Amstrad CPC, much better than I thought it would be!

[S0ulA55a551n]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

Yes, i know. Tried it a few years ago. Pretty good. The R-Type 128K Remake is quite spectacular too. But they should have ported it to the plus machines.

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I know can you imagine with the extra colours would have killed

Whilst this version is much faster the scrolling still sucks balls. The programmer could have gone nuts with the Plus, could have been so much more. Not sure if the extra features of the Plus were that well documented though. I know you couldn't access any of the new features directly from Basic which i think was massive shame

[S0ulA55a551n]

Neer was a spectrum fan, but this is pretty impressive

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[hansel75]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

Yes, i know. Tried it a few years ago. Pretty good. The R-Type 128K Remake is quite spectacular too. But they should have ported it to the plus machines.

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While looking nice despite the small screen, the movement is still terrible and is way to jerky to be as playable as C64 shooters.

And while the C64 version of R-Type could of been better and should of been more accurate to the arcade version, it's still more playable then this CPC remake because it's smoother.
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C64 Katakis is worth a mention also- [ Show youtube player ]

And again, we had this in the 80's and did not have to wait 25yrs for a better version on our machines, also C64 R-Type only required half as much ram then this CPC 128k remake!

And Enforcer - Fullmetal Megablaster is worth checking out to really see what the C64 was capable of, as it puts this CPC R-type remake to shame- [ Show youtube player ]

Edit -Make sure to watch the C64 videos in 720p/50!

[Retro-Nerd]

Yep, i think it's all about the challenge coding on a limited machine when they do CPC remakes like R-Type. The CPC plus could handle a smooth and good looking R-Type but that wasn't their intention. Sadly, because the plus game library still is very small.

[hansel75]

I personally think Super edge grinder on Cpc looks technically better then the R-Type remake, at leasts it's reasonably fast, smooth and playable despite the weird colours used.

One of my personal favourite shooters on C64 was Delta, i know it wasn't to everyone's taste as it required memorizing attack patterns.
The execution of this game is superb and it's very stylistic and unique in it's look, the sprite movement is incredible in places, the scrolling silky smooth and the colour is nicely used, and it was all in a single load

It's just a class shooter and nothing on the CPC comes close to it or the other C64 shooters i have already mentioned..
And that hubbard music is just amazing, Delta's ingame tune is probably the best i have ever heard from a C64!
The sublime 50fps gameplay and graphics, combined with the psychedelic soundtrack almost puts you into a trance while playing.

Best quality at 720/50, but make sure to check the ingame music version to, and best to skip further into video to see more advanced sprite patterns plus animated water and fire backgrounds etc-

Delta Longplay (C64) [50 FPS] (sound fx only)
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Or this with music-

Delta Longplay (C64) (ingame music)
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[Retro-Nerd]

I personally think Super edge grinder on Cpc looks technically better then the R-Type remake

The explanation is simple. There is much less action/sprites/animations in Super Edge Grinder compared to R-Type.

Sure, Delta is a nice shmup but i don't like the trial & error aspect. That works better for games like Rick Dangerous. But Rob Hubbard's music is oustandig.

[S0ulA55a551n]

Been looking but does anyone have any links to firmware manuals or any documentation for programming the extra features of the plusw

[S0ulA55a551n]

T

[PortuguesePilot]

Awesome! I still use one of those controllers on one of my Amiga 500.

[SquawkBox]

I can imagine why adults playing on 26+ inch flat screens may rather enjoy smooth scrolling when possible for their games, but back then, quality yet tiny monitor was bundled, we were impressionable teens, thus I'd say it was a different affair altogether. Anyway, smooth scrolling of colorless sprites over lacklustre backgrounds doesn't sound too good from my point of view, even with the better soundtrack.

[dlfrsilver]

that was more or less what i was saying. Colors were at this time a luxury, most computers had few colors or no colors at all. Adding speed over it won't give or some other people the will to get this specific machine. Even with better soundtrack......

[lordofchaos]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

Yes, i know. Tried it a few years ago. Pretty good. The R-Type 128K Remake is quite spectacular too. But they should have ported it to the plus machines.

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It looks nicer and it's definitely an improvement over the original...But Regarding the scrolling. The original scrolling was "utterly terrible", and the Remake has been upgraded to "terrible", wow nice one. The commentator seems to be a little biased.

[S0ulA55a551n]

With the hardware sprites and pixel scroll of the plus could have been even better on and the 15 colours for sprites and 16 for the rest

[lost dragon]

Well, i went from the Atari 800XL to the C64 and a good few friends had the ZX Spectrum, so it wasn't until i got into 'Retro' i looked at the Amstrad CPC.

Hardware seemed to have great potential, just sadly never used that often by UK software houses, but likes of:

Chase HQ/Savage/Highway Encounter/Dan Dare 1+2/Ping Pong/Gryzor/Renegade/Sacred Armour Of Antiriad/Barbarian and the isometric Batman game which never arrived, along with things like Head Over Heels..seem to imply the machine was more than capable when codeded for 'properly'.

[hansel75]

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

Anyway, smooth scrolling of colorless sprites over lacklustre backgrounds doesn't sound too good from my point of view, even with the better soundtrack.

Smoothness = More playable, has been that way since the invention of the videogame and is just a important today.
It doesn't matter the colours and graphics, playability and smoothness always come first.
That is why the C64 dominated the world and outlasted the opposition, because almost all C64 games were of smoother quality and more playable.

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Adding speed over it won't give or some other people the will to get this specific machine. Even with better soundtrack......

That's not what 10-17 million C64 owners thought, most bought the machine because it was the best, making it the No.1 selling single computer model of all time!
The full CPC range had a total sales of only 3 million! Sales figures from wiki!

[dlfrsilver]

Yes more than capable, but most of the time, the coders loosed time on the speccy and C64 version in a :

"oh no, we only have 3 months to make the CPC version because we spent too much time on the Speccy and C64, oh no, the men in suits with money oh no, please hand me the c64 assets and the spectwom code, oh no, that's crap-and-easy, let me emulate the c64 on CPC, oh no, that's dog slow because i converted the routines line by line from 6502 or i forgot to correct wrong used z80 instructions from the speccy to the CPC, i'm paid to fork out such shits, oh no, i'm so proud of myself"



I think it's well resumed so far

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by hansel75

Smoothness = More playable, has been that way since the invention of the videogame and is just a important today.

I remember how it was back in the day. People were desperate of having only machines, consoles or computers with no colors, few colors and crap colors.

That's why the CPC killed at his birth the C64 in our country.

It doesn't matter the colours and graphics, playability and smoothness always come first.

Of course colors and graphics matters ! it's comparing black and white cartoons with color cartoons, people were happy that in term of technology they started to use colors instead of the B&W !

The same thing happened with the CPC. People saw that not only they got a monitor with the main CPU unit, a fast drive, the ability to read tapes (and faster than any other computer), a printer, a joystick, a mouse, sound and music in stereo, the best basic of all the 8 bits machines available on the market, while for the same price, you only got a C64 keyboard with no screen !

The c64 just couldn't compete with that. And as explained, it's not the main public who gave the CPC his golden letters, but the engineers throughout our country.

They were the start of the CPC success, the nail in the coffin for the C64.

Mind you at first, hypermarkets didn't wanted the CPC. When the engineers begun to popularize the CPC for all it had to offer, shops all around the country were overflowded like a tsunami by request, up to the point where the hypermarkets and the shops were unable to sell the CPC because Amstrad just couldn't have enough of them, the demand was way too high.

Just for the record, When Amstrad France got in the Garonor Warehouse the first container of Amstrad containing 4000 of them inside, one hour later, all of them were sold !

Later, when Amstrad got well established on the market, Alan Sugar just requested from the Amtrad France Boss to sell 120.000 Zx spectrum.

Her answer was to politely tell him : "keep those shits, i won't sell even 50 in the whole country, send me 30.000 Amstrad CPC units, we don't have enough stock !!"

That is why the C64 dominated the world and outlasted the opposition, because almost all C64 games were of smoother quality and more playable.

Correction : the c64 was the best offer when it got out, hence why it sold so much on the whole globe. The CPC would have been sold at the same time, things would have been really more complicated for it.

That's not what 10-17 million C64 owners thought, most bought the machine because it was the best, making it the No.1 selling single computer model of all time!

Yes there was no other machine when it got out able to give it a run for its money. Until the CPC came out hehehe

CPC total sales was 3 million! Sales figures from wiki!

Yes that's the right sales figure Amstrad got problems to get big amount of CPCs to sold on the market.

And while it didn't scored 10-17 millions units sold, people just went mad to get one, in such a way that the c64 have never ever known in its whole life.

For its colors, for its basic, the best one ever gracing a computer, it easy-use, his family purpose, his unbeatable price and all the huge range of accessories, his stereo abilities (yes, contrary to the ST, the CPC is wired in stereo, and not mono ).

It just had so much more than hardware sprites and the best soundchip of the market

even the z80, who was the second most famous CPU aside the motorola 68000, both of which were all teached in IT universities in the world as a basic students to learn coding.

[hansel75]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

oh no, we only have 3 months to make the CPC version because we spent too much time on the Speccy and C64

R-Type on C64 was made in 6 weeks and was still better then the other 8bit versions! And although not the greatest C64 shooter, it's still decent, playable and smooth.
So the rushed release excuse applies to all platforms and not just the CPC.

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

The c64 just couldn't compete with that
They were the start of the CPC success, the nail in the coffin for the C64.

Total sales figures and worldwide popularity says otherwise.

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Yes there was no other machine when it got out able to give it a run for its money. Until the CPC came out hehehe

The ZX spectrum sold in excess of 5 million units, outselling the entire CPC range and was the closest in popularity to the C64.

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Correction : the c64 was the best offer when it got out, hence why it sold so much on the whole globe. The CPC would have been sold at the same time, things would have been really more complicated for it.

Correction: The C64 didn't just sell well on release, it was still selling well even when the 16bits came out, and i believe it was still selling decently even up to the early 90's.
By the 90's the CPC and Speccy where dead in the water, so even after being blinded by the awesomeness of the CPC once it was released, the C64 still outsold it.

I am also surprised that CPC owners who upgraded to the Amiga did not just buy an ST instead, considering bad scrolling and jerky sprites were acceptable.

[tomcat666]

I still don't know if dlfrsilver is the biggest deluded idiot ever or is he just trolling here...?

[roondar]

Originally Posted by tomcat666

I still don't know if dlfrsilver is the biggest deluded idiot ever or is he just trolling here...?

I'm assuming it's tongue in cheek?

If not, we can just do the same in reverse (disclaimer, I like all retro computers - this is meant as an educational joke):

To fix the C64's colour 'problem', turn the colour knob on the monitor/TV.
To fix the Amstrad's gaming problems, buy a C64 and turn the colour knob on the monitor/TV