#crtpixels

[crtpixels]

Gyruss (1988, Konami) - NES

Sharp Pixels vs. AV Famicom Composite via Sony KV-27S42

This one isn’t meant to be zoomed in on unless you want face full of warped corner convergence, but the Discord really liked this so I thought I’d share.

[jordanstarkweather]

Welcome! I wish it was under better circumstances, but I’m happy to see you! You may have known me by @jackal27 elsewhere. I’m still working on getting that username back here, but whatever.

[janetkwallace]

Inspired by @crtpixels, here are some screenshots of Mega Drive games, with raw pixels on the left and filtered on the right. Notice the transparency effect given by Blargg's NTSC filter and how there appears to be more colors displayed on screen.

[segacity]

This I'd like to see on @CRTpixels 'McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure' SEGA Mega Drive @TreasureCoLtd

[funlovingfuzzball]

For anyone else who actually wants to see more, the twitter account shown throughout is also @crtpixels on tumblr. You can follow this account right here in your faithful hellsite, not just in the website formerly known as twitter. Enjoy your new random blog to follow!

absolutely fascinated by this raw pixels on an emulator vs how the game was actually supposed to look on old tvs twitter

[autumn-likes-her-stuff]

word begin blargh honk.

good morning, vomit start now.

the things that are made in this era of life is simple, digital, and are cheap. because this world now has this mentality that things need to be this simple, we begin to lose sight of how things used to be made, and the advantages of em. for example, tvs now are made flat, are less blurry, and are a panel of individually lit pixels that can create their own images and light. cathode ray tube tvs (to be referred as crts later) use a laser to scan across a filter of little dots of colors that light up quickly, n most of the time their glass is naturally curved. “...artifacts of the crt’s materiality that were once a major part of our visual culture and collective subconscious--have been replaced by digital counterparts: broken and bleeding pixels, “so signal” screens, error messages and system crashes.” (https://www.jstor.org/stable/43832708)

the reason im so infatuated with how the old ways work is due to both me being curious n them having a flavor that is simply impossible to replicate. when consuming older media with newer technology, a bit of the charm and magic it once had is lost by viewing it through a modern lens (or screen lol). lemme give u an example. below is an example of a game from 1992 called pocky n rocky. the top image is how the game would appear on a flat panel display, like a tv or a phone screen. below is how it would appear on a crt.

(source: https://twitter.com/CRTpixels/status/1550240724658135041) the crt image softens up the image and gives the blocky gradients a sense of depth and makes them look like actual art pieces instead of the blocky video game look the flat panel image provides. to perfectly replicate how the crt looks is nigh impossible due to how they are made. i love using old technology because it gives an image that simply is impossible to recreate and can only be truly experienced with the proper hardware.

i plan to go into detail on what makes this kind of old technology work, and how it appears like this was easier to make before than what we have now. this can range from just technology existing to how media was created to fit what used to be the standard. its fun hehe.

[trash64]

Screenshots of Shiren The Wanderer 2: Oni Invasion! Shiren Castle! (2000, Chunsoft)

Screen captures sourced from CRTpixels, this account run by Jackal27 compares screenshots of games between the sharp pixels with the blended or interlaced output of CRT displays.

Picture 1, 3 & 5 display hard pixels

Picture 2 displays Shiren using a N64 S-Video via Sony KV-27S42

Pictures 4 & 6 displays a cat and Koppa using N64 S-Video via Sony PVM-20L2MD

[crtter]

Other cool aspects of sprite art seen through a CRT monitor: transparency REALLY looked transparent given the fuzz, as seen here on these palm trees from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (also note how much more harmonious the lighting on the palm trees look!)

The natural rounded “warping” of a CRT TV screen also was taken into account to make “trippy” levels in games extra trippy! You can see the optical illusion effect made by the coloring choices in this stage of Life Force no matter if you look at the raw pixels or the screen, but its definitely emphasized on the latter.

The fuzz and the more washed out coloring also served as what we’d call a “filter” today. It made relatively simple, “sharp” pixel art look much smoother, as if it the colors had been blended, achieving a distinctive faux 3D look seen here in Sonic & Knuckles and Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I personally love how the bricks look in the second one. They truly turn into a gradient!

This same effect also made darker palettes look lighter! This one is Vagrant Story, for the PS1, for an example of how playing around with the “limitations” of CRT monitors effect was still in vogue even when 3D games became a thing.

[crtpixels]

Street Fighter Alpha 2 (1996, Capcom) - SNES

Sharp Pixels vs. SNES S-Video via Sony KV-27S42

I’m a bit rusty, but trying to get back in the saddle. Street Fighter Alpha 2’s SNES port has been really impressing me lately, what an accomplishment.

[jordanstarkweather]

About 6 months ago @crtpixels reached our NES flash cart donation goal, but they were never in stock.

So, rather than wait any more I got myself an early Christmas present! Now I can post AV Famicom examples AND we’ve got our NES flash cart!

[boktai]

I NEED A BIG CRT TV! I WANNA PLAY SHITTY OLD PS2 GAMES SO BAD

[averagefungus]

This is the Big Screen version of pixel art on CRT televisions, where the bleed between pixels was expected and thus planned with. If you would like a more in-depth view of this, I grabbed the first image of draculas eyes from https://www.tumblr.com/crtpixels , who has fantastic comparisons. Unfortunately I think they’re more active on Twitter, but even just looking up CRT vs pixels can get you a lot. The waterfalls in classic sonic games are also an incredible example for this.

I am in love w the way pre 2000s films have that hazy feel to them. hd honestly kills the vibe

[alexis-dot-com]

give me scan-lines or give me death

All images from @CRTpixels on Twitter.

[lesbianchemicalplant]

Final Fantasy VI (1994, Square) - SNES

Over the last few days I have seen these examples lifted from @ruuupu1 and shared across multiple websites without credit.

If you happen see these anywhere, please credit them. This stuff is hard work.

– posted by CRT Pixels (twitter: @CRTpixels), June 20th 2021

[xbuster]

The amount Dracula’s eyes should bleed is honestly really debatable. What you’re seeing on CRTpixels is because of some pretty terrible composite cables that cause more pixel bleeding than they probably should. I prefer a more moderate amount of pixel bleeding. CRTpixels is really interesting, but people are too quick to cite them for how games “should” look, but the problem is they use setups with tons of different cables, CRTs, and settings so there’s no one universal setup that gives you the “desired” look they show for different games. I think it’s a great example of why people should consider playing old games on CRTs or emulate them with CRT shaders, but trying to replicate what they show off on that account is futile.

This is how I play old video games now.

Shader-less version for comparison:

[crtpixels]

Street Fighter Alpha 2 (1996, Capcom) - Arcade

Sharp Pixels vs. MiSTer YPbPr via JVC AV-20D202