Was there an A1200-specific version of Fire & Ice?

[RMilne]

Pretty much what the title asks. Was there a version of Fire & Ice that was sold for and only ran on the A1200 - with AGA graphics or that made use of extra memory or both, and if not, did the standard Amiga version behave differently when it was run on an A1200?

I know about the CD32 version, of course, that's well documented, but I can't find any references to an A1200-specific release.

Thanks in advance, Rory.

[Amigajay]

No, it was planned i'm pretty sure, but got cancelled after the demise of Commodore, Andrew Braybrook talks about it on his blog as the 'A1200 and CD32' versions.

[RMilne]

Thanks for that. I knew that Andrew had worked on an A1200 version, but I didn't know if it had been released without any press coverage or if it had just been cancelled.

I suppose the lack of any info online regarding an A1200 version heavily points towards a cancellation, but it's great to know for sure.

I can't see any differences when you run the standard Amiga version on an A1200, and the only reference to differences in the reviews from back then is one mention of the standard game taking advantage of extra memory being installed.

The review doesn't elaborate, however, and it doesn't specifically refer to the A1200, so I'm guessing the benefits of having extra memory apply to any Amiga with extra RAM under its hood.

[Solo Kazuki]

Of course You know that CD32 version works on A1200? So after setting music as "on chip" and of course copying to hard disk what's difference that's not floppy version installed (i suppose it would be only difference)?

[jotd]

The ECS version doesn't use extra memory. Maybe to cache files, but that's it.

The CD32 version doesn't have more colors but has one more playfield, a cheap (but nice) way to enhance an already existing ECS game without changing the whole palette & engine. And with some hacking (or whdload) you can make it run on A1200.

[RMilne]

Originally Posted by Solo Kazuki

Of course You know that CD32 version works on A1200? So after setting music as "on chip" and of course copying to hard disk what's difference that's not floppy version installed (i suppose it would be only difference)?

Thanks, Solo. I'd realised that the CD32 version could be convinced to run on an A1200. It was more the question of if an A1200-specific version had been released that had me curious. I knew one had been developed, but not if it had appeared in shops.

[Galahad/FLT]

Probably the same reason that no A1200 version of Uridium 2 was released either, and which did exist and was completed.

I don't know how it happened, but somehow Andy Jolly, the guy in charge of Binary Emotions (Speris Legacy, Minskies Furrballs), was in contact with Andrew Braybrook, and he complained that no-one wanted to publish the A1200 version of Uridium 2 he had done.

Andy Jolly asked if we could see it, and sure enough, Andrew Braybrook sent it to him, and we got to see it.

Unfortunately it was simply the same game except it used AmigaDOS for fileloading instead of his usual system, and Andy decided that there was no point in doing anything with it as the sales would likely not be very good for it.

[RMilne]

Originally Posted by jotd

The ECS version doesn't use extra memory. Maybe to cache files, but that's it.

The CD32 version doesn't have more colors but has one more playfield, a cheap (but nice) way to enhance an already existing ECS game without changing the whole palette & engine. And with some hacking (or whdload) you can make it run on A1200.

Thanks, I didn't think there were any gameplay differences if you run the ECS version on a system with more RAM, but it's good to know for sure.

Totally agree with you about the extra playfield in the CD32 version, it makes all the difference, as does the CD soundtrack. I also like that you can redefine the controls in the CD32 version so that you jump with a button, which I far prefer to pushing up on the pad.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by RMilne

I also like that you can redefine the controls in the CD32 version so that you jump with a button, which I far prefer to pushing up on the pad.

Who doesn't. Jumping up by pushing up is alright when you have a digital joystick in your hand, but on any other kind of game controller... evil.

[RMilne]

Just noticed that there's a joypad option in the ECS version where you jump with button one, fire with button two and use weapon power-ups with button three, of course most Amiga owners just had one-button joysticks back then rather than pads, but it's nice that it had that option.

[jotd]

I added the 2nd button jump on the ECS version too for whdload. I never could make the original joypad work, it seemed not to work properly.

Back in the days I was okay with up=jump because I used joysticks. But now with joypads, jump is much more natural with a special button.
And of course all arcade games used a special button at the time (except maybe Green Beret because 2 buttons were already taken by the weapons, which makes it very difficult to play with a joypad)

Just noticed that there's a joypad option in the ECS version where you jump with button one, fire with button two and use weapon power-ups with button three, of course most Amiga owners just had one-button joysticks back then rather than pads, but it's nice that it had that option.

Are you sure? button 3 that is probably middle mouse button right? Not sure that joysticks with 3 buttons exist (beside CD32 pads, where reading the buttons takes a special serial read routine)

No trace of that in the documentation either:

Joypad
-------
Joypad controls are as joystick except that the up function is moved to a
second button .This will vary , depending on the joypad actually used. A
joypad may be used be used in the joystick mode if required.

In joystick mode, when pressing the second button, it also fires, exactly the same as fire 1. Not very useful, except maybe if first fire is broken...

[RMilne]

To be fair, I'm not at all sure about the original hardware, but via emulation when you choose the joypad option buttons one, two and three are jump, fire and power-ups.

Emulation aside, and take this with a pinch of salt possibly, but a reviewer from the time said that you could plug a Mega Drive joypad into your Amiga - presumably the original three-button one - and use two of the buttons for fire and power-up. I'm guessing the last button would be for jump, but again I'm not sure.

Quick question, though. When the documentation you mentioned says: 'Joypad controls are as joystick except that the up function is moved to a second button' does 'up function' not mean pushing up on the joystick? And if so, then isn't the documentation saying that jump is moved to one of the joypad's buttons? Just a thought.

[RMilne]

Here's a link to a scan of that old review that I found, no mention of what the third Mega Drive joypad button was used for, but I can't think what else other than jump...

http://amr.abime.net/amr_popup_pictu...75.jpg&c=89359

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by jotd

The CD32 version doesn't have more colors

The CD32 version has loads more copper colours in the background

[jotd]

RMilne you could be right. At the time "joypad" may mean "sega joypad" (game predates the CD32 and its controller), which explains that this setup doesn't work with normal amiga joysticks. In general, games which supported sega joystick only supported the 2nd button (right mouse button). I've got to test this on a real amiga with my sega joystick.

Andrew Braybook (coder of this game) is a genius, we already knew it.

[RMilne]

Originally Posted by jotd

I've got to test this on a real amiga with my sega joystick.

Let me know what happens when you get around to testing this out.

[Solo Kazuki]

In CD32 version third button on CD32 joypad is for special attacks/weapons, maybe same is here?

[RMilne]

Originally Posted by Solo Kazuki

In CD32 version third button on CD32 joypad is for special attacks/weapons, maybe same is here?

It could well be. The magazine from back then that I mentioned before says that the second button is for special attacks, but I can only test which button does what via emulation.

[Solo Kazuki]

Isn't second button for jump in OCS/ECS version?

[RMilne]

Originally Posted by Solo Kazuki

Isn't second button for jump in OCS/ECS version?

I'm using WinUAE to play the ECS version, and when you pick the joypad option then button one is jump, button two is fire and button three is power-ups.

That said, I don't have an Amiga these days, so pluging in a Mega Drive joypad and loading up my copy of Fire & Ice - which I do still have - isn't a option.

All of that means that I can't tell what the different Sega joypad buttons would do in a game of Fire & Ice running on the original hardware.