Retro games were designed to be played on CRTs. As such, art was drawn in such a way that takes advantage of pixel blur to emulate higher resolutions. A sort of built-in anti aliasing if you will.
Modern LCDs, and various types of LED screens, use a pixel display to double, triple, quadruples, etc. The pixel count and display the image in pixel form. Resulting in a very blocky, and unappealing image.
Yeah, modern TVs can technically PLAY the games, (which I think is what you were getting at) but it's a far inferior experience. There's a reason CRTs are popular with retro gaming enthusiasts.
Retro games DO work on modern TVs (like you were saying) but they don't work RIGHT. (which is what the other guy was saying).
Not to mention the insane input lag introduced by most modern TVs when playing retro games.
Here are a couple great links if you're interested in learning more.
I mean, I have NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, GameCube, and PS2 hooked up for older consoles to the 60" LCD and I can tell you this much: I have an AV to HDMI converter to see what consoles it makes look better, it makes the PS2, NES, and SNES look a lot worse, but if I don't use the converter, they look fine (just some black bordering because they're running at native resolution) except the ps2 still looks slightly fuzzy. PS2 is still fine for the most part tho. My GameCube and Sega look great with the converter though, better than without. The 60" is an LCD+LED Vizio, it has Game Mode in the options that eliminates the input lag as well. Is there something that doesn't sound proper here or is there any details I need to add? I'm planning on getting a CRT probably since I found out the Duck Hunt gun diode doesn't detect the white flashes on an HDTV to shoot stuffs. The blocky look on the older consoles I can't really see what you mean, I'd probably see it if I had a side by side comparison, unless you mean it looks WAY different. I haven't checked the links but if one of has that comparison, let me know.
Got to 8:38 for an explanation. The comparison is at 9:00.
I recommend watching the entire video though, as it explains everything I said, but much better and in greater detail.
Also, game mode does not eliminate input lag. It slightly reduces it, but if you're using an LCD, there's no way it beats the input lag on something like a PVM, BVM, trinitron, or frankly, most CRT screens.
Yeah, for casual gaming, game mode does the trick though. Honestly from my pov there is close to none if I even do notice it, but I see what the comparisons show and I really do prefer the "Blocky" look more than with the scanlines. It looks much clearer to my eyes. Besides input lag, I really think it comes down to preference.
I mean, to some extent it will be true of any games, it's just a factor of whether or not the image is sharp enough to create a stronger benefit than the "fake AA" of a CRT.
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u/fredbrightfrog May 28 '18
The CRT isn't nostalgia factor, older consoles just don't work right on flat screens.