Sonic Adventure on PSN and XBLA won't venture outside of 4:3 aspect ratio

by JC Fletcher on Jun 20th 2010 10:00PM

The Xbox Live Arcade versions of both Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure were playable at Sega's booth, and both still look great, even ten-plus years after their release. However, each game has one issue that keeps the XBLA (and PSN) version from absolute perfection.

In Crazy Taxi's case, it's the lack of licensed music and locations, meaning that destinations like Pizza Hut have been replaced by generic stores, and the Offspring and Bad Religion soundtrack has been swapped out for sorta/kinda soundalikes. Actually, given how many times we've heard the Crazy Taxi soundtrack in our lives (too many!), that might be a plus.

For Sonic Adventure, the limitation of the XBLA version is immediately apparent even to those who haven't played it before: it displays only in 4:3, with vertical bars (featuring a blue patterned background) on the sides of a widescreen display. A Sega rep told Joystiq that the code for Sonic Adventure couldn't be altered to support widescreen as easily as Crazy Taxi's.

Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast Returns)

Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast Returns)

Tags: crazy-taxi, e3-2010, microsoft, playstation, ps3, psn, sega, sonic-adventure, widescreen, xbla, xbox

Reader Comments (67)

Looks like I'll have to play The Offspring in the background while I play Crazy Taxi. It's just not the same without it. YA YA YA YA YA

@QuePasa87

Offspring is my favorite band and I first heard them in crazy taxi. Still use the xmb to play All I Want in other games. It just wont be the same without that sick 90's west coast punk soundtrack.

YA YA YA YA YA

@QuePasa87
No Offspring?? That's what I remember the most when I think about Crazy Taxi. I'm gonna miss KFC also.

I'm cool with that.

Just glad it's coming. :)

YA YA YA YA YA whatever i won't purchase Crazi Taxi now since it's changing it's ways .. i'l stick too the dreamcast version.

Anyone see what i did their ? * points too the YA YA YA part like the Guy pointing to the Ninety Nine Nights Screen at E3 *

@HardBoiled2009
You realize that you can play your own playlist over the game, right? Meaning that you could just turn the in-game music volume down and play the original soundtrack over it.

Aww only 4:3?!? I hope they atleast let me stretch the image. Those black bars on my HDTV will be distracting

@PlatinumSkeet
IMO I'd rather have the bars over distorting the image or cutting the top off.

@PlatinumSkeet

To each his own. I'm not talking about getting rid of the 4:3 just asking that they have the option like for most XBLA game classics to let you fit the screen how you see fit.

I did it with Streets of Rage, Ninja Turtles and a few others. I know it wouldn't look that bad...

@PlatinumSkeet You sir, have no respect for physics. It's just not natural!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO! The soundtrack was one of the best parts of Crazy Taxi!!!!

Aren't these Dreamcast ports the exact same ones that have been on Gametap forever?

This is depressing. I was actually considering jumping on board this whole Dreamcast revival thing. But this kills it. What's next, a limit of 720p? I'll stick to emulation.

@(Unverified) This is going to be a "Dreamcast revival" in the same way that Sonic the Hedgehog on the GameBoy Advance was a celebration of the Sega Genesis.

Makes me wonder why developers would ever seek to have licensed music in their game. I would rather have custom music made specifically for the game or at least have a one time paid fee deal (without royalties).

I know its hard to do that for every game. Games like Rock Band being the exception. I rember GTA 3 however, and the soundtrack for that game was largely custom made. Just sayin, why go through the trouble if you'll only have more trouble in the future?

When I think about best game soundtracks I immediately go to the classics like Megamans, Sonics, and Chrono Triggers. Not games with licensed tracks.

@Lerkero They probably didnt expect to port the games to future consoles

But I dont see it as bad they dont wanna pay/try to obtain the license for the same music. (Could be costly now so they'd never recoup the costs, or have some kinda exclusive right to Rockband/Guitar Hero)

@Lerkero,

"I rember GTA 3 however, and the soundtrack for that game was largely custom made."

Then you don't remember very well. It had a handful of original tracks, but the vast majority of the soundtrack was licensed. The GTA series, from 3 forward actually really paved the way for modern licensed soundtracks, so it's really funny that you'd try to use it as an example of a good composed soundtrack.

You want an example of some good composed-for-the-game work? Check out what Jeremy Soule has done over the years. As for the best game soundtracks? While I will agree with you that by and large I prefer original works composed for the games, Jet Grind Radio and Jet Set Radio Future have two of my favorite game soundtracks ever, and the bulk of both of those soundtracks were licensed.

With the 3DS being more powerful than the Dreamcast (according to devs) i hope it gets a port too! *drool @ sonic adventure in 3D*

@Foetoid
They would run into the same widescreen problem :P And then the 3D problem.

Sega is an incompetent company. The only reason they are still clinging to life is money they make off terrible sonic games.

@(Unverified) Valkyria Chronicles and Resonance of Fate. Thanks to Sega we can play two of the best JRPGs this generation has to offer.

Wait I'm confused, you said the downside of xbla is the 4:3 ratio, so does that mean the PSN version allows 16:10? Is that because of the emulator on PS3 that does it? Or did you also mean the PSN version is restricted to 4:3 also?

@Blkant

Both XBLA and PSN versions will be limited to 4:3 ratio. Also the PS3 can do 4:3 and 16:9 not 16:10.

@Blkant "The Xbox Live Arcade versions of both Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure were playable at Sega's booth, and both still look great, even ten-plus years after their release. However, each game has one issue that keeps the XBLA (and PSN) version from absolute perfection. "

The XBLA version was what was playable at the booth. The game is identical for both systems though.

Don't forget Valkyria Chronicles

That's depressing. I'm going to have to burn a CD of the Crazy Taxi soundtrack and load it to my harddrive. It's just not the same, otherwise.

@salmonbottle

Why not use a flash drive instead of wasting a perfectly good cd...?

Man, and I thought they did a hatchet job on the GameCube and Playstation 2 ports. I can just see it now...

"Hey, would you take me to -GENERIC CHICKEN PLACE-?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!"

yayayaya...

wait..

FFFFUUU!

How could you not get the locations back?

Does Pizza Hut not want their to be advertised for free?

That was one of the coolest things about the original, seeing real life places pop up like that. This was long before in-game advertising.

@funkydunkleman

no kidding, I dont understand that either

@funkydunkleman

Um.....maybe Sega doesn't want to give away free advertisement. I wouldn't if I were Sega. Good Business = Profit not giving away free stuff.

@funkydunkleman
If they used Pizza Hut in the game without Pizza Hut's permission, they could be sued, no? Getting permission would require a contract between the two companies, which would mean money paid to Pizza Hut. I.e., losing money. Sega does what Nintendon't, but that isn't supposed to include losing money.

@xiLEShadow, maybe, but wasting money changing an old game isn't exactly good business either, I'd assume that neither party said anything but Sega just wanted to avoid any legal trouble that might pop up.

Thank God, I can finally post since the beginning of this damn beta. But on the topic of Sonic, I've never actually wanted a Sonic game except for Sonic Unleashed.

I'm pretty sure I can emulate Sonic Adventure in widescreen. Whatever, just decorate the sides and call it a day. I really don't feel the want to play a 3D Sonic game anyway.

4:3 is weak. Sonic Adventure was fun, but I'm a videophile, and while I can stand upresed standard def content in some cases, I can't stand pillarboxing. It may be stupid, but this day and age it just bugs me too much.

This is wack....

now my beautiful Chaos well be stuck in a 4:3 box...

The poor thing =(

@xiLeShadow

what i find very strange is that sega megadrive ultimate collection on the ps3 has widescreen support on ALL games and that is around 20 years old, yet sega can't have support for a dreamcast game in widescreen? that is so backwards, sega are just very lazy! i couldn't care about these ports anyway, i have the originals on the dreamcast and gamecube and i will play them they way that they are supposed to be played, not a butchered port.

Not on the PSN version, you can't

No Offspring, no buy...

(Then again...I can plug my iPod into the 360 and listen to my tunes...then again, it's an iPhone...plus, I have Dreamcast with that game...)

No buy. :)

No YA YA YA YA YA? Count me out. I could just play the PC port of Crazy Taxi I have. Or bust out the Dreamcast (not like it's ever too far).

4:3 resolution doesn't bother me.

4:3 resolution? But I love widescreen.

Strrrrrrrrrrrretch it!

@ColorblindMonk :: All their other emulated games stretch so hopefully these ones do as-well.

4:3 is fine. I'm sure it's an emulation of sorts rather than a full port, so that makes sense. What i can't stand is background images/borders around the game. Just leave it black. The genesis collection looked horrible. They should take note of what Capcom did with final fight. Give us multiple options and let us choose.

@DangerMouse001 I guess you didnt realise but there are options not only to stretch to fit the entire screen (if you don't mind the look of that) but also to remove the Sega "wallpaper" and have a pure black background.

lazy bastids

hoping this isn't he case with Sonic Adventure 2

Bollocks really

Bit of a bummer about the no soundtrack and all but even in 4:3 this game is gonna shineeee on my 360!

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Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure on PSN and XBLA won't venture outside of 4:3 aspect ratio

Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast Returns)

Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast Returns)

Reader Comments (67)

Posted: Jun 20th 2010 10:05PM QuePasa87 said

Posted: Jun 20th 2010 10:47PM dustandechoes91 said

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