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Post by kerr9000 on Sept 18, 2022 19:20:39 GMT
So, this might be a bit of a cop-out answer, but: practically every arcade conversion to the 8-bit machines, at least from about the mid-80s on? Whenever I watch one of these comparison videos on Youtube, I'm always struck by just how bad the home computer versions of arcade games can look - even modest ones like, say, The Real Ghostbusters. I'm a C64 fan through and through, but the C64 version of The Real Ghostbusters just looks horrible - vile colour scheme, blocky sprites - bloody awful! This is not Afterburner or Thunderblade, ports that you knew were impossible, but a modest scrolling action game. Not that this is any surprise, of course. Even back in the day it was accepted that by-and-large you were better off getting games that were developed from the ground up with the host machine in mind. To counter that I'll throw the Speccy version of R-Type into the ring. Shouldn't have been possible, but they bloody did it. And it was superb. I also rather enjoyed Chase HQ on the spectrum I think they did a decent job with that one. |
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Post by learnedrobb on Sept 18, 2022 19:23:48 GMT
To counter that I'll throw the Speccy version of R-Type into the ring. Shouldn't have been possible, but they bloody did it. And it was superb. I also rather enjoyed Chase HQ on the spectrum I think they did a decent job with that one. They did. It's a superb conversion. |
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Post by spector on Sept 18, 2022 19:44:40 GMT
Bomb Jack, Wec Le Mans, Bubble Bobble, Green Beret, Operation Wolf, Rainbow Islands and many others on the Spectrum that were highly regarded. The C64 had fine conversions of Buggy Boy and Pacland too.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2022 20:23:44 GMT
Bomb Jack, Wec Le Mans, Bubble Bobble, Green Beret, Operation Wolf, Rainbow Islands and many others on the Spectrum that were highly regarded. The C64 had fine conversions of Buggy Boy and Pacland too. Bubble Bobble was pretty good on the C64 too. WEC Le Mans wasn’t, but another driving game, Powerdrift, certainly was. Like all generalisations, my original comment doesn’t perhaps stand up to close scrutiny. But did the good ones outweigh the bad? And how often did stringent publishing deadlines play a part? |
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Post by kiwimike on Sept 18, 2022 21:05:51 GMT
I love these comparison of screenshots from early games on a system followed by a later, showing the incredible advances talented people have squeezed out of a system. I immediately think of Atari VCS, Spectrum, anything that had a long lifespan. Even the likes of PS1 and PS2 with very early games up until some very impressive titles.
I was always blown away how Resident Evil 2 got squeezed onto a N64 Cartridge as well.
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Post by spector on Sept 18, 2022 21:50:54 GMT
Bomb Jack, Wec Le Mans, Bubble Bobble, Green Beret, Operation Wolf, Rainbow Islands and many others on the Spectrum that were highly regarded. The C64 had fine conversions of Buggy Boy and Pacland too. Bubble Bobble was pretty good on the C64 too. WEC Le Mans wasn’t, but another driving game, Powerdrift, certainly was. Like all generalisations, my original comment doesn’t perhaps stand up to close scrutiny. But did the good ones outweigh the bad? And how often did stringent publishing deadlines play a part? I would say the majority of arcade conversions in the 80s for the C64 and Spectrum were decent enough as long as the cassette box did not contain the words "US Gold" on it!  |
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Post by Markopoloman on Sept 19, 2022 0:23:16 GMT
Bubble Bobble was pretty good on the C64 too. WEC Le Mans wasn’t, but another driving game, Powerdrift, certainly was. Like all generalisations, my original comment doesn’t perhaps stand up to close scrutiny. But did the good ones outweigh the bad? And how often did stringent publishing deadlines play a part? I would say the majority of arcade conversions in the 80s for the C64 and Spectrum were decent enough as long as the cassette box did not contain the words "US Gold" on it! Not all US Gold arcade conversions were bad... .jpg) ![]() .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) |
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Post by spector on Sept 19, 2022 7:08:58 GMT
There were some not bad US Gold games here and there, but jeezo they did release a lot of smellies in their time. Breakthru anyone??? I remember Craig Grannell describing C64 Outrun as crap though I thought it wasn't too bad considering. The Spectrum version was supercrap.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2022 8:32:08 GMT
I remember playing Gauntlet 2 with my mate in 2-player mode and it was brilliant … on his ZX Spectrum! Yes, I actually preferred that to the C64 version, which felt a bit sluggish in comparison.
Outrun was okay on the 64 but my recollection of it was that the raster bars that are supposed to scroll down to convey speed just went a bit berserk once you were driving flat out. A quick trip to YouTube and I see that’s actually quite an accurate recollection for a change - they just jiggle up and down violently. (Yes I know, and no, I’m not going to rephrase that).
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Post by learnedrobb on Sept 19, 2022 10:22:54 GMT
I think with the 8bit conversions, a lot depended on your expectations. Most gamers knew they were getting an "approximation" of the arcade experience. Some games (R-Type, Rainbow Islands, Chase HQ, Operation Wolf, etc) exceeded them. Others (OutRun being the most obvious example) didn't really even meet them at all.
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Its just some interesting potential opportunities for AI and automation to help and free humans in the future, rather than enslave us. We need General Zod to implement it.