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

[waterxwraith]

Personally, I like scanline filters for games that were released in before HD and I find it makes the games feel... I don't know, more natural looking? However, you really shouldn't care what other people like and if its something you find yourself not enjoying I don't really see why you'd worry about it. Do what you like and what makes you comfortable. You'll never catch me stretching a GBA rom to a wide aspect ratio but if that's something YOU enjoy doing then you should do that. Emulators these days add so many options and toggles to play with and you're doing yourself a disservice not customizing everything to your own personal enjoyment. Play games the way you want to play them.

 

[PKT]

No, not really. Maybe if you want to see an approximation of how it would look on a CRT but besides that nah. It is just a personal preference thing.
Me personally, I like my pixels sharp enough that they slice my corneas. I sometimes add a filter but more often I really don't care as much. I also have a HDMI to A/V Composite converter and a CRT TV from my dad's basement if I really want that old shit (TV whine and all)

 

[Azuris]

crt filters are only that, filters. they are not at all necessary especially considering they wont actually portray the look of a crt, only a vague aesthetic approximation. the actual construction of a crt monitor operates very differently from modern monitors, without that real mechanical operation you wont get those images that people visualize. just play without. a lot of that hubbub regarding crt monitors being somehow more authentic is mostly short-sighted nostalgia talking anyways. if it aint an actual crt monitor then it aint a crt monitor, simple as. something something simulacra

That new Overlay Software makes a great Job.
One Picture shows the Lion King on a real CRT below and above on a modern Screen.
The other Screen shows the Game on a modern Screen with the Filter.
It clears the Dithering pretty good.

Thats the kind of Filter i want.

I also tested with a modded Final Fantasy VII.
It makes a good Job to merge the 2D Background and the 3D Models.

 

[Xdqwerty]

That new Overlay Software makes a great Job.
One Picture shows the Lion King on a real CRT below and above on a modern Screen.
The other Screen shows the Game on a modern Screen with the Filter.
It clears the Dithering pretty good.

Thats the kind of Filter i want.

I also tested with a modded Final Fantasy VII.
It makes a good Job to merge the 2D Background and the 3D Models.

I dont want games I play to look blurry

 

[Cheela]

Play pixel perfect then is completely fine. I ve seen soo much pokemon content in the years that use that trashy 3x filter in VisualboyAdvance that i can handle it …

 

[Xdqwerty]

Play pixel perfect then is completely fine. I ve seen soo much pokemon content in the years that use that trashy 3x filter in VisualboyAdvance that i can handle it …

Portable console games' sprites were never intended to look like that

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Yes. It is mandatory. Not only for smoothing the dithering effect. Not only for the scanlines and slot masks. Back in the days we had settings on CRT for color, gamma and contrast and they are completely different than the setting we get now on modern screens.

Shaders are used nowadays the same way you would calibrate a screen for a game. It is literally night and day of a difference.

 

[Xdqwerty]

Yes. It is mandatory. Not only for smoothing the dithering effect. Not only for the scanlines and slot masks. Back in the days we had settings on CRT for color, gamma and contrast and they are completely different than the setting we get now on modern screens.

Shaders are used nowadays the same way you would calibrate a screen for a game. It is literally night and day of a difference.

Even with the CRT filters I can still sorta distinguish the pixels.

 

[Graw]

I don't really like scanline or CRT filters. They don't usually look like an actual CRT tv. Scanlines don't look like static black lines. It's hard to describe but the image on a CRT feels like it's always moving, even with a static image. Modern TVs feel very still by comparison. Like I said it's hard to describe but if you've ever seen what a CRT looks like on video that hasn't been synced to the camera, that movement is detectable to your eyes even if it's not visible. Crt filters don't really replicate that. They just warp the screen, change the colours and add black lines.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

With CRT shader :

Raw pixels (aka a grey mess with broken gama) :

Post automatically merged: Today at 3:01 AM

Raw pixel, EGA 16 colors, dithering :

With a CRT shader, it's almost like a palette extended to VGA 256 color :

 

[LightningmanEXE]

It's only recently I've appreciated them. as a vast generalization, a lot of them were poorly implemented or don't do it right. adding lines and smearing things is not the same as having a crt like display. There are some I've played with on my batocera that seem to get the balance I was looking for with them. I've yet to run into an official "classics collection" of any game that wasn't just lines and blur slapped on

also, gba needs the slight pixel separation to be authentic.

 

[mistymermaid]

The majority of games were more created on RGB monitors. It was rare for a developer to plan and conceive an entire game around the artifacts of composite video. (perhaps Earthworm Jim on MD/Genesis, from the look of things)

 

[Sumea]

With CRT shader :

Raw pixels (aka a grey mess with broken gama) :

Post automatically merged: Today at 3:01 AM

Raw pixel, EGA 16 colors, dithering :

With a CRT shader, it's almost like a palette extended to VGA 256 color :

Yeah, there is a number of these types of techniques that would make a CRT monitor or a good CRT simulating shader a requirement for officially designed look.

Sonic 2's trick for rainbow illusion transparent water, and Castlevania Symphony of the Night's Dracula eye effect where the one red pixel is meant to cause a bleed over effect.

For me, the moment I started to use CRT Shaders with everything I emulate was with Policenauts. That game is just 2D art in scenes but the pixelation of them is so heavy I wanted to find the most tasteful way to smooth it out for modern monitor, which was a heavier form of a CRT shader.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

That's the same with music and sound, any hobby really. At some point you learn how to set things up properly to get the best out of your gear. Shaders are tools to do that. Equalizers and compressors are tools to do that. Plugins and mods. Etc.

Is it mandatory to tune your guitar before playing it? Yes. Yes it is.

At some point people need to stop making excuses for being lazy not having even tried to use them correctly. I guess they'll rather complain that Super Contra is too grey and too dull and cry about that, when there are free tools and options to correct that.