Another Super Fighter III/NTDEC connection

[codeman38]

I don't know how I'd forgotten about this till now, but...

In this thread about the music in NTDEC's War in the Gulf, several people commented on how the sound engine sounded very much like that in Street/Super Fighter III. Taizou also pointed out that the uppercase font from SF3 was very similar to that in NTDEC's Porter.

Well, I think I've finally closed the loop.

Take a look at the lowercase font from Super Fighter III:



Not only is it drastically different from the uppercase, it's quite literally ripped from Turbo Pascal's graphics library. Much like the uppercase font used in a bunch of NTDEC's games.


Edit: For comparison, the font from Turbo Pascal's EGAVGA.BGI, as viewed in a tile editor:



Incidentally, this font does not include any numbers or punctuation; Turbo Pascal simply uses the video card's ROM to generate those.

[Awesome Panda]

Comparing Super Fighter III to Fighting Hero III, I doubt that NTDEC themselves were involved in the production of SFIII but rather some developers who had left them went off to make their own company, which I suspect has something to do with them being sued by Nintendo. That'd probably explain why NTDEC produced fewer games from 1992 onwards.

BTW, that Turbo Pascal font was also used in the ending of Elfland, which I suspect is also associated with NTDEC employees. In fact, I just noticed (and was about to note on that topic you linked) that the intro music in that game sounds like an 8-bit rendition of I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, and as noted some NTDEC games used 8-bit renditions of non-VGM songs.

[KingPepe]

The legal action kicked in around 1993 which Master Fighter VI' was most likely already out by then with the SFIII sprites so I doubt it has to do with that.

[Awesome Panda]

KingPepe

Apr 23 2011, 04:48:51 PM

The legal action kicked in around 1993 which Master Fighter VI' was most likely already out by then with the SFIII sprites so I doubt it has to do with that.[/quote]If I remember correctly, Nintendo sued them in 1991, and won the court case in 1993. From reading the sources on BGW, 2 of their employees were arrested in 1991.

[KingPepe]

Wikipedia says that the legal action all happened in 1993.
...what the crap.

[Doomkid]

KingPepe

Apr 23 2011, 05:34:03 PM

Wikipedia says that the legal action all happened in 1993.
...what the crap.[/quote]Well, wikipedia is pretty inaccurate sometimes. This has bitten me in the ass time and time again, in school and out.. >_> I hate when facts are blurry.
But yeah, Fighting Hero 3 is garbage compared to SF3. Maybe two different companies used the same PC interfaces to develop their games..? Though it seems unlikely that they would ALSO use the same sound engine..

How do you 'develop' an NES sound engine anyway? Dont they all just use a noise channel, and the composers choice of triangle, square wave, etc etc.?
I mean the Hummer team games all use the same sound engine, and its obvious, but still.. Maybe its just the fault of the actual composers? Anyway, Im straying off topic, but I'd like to believe SF3 was developed by NTDEC. It would close that hole, at least.

EDIT: Also, this doesnt necessarily prove anything, but the NTDEC games always seem to use stolen music, that is sometimes actually done really well.. Whereas whoever made SF3 hardly had enough musical skill to put a few beeps together and keep them in-key, let alone steal someone elses music

[Awesome Panda]

Faceplant

Apr 23 2011, 11:50:05 PM

How do you 'develop' an NES sound engine anyway? Dont they all just use a noise channel, and the composers choice of triangle, square wave, etc etc.?[/quote]I'm no pro on the subject (the only experience I have programming NES sound is with FamiTracker) but from looking at some pirates I think it's possible to steal sound engines from other games. The 2000 version of Street Dance uses the Sunsoft sound engine, and Open Corp's games use the sound engine (and sound effects) from Tiny Toon Adventures.