While I was working on the previous episode of Behind the Code and researching Jekyll’s walking speed in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the NES, I noticed that the frame rate was rather odd. Turns out it is REALLY odd.
If you’ve played the game, you may have noticed that the speed is inconsistent. In Level 6 in particular, it can get ridiculously fast.
I placed this episode in a new “Behind the Code: Leveled Up” series. My intention was to use this new series for whenever I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into computer science versus the flagship series. I’ll sometimes use caution and hold back on some of the technical details inside the main series, but I won’t do that here.
This in mind, the goal is to explain this game’s complex approach to managing game logic versus frame rate and explain why it has the inconsistent speed that it does.
And if you think Level 6 is fast… wait until you see how the NES responds to what I submit to be one of the greatest Game Genie codes the series has created so far.
