When Worse Graphics Are Actually BETTER

Comments · 1.4K

• HA

  @harplexo1901 · 3 years ago

  One way to think about it is thinking of the developers using the CRT as part of the rendering process instead of simply a display meant to display the game as-is.

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• MI

  @microbuilder · 3 years ago

  I had gone thrifting trying to find a CRT TV a while back, to no avail.  Was on the way home and on the side of the road next to someones driveway was a 27" Sharp for free.  Nearly gave myself a hernia trying to get it into the car, but totally worth it!

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• TR

  @Trillyana · 3 years ago

  I've played Mario 64 many times on modern displays and it had been a really, really long time since I last played it on a CRT, but seeing even a few seconds of gameplay of it on a CRT in this video hit me with a burst of good-feeling nostalgia that just can't be put into words

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• JI

  @jippalippa · 3 years ago (edited)

  That's why I never threw away my 1998 sony trinitron. nothing like playing retro games on an actual CRT

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• XU

  @Xukkorz · 3 years ago

  Thank you for getting someone from the retro scene to actually do the appropriate research for this video.

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• SL

  @SlimeSTFM · 3 years ago (edited)

  I really wish new CRT's were a thing. less and less people are able to experience these retro games the way the were meant to be played. Let's also not forget that CRT's have the best motion clarity which really helps in fast paced games

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• FG

  @FG-bn3qq · 3 years ago

  I remember getting an N64 about 10 years ago at a flea market and coming back home and plugging it in to a 55 inch Vizio TV and noticing how weird it looked. Then I took out a Philips CRT TV from the garage and hooked it up to that and was amazed at how better the picture looked.

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• RO

  @rooty · 3 years ago (edited)

  The most iconic example I can think of is the pipe in the orignal Mario Bros. It has two shades of green: light green and dark green, both sandwiching a strip of checkerboard pattern of both light and dark green. A crt display blurs the checkerboard pattern into a single new colour: medium green. So the pipe gets a gradiated colouring from light to dark green. This makes the pipe look like it's curved. On a modern display, all you see is a flat shape with an inexplicable checkerboad pattern on it.

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• DA

  @danielcobia7818 · 3 years ago

  The effects of the CRT were especially considered with the PS2, as that console was designed with everything discussed here in mind.

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• JA

  @james_halpert · 3 years ago

  The side-by-side comparisons were really helpfull. Before seeing this, I never understood the desire to use CRTs these days.

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• RP

  @rpfour4 · 3 years ago

  I had this exact same argument long time ago on firingsquad forums. I had claimed that the graphics on the old interlaced CRT looked better than the one on a modern monitor (at that time). Thank you Techquickie for finally setting it straight for after 20 years!

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• HA

  @Hatchet2k4 · 3 years ago

  Good video but one other aspect not mentioned in it is the fact that the "pixels" of a crt were not necessarily square, retro games came in a huge variety of resolutions that all had to fit the same screen. Playing them today without taking this into account can result in squished or stretched output compared to the originals on a CRT.

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