Ex-Sega Producer Apologizes for Blast Processing

If you grew up during the console war between the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis, you may remember the dreaded term "Blast Processing."

Blast Processing was a fabricated term which was supposed to represent how the Sega Genesis was more graphically powerful than the Super Nintendo. Below is a statement taken from Ex-Sega producer Marty Franz who apologizes for creating the coined PR term.

[Jackhass]

Aw, I liked Blast Processing. No need for apologies!

[fr0sty]

It was a term used to describe the fact that, while the Genesis was weaker graphically than SNES in every way (sound too), its CPU was a good bit faster. This led to less slowdown in games that had heavy action. It wasn't related to graphics.

[choujij]

I think the belief that the Genesis is inferior in sound, is not entirely true. For example, the Genesis is capable of 16bit PCM playback without any hardware modifications. There's several YouTube videos of people playing music from the cartridge if you want to see for yourself.

[Cindy-rella]

Reminds me of people talking about dx12 and cloud computing because the fact is that the xbox one hardware is less powerful than the ps4.

[TheCommentator]

The Genesis says High Definition Graphics right on it! Who knew that 240i is HD. Sega, you were always ahead of your time, lol.

[Army_of_Darkness]

I always found the Genesis version of games much more responsive than the snes counterpart. But yes, the super nes was graphically superior.

[alabtrosMyster]

The SNES was a pixel pushing monster when it was released back in 1991, mode 7 did tricks that were unthinkable on home consoles at the time, all at very good frame rates... I can still recall how f-zero impressed me! The semi transparent objects were a big deal too...

However, the snes had a very weak CPU, games had horrible slowdowns, especially the early titles that did not benefit from extra chips, games like final fight do not show many enemies on the screen compared to the streets of rage games, street fighter II turbo is slower at its max speed on the snes... And the genesis could pull off amazing effects when in the right hands, titles like batman and robins have rotating sprites, something that mode 7 would never pull off (only 1 backgrould layer can be manipulated by it) the genesis version of mega turican has similar effects at well...

When all is said and done the 16-bit area machines were all comparable in many ways they traded blows...the genesis and tg-16 both held their own very well considering that they were released a long time before the Nintendo machine!

[fr0sty]

@choujij, compare voice quality in the street fighter games or mortal kombat games for Genesis and SNES, you'll see SNES wins by a landslide. This was true in just about all games. SNES' voice samples (or any actual sound clips, not MIDI music generated by the sound chip) are always cleaner. The music had a softer, cleaner touch to it as well. Genesis was always harsh, twangy, and lacking bass.

[ZombieKiller]

PSSHH! It's a little late for apologies! i want my money back! I already bought this piece of sh-- hey wait, what's blast processing?!

lol it's ok, we're good. Playstation is king in 2015

[2cents]

Ditto

[solar]

Lies to sell us a product. Hopefully that practice has been retired ;)

[bmf7364]

Not entirely. Blast processing was a term to describe minor and short-term increases in graphical performance for the Genesis. It was nothing more but a minor coding trick coined into a marketing stunt.

[alabtrosMyster]

Not, really read the quote, I think the guy who wrote the article did not understand what he transcribed...

[jashtheflash]

I always knew Blast Processing was a sham

[gangsta_red]

Lol, I remember this from a friend who used to work at Sega a long time ago. He also told me it was all a PR stunt from marketing, even still it made for some awesome commercials.

[Death]

This was Sega's way of combating Nintendo's "Mode 7" that was all the rage at the time. In many ways Sony learned from the greats creating the illusion of power by marketing the chips within their consoles. Ask gamers what Xenon is and they will usually just stare at you. Mention the Emotion Engine or Cell and they know right away. People to this day still believe the Xbox 360 is powered by an x86 processor and have no idea it was PowerPC based and has more in common with the Cell than they thought.

[BVFTW]

Dude, you sure love that story! You write about those CPUs every freaking time, even on an snes-genesis/megadrive article.

[awi5951]

Sega was better at the time we had mature games that never came to nintendo without being censored. The games sounded better as well and you had a headphone jack so i could game at night without getting yelled at by mom. Also the super nintendo came out so late and had no sports or racing games like sega did and that made all the difference.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Lead it to death to spin something about Sega to be a negative about Sony.unsurprised.

I loved blast processing.commercials were funny.

[MCTJim]

I remember this..mode 7 was hardware scaling and rotation if I remember correctly.

and as for the apology..i did not read where he said he was sorry...he said I have to take responsibility for that phrase...it was indeed a programming trick for more colors if I remember correctly too.

[frostypants]

Mode 7 was a silly name, but it was an actual thing that played a big part in games.

[Muadiib]

To be fair the Megadrives cpu was over twice as fast as the snes'.

[frostypants]

Yeah. The SNES got by on being able to handle pixel scaling and rotation with much less effort, plus it had far superior audio capabilities (think it used a wavetable for music, or something similar, which was pretty amazing for the time). But the Genesis could smoke it in terms of raw speed. Somehow devs closed that apparent gap quite a bit by mid-gen though.

[Muadiib]

I remember by heart the colour pallete of the MD was 512 and the snes' was 32,668, yeah I was always a nerd!

I agree the mode7 chip in the snes really gave it an advantage but the MD's cpu when used correctly by developers like Treasure could do some sprite scaling of it's own like in the gorgeous Gunstar Heroes.

Sound wise yeah the MD really struggled in comparison, especially in the area of speech, but programmed well the MD was able to handle some impressive music.

Sega did great in many of their games with Streets of Rage 2 particarly blowing me away, I remember that Konami were also able to get music that was pretty much snes quality!

I loved both consoles but I was a Sega fanboy through and through, not so much anymore for obvious reasons...Sonic 2 still remains one of the high points of my life.

[frostypants]

Man. I need to track down my old consoles now...

[Skate-AK]

I wonder if we will hear the same thing about The Cloud in 20 years. Haha nah I am just playing. That Crackdown demo was pretty impressive.

[JasonKCK]

This same tactic is still being used today. Emotion chip, Toy Story graphics, 120fps, ect.

[BitbyDeath]

Don't forget the Water Cooler, DX12 and Cloud.

[JasonKCK]

Only DX12 and the cloud are real, do exactly what MS said it would, and are actually being used.

So find a better example, if you can.

[BitbyDeath]

They are buzz words/terms the same as what you had also mentioned above.

Emotion Engine was the name of the CPU chip in the PS2;
Toy Story graphics was MS hyping up the original Xbox;
120fps was Sony hyping up the PS3.

DX12 and Cloud are real however they are used as hype/buzz words much like the Emotion Engine.

[Muzikguy]

They sure are! What's different though now, I think, is that people are becoming more aware. They're questioning these claims and demanding proof.

I guess that's what happens when companies have lied to us for so long. Not just game related companies either. Food, energy, cellulars, government.... They all do it

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I always thought blase processing just meant more data was streamed off screen, so the gameplay would seemingly run smoother. I've been led astray.

[Drithe]

How about apologizing for not bringing out Phantasy Star Online 2 to the US?

[DonkeyDoner]

yakuza and new valkyria waiting as well

[frostypants]

In defense of the Genesis, it COULD handle a lot more action on screen without slow down (i.e. lower FPS). Not due to "blast processing" nonsense though. The SNES just had terrible slow down issues for the first years of its existence. After a couple of years though devs figured out how to program around it, as proven by games like Street Fighter 2 Turbo.

[galgor]

The perfect apology would be Dreamcast 2.

[DivineAssault]

It was one of the greatest marketing campaigns ever! Even though the processing power was the only thing it had better than SNES specs lol.. That mario kart commercial was greatness.. Sega made you feel like a B**** if you had a nintendo lol

[Minute Man 721]

Sega needs to release a Greatest Hits Vol 2 current or last gen with games like Moonwalker (arcade version) Jurassic Park, Batman and Robin, Eternal Champions etc etc and some Dreamcast games in there also

[MikeOxonfyre]

"How about apologizing for not bringing out Phantasy Star Online 2 to the US?"

How about gamers of that generation (which includes me), apologize for choosing Nintendo's consoles & games, OVER Sega's machines, back then...ESPECIALLY IN THE U.S.

And I say that, because Nintendo has the U.S. market locked, loaded & owned both hardcore gamers, & casuals, alike. Sega did exceptionally well in Europe, Australia, & other countries, outside the U.S.
And that was because Nintendo had become such a prevalent name, in the U.S. far more than any other country. Over in the states, back then, Mario has established Nintendo, as a HOUSEHOLD NAME..(much like Sony also became a HUGE household name....in fact, they stole the accolade from Nintendo with there 1st EVER console attempt, in PS1).

Americans were & still are, very brand loyal, sort of like some U.S. citizens would only drive a Dodge.... The difference was, Sega was no Ford, competition wise....

They didn't market the Megadrive/Genesis to the point that Nintendo did with NES & especially SNES. But, they were fighting an uphill battle, in terms of taking away BRAND LOYALTY from the U.S. market, & winning away the trust Nintendo had very quickly, & very smartly garnered in MOST ALL regions of the world. I mean, EVERYBODY knew Nintendo & NES & SNES..... But, Genesis/MD & Master System, just failed to hit big, impressive install bases in the U.S. especially, but also, to a faaaaar lesser degree, around the world.. Sega should have GOBBLED UP the European, Aussie, NZ & such markets, as they were open slather... We just didn't care about the brand name, on the console, as much as we did THE GAMES... And MD amassed quite an impressive catalogue of games....but, although the machines sold quite well, throughout the world, they just didn't deliver any knockout punches, to Ninty & the SNES,.....& that is strictly talking of marketing.

They had NO, or terrible TV advertising campaigns... They SHOULD HAVE HAD TV ADS GALORE.... I mean, Streets Of Rage, Sonic, Golden Axe, etc, etc.. there was just such an abundance of high quality titles on the machine. But, they failed to let enough people know... In fact, I don't remember ANY tv ads for Sega machine, & AT ALL!
And that is not because I never saw any, I more than likely DID....but, they didn't stick out, they were so forgettable.....whereas I remember certain, clever PS2 ads, like the pyramid of people one... that is how you sell 120+ million consoles.. I also remember SNES ads, & although nowhere near as clever & awesome as some of the Sony ones, I still remember them.
That goes to show, that with Nintendo advertising smarter, there ads would be at the forefront of consumers minds, whereas poor ol', financially struggling Sega, could probably barely afford to make the ads, let alone paying someone decent (expensive), just was NOT an option.

The MD/Genesis & The Master System, & Dreamcast were all great consoles. I would love Sega to bring a bunch of polished, scrubbed, 1080peed, 60fps-ed, & made to look as beautiful as possible on PS4, XBOne, & Wii-U. That would be sick.

[jznrpg]

Loved my Sega consoles except for Sega CD, and Nintendo and even my Turbo Graf 16 CD during the SNES Genesis days. I got them early since I lived in Los Angeles at the time and products were always released in L.A /New York first .