Blast Processing was a marketing term coined by Sega to advertise the fact that the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis could calculate faster motion than the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and was generally taken by the public to refer to the main system processors. Strictly the term refers to a technical feature of the Genesis that wasn't replicated on the SNES - the ability for the CPU to be working on one visible section of map while the graphics processor displays another. Since only the visible part of the map is uploaded at any one time, this feature greatly increases the distance that the map can scroll from one frame to the next, but few if any people will have been able to discern that meaning from the advertising. Sega Corporation ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... Original Sega Mega Drive (PAL version) Sega Mega Drive (Japanese: メガドライブ Mega Doraibu) is a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in 1988. ... The Mega Drive/Genesis was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world as the Mega Drive. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ...

The term originates from the advertising material for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The US ad campaign featured commercials with races between two vehicles - an F1 car and a broken down ice cream truck, the former with a Genesis strapped to it and the latter a SNES. Sonic 2 title screen Sonic the Hedgehog 2, or simply Sonic 2, the sequel of Sonic the Hedgehog, is a platform game made by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis. ... Motto: E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956) (Latin: Out of Many, One) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government • President • Vice President Federal republic George...

While the claim is true even if taken to refer to the central processing units, the campaign misleadingly implied that the Genesis was more powerful overall. While the SNES CPU ran slower in clock cycles per second (3.6 MHz to Sega's 7.6), it had superior graphics display hardware - sprites and backgrounds could use more colors and backgrounds could be scaled or rotated largely without CPU intervention. Ultimately, this meant that the graphics for the SNES looked much better, while the gameplay on the Sega Genesis was much faster. CPU redirects here. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ...

A further source of controversy was the difference in architectures between the two machines. The Genesis boasted a Motorola 68000 as its central processor and a secondary Zilog Z80 for sound generation. The 68000 is an internally 32bit processor (i.e. all internal calculations and values are stored in 32bit) which communicates with the outside world in 16bit chunks. It includes 8 general purpose registers and 8 index registers and can do a 32bit register to register add in 4 cycles. The cost of reading or writing a 32bit value to or from memory is a further 5 cycles, due at least partly to having to send it as two 16bit values. The Motorola 68000 is a 32 bit CISC microprocessor, the first member of a successful family of microprocessors from Motorola, which were all mostly software compatible. ... Zilog Z80 microprocessor. ... The Motorola 68000 is a CISC microprocessor, the first member of a successful family of microprocessors from Motorola, which were all mostly software compatible. ...

The Z80 is an 8bit register with some internal capacity for 16bit arithmetic and was inherited from the Master System. The Genesis was compatible with the Master System at a hardware level - the Powerbase addon that allowed Master System games to be played on a Genesis did no more than provide the correct shape of cartridge slot and the Master System boot ROM. Sega Master System The Sega Master System (SMS for short) (Japanese: マスターシステム), was an 8-bit cartridge-based gaming console manufactured by Sega. ... Sega Master System The Sega Master System (SMS for short) (Japanese: マスターシステム), was an 8-bit cartridge-based gaming console manufactured by Sega. ... Sega Master System The Sega Master System (SMS for short) (Japanese: マスターシステム), was an 8-bit cartridge-based gaming console manufactured by Sega. ... Sega Master System The Sega Master System (SMS for short) (Japanese: マスターシステム), was an 8-bit cartridge-based gaming console manufactured by Sega. ...

Conversely, the SNES used an entirely 16bit 65c816 derivative with one general purpose register and two index registers. It has a clock rate of approximately half the 68000 of the Genesis. In the most commonly used mode, a 16bit add takes 5 cycles. It would superficially appear that a SNES should be heavily handicapped by requiring 10 cycles to do the 32bit add the Genesis can do in 4 cycles, especially given that the Genesis runs through twice as many cycles per second. However in 5 cycles the SNES adds a number from memory to its general purpose register whereas the Genesis only achieves a register to register add - so to do the same algorithm implemented in the same way would incur substantial extra costs in memory loading on the 68000 versus the 65c816. The European SNES design is identical to the Super Famicom. ... The 65816 Microprocessor (also: 65C816), a 16_bit CPU developed by the Western Design Center (WDC), is an expanded and compatible successor to the venerable MOS Technology 6502. ...

In reality, algorithms written for the 68000 will do most of their processing in registers, making the 4 cycles the relevant number. However many 16bit games can get away with using 16bit values and don't require a full 32bit add so 5 is the relevant number for the 65c816. Furthermore, add is not the only operation and with others the differences vary.

Perhaps the best measure of processing speed is the games. Whereas the Genesis was able to do competent versions of early polygon shifters such as LHX Attack Chopper and Hard Drivin' in software, the first substantial polygon SNES games were those utilising the Super FX accelerator chip, intended to extend the existing SNES processing power for those purposes and at the same time leap frog anything the Genesis could do in software by a substantial margin. LHX Attack Chopper is a 1990 war helicopter PC simulation game by Electronic Arts. ... Super FX-rendered 3D polygon graphics in the SNES game Star Fox The Super FX is probably the most widely recognized coprocessor chip used in select Super Nintendo (SNES) video game cartridges. ...

External links

• 1UP.com's Essential 50 - #28 Sonic The Hedgehog