I recently picked up a Sega Saturn for $70 off FB Marketplace. While waiting to order my standard SCART cable from RetroAccess, I picked up a cheap Amazon SCART cable and a cheap Mcbazel S-Video/Composite cable to mess around with in the meantime.
I wanted to put together this quick educational post for anyone who might not be familiar with dithering in retro games and how dramatic of an impact your video signal choice has on how these titles actually look on different displays!
My Usual Setup vs. This Test
Normally, I’m a big fan of the razor-sharp image you get from SCART cables. My usual gaming setups range from a collection of consumer CRTs to high-end PVMs, as well as my retro consoles running through a RetroTINK 4K Pro into an LG C1 OLED. But testing this Saturn on a consumer tube was a great reminder of how signal clarity interacts with developer tricks.
What is Dithering?
In the 32-bit era, true hardware transparency and alpha blending were memory-intensive. Developers on platforms like the Saturn and Genesis frequently used dithering, a technique of alternating pixel grids (checkerboard patterns) of solid color vs. black, to simulate soft shadows, transparency, and color gradients. Dithering relied entirely on the signal degradation of 1990s composite video to blur those pixels together in your eyes.
The Comparison (Tested on Sonic R on a Toshiba CN36H96 CRT):
(Note: In an ideal test, I would eliminate the RetroTINK RGB2COMP transcoder from the chain entirely, but I didn't have any of my other TVs readily set up that could handle SCART natively. Still, this setup clearly illustrates the huge difference in signal handling!)
RGB (via SCART into RetroTINK RGB2COMP -> Component into CRT):
Result: Sonic’s shadow displays as a harsh, ultra-crisp checkerboard pattern with zero transparency effect. Because RGB provides clean, uncompressed color separation with no signal bleed, the optical illusion completely breaks down.
S-Video (Directly into the CRT):
Result: You can still easily make out the harsh checkerboard pattern. On a sharp display like this Toshiba CRT, S-Video retains enough clarity that the individual pixels don't smear enough to smooth out the shadow.
Composite (Directly into the CRT):
Result: The only signal where the dithering actually worked as the developers intended. The natural signal crosstalk and horizontal blur of composite smear adjacent pixels together, blending the grid into a smooth, translucent looking shadow.
It's a great example of how a "sharper signal" doesn't always equal the intended visual effect for every retro title, as high-end setups often expose the clever hardware workarounds of the era.
I still prefer the sharpness of SCART, but I usually always prefer it retro gaming on a CRT and when not playing on a CRT, but instead playing using my RetroTink 4K Pro to play on my OLED, I'm always applying CRT filters.
How do you prefer to play?
