CkRtech wrote:Nice work.
What are your opinions on the displays as well as the CGA vs EGA on the T5100 plasma screen? I see the noticeable differences, but I imagine (as with all pictures of a display) it is better to see it in person.
Thanks!
Metal Mutant looks the best on T5100 screen in CGA mode. That's because it then maps 4 colours to 4 intensities and game looks best. EGA mode tries to dither 16 EGA colors to map them onto 4 shades and it looks off. Dithering on T3100 is interesting and actually quite well done - but I'd still go for that CGA version on EGA plasma screen. Personally, I have a soft spot towards dithered CGA, as my first PC was AT with Hercules and I played games using simcga, which dithered CGA colours to display them on monochrome amber screen. So for me playing on T3100 is a bit of a trip down the memory lane. Objectively, though, T5100 screen is superior.
And the best ones are plasma VGA screens on T3200SX and T5200. Sixteen intensities make these EGA and CGA games look good (Loom EGA, for example). I actually played a bit of Wolfenstein, too, just for fun. That said your mileage might vary. Also, when these screens get old and are nearing the end of their life cycle (MTTF for them is about ten thousand hours of operation), they start showing more artifacts, like intensity change based on other pixels in line or column or occasional sparks appearing here and there at random. So plasma screen of older type but well preserved may look better than newer type that has been used a lot and is now slowly nearing end of its life. My T5200 doesn't look that great, despite theoretically being the newest and most advanced (VGA).
