Star Fox on Super Nintendo was one of those releases that Sega simply did not have an answer to. It was a title that made Super Nintendo owners puff their chests out a bit as well. Sure, later and on an expensive add-on, Sega would release a similar title, Silpheed. That was too late though as only gaming publications of the time really compared the two. Gamers, such as I, did not care about Silpheed, even if we had a Sega CD. Now, tech savvy fans have upgraded Star Fox to use the 21 Mhz mode rather than the 10 Mhz mode used by default.
While that upgrade may not sound like a large improvement, coupled with the fact that it is 8 to 10 frames per second more does not help. You must remember, the original Star Fox plays at 15 frames per second, or less. More often it is around 8 to 10 frames per second. So, gaining 8 to 10 more frames per second is more than double the original in places.
Gamers today claim to be able to tell the difference between 30 and 60 frames per second. This is a frame rate jump like that. Me personally, I can easily see a benefit in doubling the frame rate when talking fifteen frames per second or less.
As you can see from the video, the added frames are effective in smoothness. Certain areas do not see any improvement from the increased Mhz. This is obvious in the asteroid level for instance. Both the original and overclocked videos are neck and neck with the frame rate.
That does not mean this improvement is useless, quit the opposite. This hack makes the game so much smoother. Worth checking out.
Head over to ROMHacking.net to grab the patch file.
