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Arcade Emulation
May 27, 2003

Today I wanted to demonstrate one reason why it is so important to reproduce these classic games on authentic arcade hardware, as opposed to just playing them on a computer monitor.

Part of the appeal of classic games is their glowing, analog look. Drawing inspiration from the classic short film Powers of Ten, I would like to take you on a quick journey to the inner-most depths of the raster video image, where we will discover why these classic machines have such a unique look.

Marvel vs. Capcom title screen
Magnification 1x

Magnification 2x

Magnification 4x
We begin to see the scanlines created
as the electron gun builds the image line-by-line.

Magnification 8x
More scanlines and the first glimpses of
the RGB phosphor structure of the arcade monitor

Magnification 16x
Do you feel like you're in the Matrix yet?

Magnification 32x
You can clearly see the red, green and blue
cells that the human eye perceives as solid color.

Now that you've seen the underlying structure of an arcade monitor, take a look at this image of the same title screen, only this time as displayed on a VGA computer monitor:

Magnification 32x
Same image as seen on a VGA computer monitor

Clearly there is a dramatic difference between the arcade monitor and the VGA monitor. The VGA monitor has a much denser matrix of RGB cells (sometimes referred to as "dot pitch") and is therefore capable of displaying images at much higher resolution than an arcade monitor. Most of the time this amazing level of detail and sharpness is desirable... but not when emulating the look of a classic arcade machine.

Even with MAME's simulated scanlines turned on, the image on the VGA monitor is simply too sharp and blocky to pass for the real thing. As technology marches onward toward higher resolutions and new display devices, these beautiful old displays will start to disappear. Next time you see one, take a few moments to get up real close and appreciate it, before it's gone forever.

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