 1/7th of a single percent. Ive also cropped out the colored border Genesis games tend to have.
The sound has been tweaked slightly per FirebrandXs recommendations, Ive enabled YM2612 High Quality Mode for uncompressed audio, and I have not engaged the ladder effect or lowpass filter. This will definitely sound different than a normal genesis because of the latter option. Its essentially listening closer to what the source sound would be like before the Genesis muffles it a bit.
I also want to mention dithering for just a moment here. In Genesis games youll often see lines of color alternating here and there, this is because on an old CRT tv the screen would be a bit blurry resulting in those colors bleeding together and becoming a mix of the two. This can also result in transparencies if used correctly. Unfortunately with a clean digital image this wont happen. The only way to enable these extra colors is to blur the digital image and this certainly would not be pixel perfect as is my goal. I like to think that we are now able to see how the artists tried to achieve their effect! You can always squint your eyes a bit if you want to try to replicate the blurriness!")
![02. [RGB QHD] Final Fight (SNES) - Subway Park - Cody Run](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OYKPu6L7jhE/mqdefault.jpg "02. [RGB QHD] Final Fight (SNES) - Subway Park - Cody Run
No Commentary / Practiced Run / 1440p60 (4:3 Integer Upscale) / Hard Mode
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47Hgk7pIVGILWf8Jaqhhxzt
The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
Ah, a nice stroll through the Subway Park! I figured itd be a subway THEN a park, but no. Just subway. No complaints, thats as cool a place as any to thrash some goons!
So, lets talk about Katana. The boss. Hes a major butt. At any given moment he might bum-rush you and do a ton of damage and if you approach him from the front hell slice you and dice you! The problem with this set up is that unless hes at the VERY top and youre at the VERY bottom his rush can easily reach you. And then it just becomes a game of chicken!
Hes also odd in that regular attacks DO NOT HURT HIM. Much. What I mean is your punch combo and jump kicks and the like. He needs to be grapple-attacked or thrown to deal any kind of hurt to him. Ill have an EXTRA video available here to demonstrate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IypcWehwVqw
Oh, and dont forget the moments of invulnerability after getting up from being hit! This boss is a major pain!
Almost forgot! The DESTROY THE CAR bonus stage is after this level! A Capcom classic.
First videos description follows:
Originally an arcade game, Final Fight got a port to the SNES and was pretty decently done all considered! A whole level is missing and you can only play it in 1 player mode but you still get to throw your fists and squeeze the life outta some street punks all the same! I can only figure that Nintendo wanted to show they can have cool arcade games on their console as well because thats were the Sega Genesis really shined!
Im gonna play as Cody because he reminds me a lot of my go-to-character in Streets of Rage, Axel, apparently not just in looks but moves as well! No flaming uppercut though. Just some weird spinning kick you can throw out if in trouble for a tiny sliver of life.
Speaking of life, the enemies on this game can hit HARD. The weaker ones will stunlock you so if you dont use the spinkick to break out youll take a ton of damage, and its not uncommon for some enemies to regularly take a 4th to HALF your life in a single strike. Some bosses will do even more than that.
Since getting hit hurts in such a big way, the name of the game this time around is crowd control. Learning your attacks reach and how to keep everyone on one side is what will win this. One move youll overuse and abuse is your basic attack combo. It outreaches most enemies and does a good amount of damage. You can also interrupt it after the second strike by holding a direction on the d-pad to toss the punk over your shoulder knocking down everyone in your way and granting momentary invulnerability.
Crowd control!
Once you get the rhythm down the game can be rather simplistic but any slip up can punish you very badly so your attention is maintained. Bosses can be super cheap and evil hitting stupid-hard, overriding your attacks, and having invulnerability after being hit but once learned arent the worst thi g in the world. Mess up and youll easily eat through a whole continue though! And these continues send you back to the start of a round, yaaay. (If you start in area with less than 5 lives it may be better sacrificing them to start over.)
Gonna also quickly mention the horrible slowdown this game can have. If there are too many enemies and items/containers on screen the game can struggle to keep pace AND eat your button inputs in the process. This is the worst thing ever. They try to mitigate this problem by limiting to 3 enemies on screen but even this isnt always enough.
Also many item containers have randomized contents meaning you might only heal 1/10 your hp instead of 3/4. Or maybe therell be nothing at all!
Another piece of info that comes to mind is your special panic button attack doesnt come out if you attempt it after another attack. It treats it as another attack. Indefinitely. You either need to wait a moment beforehand or get hit before the special will be a special and not an attack.
Technical Notes:
TL;DR: YouTube was provided a perfect video so pixels are sharp and shapes are correct.
I went for a 4:3 output with pixel perfect sharpness via integer upscales. The video is compressed losslessly so no definition is lost.
256 x 224 - internal SNES resolution (8:7)
256* 7 = 1792 / 4 = 448
224* 6 = 1344 / 3 = 448
1792 x 1334 = 4:3
So you can fit the nearest neigbor upscales in a 1440p frame and suffer no interpolation and have it in 4:3!
***More details potentially pending.***")
![06. [FPGA 4K] Fatal Labyrinth (Genesis) - Levels 25-29](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OuMTdAOXvBc/mqdefault.jpg "06. [FPGA 4K] Fatal Labyrinth (Genesis) - Levels 25-29
No Commentary / 4k60 (x9 Integer9 Upscale) / High Res Audio / Capable Player
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47OU4Tbpv0lXhiKnHJ0JfTS
This is being played on an Analogue Mega Sg FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
Time for some hints and tips! (More general info in first video)
As long as you have any amount of food you will heal as time passes. Very handy! Without food you lose health as time passes.
You identify items by using them and some can curse you or worse so be prepared!
Elemental rings are weird. You dont wear them and use spells... you throw them at your enemy to activate a one time use elemental bomb. You can also throw bad potions at enemies.
Chaos is one of the best spells forcing creatures to dance around aimlessly. They will attack if adjacent, however. If you choose to use or throw an item you will not change directions if youre confused.
Thats all Ive got for now!
Technical Notes:
TL;DR: YouTube was provided a perfect video so pixels are sharp and shapes are correct. Audio is high resolution compared to a Genesis system due to no processing constraints. Watch in 4k or 1440p if your computer can handle it.
This video has suffered no lossy compression before reaching YouTube! Its a lossless video file with no chroma subsampling (4:4:4). Essentially, its a perfect copy until YouTube works its magic which now makes it a 4:2:0 video with lossy compression, yes. However, the better the initial copy... the better!
The video was originally captured in a 320 x 224 resolution, the native square pixel resolution of most NTSC Genesis games, and then integer upscaled x9 times to 2880 x 2016 with black borders added along the outside for a clean 4k display!
This results in a pixel perfect output that is slightly wider than what you might have seen on your old CRT TV set! However, the pixels are sharp this way AND the art was designed in this pixel perfect resolution before being squashed to 4:3 back in the day. In short: Pixels are sharp AND circles are circles and squares are squares.
Some games were a 256 x 224 resolution, originally. These will be uploaded in 1440p to fill the screen as much as possible and maintain a pixel perfect integer upscale. The native resolution is far too thin for what the game looked like on a CRT OR for the art, so the width is integer scaled a step higher to result in a 4:3 aspect ratio (256 x 7 for 1792 and 224 x 6 for 1344 = 1792 x 1344). These will look a little thinner than the 320 x 224 games Im uploading, but the art will be crisp AND be how it looked in the old days!
Some games switch between 320 x 224 resolution and 256 x 224 resolution (Sonic 2 special stage, Lion King Stampede level, etc.). I will generally upload levels containing large sections in 256 x 224 resolution as 1440p to maintain perfect integer upscales and preferred ratios. 320 x 224 does not change ratio between 4k or 1440p. You will know when the genesis is using 256 x 224 cause the screen will shrink a little in these videos!
About the Mega SG... Its a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based game system which to explain in laymans terms (BY a layman): Its a chip dense with circuits and stuff that can be programmed to use only so many in whatever ways necessary to replicate another chip. Basically, if you can reverse engineer a genesis exactly, you can pretty much program this chip to behave like a genesis exactly. Which is what this is.
Im playing in Zero Delay mode so the game is running marginally faster. 0.15%, to be exact. Thats less than 1/7th of a single percent. Ive also cropped out the colored border Genesis games tend to have.
The sound has been tweaked slightly per FirebrandXs recommendations, Ive enabled YM2612 High Quality Mode for uncompressed audio, and I have not engaged the ladder effect or lowpass filter. This will definitely sound different than a normal genesis because of the latter option. Its essentially listening closer to what the source sound would be like before the Genesis muffles it a bit.
I also want to mention dithering for just a moment here. In Genesis games youll often see lines of color alternating here and there, this is because on an old CRT tv the screen would be a bit blurry resulting in those colors bleeding together and becoming a mix of the two. This can also result in transparencies if used correctly. Unfortunately with a clean digital image this wont happen. The only way to enable these extra colors is to blur the digital image and this certainly would not be pixel perfect as is my goal. I like to think that we are now able to see how the artists tried to achieve their effect! You can always squint your eyes a bit if you want to try to replicate the blurriness!")
![05. [4K] The Swindle (PC) - One Thief Attempt - The Rest of the Game!](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Pf8jdR9sis8/mqdefault.jpg "05. [4K] The Swindle (PC) - One Thief Attempt - The Rest of the Game!
No Commentary / 4k60 / Experienced Player
Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR44DWZlv4i_GGml2iM6kbVty
He could...go...all...the... way!*
So, the more missions you complete as any given heister the more of a multiplier you get to your cashola making upgrades a breeze. Even with these huge multipliers Ive still done a bunch of these places, right? I figure you can easily go 20+ if youre losing thieves.
*SPOILER BELOW
-
Speaking of which, I lost a thief here.
***
(THERES AN EDIT SKIPPING TO THE FINAL WIN ATTEMPT AGAINST SCOTLAND YARD. I lost a few times due to tiredness and blaaahrg!ness. And stupidness. After the initial lost of Thief-Prime. Just to be clear!)
***
When you lose a miscreant you are issued another willing master-thief with all your procured upgrades to carry on the mission! The cool thing is how they are assigned different looks procedurally, too.
Anyway, final mission is a bit different considering theres no money to be made (excepting bugs placed in earlier areas) and you have to deactivate a bunch of security systems to make it safe to grab the Devils Basilisk. But even then its not safe because a couple flying policemen with gatling guns will bust through the walls to gun you down. I was fortunate to be close to my escape, and honestly, this particular layout was pretty... simple.
Ill be uploading an extra Bank and Heist mission so you can get a bit more content next video! Oh. And thats why I returned to the Bank even after having enough money to take on the final stage. I wanted to have a little more bank recorded AND to have more money if after casing Scotland Yard found the Devils Basilisk far too embedded. You have to pay money every time you die/leave Scotland Yard. Best laid plans and all that!")
![01. [FPGA 4K] The Castlevania Adventure - Stage 01](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QtZHqUTYwAE/mqdefault.jpg "01. [FPGA 4K] The Castlevania Adventure - Stage 01
No Commentary / 4k60 (x15 Integer Upscale) / Near-Expert
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR45aZ1TACwvzzUzOVKKTcbEy
***This game is FULL of bad scrolling and graphical artifacts. Maybe the amazing music will distract you from the rushed programming!***
This is being played on an AnaloguePocket FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
As mentioned above, this game has issues but it was my first title on the system so I didnt mind! Except the ignored whip/jump inputs could be a bother. ...and the slow pacing. And the weird physics. And the ENTIRE MISSING PLATFORMS ON AUTOSCROLLING SEGMENTS.
I still loved it.
Technical Notes:
TL;DR: YouTube was provided a perfect video so pixels are sharp and shapes are correct. Watch in 4k if your computer can handle it.
This video has suffered no lossy compression before reaching YouTube! Its a lossless video file with no chroma subsampling (4:4:4). Essentially, its a perfect copy until YouTube works its magic which now makes it a 4:2:0 video with lossy compression, yes. However, the better the initial copy... the better!
The video was originally captured in a 160 x 144 resolution, the native resolution of Game Boy, and then integer upscaled x15 times to 2400 x 2160 for a clean 4k display!
About the Analogue Pocket: Its a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based game system which to explain in laymans terms (BY a layman): Its a chip dense with circuits and stuff that can be programmed to use only so many in whatever ways necessary to replicate another chip. Basically, if you can reverse engineer a Game Boy exactly, you can pretty much program this chip to behave like a Game Boy exactly. Which is what this is.
Ive turned off Frame Blending in the options because it overall softens the picture with the minimal benefit of making transparencies not flicker. Ive also chosen not to use the really cool video mode which makes it look like a Game Boy Screen because that would mess up the lossless video Im capturing. I can always add a filter later if I want to!")
![04. [4k60] Darq (PC) - Chapter 4](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qv6btrvGTc8/mqdefault.jpg "04. [4k60] Darq (PC) - Chapter 4
No Commentary / Blind Run / 4k60
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47Npz28houZEJDK9w9U6kv7
Looks like an monochromatically spooky time! The puzzles are fairly standard but get a twist due to the rotating nature of the game (which surprisingly isnt too overplayed). Its overall a short length and does not overstay its welcome. Definitely the kind of quick entertainment I was looking for!
Technical Notes
This game has fairly simple puzzles so everything is pretty much captured as played. I do make a couple cuts in later levels if its me just doubling back and fumbling around. And I THINK on the level with the horn-guy I spliced in my first encounter with him which is why you may see an item I used still in my inventory. Uh... also sped up a puzzle in the DLC.")
![07. [FPGA 4K] Blades of Vengeance (Genesis) - All Treasure/Secrets - The Forest](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R5V2YUMCYAw/mqdefault.jpg "07. [FPGA 4K] Blades of Vengeance (Genesis) - All Treasure/Secrets - The Forest
No Commentary / 4k60 (x9 Integer Upscale) / High Res Audio
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47pFjCqAKmP4MlsltjL3Bvo
This is being played on an Analogue Mega Sg FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
Im gonna make this description a little bit of an information dump for game mechanics, here goes:
Ducking. BLOCKS. Which is crazy. You are pretty much entirely invulnerable in the direction you are facing when ducking. This is a super important mechanic which makes the game far more easy to complete.
If you attack near the peak of your jump the momentum swings you up a bit higher. This isnt nearly as important for the Huntress who is already the most capable at jumping but its a neat touch nonetheless.
When paused you can select your items and also hold C (see?) and then use the d-pad to look around. This can help find pitfalls.
Speaking of pitfalls, there are no bottomless pits and perhaps only one drop which will result in an inescapable death in the game. Very odd for a platformer, but very cool from an exploratory standpoint. (Beware of fall damage, however.)
75k points nets you an extra continue. A really bombastic jingle plays once this occurs. I didnt check to see if the continue screen is unique but the Game Over screen is!
I havent mentioned the sparkles yet. There are, uh... sparkles. In the levels. Let me see what the manual calls them... Perhaps, its simply Power Ups. They kinda dance around the exact name of the sparkle itself just saying its a sparkling area.
ANYWAY
Touch the sparkle and you get a Power Up shown as a filled in diamond on top of your character bar. This makes your damage output stronger. You can hold two Power Ups at most (at first) and LOSE one if you lose a life! They are few and far between, so be careful!
If you buy the armor (and you should) in the store after the 3rd (or is it 4th?) area you character basically levels up into an entirely new class! You keep your title but the Huntress becomes a ranged attacker with a crossbow! The Barbarian trades in his axe for a really wonky looking flail. And the Wizard throws his hobo outfit away and steps into something more Sagely (He gets a stronger strong attack).
Oh, Strong Attacks. Hold Up while pressing the attack button and you do a...strong attack! Really useful for the Huntress when she has sword since its a far reaching overhead swing. Less useful when she has the crossbow because you have to hold to charge the attack for a bit and then release it for a spread shot. Its just better to rapid fire your normal shot unless you need a weird angle.
I think thats it. The items are fairly self explanatory - one blows things up, another turns them into money, one heals, one makes you invincible, etc. Again, I picked Huntress because she has the most interesting attack set whereas the Barbarian is just melee and the Wizard only ranged. Also she is center and front on the box art!
I liked my experience with this game and it was fun mapping out how to get all the treasures, its definitely worth a play if you get your hands on it!
Original Overview Description:
Its not too often you find a brainless hack and slash platformer that has some depth!
The level design is strong giving you what feels like plenty of options but still keeping you on track to reach the end. There are many secrets as well, all of which I catalogued here! I had some bullet points on my other screen telling me how to get to the next treasure so that I can complete the whole affair live - I didnt want to keep stopping the video, especially since the music continues even when paused. So if you see me standing still for a moment, thats probably why.
I chose to play as the Huntress because she is the most balanced and has the most drastic style change partway through.
Please read the description in this video for detailed
Technical Notes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUbF6VssxOE")
![04. [FPGA 4K] Dinosaurs for Hire (Genesis) - Level Four](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R9GvhSSLB2U/mqdefault.jpg "04. [FPGA 4K] Dinosaurs for Hire (Genesis) - Level Four
No Commentary / 4k60 (x9 Integer9 Upscale) / High Res Audio / Capable Player
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47cFeVP5ZPojNHCpuwcSEUX
Full Title: Tom Masons Dinosaurs for Hire
This is being played on an Analogue Mega Sg FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!
Originally a comic book, this game is about 3 wisecracking dinosaurs that are actually aliens who LOOK like small dinosaurs running a mercenary gig while wielding ginormous firearms.
Its better not to worry about it.
This is contra-esque run and gun with some wonky platforming and design choices - but - overall is a fine brainless time once you know whats coming.
Technical Notes:
TL;DR: YouTube was provided a perfect video so pixels are sharp and shapes are correct. Audio is high resolution compared to a Genesis system due to no processing constraints. Watch in 4k or 1440p if your computer can handle it.
This video has suffered no lossy compression before reaching YouTube! Its a lossless video file with no chroma subsampling (4:4:4). Essentially, its a perfect copy until YouTube works its magic which now makes it a 4:2:0 video with lossy compression, yes. However, the better the initial copy... the better!
The video was originally captured in a 320 x 224 resolution, the native square pixel resolution of most NTSC Genesis games, and then integer upscaled x9 times to 2880 x 2016 with black borders added along the outside for a clean 4k display!
This results in a pixel perfect output that is slightly wider than what you might have seen on your old CRT TV set! However, the pixels are sharp this way AND the art was designed in this pixel perfect resolution before being squashed to 4:3 back in the day. In short: Pixels are sharp AND circles are circles and squares are squares.
Some games were a 256 x 224 resolution, originally. These will be uploaded in 1440p to fill the screen as much as possible and maintain a pixel perfect integer upscale. The native resolution is far too thin for what the game looked like on a CRT OR for the art, so the width is integer scaled a step higher to result in a 4:3 aspect ratio (256 x 7 for 1792 and 224 x 6 for 1344 = 1792 x 1344). These will look a little thinner than the 320 x 224 games Im uploading, but the art will be crisp AND be how it looked in the old days!
Some games switch between 320 x 224 resolution and 256 x 224 resolution (Sonic 2 special stage, Lion King Stampede level, etc.). I will generally upload levels containing large sections in 256 x 224 resolution as 1440p to maintain perfect integer upscales and preferred ratios. 320 x 224 does not change ratio between 4k or 1440p. You will know when the genesis is using 256 x 224 cause the screen will shrink a little in these videos!
About the Mega SG... Its a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based game system which to explain in laymans terms (BY a layman): Its a chip dense with circuits and stuff that can be programmed to use only so many in whatever ways necessary to replicate another chip. Basically, if you can reverse engineer a genesis exactly, you can pretty much program this chip to behave like a genesis exactly. Which is what this is.
Im playing in Zero Delay mode so the game is running marginally faster. 0.15%, to be exact. Thats less than 1/7th of a single percent. Ive also cropped out the colored border Genesis games tend to have.
The sound has been tweaked slightly per FirebrandXs recommendations, Ive enabled YM2612 High Quality Mode for uncompressed audio, and I have not engaged the ladder effect or lowpass filter. This will definitely sound different than a normal genesis because of the latter option. Its essentially listening closer to what the source sound would be like before the Genesis muffles it a bit.
I also want to mention dithering for just a moment here. In Genesis games youll often see lines of color alternating here and there, this is because on an old CRT tv the screen would be a bit blurry resulting in those colors bleeding together and becoming a mix of the two. This can also result in transparencies if used correctly. Unfortunately with a clean digital image this wont happen. The only way to enable these extra colors is to blur the digital image and this certainly would not be pixel perfect as is my goal. I like to think that we are now able to see how the artists tried to achieve their effect! You can always squint your eyes a bit if you want to try to replicate the blurriness!")
![08. [4k60] Darq (PC) - DLC: The Tower](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RPxg9c9Hnb4/mqdefault.jpg "08. [4k60] Darq (PC) - DLC: The Tower
No Commentary / Blind Run / 4k60
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47Npz28houZEJDK9w9U6kv7
The creator of Darq released some free DLC to help combat the short game length - neat!
Looks like an monochromatically spooky time! The puzzles are fairly standard but get a twist due to the rotating nature of the game (which surprisingly isnt too overplayed). Its overall a short length and does not overstay its welcome. Definitely the kind of quick entertainment I was looking for!
Technical Notes
This game has fairly simple puzzles so everything is pretty much captured as played. I do make a couple cuts in later levels if its me just doubling back and fumbling around. And I THINK on the level with the horn-guy I spliced in my first encounter with him which is why you may see an item I used still in my inventory. Uh... also sped up a puzzle in the DLC.")
