I've put this together to help out people unfamiliar with the terms used in our Detailed Reports understand what is meant when we describe a screen change.
Anamorphic
The key giveaway that a game is anamorphic in behaviour are the thick black bars that appear above and below the game screen in narrow screens like 4:3, thinner black bars as the screen gets wider, such as 16:10, and are or are almost non-existant on 16:9 screens. In surround, the behaviour that accompanies this is usually pillarboxed, but has sometimes seen to be Hor+.
The highest grade a game with Anamorphic behaviour can achieve is A.
4:3 Resolution - large black bars across the top and bottom
16:10 Resolution - thinner black bars than 4:3
16:9 Resolution - some games have thinnest black bars here, some have none
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Hor+
The best way to identify Hor+ behaviour is to check the top and bottom of the screenshots versus the side of the screenshots. What you should see at the top and bottom is exactly the same, but what you should see at the edges should be different, where more area is viewable on the wider screenshots.
The highest grade a game with Hor+ behaviour can achieve is A.
4:3 Resolution
16:10 Resolution - Same view on the top, extra view on the sides
16:9 Resolution - Same view on the top, even more view on the sides
Comparison Image
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Pillarbox
This behaviour results in widescreens having black bars on the left and right of the game screen. The black bars get thicker as the screen gets wider.
The highest grade a game with Pillarbox behaviour can achieve is D.
4:3 Resolution
16:10 Resolution - No extra view available on the side, it just gets filled with black
16:9 Resolution - No extra view available on the side, it just gets filled with black
Surround Resolution - Pillarbox makes gaming in surround resolutions pointless as the side screens are not used
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Pixel-Based
Usually associated with games that look down from above such as SimCity, this behaviour simply shows more or less depending on screen size. This means that although 1280x800 and 1650x1050 are both 16:10 resolutions, you would see much more of the gaming area on the larger screen.
The highest grade a game with Pixel-based behaviour can achieve is A.
4:3 Resolution
16:10 Resolution - Much larger viewable area due to large resolution
16:9 Resolution - Even though the aspect ratio is greater, due to a smaller resolution, less is seen than the 16:10 image
Comparison Image
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Stretch
The easiest way to identify this behaviour is that everything looks fatter in widescreen. The same things that are on all four edges in the standard screen are also on the edges in widescreen, nothing is gained and nothing is lost. It's just stretched.
The highest grade a game with Stretched behaviour can achieve is D.
4:3 Resolution
16:10 Resolution - No extra view on top, bottom, or sides. Image is stretched in width
16:9 Resolution - Image stretch in width is even more obvious
Surround Resolution - Stretch looks really bad in surround resolutions
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Vert-
This is where the same things are drawn on the edges of the screen, but bits are missing at the top and bottom. You get the feeling of being zoomed in when viewing the wider images, compared to the standard screens.
The highest grade a game with Vert- behaviour can achieve is C.
4:3 Resolution
16:10 Resolution - The tops and bottom are chopped off
16:9 Resolution - the tops and bottom are chopped off even more
Surround Resolution - Vert- makes games almost unplayable in surround resolutions
Comparison Image -
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