Compare This! - L.A. Machineguns (Wii vs. Supermodel)

[@Midekai]

Me and my dad used to play the hell out of these games in the arcades, especially at dave n busters when it comes to LA machine guns.. I was surprised they took the time to port these two to the wii of all consoles, and even surprised LA Machine guns was even somewhat close looking to the arcade. Most dreamcast and gamecube games spec wise wouldn't be able to perfectly convert model 2 arcade games without some noticeable cut backs!

[@mattc2306]

I remember playing this in a skating rink a long time ago.

[@trzy]

One of my very favorite Model 3 games. Very cool comparison. Is the Wii emulation accurate, though? The explosions among other things look too dark. Hard to believe the developers overlooked that. Supermodel still has some shading problems that are quite evident here, namely on NPCs, which appear un-shaded. It's also unclear what the Yosemite stage should like. In order to improve other games, we unfortunately had to implement logic that happens to make that stage look brighter than I think it really is, but it's been a long time since I've seen an actual arcade version for reference. On the plus side, Supermodel's levels have some geometry that was omitted from the Wii version (e.g., the Coca-Cola bottle in the Las Vegas stage) probably for copyright reasons. There is also no spotlight effect around the explosions on Wii and the developers did not implemented color cycling on some object textures (e.g., enemies' eyes, traffic lights, vehicle blinkers).

[@OldsXCool]

Is the Wii emulation accurate? I would say definitely not. Even with Supermodel's shading issues it still looks miles better than the Wii version. The sound balance is also much better on Supermodel. Everything is so dark and dull on the Wii. The funny thing is that it's the exact opposite for Gunblade NY. The Wii version has a brightness haze compared to the Model 2 emulator which washes out the color a bit. Maybe I'll make a video on that one too.

[@trzy]

I mean relative to the Wii version running on actual hardware. Could it be Dolphin itself causing the shading problems?

[@OldsXCool]

Oh no I'm sorry I misunderstood you. The Wii footage in this video was captured with real Wii hardware using the actual game. There is no emulation of the Wii hardware here. I thought you meant the emulation of the Model 3 hardware on the Wii. Most of the time games like these that are released on consoles are often times just emulating the hardware that originally ran it instead of being ported. Poor emulation can cause things like strange colors, missing effects, muffled sound, and poor frame rates. That's what I was referring to. When it comes to console games I never use emulation. If I don't have the real hardware for the game I don't show it because my channel is for true reference. I obviously had to use emulation on the Model 3 version, but that's why I say "Wii vs. Supermodel" instead of "Wii vs Arcade" or "Wii vs. Model 3" since Supermodel is the closest thing most of us will ever have to the arcade.

[@trzy]

Ahhh very interesting, indeed! So you used a capture card? I just assumed it was being run on a Wii emulator. Thanks for doing this comparison! The Wii version is not an emulation but a port. Should have been straightforward to get it right, so I'm quite surprised they shipped it with what looks to me like a fairly glaring problem. The explosions at least should have been corrected.

[@OldsXCool]

BartTrzynadlowski Yeah if this is a port it's an extremely lazy one for sure. However I can say that if you never saw it next to the Supermodel emulator and hadn't played the arcade in a long time that the Wii version looks passable. I thought that maybe perhaps Model 3 games just didn't look as good as I remember. When I captured this game for my channel when I first got it that I was taken back on how dark L.A. Machineguns was. I didn't think much of it until I played it in Supermodel and I was like "Whoa, that's how I remember it looking!".

[@BadBoysRP]

Does the game "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" work on the Wii?

[@raiverns9620]

wow the wii version is almost a crime

[@OldsXCool]

Yeah it's not as good as the arcade version but it is still extremely fun.

[@BadBoysRP]

What is the emulator??

[@OldsXCool]

This is not an emulator that runs on the Wii. The emulator used is on PC and is called Supermodel.