"Bad 8bit ports to Amiga" (For Antiriad)

7-Zark-7 · 14 January 2003, 13:43

As Antiriad suggested this thread & hadn't posted it yet, I thought I'd throw it up myself.
Those of us who were there & remember them well probably have pet hates for this thread.
I for one immediately nominate Creatures (Thalamus). What was a C64 classic shooter/platformer got absolutely massacred by Creative Materials. They changed the very character & playability in this terrible conversion.

Tim Janssen · 14 January 2003, 13:53

I find Armalyte a strange conversion from C64. The game ranks as one of the best C64 shmups of all time but is on the Amiga a completely different (and rather inferior) game. I read several development teams got their hands on it before it actually went to ARC developments.

Oh, Hawkeye is also definitely inferior on the Amiga. Although the graphics look the same (literally!), the Maniacs of Noise music is sadly missing on the Amiga.

B.t.w. Wasn’t Creatures massacred by WJS Design instead of Creative Materials? This team also produced Anarchy and Ork on Amiga.

CodyJarrett · 14 January 2003, 13:57

Yes, Creatures was WJS.

ElectroBlaster · 14 January 2003, 13:58

Creatures! god i loved that game on the c64..... then the amiga version came out and i was sick... it looks like a bad ST port

Steve · 14 January 2003, 14:02

I think Wizball and Head over Heels is better on the C64.

14 January 2003, 14:18

Hawkeye! It was great on 64 but Amiga version was very sad.

Antiriad · 14 January 2003, 19:32

Cheers Zark! Must watch some Battle of the Plantes at some point in your honour

Overdoc · 14 January 2003, 20:36

Definitely Last Ninja II !
It was great on the 64, but awful on the miggy.
Also my all time greatest C64 shoot'm up, Katakis, comes to mind, but it was at least playable on the Amiga if you don't compare it to the C64 version.

Tim Janssen · 15 January 2003, 08:38

About Creatures :
I am a bit puzzled why Creatures is 'bad' on Amiga. The graphics are OK, the music is faithfully converted and even the gameplay is identical (I played the C64 original a couple of weeks ago). I think the unique 8-bit feeling of the original is debet to this.

@Overdoc,
To be honest, I find The Last Ninja series crap on any platform, except the C64. The game just does not feel right when not played in 8-bit graphics SID-music mode.
At least Amiga Last Ninja 2 looks and sounds good. A couple of years ago I downloaded Ninja 2 for PC and really got torturted by my PC when playing it. I had selected CGA mode (4-colors) and the music was played through the interal PC-speakers. The average mobile cellphone has better music capabilities nowadays.

Amiga1992 · 15 January 2003, 14:20

Zak McKraken, Giana Sisters, Teenage Mutanmt Hero Turtles (arcade), Blues Brothers.. all tehse are examples of games I preferred on my C64!

Tim Janssen · 15 January 2003, 14:32

@Akira,
Why do you prefer the 64-version of Blues Brothers? The gravity-force effect just isn't right on the 64. The Blues Brother acts like a Neil Armstrong wearing sunglasses which is hopping around a world with a gravity which is too low.

DrBong · 15 January 2003, 15:37

The Amiga port of Last Ninja 2 was definitely a pile of crud. Turbo Outrun, Power Drift and Bionic Commando were also disappointing compared to the C64 versions.

I've come across many more examples in the past, but I just can't think of them right now.

Great idea for a thread BTW!

manicx · 16 January 2003, 11:26

Well Last Ninja 2 is the most memorable example. It was so bad on the ST/Amiga that I didn't bother playing it for more that 30 minutes. BTW, LN2 was not bad in Speccy and the CPC. The display was slightly poor (not bad though as the graphics were clear) and the controls exacty the same as the C64. Sound was very good at least on the Amstrad and it was one of the first games that I remember to be double sided on the CPC!!!

7-Zark-7 · 16 January 2003, 16:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Tim Janssen
About Creatures :
I am a bit puzzled why Creatures is 'bad' on Amiga. The graphics are OK, the music is faithfully converted and even the gameplay is identical (I played the C64 original a couple of weeks ago). I think the unique 8-bit feeling of the original is debet to this.

@Overdoc,
To be honest, I find The Last Ninja series crap on any platform, except the C64. The game just does not feel right when not played in 8-bit graphics SID-music mode.
At least Amiga Last Ninja 2 looks and sounds good. A couple of years ago I downloaded Ninja 2 for PC and really got torturted by my PC when playing it. I had selected CGA mode (4-colors) and the music was played through the interal PC-speakers. The average mobile cellphone has better music capabilities nowadays.

@Tim.
1) Firstly,D'oh, you're right about WJS,as Cody pointed out. In my tired fuzzy-headed state,I was remembering the original Creatures diary which mentioned Creative Materials doing the conversion,& not the eventual developer.

Creatures is "bad" on the Amiga because...
A) Look at the extrememly crappy GFX, thry were like someone had used wax crayons.
B) The sprite scale was completely out of context to the game in Amiga Creatures. Where in the C64 you needed on occasion some nimble movements, in the Amiga you had oversized slow moving sprites crowding up the screen. If you'd read the dev diares & seen the obvious efforts the Rowlands put into making the C64 game shine in every aspect, it really showed how inept a conversion this Amiga version was.
A classic example of throwing a few big pixels onto the screen to supposedly make use of the Amiga & yet completely failaing at bringing the feel & playability across-I'd doubt they even played it!

ElectroBlaster · 16 January 2003, 17:02

nothing beats the 64 version of creatures! i even love the sid music.... the amiga version dont even come close!

I still remember the review stuff in the mags and going straight out and buying it! (one of the rare occasions i actually bought a game lol) i didnt have a disk drive so i had to make do with tape.... still well worth it tho

Puzzle · 17 January 2003, 16:09

Mayhem in Monsterland was really great. Made by the same guys that made Creatures.
Of course, it never made it to the Amiga.

Shatterhand · 17 January 2003, 19:23

Xenon. Speccy, MSX and C64 versions are better than the Amiga/Atari ST, at least in the gameplay department.

Funny Kodoichi mentioned Chubby Gristle. Yes, the Amiga version sucks, but every other version of this games suck too

Power Drift was a big dissapointment on Amiga, as I was a big fan of the Arcade version. The CPC version is quite good, though.
The MSX/Speccy version wasn't very good too.

manicx · 20 January 2003, 09:17

I remebered another one! Flimbo's Quest...

dirkies · 27 January 2003, 13:58

outrun (C64 was not so good either, but Ami one was an insult)
buggy boy (C64 version was so addictive, miggy version way too slow and boooooring soundFX)
dunno about 1943 for C64, but on the Ami it was just ridiculous, those who cracked it called it in their intro "1943 (1917?)" Nuff said!

Drake1009 · 27 January 2003, 14:47

I quite liked Buggy boy on the Amiga though the C64 version was better.

14 January 2003, 13:43	#1
7-Zark-7 Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane/Australia Posts: 1,270	"Bad 8bit ports to Amiga" (For Antiriad) As Antiriad suggested this thread & hadn't posted it yet, I thought I'd throw it up myself. Those of us who were there & remember them well probably have pet hates for this thread. I for one immediately nominate Creatures (Thalamus). What was a C64 classic shooter/platformer got absolutely massacred by Creative Materials. They changed the very character & playability in this terrible conversion.

14 January 2003, 13:53	#2
Tim Janssen Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Den Bosch / The Netherlands Age: 47 Posts: 1,271	Armalyte 'n' Hawkeye I find Armalyte a strange conversion from C64. The game ranks as one of the best C64 shmups of all time but is on the Amiga a completely different (and rather inferior) game. I read several development teams got their hands on it before it actually went to ARC developments. Oh, Hawkeye is also definitely inferior on the Amiga. Although the graphics look the same (literally!), the Maniacs of Noise music is sadly missing on the Amiga. B.t.w. Wasn’t Creatures massacred by WJS Design instead of Creative Materials? This team also produced Anarchy and Ork on Amiga.

15 January 2003, 08:38	#9
Tim Janssen Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Den Bosch / The Netherlands Age: 47 Posts: 1,271	Creatures & Last Ninja series About Creatures : I am a bit puzzled why Creatures is 'bad' on Amiga. The graphics are OK, the music is faithfully converted and even the gameplay is identical (I played the C64 original a couple of weeks ago). I think the unique 8-bit feeling of the original is debet to this. @Overdoc, To be honest, I find The Last Ninja series crap on any platform, except the C64. The game just does not feel right when not played in 8-bit graphics SID-music mode. At least Amiga Last Ninja 2 looks and sounds good. A couple of years ago I downloaded Ninja 2 for PC and really got torturted by my PC when playing it. I had selected CGA mode (4-colors) and the music was played through the interal PC-speakers. The average mobile cellphone has better music capabilities nowadays.

15 January 2003, 14:32	#11
Tim Janssen Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Den Bosch / The Netherlands Age: 47 Posts: 1,271	Blues Brothers?!? @Akira, Why do you prefer the 64-version of Blues Brothers? The gravity-force effect just isn't right on the 64. The Blues Brother acts like a Neil Armstrong wearing sunglasses which is hopping around a world with a gravity which is too low.

15 January 2003, 15:37	#12
DrBong HOL / AMR Team Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 2,632	The Amiga port of Last Ninja 2 was definitely a pile of crud. Turbo Outrun, Power Drift and Bionic Commando were also disappointing compared to the C64 versions. I've come across many more examples in the past, but I just can't think of them right now. Great idea for a thread BTW! Last edited by DrBong; 15 January 2003 at 18:02.

14 January 2003, 13:57	#3
CodyJarrett Global Moderator Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: UK Age: 46 Posts: 6,162	Yes, Creatures was WJS.

14 January 2003, 13:58	#4
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,712	Creatures! god i loved that game on the c64..... then the amiga version came out and i was sick... it looks like a bad ST port

14 January 2003, 14:02	#5
Steve I Identify as an Ewok Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: North Lincolnshire Age: 45 Posts: 2,356	I think Wizball and Head over Heels is better on the C64.

14 January 2003, 14:18	#6
oldpx Posts: n/a	Hawkeye! It was great on 64 but Amiga version was very sad.

14 January 2003, 19:32	#7
Antiriad The Sacred Armour Of Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Sussex, UK Age: 45 Posts: 1,141	Cheers Zark! Must watch some Battle of the Plantes at some point in your honour

14 January 2003, 20:36	#8
Overdoc Commodore Collector Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Austria Age: 53 Posts: 944	Definitely Last Ninja II ! It was great on the 64, but awful on the miggy. Also my all time greatest C64 shoot'm up, Katakis, comes to mind, but it was at least playable on the Amiga if you don't compare it to the C64 version.

15 January 2003, 14:20	#10
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,646	Zak McKraken, Giana Sisters, Teenage Mutanmt Hero Turtles (arcade), Blues Brothers.. all tehse are examples of games I preferred on my C64!

16 January 2003, 11:26	#13
manicx Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Posts: 991	Well Last Ninja 2 is the most memorable example. It was so bad on the ST/Amiga that I didn't bother playing it for more that 30 minutes. BTW, LN2 was not bad in Speccy and the CPC. The display was slightly poor (not bad though as the graphics were clear) and the controls exacty the same as the C64. Sound was very good at least on the Amstrad and it was one of the first games that I remember to be double sided on the CPC!!!

16 January 2003, 17:02	#15
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,712	nothing beats the 64 version of creatures! i even love the sid music.... the amiga version dont even come close! I still remember the review stuff in the mags and going straight out and buying it! (one of the rare occasions i actually bought a game lol) i didnt have a disk drive so i had to make do with tape.... still well worth it tho

17 January 2003, 16:09	#16
Puzzle Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Somewhere Posts: 99	Mayhem in Monsterland was really great. Made by the same guys that made Creatures. Of course, it never made it to the Amiga.

17 January 2003, 19:23	#17
Shatterhand Warhasneverbeensomuchfun Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Age: 41 Posts: 3,450	Xenon. Speccy, MSX and C64 versions are better than the Amiga/Atari ST, at least in the gameplay department. Funny Kodoichi mentioned Chubby Gristle. Yes, the Amiga version sucks, but every other version of this games suck too Power Drift was a big dissapointment on Amiga, as I was a big fan of the Arcade version. The CPC version is quite good, though. The MSX/Speccy version wasn't very good too.

20 January 2003, 09:17	#18
manicx Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Posts: 991	I remebered another one! Flimbo's Quest...

27 January 2003, 13:58	#19
dirkies Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Belgium Age: 51 Posts: 1,297	outrun (C64 was not so good either, but Ami one was an insult) buggy boy (C64 version was so addictive, miggy version way too slow and boooooring soundFX) dunno about 1943 for C64, but on the Ami it was just ridiculous, those who cracked it called it in their intro "1943 (1917?)" Nuff said!

27 January 2003, 14:47	#20
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	I quite liked Buggy boy on the Amiga though the C64 version was better.

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