AGA games that were worse than ECS version

[edd_jedi]

I played Morton Strikes Back AGA recently, and in my opinion it looks worse than the ECS version. The copper backgrounds in the ECS version although tacky are quite impressive visually, and the AGA version is just bland in comparison. It also seems to run slower, but maybe that's just WHDLoad. Here's a couple of comparison shots:





Any other games you can think of for the Amiga that didn't benefit from more grunt?

[Marcuz]

I know that I'm against the grain here, and I even contributed to the AGA version, but imho, the graphics of Eye of the Beholder I ECS/OCS are much more cool than the AGA' one

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by edd_jedi

Here's a couple of comparison shots:

It would have been better if the fore and back looked like the same environment; contrasting a warm tropical looking beach with a rocky shoreline complete with fir trees.

At least its not overwhelmingly jazzy like some AGA ports, but shows how little thought went into it, or how little time they had to complete it - probably just a graphic they had laying around on disk, slapped it in and wrote AGA on the box

I much prefer the ECS versions of Zool2 and The Chaos Engine over the AGA versions, they both play better and ECS CE definitely looks much better with its muddier palette, yep the AGA version even manages to look worse, IMHO, and I don't think it displays more colours on screen at once, it just manages to make worse selections from the broader AGA palette, just so it looks slightly different in screen shots.

Unfortunately this was probably too often the case with AGA, poor choices, quick, cash-in conversions and worse performance so a developer (to be fair, probably cash-strapped and already pulling crazy hours) can re-release the same game.

I don't really blame the coders or the artists...

[Sandro]

Originally Posted by Steve T

It would have been better if the fore and back looked like the same environment; contrasting a warm tropical looking beach with a rocky shoreline complete with fir trees.

At least its not overwhelmingly jazzy like some AGA ports, but shows how little thought went into it, or how little time they had to complete it - probably just a graphic they had laying around on disk, slapped it in and wrote AGA on the box

I much prefer the ECS versions of Zool2 and The Chaos Engine over the AGA versions, they both play better and ECS CE definitely looks much better with its muddier palette, yep the AGA version even manages to look worse, IMHO, and I don't think it displays more colours on screen at once, it just manages to make worse selections from the broader AGA palette, just so it looks slightly different in screen shots.

Unfortunately this was probably too often the case with AGA, poor choices, quick, cash-in conversions and worse performance so a developer (to be fair, probably cash-strapped and already pulling crazy hours) can re-release the same game.

I don't really blame the coders or the artists...

maybe you are confused
you are mentioning 2 games that run slow in whdload but not from floppy

the zool 2 aga version is far superior to zool 2 ocs,yet better is the cd32 version

in zool 1 ocs, yes the normal version is better than the AGA only added candies to the buggy background it only cause confusion

in chaos engine is taste in colors,some ppl prefer the old version however both versions runs at idem speed 25fps which is not very smooth

[Steve T]

I did think it was WHDload, but having played Zool2 from Gotek images more recently it still has more slowdown over the ECS! Also not really keen on the AGA backgrounds...

And CE just looks so awful on AGA maybe it just 'seems' to play worse because of this, i haven't gone to trouble of measuring framerates, enjoyment being sorta subjective.

[Mrs Beanbag]

i think it's usually the case, when an OCS game gets updated to an AGA version, because not much thought seems to go into it, they just slap any old image there in the background just so that it has parallax... it would be better to make the AGA version first and then try to strip it down for the OCS version but of course it didn't usually happen that way. Too many people had Amigas already when AGA came out that releasing an AGA-only game would be practically suicide.

[Sandro]

Originally Posted by Steve T

I did think it was WHDload, but having played Zool2 from Gotek images more recently it still has more slowdown over the ECS! Also not really keen on the AGA backgrounds...

And CE just looks so awful on AGA maybe it just 'seems' to play worse because of this, i haven't gone to trouble of measuring framerates, enjoyment being sorta subjective.

is whdload yes I guarantee you that zool 2 and CE both games runs smooth and perfect from floppy

chaos engine aga is more colorful, but is fact that all the other 256 ports pc,snes etc uses idem gfx and palette

the atari ST and the megadrive version uses idem graphics as the amiga OCS version,because megadrive and atari ST can't work in 256 colors

surely the original gfx are these ones, then have been enhanced to work at 256 colors

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by Mrs Beanbag

i think it's usually the case, when an OCS game gets updated to an AGA version, because not much thought seems to go into it, they just slap any old image there in the background just so that it has parallax... it would be better to make the AGA version first and then try to strip it down for the OCS version but of course it didn't usually happen that way. Too many people had Amigas already when AGA came out that releasing an AGA-only game would be practically suicide.

A shame as when a developer really put the time and thought into it, AGA games could look and play really fantastic, esp when they explored a limited palette - like Banshee.

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by Sandro

zool 2 and CE both games runs smooth and perfect from floppy

OK i already conceded CE, it just looks worse, so is worse

Zool 2, except it doesn't - at least not from a Gotek/ADF image on my unexpanded Gotek 1200, but it is a bit better than the WHDload version on my 030, but either way again it loses points for its distracting backgrounds.

[Sandro]

Originally Posted by Steve T

OK i already conceded CE, it just looks worse, so is worse

Zool 2, except it doesn't - at least not from a Gotek/ADF image on my unexpanded Gotek 1200, but it is a bit better than the WHDload version on my 030, but either way again it loses points for its distracting backgrounds.

also I prefer the ocs palette
but I think the best version is the SNES version, is not so colorful as the aga version and is very smooth because it works at 50fps

check
[ Show youtube player ]

but again I prefer the amiga music, seems is better

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by Sandro

also I prefer the ocs palette
but I think the best version is the SNES version, is not so colorful as the aga version and is very smooth because it works at 50fps

check
[ Show youtube player ]

but again I prefer the amiga music, seems is better

I guess they may have put a bit more time into this one, but loses points for being on SNES It probably cost £20 more than even the AGA amiga, just for being on a cart with the nintendo seal of approval, and it still has that too garish look to the palette selections, it just doesn't need to be that colourful, but thats just IMHO, ultimately still prefer Amiga ECS version.

[Gzegzolka]

I like AGA version of Zool2 and Chaos Engine, but Zool1 look too bad, it's hard to see what is on first plane and what's background. Anyway, it's just my taste.

[mombasajoe]

I like the look of Speedball, but I don´t like the AGA Version.

[Cherno]

+1 for The Chaos Engine. It'd been better if they had used the additional colors for slight shading and gradients instead of outright color replacements.

[Galahad/FLT]

Speedball 2 AGA looks like crap

[rsn8887]

I think they even based the 2013 remake of The Chaos Engine on the AGA version, which looks much worse than the ECS version...

[Doda]

Exile. I don't like AGA version.

[Gzegzolka]

I wonder why nobody mention X-com Ufo?

[Predseda]

Although Reunion ECS and AGA are both great and almost equal, ECS version has better intro.

[Titler]

Originally Posted by rsn8887

I think they even based the 2013 remake of The Chaos Engine on the AGA version, which looks much worse than the ECS version...

Sadly they did, as I was gifted a copy... why they decided to use that version, when most owners had the ECS is beyond me, but I was so surprised how uglier it looked to my eyes I went googling to see if it was a driver error, but then found it matched the AGA version.