Sega LaserDisc hardware
From Sega Retro
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Sega LaserDisc hardware, very briefly known as the LaserAge Video System, is an arcade system produced by Sega and released in 1983. As the name suggests, the system utilises LaserDisc technology in an attempt to bring high quality film footage to the realm of video games.
The system debuted with Astron Belt at Amusement Machine Show 1982 (September) and AMOA Expo 1982 (November), sparking a short-lived craze for LaserDisc-based arcade games. Sega only utilised it in a handful of titles in 1983 and 1984, though a similar system was used for 1991's Time Traveler.
Contents
Hardware
At its heart, Sega's LaserDisc hardware is not dissimilar to more traditional arcade games of the era, however video footage supplied by a LaserDisc player is used to give the illusion of vastly superior visuals to typical computer-generated bitmap or vector graphics hardware of the time. With Astron Belt (and most other LaserDisc games going forward), the LaserDisc video provides the backgrounds, while bitmap sprites (such as the player character, or HUD) are drawn on top.
To some extent it can be seen as a logical progression over games such as Space Invaders or Asteroids, where the Pepper's ghost effect allowed games to be projected onto detailed, hand-drawn backgrounds (as opposed to just a black screen), however in this case, the sprite layer is overlaid over the LaserDisc video as the picture is drawn
Furthermore, with control over how the LaserDisc is read, not only can backgrounds be animated, but the game can jump between different areas of the disc to respond to human input (i.e. the footage does not need to be played sequentially; blow up a ship in Astron Belt and the hardware can play the "explosion" sequence, before returing to the "level" sequence). Extra information (such as collision data) can be encoded in each frame of the LaserDisc, allowing the game to simluate interactions between the sprite and video layers.
Sega used four models of LaserDisc players; the Pioneer LD-V1000 and LD-V1001, and the Hitachi VIP-9500SG or VIP-9550. Two different versions of the LaserDiscs were also pressed: single-sided versions by Pioneer and double-sided versions by Sega, though both discs types contain the same information and may be used in any of the four players.
Technical specifications
LaserDisc player
- Laserdisc player: Hitachi-Sega VIP-9500SG, or Hitachi VIP-9550, or Pioneer LD-V1000, or Pioneer LD-V1001
- Video resolution: 580×480 (580 dots, 480 lines), 525 scanlines (480 visible), interlaced video
- Refresh rate: 59.94 Hz[1]
- Frame rate: 29.97 frames per second
- Color depth: 16,777,216 (24-bit true color)
- Audio: LaserDisc, stereo output
Real-time 2D graphics overlay
- Display resolution: 256×256 pixels, progressive scan[1]
- Refresh rate: 59.94 Hz
- Color palette table: 512 (PROM)[1]
- Colors on screen: 256 (color RAM)
- Tile size: 8×8 pixels
- Tilemap size: 32×32 (1024) tiles, 256×256 pixels
- Colors per tile: 2
- Sprite sizes: 8×8 to 256×8 pixels
- Sprites on screen: 32 sprites per scanline, 256 sprite pixels/texels per scanline
History
While consumer LaserDisc hardware had been on the market since 1978, and is thought to have been utilised in interactive entertainment as early as 1981, Sega's demonstration of Astron Belt in late 1982 created a mini-boom of so-called "LaserDisc games" in North America. Astron Belt was expensive and unfinished, but the television-quality visuals drew crowds, with many game manufacturers rushing to produce their own examples to keep up with what seemed a huge technical leap. Likewise such was the perceived drawing power, arcade operators were keen to invest in LaserDisc despite the expense, so as not to be left behind by competitors.
Such was the interest in the technology that Bally bought Sega Electronics from Sega's parent company, Gulf+Western, specifically to capitalise on Astron Belt (and effectively causing Sega to leave the US market for a couple of years). However, delays in production (including changes requested by Bally) meant that the game did not premiere until late 1983, a year in which several of Sega's competitors had developed (and in some cases brought to market) their own LaserDisc systems.
Despite the hype, LaserDisc arcade games failed to capture the public's attention, as while the full motion video was visually impressive, it equally placed severe limitations on gameplay. For example, the most famous LaserDisc game, Dragon's Lair always plays out the same way; the player can fail by not pressing the correct buttons fast enough, but once the sequence is deciphered, there is less incentive to return to the machine as the experience will be broadly the same. In contrast, games such as Pac-Man are more dynamic, with the scene changing with every move of the joystick, ensuring as long as the player doesn't perform exactly the same inputs, no two games are identical, thus customers are incentivised to play again with a different tactic in an attempt to achieve a higher score.
In addition, the LaserDisc system was more expensive than traditional arcade games and more moving parts meant more maintenance was required. By the mid-1980s technology had improved such that 2D sprite and tile-based games could render colourful and dynamic backgrounds; it would still take years to match the fidelity of LaserDisc, but the gap was closing at no expense to gameplay. As such, LaserDisc technology was abandoned by developers and operators alike during 1984, marking the end of the short-lived fad.
While the expense and cumbersome nature of the discs prevented LaserDisc penetrating the home video market to the same extent as VHS or Betamax, it would continue to see commercial use, particularly in areas of broadcasting where high quality pre-recorded footage was required. LaserDisc games would appear sporadically across the rest of the 1980s, and a similar concept would remerge with the advent of FMV games, made possible with the introduction of the CD-ROM. Several Sega Mega-CD games intended for the home (including the aforementioned Dragon's Lair) originated as LaserDisc arcade games. LaserDisc would be made obsolete with the introduction of the DVD in 1995/1996, capable of storing similar quantities of digital video footage in a much smaller (and reliable) form factor.
List of games
- Albegas (1983)
- Astron Belt (1982)
- Cobra Command (1984)
- Galaxy Ranger (1983)
- GP World (1984)
- Time Traveler (1991)
Photo gallery
Hitachi VIP-9500SG with Sega product code
Hitachi VIP-9550, an alternative drive
Pioneer LD-V1000, a second alternative drive
Pioneer LD-V1001, a third alternative drive
Physical scans
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References
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