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Palette lighting tricks on the Nintendo 64

https://30fps.net/pages/palette-lighting-tricks-n64/
118•ibobev•3h ago

Comments

typeofhuman•2h ago
It blows my mind how genius these game engineers were. They dealt with so many limitations and created such imaginative and brilliant solutions.
Dwedit•2h ago
This is new stuff, not stuff done during the reign of the N64.
bob1029•2h ago
Only recently did we figure out how to make Mario64 run at 30fps.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31075622

90s_dev•2h ago
Limitations demand and produce extraordinary creativity. That's the secret behind pico8 and Animal Well and so many amazing games.

I wish I didn't think of a significantly better architecture for my 2d-pixel-art-game-maker-maker this weekend. Now it'll be another month before I can release it :(

01HNNWZ0MV43FF•1h ago
Limitations, and, popularity
90s_dev•1h ago
Popularity comes from utility. Utility comes from the right trade offs. Limitations demand careful trade offs.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF•41m ago
The tradeoff was that the N64 was cheap and had Pokemon on it
jebarker•1h ago
What were the limitations for Animal Well?
90s_dev•1h ago
- 320 x 180 screen size for starters

- Limited map size

- Limited color palette I think

- and more!

jebarker•1h ago
Were those imposed as artistic choices rather than due to hardware limitations etc? I just asked because it shipped on PC and the major consoles, so any limitations seem like they were by choice.
90s_dev•1h ago
Yeah he talks about how it was a choice he made simply so he could get stuff done and have some end in sight.
Sharlin•51m ago
I'm sure they were but, as noted, this specifically is 2025 stuff, and demoscene, not gamedev.
accrual•2h ago
It's very impressive to see "realistic" graphics on the N64. The demo reminds me of "ICO" for the PS2.

I've always wondered if it would be possible to create an SDK to abstract the N64 graphics hardware and expose some modern primitives, lighting, shading, tools to bake lighting as this demo does, etc. The N64 has some pretty unique hardware for its generation, more details on the hardware are here on Copetti.org:

https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/nintendo-64/

heraldgeezer•48m ago
Shadow of the Colossus... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMKtYM8AzC8
reidrac•1h ago
I love how the post, about N64 graphic tricks, ends with the question: "Is this the future?"
echelon•18m ago
The amount of indie N64 development happening right now is wild. The platform is flourishing.

The system has seen a dozen of its most popular games decompiled [1] into readable source files, which enables easy porting to PC without an emulator. It also enables a ton of mods to be written, many of which will run on the original hardware.

There are numerous Zelda fan remakes [2]. Complete games with new dungeons and storylines.

The Mario 64 scene is on fire. Kaze has deeply optimized the game [3], and is building his own engine and sequels. If you like technical deep dives into retro tech, his channel is literally golden.

Folks are making crazy demos for the platform, such as Portal [4], which unfortunately brought Valve's lawyers' attention.

Lost games, such as Rare's Dinosaur Planet [5], have leaked, been brought up to near production ready status, been decompiled, and have seen their own indie resurgence.

[1] https://wiki.deco.mp/index.php/N64

[2] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bZl8xKDUryI

[3] https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCuvSqzfO_LV_QzHdmEj84SQ

The whole channel is gold. He has dozens of deep dives like this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DdXLpoNLywg

And his game and engine are beautiful: https://youtu.be/Drame-4ufso

[4] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yXzoZ2AfWwg

[5] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s0QSiPRmWaI

heraldgeezer•55m ago
I miss the PS1 and PS2 optimization. Most of them look amazing uprezzed to 1080p or 4k or more with emulation. Halo 2 era graphics in 4k is all we need imo. Yes that one is xbox but try Halo MCC Halo 2 in classic graphics. Still looks incredible.

GT3 heatwave summarizes it well.

"I showed a demo of GT3 that showed the Seattle course at sunset with the heat rising off the ground and shimmering. You can’t re-create that heat haze effect on the PS3 because the read-modify-write just isn’t as fast as when we were using the PS2. There are things like that."

https://old.reddit.com/r/ps2/comments/1cktw88/gran_turismos_...

https://youtu.be/ybi9SdroCTA?t=4103

It's not trying to emulate a real heatwave as new engines like UE5 does, that just tanks fps. It does "tricks" to do it instead. And honestly, looking at RTX tanking frame rates, I would rather have these cheap tricks.

A 299MHz MIPS runs this:

Shadow of the Colossus... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMKtYM8AzC8

GoW2 https://youtu.be/IpKLwIIdvuk?si=TjifKmlYsUuvhk0F&t=970

FFXII https://youtu.be/NytHoYOs_4M?si=jE1Fxy40khEvV6Bn&t=51

GT4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6lZIxk_h9g (THE BOOTSCREEN crying)

Black (Renderware was a crazy engine) https://youtu.be/bZBjcwyq7fQ?si=Pev5ifpksJm4X6Oi&t=356

Valkyrie profile 2 https://youtu.be/9ScjO4NuUtA?si=Z29cR-hLsT2pnP2I&t=38

Rouge Galaxy https://youtu.be/iR1evzyl-7Q?si=fldm3-NnuFxOITMn&t=624

Burnout 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r5r0nE1sA4

Jak and Daxter, Ratchet.

For GC - RE4, Metroid, The Zeldas... ofc. Looks crazy good.

I kneel.

Direct Evidence for R-Process Nucleosynthesis from Giant Flare

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adc9b0
1•mooreds•1m ago•1 comments

Major painpoints of Android development as a side activity – Part 1 Gradle

https://androidauthority.dev/major-painpoints-of-android-development-as-a-side-activity-part-1-gradle
1•jaggajasoos33•3m ago•0 comments

A metaverse based digital preservation of temple architecture and heritage

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-00039-w
1•gnabgib•7m ago•0 comments

RFC 8152 – CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE)

https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8152
1•motorest•7m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: AI Product Bootcamp / Accelerators – Worth it or a new scam?

1•sherdil2022•10m ago•0 comments

Looking for co-founder to solve distribution – email me sales@petlovefun.com

https://petlovefun.com/
1•davidpalacios•12m ago•0 comments

A Bias Towards Action

https://ruminate.bearblog.dev/bias-towards-action/
1•roominator•14m ago•0 comments

Show HN: AlphaFold 3 runs on Tenstorrent Wormhole now

https://github.com/moritztng/tt-boltz
1•molli•14m ago•0 comments

The tech stack for production AI agents – by Paul Iusztin

https://decodingml.substack.com/p/the-tech-stack-for-production-ai
1•rbanffy•16m ago•0 comments

Alarming gains in face reconstruction from biometric templates

https://www.biometricupdate.com/202505/alarming-gains-in-face-reconstruction-from-biometric-templates-made-by-researchers
3•giuliomagnifico•17m ago•0 comments

Silicon Valley's New Hold on Washington

https://www.wsj.com/politics/tech-silicon-valley-government-influence-70b43ca6
1•rntn•19m ago•0 comments

Hwacha: Ancient Korea Invented a Rocket Launcher in the 15th Century

https://www.utubepublisher.in/2025/05/Hwacha-weapon.html
4•Utubepublisher•20m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: What are the most autonomous AI agents you know of?

1•FailMore•25m ago•1 comments

How did Go get "rune"?

https://connor.zip/posts/2025-05-03-rune
4•cptaffe•28m ago•1 comments

Switch to EU

https://switch-to.eu/en
7•cobbaut•29m ago•3 comments

AI is destroying and saving programming at the same time

https://nmn.gl/blog/ai-and-programmers
3•namanyayg•32m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Lines of Code – Open-Source Widget for GitHub Stats

https://linesofcode.yehiaabdelm.com
2•yehiaabdelm•34m ago•0 comments

The longest train journey is epic – but nobody's ever taken it

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/portugal-to-singapore-train/
7•PaulHoule•34m ago•0 comments

Show HN: I built a knife steel comparison tool

https://new.knife.day/blog/knife-steel-comparisons/all
1•p-s-v•35m ago•0 comments

Show HN:I made a website to automatically schedule your week based on your tasks

https://smartweeking.com/
3•riquefar•36m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: What surprised you / did you learn as you built out your company?

1•irf1•37m ago•0 comments

How to Apply Unsupported Simulations on Older Fujifilm Cameras

https://preslav.me/2025/05/17/fujifilm-film-simulations-unsupported-cameras/
2•ingve•39m ago•0 comments

Best open source LLMs for Enterprise

https://www.enterprisebot.ai/blog/the-best-open-source-llms-for-enterprise
8•sixhobbits•39m ago•1 comments

No One Can Explain Why Planes Stay in the Air (2020)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/no-one-can-explain-why-planes-stay-in-the-air/
5•Tomte•41m ago•2 comments

Anti-Inductive Dice

https://apieceofthepi.substack.com/p/anti-inductive-dice
2•Tomte•41m ago•0 comments

Gnosis Evolve MCP for Claude Desktop

https://github.com/kordless/gnosis-evolve/blob/main/README.md
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A Pauseless Garbage Collector for .NET

https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/96213
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at://wormhole

https://bsky.app/profile/dame.is/post/3lpcnyrwuzc24
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Philips Fixables will let you 3D print replacement parts for razors and trimmers

https://www.engadget.com/home/philips-fixables-will-let-you-3d-print-replacement-parts-for-your-electric-razors-and-trimmers-233025245.html
4•gnabgib•48m ago•0 comments

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https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/122-withnail-and-i
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