Why is a belt scroller called that?
Why is tate mode called that?
Videogame Questions you're too embarrassed to ask / Videogame Answers you're too embarrassed to give
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A belt scroller is in reference to an old technique for creating moving backgrounds, usually on a stage play. A large ābeltā with a backdrop painted onto it would be set up on a large scrolling mechanism. The illusion is quite rudimentary because scrolls can only be so large so the background loops noticeably over time. I guess it gets applied to early beat em ups where the background assets are so limited that they loop in a similar fashion.
āTateā I think is Japanese for vertical/upright, referring to the aspect ratio where the vertical height is larger than the horizontal width of the screen.
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I thought the belt in belt scroller was just a simple reference to ordinary conveyor belts, and how the movement style allows for the character to walk on the belt in two axes, but also tends to limit the stage design to the axis of the belt.
(I canāt say Iām an authority on this subject, though.)
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this is all iāve ever known it to mean, as a distinction from āside-scrollerā which is a horizontally scrolling game in which you can only move on one axis
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Tate is actually an abbreviation of āTall Texanā, because initially the mode was meant to accommodate people whose eye level was above the monitor, usually Texans because of their propensity for sitting on phone books to feel taller.
Beltscrolling was a 1920s pastime where kids would take Winter sleds, wrap old belts around the blades, lubricate them with butter and slide around the streets. The people who partook in this activity and the contraption itself were both referred to as āBeltscrollersā.
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TIL iāve internalised a folk etymology for what scrolling in games is
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video game questions youāve been embarrassed by answering
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(just kidding, I like your answer a lot better tbh)
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Iām going to be honest I one hundred percent had arrived at the same conclusion as captainlove, and I refuse to alter my beliefs
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The problem for me is both a belt and a scroll can be arranged different ways. In fact a belt for clothes is usually arranged vertically (around the waist) and a traditional scroll would likely be laid flat on a table for reading. Conveyor belts are usually horizontal but similar mechanisms like fan belts or turntable belts can be different.
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sounds like you need to make New Types of Belt Scrollers
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traditional scrolls are horizontal tho, perpendicular to the eyes
the town crier/messenger unrolling a parchment vertically to announce a proclamation? thatās just a roll
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i always thought tate was like a shortened version of rotate bc u rotate the monitor but that is just an idea not something with any sourced cited u know
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I wonder whether thereās ever been a 2D game that uses one of those puppet show scrolling background belt devices as a diegetic background element. Did, like, Dynamite Headdy ever do that?
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feels like kirby would do that but i canāt think of any examples. same for paper mario, although i havenāt played all of those.
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Yeah, I assumed belt-scroller came from conveyer belts. My mental image was always the one at the grocery store that slides your groceries down or the conveyer sidewalks from the Jetsons.
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i feel bad about ruining it but the Japanese for āverticalā or āstandingā is ātateā
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