what did you do
Noodle3 HN recommenders · 2025–2026
1.5M views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2025-12-05
Noodle explores how retro pixel art was designed for CRT displays and why games look different on LCDs, with input from pixel artists and CRT researchers.
HN recommends it as an entertaining deep dive on CRT versus LCD rendering of retro games and the case for CRT shaders.
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3 comments from Hacker News
I've been getting more and more into retro gaming lately, and something that really made it click for me is leveraging shaders (or overlays) to simulate period-accurate displays. For a Sega Saturn, that'd be some kind of CRT. The art direction in these games are designed to take advantage of the quirks of the CRT, and often look significantly better on a CRT. Noodle just did a decent video on it: [VIDEO] I strongly recommend anyone getting into retro gaming, try some CRT shaders (or lcd ones for portables)!
Interesting article. I hope their engine gets to the point where it actually looks like CRT instead of the blocky filters we see nowadays. Here’s an entertaining video showing the difference in retro games on crt and lcd screens. It’s pretty incredible if you aren’t aware. Games back then were designed on CRTs and can look awful on LCDs in comparison. [VIDEO]
The video I linked is taken of a CRT and is not a screenshot of an LCD. This is an excellent deep dive on the issues I spoke of: [VIDEO]