Why Did PS1 Games Do That Jitter Thing?

[@sentientbacteria5633]

“The PS1 doesn’t understand Fractions.” I feel that brother 😔

[@HeterosexuaI]

embarrassing

[@hayato8452]

Seriously, who does?

[@leviathan1082]

Educated people ​@@hayato8452

[@Therealbazelgeuse]

I do

[@cyceryx]

​@@hayato8452im in calc 2 and i messed up a step with basic fractions while integrating last week :3 nobody truly does

[@rodrigo3732]

I love videogame limitations that become aesthetics.

[@burnttoast26]

Silent Hill fog too

[@CyberneticEden]

Born of necessity, but evolves out of love lol

[@Lost_n_Found_1]

Same. Growing up with NES and OG GB helped me truly appreciate the ingenuity and beauty of limitations.

[@kedra4906]

Pixels?

[@marvelouschester3018]

@@kedra4906?

[@JordanLester13]

I think Ultrakill features a graphic setting called "Vertex aliasing" that (and i'm speculating) makes the vertices snap to a grid of sorts, and I find the whole idea so fascinating. I think it's charming that a lot of indie games these days want to feature what was once an artifact of cheap hardware to be nostalgic.

[@socksleeve]

Creator of ultrakill said it was specifically done to emulate ps1 graphics, hell there are even specific options to increase and decrease the amount of warping

[@InnuendoXP]

BallisticNG too, I love it personally, feels a bit like I'm getting a distorted view of some alternate dimension.

[@JordanLester13]

@@socksleeve I love how it's a slider, it's like "make it as messed up as you want". You can change the graphics to be so bad, it makes a prescription of H54.2 lenses look like a fresh pair of eyes in comparison.

[@skapaloka222]

yeah but something interesting is that the effect is only imitated! every vertex is snapped to a grid still, but its a 2d grid relative to the camera instead of the world/level grid that the game likely runs with. it becomes very clear when the setting is turned to higher levels

[@taibasarovadil]

the exact same thing with guitar distortion - it started as a thing amps do when they are damaged but now its beloved and used literally fucking everywhere. "the moment it can be avoided, people will try to emulate it"

[@somethingaboutgaming.2538]

Imagine telling that adorable little racoon that you could give them their arm back at any time, but choose not to because it looks cool lmfao

[@moonadoo1006]

Where the music called

[@MegaManXPoweredUp]

​@@moonadoo1006I don't know the exact name, but it is from either the Tekken 1 or Tekken 2 OST.

[@BotulinSpikedMarzipan]

There's a reason I don't cripple my OCs. The reason is that I don't have the heart to be heartless.

[@spritemon98]

I immediately love this raccoon girl's design

[@Wahmageddon]

Would

[@Rick0809v4]

Azumi and the Verticle Slice

[@randomazzy11]

​@@Wahmageddonwhat.

[@SeralthSparro]

​@@randomazzy11you heard the man. Would. I second his statement.

[@Old_Man_Miku]

​@@SeralthSparro Beastiality is a crime

[@azuredragonofnether5433]

I think the same can be said about RuneScape: the models also seem to use whole numbers to not tax the RAMs by the browers too much, as well as using no smooth animations. And it has stood that way since even beyond Old School RuneScape, unless using RuneLite's smooth animation plug-in.

[@PopStrikers]

Old School RuneScape DID look pretty similar, didn’t it?

[@puffsniffy6425]

Why do people like runescape? I don't understand the appeal at all. It's so so so boring! No one who has a life has that kind of time!

[@TehOneTrewIdjut]

@@puffsniffy6425well hey, you just discovered taste. It’s subjective. Imagine that. I don’t like it either. I loved WoW back in the day though. Pandaria was my last expansion.

[@erickgower120]

I miss playing RuneScape in school.

[@azuredragonofnether5433]

Let's face it... I just love RuneScape for all its patience-needing activities it offers. And it's grind by design, too.

[@carcinoGenecistt]

THE BLOODY BUNNY PLUSHIE IS ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE I NEED IT.

[@2ktwothousand]

-IIRC its one of the disorder plushies by PlushieDreadfuls- ok im wrong lmaoooo

[@2ktwothousand]

also holy shit is that Karkat Vantas from hit webcomic Homestuck

[@carcinoGenecistt]

@@2ktwothousand yeah no ur wrong LOLLLL, ive been followin plushie dreadfuls for a while, especially considering ive been following other of american mcgees creations like alice madness returns so. id know,

[@carcinoGenecistt]

@@2ktwothousand uuh, uhh. shakes head repeatedly. nuh uh. no. dont know what ur talkin abt.(yeah....no its homestuck...)

[@Happy_doggo]

I never heard that name in years

[@CoraCreates]

Ooo hey bloody bunny!

[@TheOpposedForce]

I was also surprised to see BB.

[@froggutz101]

Me too! I'm a big fan of BB!

[@biz117]

@@froggutz101 big boss

[@gloriousGab]

​@@biz117"when you can't even say... my name..."

[@biz117]

@@gloriousGab has the memory gone are you feeling numb or have i become invisible?

[@UwUemerald]

Whats fucking hilarious is i didnt know the exact details of why ps1 did this, like the whole numbers thing, but i KNEW it was due to it moving like it was on a grid, thank you for explaning

[@alekz8580]

If you ever wondered about why games sometimes couldnt decide which object was in front, that's from another hardware issue. Developers had to program their own z-axis for depth because the hardware couldnt do it natively.

[@ZepherionUltima]

I always thought jitter was FROM the z-buffer emulation, huh

[@falsebeliever8079]

I remember all my friends having ps1 while I had the N64. I loved playing and watching them play om the ps1, but I noticed the jitter. It looked very ugly to me, not enough for me to dislike the games, but I seemed to be the only one who noticed. I concluded that I was wrong and there was no jitter.

[@HollywoodGaming-fy3vt]

You gaslit yourself😂

[@FiendishlyDelightedSefto]

N64 had best graphics of the era

[@tardisman4210]

Because you were used to the smooth graphics of the N64 for so long, the screen jitters were more prominent to you

[@asherael]

if the n64 had been cd based, i can't help but thing it would have made mince-meat out of the ps1

[@Zack-bl2gg]

@@asheraelwell, if it had been CD based AND Nintendo had good third party support, Sony kind of stole all of their third parties in that generation since Nintendo had been treating them as an afterthought

[@gameingmachine8283]

THANK you so much! Not only is it informing but it’s actually entertaining and understandable with no intentional prolonging. You’re the best man, I’m subbing!

[@PopStrikers]

Thank you! Appreciate it

[@ruisilva3330]

Vibin to the tekken 2 character select theme Edit: thank you all for the likes!

[@VanguardRaven]

It's been so long. I knew it sounded familiar but couldn't put my finger on it.

[@Firefox-Udon]

If I'm not mistaken, that's the Tekken 2 Arcade Character Select and not the console variant. I think the console one has more oomph to it.

[@mac_sour]

my earliest tekken was tekken 3, never played the first 2. it's a vibe though. tekken 3 is the goat though

[@ruisilva3330]

@@Firefox-Udon the console version is much funkier

[@ruisilva3330]

@@mac_sour I'm a big fan of tag 1, 4 and 6

[@uboa8060]

Dude, nice Bloody Bunny plush. Haven't thought about that in years.

[@moonadoo1006]

WHAT IS THE MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND OF THIS VIDEO

[@ghosteaaa7949]

@@moonadoo1006 tekken 2 arcade's character select screen

[@TarenGarond]

0:45 From what I've read the jitter is actually from the vertices jumping from whole number to whole number in the 2D space of the screen(Due to no subpixel precision of vertex positioning on the "GPU") not 3D space.

[@DukeDudeston]

Makes a whole load of difference that.

[@DatdudegilToo]

Was going to comment this, pretty sure it's in screen space, not 3D space

[@chewycooking9013]

It lacks anti-aliasing

[@DenkyManner]

Yes, the PlayStation had no Z buffer. All the 3D is done in 2D coordinates.

[@0x1EGEN]

@@DenkyManner Well this is actually true regardless of the Z buffer. When you transform the 3D coordinates with the model-view-projection matrix, it always spits out screenspace coordinates. That's just how the math works.

[@averyraresnom2451]

Bloody Bunny fans when they see a random short have a plushie of a certain murderous bunni.

[@SolidSnake240]

That Tekken 2 character select music 🔥. Brings back so many memories

[@mekaniklboltmb4880]

Bloddy bunny jumpscare

[@Corridorcrawler]

Yoo i noticed that too XD

[@royaloreo1275]

Cute little murderous bugger.

[@Emperor-Quill]

I was just wondering if anybody else noticed her too lol

[@peytoia]

been spotting a LOT of homestucks in the wild lately. is it having a resurgence or something?

[@mekaniklboltmb4880]

@@peytoia ^2 is still being updated but it suuuuuuuuuucks Ill stick with the original

[@mitsudafanni7978]

My friend called this "shaky model syndrome". It's very nostalgic to me, and I wish I could find retro games that used it for aesthetic purposes.

[@ideac.]

im glad that we are in a time where aethetics and limitations like this from the ps1 and ps2 era are highly appreciated. i think we are past the time where we were obsessed with the max resolution graphics, hopefully

[@jendo42]

It does understand fractions. But it's limited to exact count of decimal places. It uses "fixed point" arithmetic for simplification of their vector hardware engine so they could put it on single chip. Fixed point arithmetic from hardware perspective does not require any different handling that basic integer. Second factor is that the PS1 GTE engine used 16bit elements (1bit sign, 3 bits for integer part, 12bit for fraction part) so that is quite limited linear space considering that all matrix multiplications are done like that. It leads to the visual artefacs so the rendered vertices wiggle accross the linear space "lattice".

[@Max-hn5tc]

I remember watching a 20 minute video explaining why it did that but with super complex in-depth explanation, from what I did not understand a single thing! Yet a minute short has finally made it clear and simple to comprehend.

[@GeneralJaydonius]

I kinda like that it gives the subtle idle animations more character. A stagger that makes it feel alive, akin to low resolution recordings, but in its own feel.

[@UnderTheLuxury]

Soul Reaver And Legacy of cain hit hard

[@Guru_1092]

RIP Nosgoth. 😢

[@burnttoast26]

@@Guru_1092Nosgoth the multiplayer game was an insult to Legacy of Kain tbh. About a decade of cliff hanger for an insanely story-driven series only to have an arena game that has virtually nothing to do with the story

[@Guru_1092]

@@burnttoast26 it was fun tho.

[@burnttoast26]

@@Guru_1092 Still an insult. Years of waiting for the cliffhanger to be answered, only to be slapped in the face with live service crap

[@Guru_1092]

@@burnttoast26 I never played LoK so I honestly don't really mind. I had fun.

[@cianmoriarty7345]

_Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver_ such a wonderful game and I miss it terribly 😢

[@douglasscott7551]

Soul Reaver 1 and 2 remakes are here soon!!

[@elpogio4890]

​@@douglasscott7551 remasters*

[@portalmasterdragon7326]

@@elpogio4890and knuckles

[@steveglover6411]

I still have the PC version and PS1 version somewhere in storage. Loved how they were able to leave certain areas off limits because you didn’t have (for instance climbing) the ability to see the other area. And I remember the glitch in one of the areas where you defeat a brethren (or whatever they were called) still want to play it again someday. 🙂👍

[@failureOnSnow]

I had young memories of this character and nothing else to go on to find the game This random short and this random comment have saved me from my ignorance Remasters are on steam i know how im spending the weekend

[@Sharkspartan6548]

The Jitters and Dithers, classic PS1.

[@Martyste]

The N64 dithered some games too, but you'd hardly ever notice it on composite output, and most emulation methods completely bypass that. It only shows up with like, an HDMI N64.

And nowadays, the stutters I love PS1 aesthetics.

[@ATHANQFORWATCHINGAND-]

Oh my god is that bloody bunny

[@PopStrikers]

Hell yeah

[@dan_loup]

Not entirely precise, the biggest problem is the part where these integers are also 16bits. There's only 65536 possible positions on the PS1 3D math for each axis

[@bountyjedi]

Yes. I thought the PS1 used fixed point arithmetic. Also referring to floating point as "decimal' is not entirely correct either. Cute racoon girl though❤

[@dan_loup]

@@bountyjedi It does, but 32bit fixed point arithimetic is pretty useable for 3D as well. It's a bit of a hassle but its not the end of the world. Now 16bit 3D math is pain. the bigger the world you want to draw, the less precision you got.

[@Ara_Arasaka]

That raccoon model… who is she and where can I find her and OH MY GOD I LOVE HER

[@PopStrikers]

She’s my character Azumi! I’m making some animations and games starring her!

[@RazputinAquatoColon3]

Oh, I thought she was an actual video game character,,

[@EmberGyaru]

Great short loop, and I absolutely LOVE that after all these years, I now know why. Never even really gave it a ton of thought before, but that's so interesting to know.

[@PokemonProfessorNebula]

We gonna talk about that Bloody Bunny plush? I never knew they made those-

[@elspoiledmilk]

YOOOOOOO!!!!! IS THAT A PLUSH OF BLOODY BUNNY?????

[@toastedcarpenter122]

Bloody Bunny plush spotted 👀

[@oniinu]

is that character you called Azumi just an OC or is she from a game? she's super cute!

[@PopStrikers]

Thank you! She’s my main OC that I’m making some animations and games for! I have a few short animations on my channel already, and am working on more right now 👍

[@JuntaVangogh]

I have the same question

[@SacapuntasDeMetal]

would

[@JuntaVangogh]

@@SacapuntasDeMetal i second that

[@MKDS_Squirrel]

@@SacapuntasDeMetal Would SHUT UP respect the character man. This guy put a lot of work into it and shared his art with us, be nice.

[@yrlcldmstrfr]

whenever I hear that first note, it has an effect similar to the first note of black parade, it just instantly shifts my mood for the remainder of the song. It truly feels like nightmares I had when I was younger where I'm just falling through a void. And the beat feels like marching boots and a racing heartbeat all at the same time, it's such a great character theme for Mherren.

[@magic7398]

BESIDES THE GREAT VIDEO, IT HAS BEEN YEEEARS SINCE I SAW BLOODY BUNNY, OH GOD THE MEMORIES ARE COMING BACK

[@derpyzygarde]

Honestly fantastic short that explains all of the details and everything leading up to it absolutely flawlessly and easily digestible for anyone! Great job!

[@mc.gemstone]

Off topic but I love that bloody bunny plushy

[@azumicore18]

i love that me and the raccoon girl share a name :D

[@notamobilesprout4175]

BLOODY BUNNY? IN THIS YEAR?! WOOOOOO

[@OFFLINE_LOL]

I clicked for the thumbnail, it was worth it

[@FloofyOneTorpheus]

That bunny... nostalgia😊

[@schrodingersdinger3839]

Aff really improved his stroke game

[@VGamingJunkieVT]

Kinda reminds me of the original Quake, no interpolation at all so it just jerkily went from one frame to the next. You can actually see this really well in the N64 version of Quake 2, ironically, since I think they used the Quake 1 frame for Quake 2 on the system.

[@DemonSaine]

man the Tekken 2 character select theme is one of my very first video game memories when i was 4 years old. I love that jank texture warping it gives the ps1 so much charm and the nostalgia is immense

[@growingup15]

Bloody Bunny Plushie. I must obtain

[@EthanMartin-ui2gq]

I forgot about bloody bunny until I saw your plush

[@lunatpr5594]

Love the Bloody Bunny plush!

[@unzorromas]

OMG BLOODY BUNNY PLUSHIE

[@GSSMAV]

Me: Uuuuugh can I scroll already? My brain: Hold on. This is interesting.

[@blue5887]

I think you should lay off shorts for a while 💀

[@nyotendo]

​@@blue5887fr, the entire short is 55 seconds long lol

[@sourjuice]

Oh my god, Bloody Bunny spotted in the wild.. peak lives on

[@juanhermosillo7322]

I love how you used Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver for an example. It's finally getting the remaster treatment 🙌 its the first game I ever purchased. I've had it since 1999 and play it at least once a year.

[@PopStrikers]

You’re gonna love my next full length video then 😉

[@pedromarenssi3361]

they gave the raccoon girl phantom bones :(

[@MeltdownLou]

Devs in 1999: "How do we make good graphics? We just have bad ones!" Devs in 2024: "How do we get bad graphics damn it! We only have good ones!"

[@ElysetheEevee]

2005? Try maybe ten years further back, lol. 2005 was coming into its own with proper 3D graphics.

[@MeltdownLou]

@@ElysetheEevee So after reserching the averedge 3D game in 2005. You are right. TY ^^

[@SomeordinaryProtogen]

Bloody Bunny plush detected.

[@Javda2008]

Bloody bunny jumpscare

[@apollo7557]

“They did this to keep the cost down” Tell this to the modern ps5 prices lmao

[@MizoxNG]

add on top of that the lack of bilinear sampling and the lack of perspective correction in the texture mapping and you get the authentic PS1 experience

[@Enzo_Moon]

Yeah yeah yea- WAIT YOU HAVE A BLOODY BUNNY PLUSHIE?

[@darkfent]

Gives you that horror jitters tho

[@Stafeut]

Ah yes, Tekken 2 pick your character theme

[@SlitWristMisfit_]

Tekken 2 music!

[@EnzeruAnimeFan]

Thank you, it took too much scrolling to see what the music is

[@SlitWristMisfit_]

@EnzeruAnimeFan No problem! It's the character select music if I'm not mistaken.

[@ElectronikBliss]

@@SlitWristMisfit_ thank you for the info

[@yuripetrovic7606]

As a kid I thought it was intentional to make it so the characters didn't look like it was a static image (like, a character breathing)

[@KeshieNorthStar]

Oh man I remember drawing Azumi a looong time ago. Either way, you're killing it with this short

[@PlushiiMono]

Where is Azumi from?

[@blaidddrwg-ye9dy]

It made it seem more lifelike. I thought it was the characters breathing

[@2l84me8]

I miss when limitations bred creativity in games.

[@lacucaracha111111]

But thats isnt creativity, it is just a limitation and its consequence. Creativity is Crash bandicoots handleing of levels. The PS1 couldnt load an entire level of the games we got (and they wanted to show), not enough memory. They circumvented that by not loading the level at once. They essentially chunk loaded and uinloaded levels as you went through them. This and fixed camera angles allowed for much more visual fidelity than nearly all other PS1 titles.

[@2l84me8]

@@lacucaracha111111 Knowing how to circumvent these limitations is due to creative problem solving.

[@alecjohnson5043]

​@@2l84me8and the problem was not circumvented. Its wholly unavoidable. Your point is moot

[@magen6233]

@@alecjohnson5043 It is avoidable, but requires more human programming work, more processing, and more ram, so at this time in gaming it was not very advisable to do it as it would have been a financial strain and a performance strain.

[@crestofhonor2349]

It still does. Games still don't have unlimited resources. You still have to work inside the constrains of hardware and the money and employee talents you have to make the games

[@DJ_AwesomeSauce]

That loop transition was super sick tho 😮

[@pry3801]

Where’s did you get that plushie though…

[@PopStrikers]

2Spot sells merch on their website

[@Chronorust]

Blood Bunny plushie spotted 🔥

[@Malcolm-c5b]

I think because Crash didn’t use skeletal rigs it doesn’t have jitter

[@RockstarRacc00n]

No, it was because the developers were very careful with everything about animating that character, because they were very invested in having him look very good. There are ways around this if you know what you're doing, such as animating at a larger scale and then scaling down.

[@SeSySeSa]

I've seen jitter in all 4 ps1 crash games. The third installment is the worst offender

[@Cedalus]

​@@SeSySeSayeah it's definitely there, it just isn't as bad as most other PS1 games

[@sebastiankulche]

@@SeSySeSa If you play on the OG resolution, is almost non existent. It also doesnt help that emulators for some reason makes the wobbling worse when upscaling (and i dont mean more noticeable, but actually worse).

[@rompevuevitos222]

@@sebastiankulche It is indeed just more noticeable. Emulators don't touch the coordinates. You are adding more pixels, which makes the jitter several times more noticeable. And the lack of CRT blur just makes it even more blatant.

[@LuigiMan2401]

Me and the PS1 have more in common than I thought…

[@aetheralmeowstic2392]

The DS and DSi also lack an FPU (a floating point unit), so DS graphics do the same. And I took k advantage of this to make a constantly shifting shirt design in *Animal Crossing: Wild World* using concentric black and white squares that are 1 design pixel wide.

[@berutakhaos9830]

Bloody Bunny plushie jumpscare

[@mittens4859]

Soul reaver was my childhood I am so nostalgic over the ps1 graphics these days

[@PopStrikers]

If you love Soul Reaver, you’re gonna love my next full length video dropping in the next few days 😎

[@Evonyy]

I love your "Bloody Bunny" plush !!

[@ethangnasher3848]

Ayyy, Killer Bunny plush.

[@arandomworm8713]

I did NOT expect to see Bloody Bunny plushy in a short LOL

[@The-epcot-nerd]

“ the PS1 doesn’t understand fractions.” HE JUST LIKE ME FR!

[@Popslushy]

smash, also interesting information. a limitation but it adds style and characteristics

[@DatOleEditGuy]

I like it tho

[@PopStrikers]

Me too 👍

[@wyatttyson7737]

I did a double take at the prices for games at the end of the video. Then I did a triple take at the inflation calculator. $49.99 in 1994 is $106.16 in 2024. $149.99 is $319.11.

[@Cloudrunner5k]

I love the jutter

[@celestehernandez2000]

You explained this so well, I feel like this is a really complicated topic and you made it very easy to understand

[@user-5-j6o]

Song Name in the Background?

[@mileator]

Somebody said that Tekken 2 character selection arcade version

[@asneakylawngnome5792]

I always knew it was to make the game seem more alive, like looking like they’re breathing, or slight movement when talking, but it’s awesome understanding how. Thanks for the explanation :D

[@pharmcat8484]

I love these videos where the ending wraps into the beginning

[@Echidneys]

That's called a "loop"

[@pharmcat8484]

@@Echidneys makes sense

[@midgetwaffles8635]

BLOODY BUNNY PLUSHIE SPOTTED!!

[@CybulDot]

BLOODY BUNNY PLUSHIE SPOTTED!!

[@Seltkirk-ABC]

QUAKE II BE LIKE ❤❤❤❤❤

[@Maxsmack]

I personally love it, it makes them feel more animated and lifelike. Too often now you see characters frozen perfectly in place like a board

[@tokonatsuthatfoxguy]

I JUST NOTICED THE BLOODY BUNNY PLUSHIE

[@katherinereign1058]

IS THAT BLOOD BUNNY

[@HangOnThereSlick]

I dont remember walk cycles looking that good for PS1 games characters

[@ShootingStarfruit]

The smooth character walk cycle was an example of how modern games process vertex coordinates.

[@pedrofelipefreitas2666]

You're telling me the PS1 only used an Arithmetic and Logic Unit and didn't have a Floating Point Unit? That's honestly pretty insane, although it makes sense since FPUs were MUCH more expensive than ALUs.

[@burdbeek864]

Bloody Bunny spotted

[@captainphoton1693]

Wait. I knew that fact. But I thought it was the calculation to their place in the 2 render space that couldn't do fractions. As further object seemed to jitter more compared to their size. While it was more subtle on close objects.

[@johnnymartin8480]

I always thought it was like that because people in real life are not completely static, they move around and I always thought it representing the subtle movements of life

[@ShootingStarfruit]

An unintended feature then? I think you hit the nail on the head as to why it looks somewhat appealing.

[@Seemlypseudonym]

Signature to MGS - Konami made it look intentional and trademark to the game - they made it look like nuance

[@thephonepersonally]

Background music?

[@ca4360]

Tekken 2 Arcade Character Select Theme

[@mattinscratch]

I need more of the raccoon girl

[@Mythic_Zach]

I want it back!

[@magen6233]

Mod your game, move the entire game to x 400 000, y 400 000 and z 400 000 and that's done.

[@SCP-tn2ln]

No

[@aadipie]

Bro explained a year of my game art course in one KZbin short. Crazy