CONVERSION CAPERS

The adventure continued after the Dreamcast – how did it progress?

GAMECUBE (2003)

Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut adds revamped character models, some bonus missions, the ability to play as metal sonic and 12 playable Game Gear games. the Chao system has also been upgraded in line with Sonic Adventure 2. however, it suffers a number of graphical downgrades – the lighting and many effects have been downgraded or removed, and texture quality is generally inferior. the game now targets 60fps but frequently struggles to maintain it. this also causes bugs with game logic, as the timing code for many objects wasn’t adjusted.

PC (2004)

the original release of Sonic Adventure for pc was based on the Gamecube version, and offers the best quality Fmv of all releases as well as support for high-res displays. however, it suffers from texture downgrades and incorrectly handled lighting. music doesn’t loop as files use the Wma format, which also offers inferior compression, and some sounds also play too quietly. this version is popular with modders, who have managed to use the dreamcast files to circumvent most of the downgrades, as well as adding widescreen support, bug fixes and more.

XBOX 360/PS3/PC (2010)

these console versions are both based on the pc version, and fix up its lighting and lack of mipmapping. the framerate is also stabled due to the use of modern hardware. however, some sounds are too loud and the sound effects and voice clips also have quality issues. the Xbox 360 version is available as a standalone release or as part of the Dreamcast Collection, alongside Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5 Part 2 and Sega Bass Fishing. it also works with Xbox one. the ps3 version was only released digitally, and a steam pc release followed in 2011.