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Wii

MDK2 Video Comparison: DC Vs. Wii

by Jared Rosenberg - May 9, 2011, 11:32 pm EDT
Total comments: 10

Does MDK2 look better on the Dreamcast or on the Wii? Come inside to find out. 

MDK2 originally launched on the Dreamcast on March 31, 2000. Ten years later, it is available for download on WiiWare for 1,000 Wii Points. Have the graphics aged gracefully? Does the Wii excel at rendering a cigar-smoking mechanical dog? Take a look at the video below and judge for yourself. 

Note: The Dreamcast footage was captured using composite cables, while the Wii footage was captured with component cables. If I had access to Dreamcast VGA cables, the footage for the system may have looked a bit sharper with more accurate color. The Dreamcast video has been edited to remove load times and the audio comes from the Wii version. Also, the top video is Wii and the bottom one is Dreamcast.

Talkback

broodwarsMay 10, 2011

Can you do an audio comparison?  You don't say which version the audio comes from, and given the issues with Monkey Island's audio that would be important.  I also assume that the top video is the Wii version (due to the reticule and widescreen support) whereas the Dreamcast version is the bottom video?

Quote from: broodwars

Can you do an audio comparison?  You don't say which version the audio comes from, and given the issues with Monkey Island's audio that would be important.  I also assume that the top video is the Wii version (due to the reticule and widescreen support) whereas the Dreamcast version is the bottom video?

While I believe I read somewhere that the audio took a slight downgrade, everything you hear in the video is from the Wii version. I'm not sure I'll have a chance to make a audio comparison, but I will note any sound quality difference in the review. You are correct about the top being the Wii version. I could have placed the titles a bit better.

BlackNMild2k1May 10, 2011

I was gonna mention the confusion as to which video was which at first, but you guys already mentioned that.

But MDK doesn't look anything like I thought it looked back in the day (I never played it... never owned a DC or a PS2) and it looks and sounds like a cheesy 70's SciFi film. Not sure if that'a a good thing or not. but it was popular enough to bring back, so it couldn't have been that bad.

famicomplicatedJames Charlton, Associate Editor (Japan)May 10, 2011

No shadows or lighting effects on the Wii version...interesting.


I played this on a super-powered PC (at the time) and I remember being impressed with the graphics (at the time).
I never even knew there was a Dreamcast version!


Certainly is an interesting choice to bring to WiiWare, I wonder if there are any other old PC games that could be squeezed into 40mb.

MorariMay 10, 2011

The Dreamcast natively outputs everything at 640x480. Getting the VGA adapter is the only way to play, especially when comparing graphics.

CericMay 10, 2011

Did anyone  else notice that in the DC the yellow stuff was covered with a grate and that was missing in the Wii version?

NemoMay 10, 2011

The Wii video looks like it's a 4:3 image, stretched out to 16:9.

Is there real support for widescreen in the game?

SeacorMay 10, 2011

Actually, not bad considering the file size limit.  Next time you do a console port to Wiiware video comparison, please add a note that there is a 40 MB Wiiware size cap limit and the developers can only do so much.

DiscostewMay 12, 2011

On the PC, the whole game was a little more than 200MB, with the compressed streamed music taking up around 83MB alone. With converting to a 40MB WiiWare title, it's expected that some things won't be included, and others with their quality lowered. Still rather amazing if you ask me.

BranDonk KongMay 13, 2011

I know the PC version ran in widescreen. Anyway, kind of an unfair comparison since the Dreamcast version is running in 480i over composite video, even S-video would have looked significantly better.

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