Is it actually REQUIRED to play retro games with some scanline or crt filter/on a crt tv?

[Xdqwerty]

So, I was playing Mario World on snes9x and I wanted to try playing the game with a scanline filter, and then with a crt filter because I wanted to know how it felt playing the game back when it released. For a while after I started playing with those filters I felt like they were very disorienting, but people still say that's how you're supposed to play old games, and thus I conflicted since I wanna concentrate on the game itself but in the other hand play the game the "intended" way.
(Sorry if I don't express my point well)

 

[Yousef]

Nope

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

It really doesn't matter unless you have original hardware without an upscaler, Gameplay wise. A HD TV can create lag due to having to upscale things on the fly.

 

[YuriSukiSan]

A lot of purists I know don't even like the filters because they're often hit and miss, it's either the true hardware or nothing at all for them. Just enjoy yourself, as someone that experienced a lot of old games when they were actually new I'm telling you now I vastly prefer playing them on my PC. Clean readable textures with an xbox controller are way better than the claw grip, blurry images and the framerate tanking.

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

I use CRT filters on a good deal of my emulators, but only if I like them. I also have a pretty boss device for what I use it for. I have also owned a CRT, and have two in storage. For the sake of my sanity and space, they are staying there.

 

[MasterEn]

if it was causing you physical discomfort, then don't use the filters under any circumstances. gaming is supposed to be fun, not painful. the only real benefit to playing on an old crt tv or mimicking its affects is to block off the game loading stuff in on the sides of the screen, since most old tvs had boarders on the screen directly to hide the edges of tv and movies. i've seen that with super mario bros 1 and ff1.

you don't lose out on anything by playing in hd.

 

[fake-kun]

No.

I play with them sometimes because they make some games look nicer (e.g., Donkey Kong Country).

 

[dropsmegamega]

it is, last time I tried to play without it the ghosts of crt kicked my ass

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

 

[MasterEn]

i'm guessing that you were late returning the tapes back to movie gallery? 7 days is plenty of time to get them back.

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

i'm guessing that you were late returning the tapes back to movie gallery? 7 days is plenty of time to get them back.

I worked at Hollywood Video up until.... well.... you know.

 

[MasterEn]

I worked at Hollywood Video up until.... well.... you know.

my aunt lived close by to a hollywood video. it was pretty big. she rented paper mario enough times for me that she could have just bought a copy for me. movie gallery was nearby where i live. kind of small. but it was interesting to see new and old games sitting side by side.

 

[Laura Zonih]

For my part,the scanlines are striking because of the historical factor...
Because I didn't live it...

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

For my part,the scanlines are striking because of the historical factor...
Because I didn't live it...

I only use scanlines if forced too. CRTs have this 'smear' effect on the pixels, and games were designed to take advantage of that. That's why the mountains are white in the original Final Fantasy, cause a CRT wouldn't have been able to draw brown or grey mountians without color bleed.

 

[Clippy]

I've only ever seen CRT filters in modern retro games which defaulted to one on first boot and I wasn't particularly impressed. If anything they just strained my eyes. I've been meaning to play with ShaderGlass for a while now and see if my experience improves but I just haven't gotten round to it yet.

 

[SwordBreaker39]

Required no not at all honstly I prefer to play with out any scan lines or filter I prefer clean picture. I may grown up with CRT games and such and I don´t mind it. But it is 2025 I want clean looking games.

And also all these filter can never capture the proper feel of yesterdays. So if one badly want old school feel well then old school TV or monitor it is.

 

[Cheela]

Is not necessary but i like messing around with crt filter to be honest, especially when i play games that i played on my childhood on a real crt.
But i also sometimes i like to mess around with widescreen patches and texture mods. Soo i guess i depends on the moon phase Anyways, i think that what is important is to enjoy playing the way you like.

 

[DRAKKO]

ew no, scanlines makes the games look like shit imo, its a retro game it is still gonna have pixels, its just better that way.

 

[RageBurner]

So, I was playing Mario World on snes9x and I wanted to try playing the game with a scanline filter, and then with a crt filter because I wanted to know how it felt playing the game back when it released. For a while after I started playing with those filters I felt like they were very disorienting, but people still say that's how you're supposed to play old games, and thus I conflicted since I wanna concentrate on the game itself but in the other hand play the game the "intended" way.
(Sorry if I don't express my point well)

Required is a strong word. Humor me for a minute here.

First: Anyone that tells you just the "authentic" way of playing something is the right way is wrong. You are entitled to play it however you feel the most comfortable, and anyone that is bothered by that needs an analyst.

Second: Scanlines are not the defacto retro standard, just one of them. In PAL territories TVs used dot matrix masks to display images on CRTs, it doesn't look like lines, it is drawn with dots, and it looks completely different on close inspection, while still being retro.

I myself had this kind of pixel masking TV and loved the output, and personally think it looks better than scanlines.

 

[beowulf848]

I grew up with scanlines and CRT TVs (and have a nice 32" CRT currently) but I really don't like the filters, honestly. If you just want to play on an emulator, I'd go with the clean image and skip the filters. Most importantly, play the way that is most enjoyable for you!

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

Mesen
RGB Blargg Filter

 

[RageBurner]

Blargg is such a funny word... uh... I'll see myself out.
More seriously, though, you'd need a very fine tuned multipass filter to get anything close to the real thing.

Because of how CRT's outputted signal in a non-digital way, it was naturally fuzzy to a degree, which meant the output was naturally softly smoothed, and our brains got in on the sweet illusion because of the electron-beam back luminance.

 

[ATenderLad]

Already a lot of good responses, but I'll chime in too.

At most, I'd say some games use patterns intended to blend on CRT's, like shadows, transparency effects, color gradients. They aren't a requirement of course, but you can get a better look at how they wanted the game to appear at home using a CRT filter in those cases.

Scanlines are fine as part of a comprehensive shader, but just turning on 50 percent lines makes your monitor half as bright, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[ChadBelmont]

I lived through the end of the era of CRT TVs, and I've never met a CRT filter I liked.

I prefer the honesty of sharp pixels for any non-3D game.

 

[frankied85]

I grew up on a steady diet of NES, master system, and SNES. Playing them with a filter to me just makes the colors dull. It doesn't make it more nostalgic for me personally. I really remember the glow from an old CRT. Not necessarily the scanlines, etc.

Maybe I'm just using the wrong filters.