NERD YOUR ENTHUSIASM (23)
By:
December 20, 2021
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of (one of) their nerdy obsessions.
VIDEO GAMES: MODE 7
In the console war between the Super Nintendo and the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in the US), Mode 7 was a scanline-by-scanline charge by the SNES during early graphical skirmishes. This hardware-native feature allowed for pseudo-3D, creating a new sense of speed and perspective in launch games such as F-Zero, where racers such as the bounty hunter Captain Falcon hovered smoothly across intergalactic circuits suspended in the sky in the year 2560; or Pilotwings, where pilots earned their wings hang gliding, rocket belting and whatnot in the sky over lush islands in the year 1990.
As described in the SNES Development Manual, “In the BG [background], Mode-7 function, more animation effects are available to the screen through rotation, enlargement or reduction, and a scroll function.” Affine transformations are used to create spinning backgrounds and a scaling effect whereby the player can ‘see’ depth. Essentially, two dimensions are made to look as if they behave like three dimensions. Such enabled effects were especially effective for race circuits and the overworld maps of RPGs.
My angerless Nintendo nerd credentials were called into question thanks to a recent discovery. It seems that while, as the ad had it, GENESIS DOES WHAT NINTENDON’T, Sega’s console also does what Nintendo with crude Mode 7-esque effects achievable on the software side, as seen in games such as the superlatively titled Dick Vitale’s “Awesome, Baby!” College Hoops. The graphical one-upmanship would continue throughout the 16-bit era, most notably with Nintendo’s introduction of the Super FX chip a year after the Sega Virtua Processor brought an arcade imperfect Virtua Racing to the home.
NERD YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Peggy Nelson | Andrew Sempere on NERDING | Blanca Rego on RAIN | Lucy Sante on PSEUDO-AMERICAN PSEUDONYMS OF FRENCH PULP WRITERS DURING WWII | Heather Cole on AMERICAN GIRL | Nicholas Rombes on OLD GEOLOGY SURVEY BOOKS WITH MAP INSERTS | Susan Roe on TIME | Mark Kingwell on SCALE MODELS | Jessamyn West on THE POST OFFICE | Josh Glenn on ARDUIN | Vanessa Berry on NEWSAGENCY AESTHETICS | Toby Ferris on BRITISH/EALING WW2 FILMS | Annie Nocenti on MOSS | Adam McGovern on JOAN SEMMEL | Gabriela Pedranti on ILLUSTRATED BOOKS | Miranda Mellis on DOUBT | Tom Nealon on PAGE EDGES | Mandy Keifetz on KLINGON CONFIDENTIAL (NOVEL EXCERPT) | Eric Weisbard on SUMMATIONS | Kio Stark on LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CLASSIFICATION CODES | Charlie Mitchell on REPO MAN | James Parker on SEINFELD | Heather Kapplow on NOTHING | Russell Bennetts on MODE 7 | Vijay Parthasarathy on VIRTUAL TRAVEL | Marc Weidenbaum on NERD PROXIMITY.
MÖSH YOUR ENTHUSIASM (1Q2024): ENTER SANDMAN | BORN TOO LATE | MILQUETOAST | GAS BURNER PANIC | CHRISTBAIT RISING | & 20 other Eighties (1984–1993) Metal songs. STOOGE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (4Q2023): MOVE ON FAST | 96 TEARS | SHE CRACKED | WHAT A WAY TO DIE | PSYCHOTIC REACTION | & 20 other Sixties (1964–1973) proto-punk songs. JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!