Hi everyone,
I’ve been thinking about how amazing Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997) would look on the Sega Saturn, given the console's legendary 2D capabilities and the VDP2 power for those gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds.
I know making a full game from scratch is an insane amount of work, but we already have a massive advantage: the R.E.L.I.V.E. Engine project is open-source and has reverse-engineered the entire game code, physics, and scripts.
Regarding the Saturn's hardware architecture, I think the workload could be perfectly split between VDP1 and VDP2 to maximize performance:
Ultimately, this isn’t just about porting a game; it’s about retro-preservation and fixing history. Back in 1997, Saturn fans were completely left out of the Oddworld phenomenon. Today, with the combined knowledge of this amazing scene, we have the chance to show that the Saturn wasn't just capable of running Abe's Oddysee—it was born to run it. Let's make it happen, even if it's just a one-screen tech demo to prove it's possible!
Hello! Follow me!
(Image for reference - Imagine these gorgeous screens rendered via VDP2 planes and VDP1 sprites!)
I’ve been thinking about how amazing Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997) would look on the Sega Saturn, given the console's legendary 2D capabilities and the VDP2 power for those gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds.
I know making a full game from scratch is an insane amount of work, but we already have a massive advantage: the R.E.L.I.V.E. Engine project is open-source and has reverse-engineered the entire game code, physics, and scripts.
Regarding the Saturn's hardware architecture, I think the workload could be perfectly split between VDP1 and VDP2 to maximize performance:
- VDP2 for Backgrounds: The VDP2 chip could easily handle the static, pre-rendered backgrounds of RuptureFarms as high-resolution scroll screens (or planes). This frees up almost all the VDP1 memory.
- VDP1 for Sprites: With VDP2 handling the scenery, VDP1 could dedicate 100% of its power to drawing Abe, the Mudokons, and the Sligs. Since Saturn handles 2D scaling and sprite rotation natively, Abe’s animations would be incredibly fluid.
- Dual-SH2 Coordination: One SH2 CPU could handle the R.E.L.I.V.E. game logic, AI scripts, and GameSpeak audio, while the second SH2 manages coordinate translations and sprite rendering queues.
- 4MB RAM Cartridge: This extra memory would serve as a huge cache to pre-load all sprite animation banks for the current area, eliminating screen-to-screen loading times completely.
Ultimately, this isn’t just about porting a game; it’s about retro-preservation and fixing history. Back in 1997, Saturn fans were completely left out of the Oddworld phenomenon. Today, with the combined knowledge of this amazing scene, we have the chance to show that the Saturn wasn't just capable of running Abe's Oddysee—it was born to run it. Let's make it happen, even if it's just a one-screen tech demo to prove it's possible!
Hello! Follow me!
(Image for reference - Imagine these gorgeous screens rendered via VDP2 planes and VDP1 sprites!)
