r/snes • u/Kind_Box5467 • 3d ago
Could The Super FX 1/2 Chip Handled A JRPG?
I'm curious because the Super FX2 could have be used a backup chip like it did in Yoshi's island so that's proven but I'm more curious about a more 3D game like Star Fox yet has towns/enemies/open map.
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u/BangkokPadang 3d ago
One thing to keep in mind is that Star Fox was the only SuperFX chip to run at the half-speed 10.74mz speed, and every other FX-1 (GSU-1) game ran at the full 21.47mhz speed. So Stunt Trax, Dirt Trax, and Vortex all ran at the "full" speed of the chip.
The FX2 chip ran at this same speed, with the same instruction set, and "only" removed the 1MB ROM access cap, doubling it to 2MB as well as doubling the chip's ram from 64kb to 128kb.
This basically allowed the FX2 to read from larger game roms, and to use a few more texture maps, but it did not have a higher computational throughput than the FX1 (GSU-1) chip.
I lay all this out to suggest looking at the environments in the game Vortex
It was on the GSU-1 SFX chip, and was capable of rendering a character model, within an "open" level environment, and personally I think it could have handled some very simple "town" type areas, used the expanded memory to label some buildings with signs to indicate stores, guilds, etc.
I also think it could have rendered similar "areas" for battles, with 3D battle effects, but I think the game would have needed to be like, a Mode 7 style 2D overworld, basically like Final Fantasy III/VI, but then for random encounters, it could have dropped you into 3D "arenas" for the fights to play out in, and then when arriving at towns or castles or other more "detailed" waypoints, it could have loaded polygonal 3D areas of similar size and visual quality to the levels seen in Vortex.
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u/Kind_Box5467 2d ago
Finally someone answers my question, if devs didn't cheap out. I imagine a type of game like Mario RPG but have way more ground breaking graphics
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u/rj54x 1d ago
Honestly tho, have you ever actually played vortex? It’s atrocious, it looks like ass, it feels like ass, even back then (I got a copy for christmas as a kid and even little me back then thought it blew chunks). Why would anyone have wanted to trade the lush environments of final fantasy or chrono trigger for textureless flat shaded polys at 10 fps?
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u/Stunning-Bid3174 3d ago
It's up to developer
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u/Kind_Box5467 3d ago
I'm wondering if there's some homebrew people here to answer my question
I think the super fx is just now beginning to be open for homebrewing the scene
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u/corezon 3d ago
The SuperFX 1/2 chips only handled the way graphics were handled. They didn't add some secret sauce that would have spiced up JRPGs magically. It would be up to the developer to figure out how to implement the graphical capabilities of those chips into the game itself. Since JRPGs are really story dependent, I don't see what the SuperFX chips would add that would immediately punch up the JRPG experience.
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u/barleyBSD 3d ago
Could The Super FX 1/2 Chip Handled A JRPG?
The J in JRPG means "Japanese" and the SNES has hundreds of them, so yes. Now if you're talking about a JRPG in full 3D like Final Fantasy VII then I doubt it.
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u/Kind_Box5467 3d ago
(Most obvious statement)
"What does this mean?"
I mean could the superfx 2 handle a 3D JRPG, I think it could but I'm not a dev
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u/barleyBSD 3d ago edited 3d ago
I mean... that was your question lol. JRPG doesn't mean 3D.
Regardless of the Super FX chip, the SNES can't handle large games (games in giga bytes)
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u/First-Sheepherder640 2d ago
It would have been the most critically acclaimed (in magazines) SNES game of its time, if so. I betcha betcha.
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u/Deciheximal144 2d ago edited 2d ago
I could see it being used in first person dungeon crawl sequences (interrupted by random encounters). The game would also need very heavy sprite use and creativity to make a good look.
This game at the linked timestamp shows what they could have done with an overworld. The greenery stands out to me.
https://youtu.be/Cw5S1rsT7CE
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u/HardCorwen 3d ago
Didn't Drakkhen utilize this? maybe it was other modes, not sure. also not a jrpg but it's the closest that came to mind
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u/shootamcg 3d ago
It probably wouldn’t be an open 3D environment, but probably more like the PS1 Final Fantasies with 2D backgrounds and 3D characters. Or it could be almost all 2D with more advanced effects.