Sonic and The Case of The Pressure Sensitive Buttons
I know what Tyler is feeling.
A few posts ago, he told Sega and Backbone off for their Sonic 1 & 2 PlayStation 3 ports.
It wasn't because of the graphics. Yep, those look perfectly accurate.
It wasn't the sound neither. Again, beautifully perfect.
It was the controls. Specifically, the jump button.
I agree with him and so do plenty of others in the Sonic fan community.
So why would Backbone get everything else right, and the most important element "gameplay", boned? Or BackBoned if you will. He! He! See what I did there?!?! ;)
So I fire up Digital Eclipse's Sega Genesis Collection for the PSP. Hmmm... Yeah, the button works perfectly awesome here. Sonic 1 & 2 play like a dream. BTW, I believe Digital Eclipse became Backbone. Interesting. I could be wrong. Hmm...
Then I had a thought. Maybe I'm incorrect here but I'm thinkin'...
The PSP uses digital button inputs for it's controls.
The PS3 on the other hand has pressure sensitive, analog buttons.
Sadly, it's like trying to play Sonic 1 and 2 with the analog stick, as opposed to the "digital input" d-Pad, which has no tension variable on the PS3 controller. Try it. You'll see what I mean. The lag you experience when controlling Sonic with the analog stick is exactly the same as when you hit an analog button to make our blue hero jump.
The 16-bit Sonic games, where built in the digital d-pad era. Today, we have a controller input which accepts analog variables on multiple levels.
When I hit my PSP digital jump button, Sonic accurately responds.
The pressure sensitivity of the PS3's button only responds to a jump command when the analog's button is fully pressed down. Thus, we have the crappy lag which does exist.
It's like the emulator's programming language was implemented without a variable of leeway.
B = Button
J = Jump
J = (B + 1) (full button press to initiate jump)
Thus that analog button must be pressed fully down to implement a full jump.
Maybe the formula should have taken into effect the analog values.
Maybe...
J = (B + (1 <= 0.25))
Thus Sonic would jump, even with the analog button pressed only a quarter of the way down to initiate the jump.
Look...
The reality is that I think it's awesome that this generation and future generations can re-experience the past. It's important for documentation and the evolution of the medium. Yet, to properly experience it, you may wanna get the original video game hardware and software. That is sadly becoming harder and harder.
To me this Sonic situation is the same thing I feel when I play, The Legend of Zelda: The ocarina of Time on my Wii.
Sure It's presented with high-res graphics and it's very easy to acquire on the Wii Shop Channel. Yet, I find it hell to play with either the classic controller or GameCube controller. That game was designed for the N64 controller.
The 16-bit Sonic games where built for a Sega Genesis digital controller.
End of Line.
A few posts ago, he told Sega and Backbone off for their Sonic 1 & 2 PlayStation 3 ports.
It wasn't because of the graphics. Yep, those look perfectly accurate.
It wasn't the sound neither. Again, beautifully perfect.
It was the controls. Specifically, the jump button.
I agree with him and so do plenty of others in the Sonic fan community.
So why would Backbone get everything else right, and the most important element "gameplay", boned? Or BackBoned if you will. He! He! See what I did there?!?! ;)
So I fire up Digital Eclipse's Sega Genesis Collection for the PSP. Hmmm... Yeah, the button works perfectly awesome here. Sonic 1 & 2 play like a dream. BTW, I believe Digital Eclipse became Backbone. Interesting. I could be wrong. Hmm...
Then I had a thought. Maybe I'm incorrect here but I'm thinkin'...
The PSP uses digital button inputs for it's controls.
The PS3 on the other hand has pressure sensitive, analog buttons.
Sadly, it's like trying to play Sonic 1 and 2 with the analog stick, as opposed to the "digital input" d-Pad, which has no tension variable on the PS3 controller. Try it. You'll see what I mean. The lag you experience when controlling Sonic with the analog stick is exactly the same as when you hit an analog button to make our blue hero jump.
The 16-bit Sonic games, where built in the digital d-pad era. Today, we have a controller input which accepts analog variables on multiple levels.
When I hit my PSP digital jump button, Sonic accurately responds.
The pressure sensitivity of the PS3's button only responds to a jump command when the analog's button is fully pressed down. Thus, we have the crappy lag which does exist.
It's like the emulator's programming language was implemented without a variable of leeway.
B = Button
J = Jump
J = (B + 1) (full button press to initiate jump)
Thus that analog button must be pressed fully down to implement a full jump.
Maybe the formula should have taken into effect the analog values.
Maybe...
J = (B + (1 <= 0.25))
Thus Sonic would jump, even with the analog button pressed only a quarter of the way down to initiate the jump.
Look...
The reality is that I think it's awesome that this generation and future generations can re-experience the past. It's important for documentation and the evolution of the medium. Yet, to properly experience it, you may wanna get the original video game hardware and software. That is sadly becoming harder and harder.
To me this Sonic situation is the same thing I feel when I play, The Legend of Zelda: The ocarina of Time on my Wii.
Sure It's presented with high-res graphics and it's very easy to acquire on the Wii Shop Channel. Yet, I find it hell to play with either the classic controller or GameCube controller. That game was designed for the N64 controller.
The 16-bit Sonic games where built for a Sega Genesis digital controller.
End of Line.
posted by Kelley at 11:46 PM
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