Galaxian3 reboot on modern gaming system?

[DarthNuno]

[following this topic, now splited]

I hope one day Namco will include a fully playable Galaxian3 mission as a bonus  game like they did for Ridge Racer (Galaxian) or Tekken5 (Starblade) and probably many others...  

[Geosword X]

Yes I hope so too. As I played the game again the other day, I wondered if they were able to throw in Tekken 1,2, and 3 arcade with Starblade on one disc, why not throw in the Galaxian 3 games? Other classic System 21 games like, Sovalou, are on the Nintendo Wii and they still even bother to put Galaxian 3 on it (and it seems capable on the Wii as it can do four players at once)! 

[uncletom]

I think that Galaxian³ will not be implemented as a bonus game, or at all in any main program from namco due to its particular technical characteristic of being a Laser Disc based game. There are two different technologies running in sync on one (or in this case two) screens; the LD and CG layers.

The only way to emulate the Galaxian³ game on other hardware excluding a LD player, is to run the background sequence as mpeg/avi.

Bonus games, such as Starblade, Solvalou and Galaxian, are easy to implement because they are single code programs using realtime rendered visuals by a single hardware.

[Geosword X]

In that perspective I'm afraid you're right. I'm certain that the masterminds at NAMCO can take their most advanced arcade technology and convert to other media. Galaxian 3 on PSX seems to be a good first step in that regard.

[uncletom]

Ofcourse. But at the time the PSX was state of the art home gaming technology. Converting G3 to it was infact a downgrade. I wouldn't think namco want to do such a thing again on modern consoles. It simply would not look good. Not unless you use Bluray to store the background clips in HD. They would have to re-render everything all over again. I mean, it could be done, just that I feel that it would be too good to be true.

[Geosword X]

It would definitely be too good to be true for such a technological marvel to appear on today's consoles. But do you consider the computers that outputted the amazing CGI background images to be weaker than today's high powered computers? If so, today's powerful computers could be able to make such graphics that could match or surpass what the computers of yesterday achieved. Yes, a lot of re-rendering would have to be done but could it be done faster with today's computers.

I honestly believe that today's consoles won't downgrade the quality of older arcade games, because the consoles that came out then, seemed underpowered over their arcade counterparts. I have Starblade on three different consoles (Sega CD, PlayStation One, PlayStation 2) and can clearly see the difference each one was made for the specific console despite being underpowered to the arcade original (although the PS2 is awfully close).

I have seen some LD games appear on PS3 (Mad Dog McCree, ect.) there may be a possibility.

SCORE UPDATE:
990400 10/5/13

[uncletom]

Aha, ofcourse. All the background LD-layer could be re-rendered, even improved, and run in real-time today on let's say PS3 hardware. The point is; are the templates/models and pre-rendered data still available? If not namco could ofcourse do a similar space adventure from scratch, but then it would not be Galaxian 3.

If namco would use the original LD-imaging for the Playstation3 it would be far less defined and not very suited for true HD. The original LD were low-res 15kHz, and the PS3 with a large LCD at 1080 lines would just make it all look ugly. But we can ofcourse hope that namco still has the coordinates and pre-rendered 3D data to re-create the 'background movie', either as mpeg or realtime.

Just a question. Does Galaxian3 use interlace? Like most namco systems at that time.

[DarthNuno]

I'm sure a Galaxian3 reboot wouldn't not be difficult to do for Namco.
The pre rendered background originally used is really basic comparing to what any home console can do in real time nowadays.
It's almost the same work than they've done for Starblade, except yes, to think about the background solution to use (reuse the original video footage, or render it in real time)
It would makes sense to do it, this game in a part of UGSF series after all (Galaxian, Galaga, Starblade...)... and in addition, they may release the Zolgear mission, which is NOT available for any other system expect of course the arcade version.
If I win the lottery, I would commission Namco to do the job, or even better... make the game on a reliable PC system, to be interfaced with the real GT6! Let's dream 
Who want to Kickstart this? 

[Geosword X]

Just a question. Does Galaxian3 use interlace? Like most namco systems at that time.

http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=536

This link here provides the CPU and Video board specs and I remember reading something being interlaced but
not sure if it pertains to the Video board.

are the templates/models and pre-rendered data still available?

If NAMCO managed to retain some data from the PlayStation 1 conversion, then I'm sure they still have the data in their hands like all the other arcade games they previously made.

Who want to Kickstart this?

I could but, would NAMCO approve this? We are going to send funds to a product that people know very little about. Maybe spreading awareness or advertising could do a good start but I'm not sure if NAMCO would buy it....

For the sake of authenticity, I'd find it best for NAMCO to utilize realtime over some other video format unless its necessary. I'm certain the PS3/Xbox360/PS4/XboxOne have more than enough power to display the CGI backdrop in realtime.