Snesboy's Guide to HDTV retro gaming


Many of you may be concerned about how terrible your 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit gaming consoles fair with these fancy new HDTVs. RF is something many of you are familiar with, however, later gaming consoles use AV input for those TVs that have the Red, Yellow, and White connectors on the front. Ugh, I'm straying off the subject. Here are the optimal connections for gaming consoles post-1983. Brands included are Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft.

Atari

Atari 2600 & 7800 - An excellent guide can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38os4_ama08

Nintendo

NES - default connection: RF; optimal connection: composite

Super NES - default connection: RF, composite; optimal connection: S-video*

Nintendo 64 - default connection: composite; optimal connection: S-video*

GameCube - default connection: composite; optimal connection: S-video*, component**

Wii - default connection: composite; optimal connection: component


Sega

Master System - default connection: RF; optimal connection: composite

Genesis - default connection: RF, composite; optimal connection: S-video via mod: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPgQ8UDDGc

Saturn - default connection: composite; optimal connection: S-video

Dreamcast - default connection: composite; optimal connection: S-video, VGA***


Sony

PlayStation - default connection: composite; optimal connection: S-video

PlayStation 2 - default connection: composite; optimal connection: S-video, component


Microsoft

Xbox - default connection: composite; optimal connection: S-video, component


I don't think I need to explain that the best connections for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are HDMI. You "core" gamers should know that

Next subject is resolution. Keep in mind most systems before 1996 didn't support widescreen. And all systems didn't support it until 2006 (Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 all support 16x9). Before that, it was on a game by game basis. For a list of games that support widescreen, please use this list:

Sega Saturn 16x9 games: http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,278/p,23/

PlayStation 1 16x9 games: http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,278/p,6/

Nintendo 64 16x9 games: http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,278/p,9/

Sega Dreamcast 16x9 games: http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,278/p,8/

GameCube 16x9 games: http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,278/p,14/

PlayStation 2 16x9 games: http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,278/offset,0/p,7/so,0a/


Xbox and PlayStation 2 have a widescreen setting in their system menus. All you have to do is turn it to "widescreen" or "16x9" and change the output of your TV to "wide" or whatever your button thing is on your remote. Pretty sure all games made for these systems support widescreen.


Retro Gaming

Here is the tricky part. Older systems do not support widescreen. They have a screen format of 4x3. So if black bars appear on the sides of you game, it's fucking normal dammit! Making it fill the screen just STRETCHES out the game. True widescreen adds to the viewing area. If you want those old retro games to look their best, try using some sort of download service: Wii Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, or the PlayStation Network. Games downloaded from the Wii Virtual Console are even bumped up to 640x480 resolution so they look better than they did 15 years ago. And on top of that, they look even better when using component


Now I just typed all that, hopefully someone read it. Now where do you get all these fancy cables? The internet:

S-video cables for SNES, N64, GCN, PS1, PS2, PS3, and Xbox 1: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-PSone-PS2-PS3-N64-SNES/dp/B002ZKSZG4/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1270546263&sr=8-6

S-video cables for Sega Genesis: http://www.amazon.com/Sega-Genesis-Nomad-9-PIN-CABLES-Video/dp/B001U23RBG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1270546389&sr=8-2

S-video cables for Sega Saturn: I was unable to find them on Amazon. I did find this video on YouTube though, so you should ask this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfr5t2DLvMI

Composite cables for NES: Also couldn't find them on Amazon though I'm pretty sure they came packaged with the original NES.

VGA cables for Dreamcast: http://www.amazon.com/Sega-Dreamcast-Adapter-Adaptor-DCVGA-S-Video/dp/B000SL4IIG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1270546954&sr=8-1

S-video cables for Dreamcast: http://www.amazon.com/InterAct-Stereo-V-Cable-Sega-Dreamcast/dp/B00000K13H/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1270546989&sr=1-2


I think that covers everything. Hope I've been of help to those of you who are technologically challenged.

EDIT: For those of you living in PAL regions, replace S-video with SCART.

EDIT 2: In case you were wondering, Component is always better than S-video. Spring for Component if it's available.

EDIT 3: Since I've never been able to test if all PS2 games are widescreen or not, I have added a list of PS2 games supporting widescreen. Special thanks to alekth for bringing it to my attention.

EDIT 4: If you live in the PAL regions, go get RGB cables.

EDIT 5: http://retro.nintendolife.com/news/2011/04/guides_upscaling_your_retro_consoles_for_hdtv_sets

*SNES, N64, and GameCube all use the same audio/video input so S-video cables purchased will work on all 3 systems.

**Component only supported on consoles manufactured before May 2004. If your system is compatible with component, look on the bottom at the serial number. The number you are looking for is DOL-101. You can also look on the back for a "Digital Out" port.

***VGA is the best connection for Dreamcast, providing a hi-res image. Even higher than S-video

Nice Snes.

I have my most beloved games on VC but this will come in handy for those souls wishing the Rare gems made it to VC.

EDIT: In the original of this post, I suggested that the truly optimal connection for NES was S-Video, based on NES units that could use SNES cables. Having finally found such a unit, however, I regret to report that even this won't get you S-Video: while the replacement-model NES2 (and Famicom AV) both support SNES composite cables, S-Video cables won't work. You'll still get sound, but no video, so I think the S-Video pins must be missing on these models or something.

That said, the late-model NES2 and Famicom AV do have the advantage of being able to use the same composite cables from the NES all the way up through the Gamecube.

Don't think most PS2 games support 16x9 at all... for most that setting does nothing.

I've also found S-Video and component on the Ps2 to be worlds apart.

Well there are still a lot of PS2 games that support 16x9. I know Guitar Hero II does!

Component is always the optimal connection. Unless HDMI is available.

EDIT: Even with the 16x9 mode on in the PS2 system settings menu, games will not automatically default to it, unless they were designed to. Many PS2 games however, have an option for widescreen in their options menu.

I just bought 1080p HDTV, hooked my PS2 to it, and it looks awful.
I already ordered component cable, hope it will look at least as good as on my old SD tv

Older PS2 games will still look like ass on certain HD sets.

....... it's not what I wanted to read :\
I don't feel the need for buying PS3 right now.

Does anyone tested one of those PS2 upscalers?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/17/xploder-ps2-hdtv-upscaler-reviewed/

I have the PS2 xploder. It does a decent job of making the PS2 output 480p instead of 480i. The 720p option letterboxed the picture in the middle of my screen with black bars on all sides (maybe it won't do that for a native 720p TV).

I haven't been playing many ps2 games lately, but I did use it for Persona 4 and Devil Summoner 2 and it made the image a bit crisper. But PS2 games already look pretty good on my TV, guess the built-in upscaler does a good job.

Good investment.