Ray tracing, currently the big thing in video game images, is a perk for those using advanced hardware on PC or next-gen consoles. Or, conversely, anyone who owns a SNES.
This demo for SuperRT shows real-time ray tracing running on a Super Nintendo – a console first released in 1991 – thanks to the use of a modified cartridge.
“What I wanted to try and do was something similar to the Super FX chip used in titles like Star Fox,” says creator Shironeko Labs, “where the SNES runs the game logic and hands a scene description to a chip in the cartridge to generate the images. “
You can see an overview of how it all came together here, or just take in the video below, which is definitely a “this is how I actually remember SNES games looking in the fogiest corners of my head” kind of deal.