Surround Sound On Retro Video Game Consoles

Did you know that a bunch of old consoles-at least as far back as the Super Nintendo-are capable of surround sound? Let's talk a bit about how it works and how you can make use of it!
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[@lilnoobito]

I’m so glad this is finally being talked about. For a lot of the enthusiast space is saturated with great video/ visual information. Yet Audio deep dives are practically unheard of ( ha). Thank you so much for this video

[@perpetualcollapse]

Fr, people using scalers and mods and stuff but end up using their tv speakers lol. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s kinda funny imo.

[@StephanieHua]

Playing Super Metroid with Stereo on a surround sound setup. I got the Varia suit and the "explosion" sound effect blew me away.

[@retroadam6534]

I just hooked up my 4.1 in my gaming room and that's the first game I plugged in. CLASSIC

[@OM19_MO79]

Something else that many don’t talk about even though is part of the standard, is that the surround sound systems are not only backwards compatible, they’re also forwards compatible... up to a point. A Dolby Surround processor can handle Pro-Logic, it downmixes from 4.1 to 3.0. The original Xbox was capable to downmix Dolby Digital 5.1 to 4.1 so analog surround sound systems could still process rear L and R as rear L+R. However, when we reach Pro-Logic II is when the compatibility is broken. Pro-Logic II rear L and R can’t be processed as one, instead, only rear L goes to both rear speakers. In Outrun 2 when connected with the optic output you can hear the passing cars in the corresponding rear speakers. When using the analog audio output you can still hear all the passing cars on the rear speakers. However, when the same game is played on the 360, which converts Dolby Digital to Pro-Logic II to analog output, you will only hear the passing cars from one of the sides and not both when using a Dolby Surround 3.0 system.

[@MythicResonance]

This is fascinating, thank you. This is the kind of thing we need to be documenting for the future in a place like the console mods wiki or something.

[@minimme]

nice video! I gotta play around with some of this stuff. I also need those posters lol

[@ImmortalGodEmperor]

thanks so much for this video, if audio is talked about on retro consoles, it's usually their technical specifications and not how to get the most out of them unlike video, which as you pointed out has tons of great resources

[@themegaman91965]

I came to your video for this! I have just setup a 5.1 system, and I thought to myself "How will I get that surround sound in Donkey Kong 64, or that Banjo game?" I didn't even know Ocarina of Time snuck that option in! I think I'm gonna give this a shot with my Retrotink hooked up to the usual stereo, and see how the magic of analog surround works here! Now I know what to do! Thanks for the video!!

[@Gamez4eveR]

audio is criminally underlooked in gaming. High end gaming is not truly high end without a proper surround speaker setup. headphones can never compete

[@adamk8639]

My favourites that I played were King Arthur's World and Jurassic Park 2. Especially in one of the levels of Jurassic Park II where you're going through a dark area and velociraptors can jump out from anywhere, the surround made it extra atmospheric.

[@hotdogcandy]

Thank for this video! I was wondering how I can use the surround sound audio with my Super NT! And I agree. Channels like MyLifeinGaming and RetroRGB should go over audio more. They have amazing channels nonetheless.

[@pumpingiron-5]

Great video, very knowledgeable. You deserve alot more followers!

[@-LOTO-]

What do you MEAN this video only has 460 views? I can't believe nobody ever told me about this before what the hell have I been missing out on all this time

[@AmberShort]

I wanted to try making something surround on the SNES so what better way was to compose the Q Sound jingle that Capcom used and compose on it on the SNES. It came out pretty good but it mostly outputs the reverb delay on the back. The SNES surround is mostly pseudo surround but it's still pretty neat.

[@MythicResonance]

that rules!!!

[@09Er1c09]

Great video man!, I find so advanced that in SNES we had these capalities, alghought im a bit dissapointed that even to this day most of us dont have a proper setup to get this quality in audio, its a feature thats not really taken advantage of and it would make it sooooo much more enyojable.

[@gabsterz180]

dude love this i got into surround sound when trying to combine my tv speakers and 2 sterio speakers to make a 5.0 system made it and it works great on old emulators so i can enjoy these games how they were fully intended

[@dyllburg]

Flame video - Thank you!

[@HarmoniChris]

Cool info, I didn't know about any of this until clicking on your video.

[@patohordas]

Me hubiera gustado vivir en los 90s y haber sacado ese provecho en esos tiempos. Tiene que haber sido revolucionario en su tiempo el sonido envolvente

[@MythicResonance]

¡Yo también! Es divertido de imaginar.

[@Palendrome]

Most of us were too poor to have badass setups like this

[@CrocoDylianVT]

Something interesting is the PS2 supporting surround through an optical cable because both RCA and Component support Stereo only PS2 may've not been the most powerful console in terms of raw power with both the GameCube and Xbox being much more powerful it definitely was ahead of its time in terms of features I haven't seen optical cables going mainstream (at least in my country) untill just a few years ago, and yet, PS2 was doing it 23 years ago Another funny thing is the 3DS supporting surround, with its only audio output being just the audio jack or the speakers of the console itself

[@Darkangel754]

The original Xbox also had optical audio, it was built into the official component cable adapter. The Xbox was the only console at the time that actually supported Dolby Digital 5.1 playback in games.

[@MusicalBulbear]

starfox 64 and ocarina of time have really good dolby surround. I only use headphones, but it sounds great

[@eddievhfan1984]

1:08 More specifically, the Center channel's equally transmitted in-phase on each stereo cable, and the Surround channel is 90° out-of-phase on each stereo cable (+90 on one side, -90 on the other). Adding the left-total and right-total channels in-phase gets you your Center signal, and adding them out-of-phase cancels everything but the Surround signal.

[@glitchwolfe]

Wait WHAT this is incredible?? I've been setting up my retro consoles in stereo for years because I thought surround didn't matter. Time to pick up another receiver for the retro room...

[@MythicResonance]

Yes . . . YES . . .

[@delacosta78]

Take a look at my KZbin playlists featuring Dolby Surround: Dolby Surround and Pro Logic II games: kzbin.info/aero/PLz7DJWigAF9cRbiUAciEtA7APHTv88Zsl Dolby Surround Mix: kzbin.info/aero/PLz7DJWigAF9cesBKSad3L9-KiP54yT8Lj

[@retropulse03]

I'm curious if you have made any further progress in researching this subject. It's crazy, but there's not a lot of great documentation on what games are surround capable, and I'm not sure why. Just given the obsessive nature of the passionate retro-gaming fanbase, it's shocking that it's not in a wiki somewhere haha. I've been aware this was a thing for years, but I only now have a really nice surround setup and while XSX and PS5 w/ Dolby Atmos is beautiful, my heart always runs back to the "Bit" eras of gaming.

[@carlwells9504]

Yup used to use Prologic on my old HT and the N64

[@HBOMBforPresident]

Great video! I have been searching for a receiver with some of the specifications you mentioned for retro gaming and I'm curious what you think about the Sony STR-DA3300ES.

[@MythicResonance]

I actually had one of these for a little while! I picked it up at a thrift store, however, and I could never get it to make any kind of sound. Probably fixable, but I'm not the kind of person who's comfortable to go sticking a soldering iron near anything with that much power on tap lol. So I returned that and kept the STR-DA1ES I have now. Honestly, I know people debate about which "tier" of ES receivers are deserving of the badge or not, but I think anything with an ES badge on it is going to be a damn good receiver regardless. I think a 3300 would serve you extremely well for retro media!

[@lorddalek]

@2:50 Sega could have easily encoded their redbook audio tracks with LTRT matrix information (hell the PC-Engine was able to pull it off years earlier with Super Darius!) but just simply chose not to.

[@ronaldhenson3379]

Totally yes I think its worth playing all super Nintendo entertainment system and Nintendo super Famicom games in surround sound

[@nathanielenochs1843]

I played Sonic Adventure on PC and I even noticed that Dreamcast title also has Surround Sound

[@marinellovragovic1207]

Very important information here: The PS2 had games that utilized Dolby Digital 5.1 over Toslink. There is only one I know of myself and it was the only one I ever cared about: Klonoa 2. But there are certainly more games

[@chrisfratz]

From what I understand it's mainly just used in cutscenes for the audio doesn't have to be generated by the system itself. The PS2 also supported DTS interactive which was a four-channel format that used the front stereo and rear speakers.

[@MythicResonance]

Yeah, I found out later that some PS2 games list Dolby Digital on the box but it's for video playback, not gameplay. Klonoa 2 is an incredible game btw, I think I might even like it more than the original!

[@MythicResonance]

@@chrisfratz Yeah! EA Big's re-imagining of Sled Storm did this, which was my first time encountering it.

[@marinellovragovic1207]

@@MythicResonance the game utilizes it in realtime through all of the gameplay, albeit a bit primitively. If you find yourself in a location where there is reverb, be it a cave or some other closed off space, that reverb is played back on the rear. Other than that, the normal, as well as the dynamic music is played as a 5.1 mix with certain instruments slightly prefering certain speakers. The first time I played through Klonoa 2, it was hooked to my 5.1's. Actually it was the first ever game I played with Surround. You certainly don't want to look back. I can't imagine how playing with positional 5.1 would feel...

[@hellbillymods45]

Yeah dude, there's not a lot out there about this. I tried a few times to get into a home theater setup with my retro consoles not knowing much and there was so little information, I gave up. A couple of years went by and I'm at it again, a bit more persistent this time around. I think I got the gist of it, I'm looking at a Sony STR-DE875, but still researching about it.

[@MythicResonance]

That oughta do it!

[@hellbillymods45]

@@MythicResonance It did, we got it all working and now enjoying surround sound on everything, the PC, game consoles, VHS player, etc. Never looked back. Thank you!

[@MythicResonance]

@@hellbillymods45 Awesome, I'm so glad!!

[@Wolfstanus]

Some sega cd games do support surround sound.

[@Alianger]

Would it be possible to upload the surround sound output on YT so we can test it without the game?

[@MesonW]

I was heading down this path a little while back, hoping to get the Dolby surround of retro games played under emulation. I'm talking SNES games running on an emulator on Xbox Series, connected via HDMI to a TV and then via eARC to a 5.1 AVR capable of processing Dolby Surround. The only way to get this to work was to configure the Xbox Series to output stereo only. If it output 5.1, the AVR would receive 5 channels, 3 of which were empty. If it output 2.0, the AVR would receive 2 channels and process the Dolby Pro logic inverted sound and send them to the rears. Which seemed rather counterintuitive lol

[@MythicResonance]

Good to know!!

[@GooseDaPlaymaker]

Very informative video! I have a question for you: I have a number of different consoles, but the audio is either ouputting via HDMI (example: a PS1 with a PS1Digital mod where all audio signals are being piped directly from the PS1 hardware via HDMI) or TOSLINK (example: PS2 connected via component cables for video but Optical out cord to HDTV for audio). I want to buy a great set of wireless gaming headphones (I'm thinking Arctis Nova Pro Wireless), but I need to be able to connect them to all of my consoles. My thoughts? I'm thinking a Console (w/HDMI out) to HDMI Audio Extractor...I'm thinking HDFury VRROOM 8K? (w/HDMI out) to Denon or Yamaha A/V Receiver (w/RCA to 3.5mm out) to Arctis Nova Pro Base Station. And for the Optical out consoles, I'd have a seperate TOSLINK splitter that would go to that A/V Receiver and RCA-to-3.5mm output to the Base Station, as well. I'm a noob at this stuff, so feel free to correct me all day long. Thanks in advance!

[@MythicResonance]

So to clarify, you have all these consoles running into a receiver currently, and just want to get the audio sent from all of those sources to a pair of wireless headphones? If that's the case, you may not need an extractor, most receivers can downmix to stereo for headphones on their own. Depending on your receiver, you might be able to set your headphones as a Zone 2 via bluetooth and just have everything routed that way through bluetooth.

[@GooseDaPlaymaker]

@@MythicResonance Oh no...😅 Maybe I should've been clear: I do have those consoles, but I don't have any of those components I mentioned (VRROOM, Arctis Nova Pro, AV Receiver, etc). However, you did bring up a good point: I don't necessarily need the VROOM if I have a good AV Receiver. And you mentioned the headphones...are there no headphones that would reproduce the AV Receiver goodness at the highest levels?! Thanks for the insight!

[@CowboyJMB]

Does anyone know how well the newer Dolby Surround Upmixer on newer receievers works with the older Dolby ProLogic games?

[@chungus1149]

Whats so wild to me is that there is no good software dolby pro logic decoder available for emulation. My modern soundsystem isn't backwards compatible with pro logic II so I'm just kind of locked out

[@logasama]

you video needs more views, now o know how snes has dolby soround, and its not a lie of marketing. so its "hide" in one of the 2 channels, and if you put that audios rca conector to a decoder, (like a home theater) you get 4 channels audios? in result you have soround sound?. amazing. now i subscribe. and you right, theres not so much info about this.

[@hypnoz7871]

Matrixed surround formats like Dolby Surround/Pro Logic are kinda obscure nowadays since now everything has discrete 5.1 or 7.1 minimum. But for retro enjoyment of games and especially movies it is must have. Dolby Surround 4.0 mixes for movies like Star Wars uttely destroy the modern 5.1 remix.

[@pokepress]

The Genesis can send sound to the rear, but I think it requires the use of two of the six channels on the sound chip.

[@MythicResonance]

Do you have any more info on this? I've never heard it but it sounds fascinating

[@pokepress]

@@MythicResonance So, on the Genesis, sound channels are panned either 100% left, center, or 100% right. If you want anything in-between, you have to use two channels to produce the same sound at different volumes. Likewise, if you want to put sound in the rear channel, you'd put the same sound in two channels but invert one of them.

[@MythicResonance]

@@pokepress For real?? That explains so much, I didn't know that at all, thank you!

[@gabsterz180]

also resident evil 2 the original game had surround sound yes but only in 1 port of the game the nintendo 64 port all other versions of re2 did not have surround sound

[@MythicResonance]

Correct! Chris Huelsbeck is a genius.

[@gabsterz180]

Facts but pleaseee do a vedio on portable console surround sound

[@martinlutchens6468]

Ne snes on av Receiver weri cool olt av mit Dolby Pro Logic anlorg super

[@phillipallen5564]

how did you make your reciever say dolby surround retro like that

[@MythicResonance]

I just change the name of that input channel to "Retro" in the menu, and set it to decode dolby surround.

[@perpetualcollapse]

Based

[@gabsterz180]

update useing snes9x with wave out at playback rate of 48 buffer 64 inputrate 31900 i have found a way to recreate the surround sound found in snes games :) took alot of time and work but useing these settings iv gotten my 5.1 dolby atmos system to transcode dolby surround perfectly i love it so much in f-zero and super turrican 1 and 2 they sound fantastic being able to actually hear thangs behind me with such old software is insaine i thought dolby surround would just fake surround with sterio happy to report i was wrong

[@gabsterz180]

if anyone could reccomend some cool games that dont say they have dolby with snes but do support it please let me know iv already found f-zero dose use the rear channels yet its not documented anywhare

[@nathanielenochs1843]

Stay Safe

[@Alyxandr]

I don't suppose there's a Dolby Pro Logic II AV receiver that has plenty of composite, S-video, component, and HDMI inputs with no latency out there, right?

[@MythicResonance]

Realistically I wouldn't want to use a receiver like that, because the scaling for retro game video signals would be atrocious. You'd be better served with something like a RetroTink 5x.

[@Alyxandr]

@@MythicResonance Okay! I have a receiver with only composite/S-video inputs and Pro Logic I, so I'm just tryin to see if an upgrade that accommodates both retro games and current gen games was feasible. I've been wanting to get my hands on a RetroTink-5X for a while now! :D

[@MythicResonance]

@@Alyxandr ahh, gotcha! yeah, i'd go with a new receiver, just make sure it doesn't have the infamous "hdmi 2.1" bug if you plan on using it with a PS5, XSX, or PC! then use something like a retrotink, ossc, etc. to run from your consoles into the receiver. I've found that most modern receivers frustratingly don't even do any A/D conversion, meaning s-video in can only go out via s-video as well, same goes for composite and component, meaning that even if you did want to use your receiver as a scaler, it won't convert any of those analogue signals to HDMI. :(