> > > sometimes it will do that to a degree, but based on what else is on the line (so you > > > end up with this 'gradient' effect where the background colour is more visible on > > > lines where there isn't anything else) > > The weirdest thing about that gradient is that it can be seen even before anything else appears on screen, then the logo and copyrights gradually show up and it doesn't change a bit.
> However it's captured, that part of the game was programmed to have a red background. > > The pcb has a defect where it also outputs the background color when it is supposed > to be outputting the black level reference value. > > Anything (monitor or capture) that looks at that reference value will think that it > needs to remove that amount of red from the screen. You can argue that MAME should be > able to emulate that, even if it wasn't what capcom intended. But I don't expect > you'll get anywhere
I mean, if that gradient always appears in the title screen on real hardware and it can be consistently captured with a capture card/cell phone using different boards, perhaps there might be a possibility that Capcom was well aware of it and that it may have been intentional.
Having a system that's programmed to output certain colors with the intentions of displaying others wouldn't be something new to MAME, in any case(see NTSC/PAL color artifacting).