Classic Games Emulated: The Need for Speed II for Windows
Fun Arcade Action and the Arrival of 3D Acceleration Propels This Racing Franchise to New Heights!
The first game was a
very impressive title, and was very well received. It was only
all-too-obvious that their would be a squeal to this game. It arrived in
1997 with The Need for Speed II. This game was different from it
predecessor. The game engine was enhanced. NFS II was more visually
impressive, taking advantage of the capabilities offered by PC's equipped
with Intel Pentium processors.
The driving mechanics were changed as well. The first game went with mechanics that were inspired by their real-world counterpart. NFS I stove for realism. As a result, that game was not geared towards arcade racing. With the second title, the cars were given the arcade-style racing treatment. This turned off many people who were drawn to the first game due to the realism that it stove for. At the same time, many argue that the incorporation of arcade-style racing made the game a lot more accessible for people who were looking for a fun game, and not a simulator. The cars were a lot more dynamic. A bad crash could result in your car flying hundreds of feet up, crashing to the ground, and still burn rubber at the end of the race.
One thing to note was that this title, along with the first game, were released on the Sony PlayStation as well. The graphical comparisons were seen as equals at first due to the fact that the original NFS II release still utilized VESA graphics, which were CPU intensive. The grunt power of the PC was used to accomplish its graphics routines. As a result, graphical boundaries would be limited. With the arrival of 3D accelerators though, those rules were thrown out the window. GPU's, or Graphical Processor Units, were adapters that were designed specifically for graphical operations. With the graphics offloaded to the GPU, CPU resources were freed up to handle other game routines. The GPU was able to enhance the look of games by providing anti-aliasing (smoother objects), enhanced texture mapping (enhanced textures), higher number of on-screen polygons (more crap on the screen), etc. These accelerators would give the PS1 a huge run for their money.
The PC's were going through a graphical revolution during this time. With the release of Doom, PC's became the forefront of gaming, and the new 3D accelerators, most notably the 3DFX Voodoo, would reinforce this trend. Intensive 3D games, like Quake, were updated to support the Voodoo accelerator. EA decided to support it as well by updating The Need for Speed II. Once this was accomplished, their was no comparison. The game running on a PC equipped with the Voodoo accelerator looked and played better than its PlayStation counterparts. With that said, the accelerators were not for the cheap. PC's, while rapidly failing in price, were still an expensive proposition during this time. You needed a computer with a Intel Pentium Processor (the faster, the better) or its AMD equivalent, along with plenty of RAM. Windows 95 was out by that time, and the overhead of Windows, DirectX, and the game itself required (for its time) a decent amount of RAM. Also, the 3DFX Voodoo couldn't operate by itself. The card didn't support 2D drawing operations. As a result, a SVGA card, like those made by S3 or Cirrus Logic, were still needed. My PCEM virtual machine was equipped with 32MB's of RAM, which would have been a lot for 1997. Don't forget the Voodoo as well.
PCEM emulates the 3DFX Voodoo Accelerator. My emulated computer has a Award 430VX motherboard that can accommodate a Pentium Processor. I have it clocked at 200MHz. It was also equipped with the Creative Labs SoundBlaster 16 audio adapter, S3 864 SVGA card, and 32MB's of RAM. I was running Windows 95 OSR2. I had the 3DFX Voodoo installed, along with the appropriate drivers for Windows 95. On my computer, it runs the game at near full speed given the specs of the emulated hardware in relation to my actual hardware. My rig has a AMD FX-4300 Quad-Core CPU running at 3.8GHz. I've stuck with PCEM Version 12 as I knew how to compile that version using the source code. PCEM is open source, which means that the source code is freely available, comes with the program, and I can compile my own executable from source using the required developer tools. I modified the memory code to imitate cache, which sped up the emulation. I didn't know how to compile the later versions from source, as they use different build environments. I'll have to make the assumption though that about 99% of those reading this probably don't compile code from source, which can be intimidating.
I had The Need For Speed II SE installed. SE for Special Edition. It's essentially the same game as II, but with extra content and support for the Voodoo Accelerator. The game screens ran around 70-80 percent, while the game itself still ran around 100 percent most the the time. Occasionally, the game would dip into the low 90's, but it didn't happen that much. NFS II is still very much playable, and enjoyable too. I admit that I'm one of those that embrace arcade action, and as a result, I've really enjoyed the racing mechanics of the game. Like the first game, it's graphically impressive, and it has the awesome game-play to back it up to. The tracks are varied and enjoyable to race on.
This game wasn't as well received upon release as its predecessor. Many complained how realism gave way to arcade fun. Despite these criticism, the game did well in the marketplace, and it's still a fun game. With that said, it's now screenshot time!
The driving mechanics were changed as well. The first game went with mechanics that were inspired by their real-world counterpart. NFS I stove for realism. As a result, that game was not geared towards arcade racing. With the second title, the cars were given the arcade-style racing treatment. This turned off many people who were drawn to the first game due to the realism that it stove for. At the same time, many argue that the incorporation of arcade-style racing made the game a lot more accessible for people who were looking for a fun game, and not a simulator. The cars were a lot more dynamic. A bad crash could result in your car flying hundreds of feet up, crashing to the ground, and still burn rubber at the end of the race.
One thing to note was that this title, along with the first game, were released on the Sony PlayStation as well. The graphical comparisons were seen as equals at first due to the fact that the original NFS II release still utilized VESA graphics, which were CPU intensive. The grunt power of the PC was used to accomplish its graphics routines. As a result, graphical boundaries would be limited. With the arrival of 3D accelerators though, those rules were thrown out the window. GPU's, or Graphical Processor Units, were adapters that were designed specifically for graphical operations. With the graphics offloaded to the GPU, CPU resources were freed up to handle other game routines. The GPU was able to enhance the look of games by providing anti-aliasing (smoother objects), enhanced texture mapping (enhanced textures), higher number of on-screen polygons (more crap on the screen), etc. These accelerators would give the PS1 a huge run for their money.
The PC's were going through a graphical revolution during this time. With the release of Doom, PC's became the forefront of gaming, and the new 3D accelerators, most notably the 3DFX Voodoo, would reinforce this trend. Intensive 3D games, like Quake, were updated to support the Voodoo accelerator. EA decided to support it as well by updating The Need for Speed II. Once this was accomplished, their was no comparison. The game running on a PC equipped with the Voodoo accelerator looked and played better than its PlayStation counterparts. With that said, the accelerators were not for the cheap. PC's, while rapidly failing in price, were still an expensive proposition during this time. You needed a computer with a Intel Pentium Processor (the faster, the better) or its AMD equivalent, along with plenty of RAM. Windows 95 was out by that time, and the overhead of Windows, DirectX, and the game itself required (for its time) a decent amount of RAM. Also, the 3DFX Voodoo couldn't operate by itself. The card didn't support 2D drawing operations. As a result, a SVGA card, like those made by S3 or Cirrus Logic, were still needed. My PCEM virtual machine was equipped with 32MB's of RAM, which would have been a lot for 1997. Don't forget the Voodoo as well.
PCEM emulates the 3DFX Voodoo Accelerator. My emulated computer has a Award 430VX motherboard that can accommodate a Pentium Processor. I have it clocked at 200MHz. It was also equipped with the Creative Labs SoundBlaster 16 audio adapter, S3 864 SVGA card, and 32MB's of RAM. I was running Windows 95 OSR2. I had the 3DFX Voodoo installed, along with the appropriate drivers for Windows 95. On my computer, it runs the game at near full speed given the specs of the emulated hardware in relation to my actual hardware. My rig has a AMD FX-4300 Quad-Core CPU running at 3.8GHz. I've stuck with PCEM Version 12 as I knew how to compile that version using the source code. PCEM is open source, which means that the source code is freely available, comes with the program, and I can compile my own executable from source using the required developer tools. I modified the memory code to imitate cache, which sped up the emulation. I didn't know how to compile the later versions from source, as they use different build environments. I'll have to make the assumption though that about 99% of those reading this probably don't compile code from source, which can be intimidating.
I had The Need For Speed II SE installed. SE for Special Edition. It's essentially the same game as II, but with extra content and support for the Voodoo Accelerator. The game screens ran around 70-80 percent, while the game itself still ran around 100 percent most the the time. Occasionally, the game would dip into the low 90's, but it didn't happen that much. NFS II is still very much playable, and enjoyable too. I admit that I'm one of those that embrace arcade action, and as a result, I've really enjoyed the racing mechanics of the game. Like the first game, it's graphically impressive, and it has the awesome game-play to back it up to. The tracks are varied and enjoyable to race on.
This game wasn't as well received upon release as its predecessor. Many complained how realism gave way to arcade fun. Despite these criticism, the game did well in the marketplace, and it's still a fun game. With that said, it's now screenshot time!
Here is the Voodoo casting it's magic!
Just doing some city driving.
I left this screenshot of NFS 1 here so you can compare the visual differences between VESA graphics and the 3DFX Voodoo.
Here is the PS1 version for comparison as well.
Just kidding. Here is the screenshot of NFS II for the PlayStation running on the ePSXe emulator.
Just A Side Note:
I was kidding about the PS1. I like to make playful banter about PC Gamers hating the consoles. I actually though have very healthy respect for the consoles, and the PS1 in particular. I grew up with this console, and it was my go-to device before I discovered Half-Life and Unreal Tournament at the tail-end of the 90's. I've been revisiting many of the games using the ePSXe emulator. Not only that, I discovered that console games have new merit. Using my Bluetooth controller on my smartphone (PS1 style), console games on emulators play much better than the PC ports do. I'm gaining new appreciation for the consoles. It's amazing what developers could accomplish on limited hardware.
I was kidding about the PS1. I like to make playful banter about PC Gamers hating the consoles. I actually though have very healthy respect for the consoles, and the PS1 in particular. I grew up with this console, and it was my go-to device before I discovered Half-Life and Unreal Tournament at the tail-end of the 90's. I've been revisiting many of the games using the ePSXe emulator. Not only that, I discovered that console games have new merit. Using my Bluetooth controller on my smartphone (PS1 style), console games on emulators play much better than the PC ports do. I'm gaining new appreciation for the consoles. It's amazing what developers could accomplish on limited hardware.
Work Cited:
PCEM - https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/
PCEM - https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/
The Need for Speed II - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need_for_Speed_II
3dfx Interactive - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3dfx_Interactive
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