The Akiko... was it ever actually used?

[Legerdemain]

...I'm rather curious. I've been looking for information concerning the Akikochip fitted in the CD32 and what games actually used the chip. The only game I've heard of so far that made use of the chip is Wing Commander, but how accurate is this information?

Does anyone actually know what games made use of the chip? Did Wing Commander really make use of the chip?

[SilentBob]

Microcosm for the CD32 also used the Akiko chip, I think that was widely advertised back in the days.

[Toni Wilen]

All games used it because it contains CD controller and CIAs

(yes, Wing Commander uses C2P part of Akiko)

[Legerdemain]

Originally Posted by SilentBob

Microcosm for the CD32 also used the Akiko chip, I think that was widely advertised back in the days.

I've seen it mentioned... but I can't understand where the chip could be utilized in any way to provide a more fluent experience when playing the game? Or am I just missing out on something here...

[Legerdemain]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

All games used it because it contains CD controller and CIAs

Hehe, yes, true... but I wasn't aiming at that, but that you were aware of... and I don't know why I am writing this reply at all...

[musashi5150]

I did some experiments and the Akiko does accelerate C2P nicely - but it's still shit on 020 with no fastmem.

[Shoonay]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

All games used it because it contains CD controller and CIAs

You mean the game doesn't have to be written the exact way, to "see", or rather USE it's features? Cool!

*goes off, searching the AmiNet for a do-it-yerself "How to solder Akiko to a Blizz 030 FAQ"*

[MethodGit]

While we're talking Akikoness - what are people's opinions of the Akiko emulator? Is it still worth it nowadays? Should I bother parting 15 euros for it? And so on.

[DDNI]

The Akiko emu? what where how!!??

[kriz]

http://www.airsoftsoftwair.de/en/prod_akiko.html But its old and outdated now, I would not buy it

[musashi5150]

I'd imagine WinUAE does a much better job.

[Shamino]

Nah, it's just a rip-off of UAE.

[Ze_ro]

Originally Posted by Shoonay

You mean the game doesn't have to be written the exact way, to "see", or rather USE it's features? Cool!

*goes off, searching the AmiNet for a do-it-yerself "How to solder Akiko to a Blizz 030 FAQ"*

I'm a little late to the thread, but thought I'd add my 2 cents...

From what I've read, there are actually a number of standard CD-ROM functions that were left out of the Akiko's implementation. Anyone know more about this? Are the missing functions anything useful?

The Akiko chip also has 1K of NVRAM for CD32 games to store information... though not a whole lot of games took advantage of this. Most of the adventure games let you save your game (Darkseed, Simon the Sorceror, Universe and Beneath a Steel Sky all do I think), as does Cannon Fodder... Fire & Ice will save highscores on there too. 1K isn't a whole lot though... even a Cannon Fodder save will take up about half of that.

[DrF]

I don't know much about this chip but I remember back in the day seeing ads with "Chunky to planar!!!! WOW!" etc. apprantly similer to Mode 7 SNES or something, is there anywhere I can see this thing in action?

[musashi5150]

It doesn't offer Mode7... nothing like that. No graphics tricks or funky screenmodes. It only does basic C2P which is far too slow on standard CD32 anyway.

In other words - nothing you can actually "see" or be amazed at.

[DrF]

Originally Posted by musashi5150

It doesn't offer Mode7... nothing like that. No graphics tricks or funky screenmodes. It only does basic C2P which is far too slow on standard CD32 anyway.

In other words - nothing you can actually "see" or be amazed at.

Bah, the ads. lied to me, I would make a complaint to Amiga Action & Amiga Format but I guess I am a little bit late.