What do you guys think would be a good way to simulate (or even implement) English voice acting on an NES game?
Many NES games that try to fake voice acting use PSG channels, alternating pitch and volume. Some of these games (Famicom Tantei Club 1 and 2) play it at the same pitch, but Jesus - Kyofu no Bio Monster seems to play at a "gibberish" pitch pattern, while Metal Slader Glory (Japanese) seems to play at pitches dependent on the character outputted. Although Metal Slader Glory's would be a little trickier to produce accurately with English, and I'd think you would need a whole new set of data for accurate sounds. I'm also thinking about having 1-3 more DPCM (or even RAW PCM if permitted) voice samples per actor instead of PSG channels, which otherwise use the same techniques as the PSG channels.
Obviously, true voice acting (with RAW PCM) for most/all dialogue is impractical...and is probably still impractical even if saved for a few scenes. But true voice acting might be much more practical if the game was for the PowerPak...since IIRC it could theoretically access the CF card and update PRG RAM midgame. Though we have no source code from bunnyboy to know how yet...
Many NES games that try to fake voice acting use PSG channels, alternating pitch and volume. Some of these games (Famicom Tantei Club 1 and 2) play it at the same pitch, but Jesus - Kyofu no Bio Monster seems to play at a "gibberish" pitch pattern, while Metal Slader Glory (Japanese) seems to play at pitches dependent on the character outputted. Although Metal Slader Glory's would be a little trickier to produce accurately with English, and I'd think you would need a whole new set of data for accurate sounds. I'm also thinking about having 1-3 more DPCM (or even RAW PCM if permitted) voice samples per actor instead of PSG channels, which otherwise use the same techniques as the PSG channels.
Obviously, true voice acting (with RAW PCM) for most/all dialogue is impractical...and is probably still impractical even if saved for a few scenes. But true voice acting might be much more practical if the game was for the PowerPak...since IIRC it could theoretically access the CF card and update PRG RAM midgame. Though we have no source code from bunnyboy to know how yet...