Turns Out The NES Can Do Color FMV; Something Nerdy Studios Shows Off

B. Simmons February 13, 2022 in Video Games Tagged FMV, Former Dawn, NES, Something Nerdy Studios, Star Trek: The Next Generation - 1 Minute

Space, the final frontier…

It’s the way of things that, as time goes on, the sorts of people that love to push the boundaries of what’s possible on a system will make breakthroughs. And in the case of Something Nerdy Studios, they’ve managed to do something you probably thought was impossible on the NES. The made it run color Full Motion Video at 30 FPS.

And as their test of this feature, they decided to boldly go with a segment of the intro to Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Check out what color FMV can look like on the NES!

This uses a new custom dithering algorithm for the NES and runs smoothly on real hardware @ 30FPS.

This clip is for demo purposes only; Former Dawn's FMV will be handcrafted, not demade from stock footage.#nesdev #StarTrekTNG pic.twitter.com/Pp9zqcnpoG
— Something Nerdy Studios (@SomethinNerdy) February 9, 2022

Something Nerdy Studios, CBS Viacom

When asked, Something Nerdy went on to explain some of the finer details.

The ROM size is ~26MB and uses MXM-1. It does indeed use CHR-RAM, but we could also put it on a cartridge using pure CHR-ROM carved out of a 32MiB NOR flash chip. Cartridges with that much CHR-ROM have been offered to us by @InfiniteNesLive but we're not expecting to use them.
— Something Nerdy Studios (@SomethinNerdy) February 9, 2022

All of this isn’t just to see if they can fit sub-30-second chunks of one of the best Sci-Fi series ever made onto an NES cart, though. Something Nerdy Studios is currently working on an original NES RPG titled Former Dawn, which will utilize this FMV sorcery to bring its story to life.

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Welcome to the Snowy Swamp! New in-game graphics for the NES RPG called Former Dawn.

This is a 2-screen-wide section of the area.

Thanks go to @Aitchess55 for the love that went into the 15,360 palette choices necessary to take advantage of 8×1 attributes.#nesdev #pixelart pic.twitter.com/8MTnJQorqx
— Something Nerdy Studios (@SomethinNerdy) February 4, 2022

Which vintage console do you think this is for?

If you guessed the NES, you're correct!

These are actual in-game graphics for The House of Truth in the Town of Mita.

Thanks go to Hali Hoag, @FrankenGraphics, and Brandon Rodriguez for co-creating this. #nesdev #pixelart pic.twitter.com/2ty62OfNVI
— Something Nerdy Studios (@SomethinNerdy) January 28, 2022

Frankly, I hadn’t heard of it before. But this is one hell of a splashy way to get some eyes on the game. And to wow said eyes, as well.

Source: Nintendo Enthusiast

About Author

B. Simmons

Based out of Glendale California, Bryan is a GAMbIT’s resident gaming contributor. Specializing in PC and portable gaming, you can find Bryan on his 3DS playing Monster Hunter or at one of the various conventions throughout the state.

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B. Simmons

Based out of Glendale California, Bryan is a GAMbIT's resident gaming contributor. Specializing in PC and portable gaming, you can find Bryan on his 3DS playing Monster Hunter or at one of the various conventions throughout the state.

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