Aspect Ratio

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forums. But I thought this would be a great place to tackle an issue I've had trouble getting some definitive information on: the proper aspect ratios of some of the old gaming consoles.

I'm looking more for the display aspect ratios rather than the pixel aspect ratios, if that makes any sense. For example, I'm less concerned about the fact that a SNES outputs graphics at a resolution of 256x224, but what I really want to know is if that should be displayed at 8:7 or stretched to 4:3. So basically, I'm looking for what the actual console output on a standard TV would look like. I know there's especially been some confusion with the Sega Master System, so everyone who knows the correct information, let's compile a list so we can eliminate the confusion from now on for everybody.

Nintendo NES - 256x224 displayed at 4:3
Nintendo SNES - 256x224 displayed at 4:3
Nintendo N64 - ????
Sega Master System - 256x192 displayed at ???
Sega Genesis - 320x240 or 320x224 displayed at 4:3 (?)

If anybody has any corrections, can fill in blanks, or wants to add info about another console not listed, please do. Also, I didn't know the difference resolutions for PAL and NTSC, so please forgive me in that department.

From Wikipedia:

The Nintendo 64 has a maximum color depth of 16.7 million colors (32,768 on-screen) and can display a resolution range of 256 × 224 to 640 × 480 pixels.

- You should look each console up on Wikipedia and get every detail you want

Images on its original resolution are a bit shrunk at both sides, so it would look normally when stretched.

HybridShadow said:

From Wikipedia:

The Nintendo 64 has a maximum color depth of 16.7 million colors (32,768 on-screen) and can display a resolution range of 256 × 224 to 640 × 480 pixels.

- You should look each console up on Wikipedia and get every detail you want

Click to expand...

Right but most of them don't say the aspect ratio. For example, the Nintendo Wiki entry says nothing about it being displayed at 256 X 224 yet being stretched to 4:3.

Also, I think there's something weird about the Sega Master System. I'm not sure if that one is meant to be 4:3.

So, it's actually more the Sega systems (Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis) I'm wondering about. I'm fairly familiar with the Nintendo ones so I included them just to be complete. But it's been forever since I've played SMS or Genesis so I'd like any savvy Sega fans to maybe let us know how the SMS and Genesis should be displayed. Preferably with a post like Butters'. His post makes it very clear that the SNES should be 4:3.

Of course it is. The stretch method is to fit the TV screen. See my examples above.

I know. I wasn't arguing about SNES. I'm saying I heard there's something weird about Sega Master System (something about it not quite being 4:3, or slight letterboxing going on at the tops and bottoms) and I'd like to know which is correct.

I think I got it. Sega Master System effectively has a ratio of 4:3, but not all games are designed to have a 4:3 ratio and that's why you're seeing those black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. I know it's a bit confusing.

Excellent. Thanks for the response. Now, what about the Genesis/Mega Drive? I've included two screencaps from Sonic The Hedgehog: one with the video settings unchanged, and another stretched. Which is correct?

The unchanged one with the black bars. That's how it's supposed to be seen.

Cool, so the Nintendo systems should be stretched to 4:3 and the Sega ones have slight letterboxing. I'll have to fix my emulator settings now.

Some SNES games have that slight letterboxing too.

Excellent. Thanks for all the info, Butters. You've been most helpful.