SNES/MD Games Versus The CD32 Versions

[Gilbert]

I have a SNES, MD and a CD32 and I'm always interested in what the best version is of a particular game.


I am particularly interested in Out To Lunch, because I already have the SNES version but I wonder if the CD32 version is worth getting - if it looks or plays better?


Also Desert Strike - Is the CD32 version the best?


Would be interested to here about other multi-format games on the CD32 too. Which is the best version and why?

Thank you!

[Glen M]

I've only ever played Out to Lunch on the CD32 and its a great game but looking at them side by side on youtube the SNES version looks better. More animation, more colours and parallax scrolling on the background. The only place the CD32 wins in my book is sound.

Desert Strike, I'm not sure this got a CD32 release? Jungle strike did but its just the A500 game slapped on a CD and again I'd imagine the console versions are technically better.

[Seiya]

Theme Park is available for CD32, MD and SNES. I have only look first difference, i have no make a deep play:

1) CD32 - FMV Intro
2) MD - Slideshow Intro
3) SNES - no intro, but demo game to watch various features

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by Glen M

I've only ever played Out to Lunch on the CD32 and its a great game but looking at them side by side on youtube the SNES version looks better. More animation, more colours and parallax scrolling on the background. The only place the CD32 wins in my book is sound.

Desert Strike, I'm not sure this got a CD32 release? Jungle strike did but its just the A500 game slapped on a CD and again I'd imagine the console versions are technically better.

Out to Lunch on CD32 and A1200 have all the same features as SNES including parallax backgrounds.

There was no specific Desert Strike for CD32 but the A500 is regarded as better than than the console versions with better music, sfx and colours.

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by Gilbert

Also Desert Strike - Is the CD32 version the best?

Amiga for me. (There is no specific CD32 version)

Megadrive and SNES run faster. But:
Megadrive has awful sound effects
In a SNES longplay I saw that the chopper can stop or revert almost instanty. Playfield is smaller.

Amiga seems slow/choppy at first. But the speed is more realistic IMO.
When you stop pressing the D-Pad the chopper still floats a little in the last direction you pressed. No instant stop as in the SNES version.
Sound+music is superior. You got voices ("Over here", "Warning", when enemies are killed)
Explosions look nicer.

[Retro-Nerd]

Desert Strike:

Surely the Amiga version on a faster CPU (it's a bit smoother). Nice and colorful graphics and decent music/sfx.

MD = bit jerky in scrolling
SNES = not worth to mention. It slowns down to 3-5 frames (maybe worse) when too much objects are on the screen.

[Gilbert]

Thanks for all the help. so it sounds like Desert Strike is well worth getting. Good to know I can show-off the extra power of my CD32

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

Out to Lunch on CD32 and A1200 have all the same features as SNES including parallax backgrounds.

There was no specific Desert Strike for CD32 but the A500 is regarded as better than than the console versions with better music, sfx and colours.

I just had a look on YT for Out To Lunch and the differences I noticed were

SNES : the country flag is animated on the intro screen to the level but not on the CD32 version

SNES : I also found a video where people were saying the SNES has more background colours than the Amiga version.


Amiga CD32 : you get a bigger view-port on the level with the chef looking smaller as a result. So this could me be more playable in some ways if you can see more but it does make the game seem a bit less busy.

CD32: The chef's face looked much paler - but this was on the Swiss snow level - so maybe the CD32 dynamically alters the chef's appearance

[alexh]

The misadventures of Flink MegaCD Vs CD32.

The MegaCD wins I'm afraid. The CD audio is the same, SFX on the Amiga is slightly better. But the Megadrive visuals are just better. Extra layers of foreground parallax not present in the Amiga version. A top menu bar with real transparency unlike the CD32 fake one (not sure why they did this? Performance?) Don't get me wrong the CD32 version is still a great game from the same team that brought you Lionheart just less polish on the AMIGA version.

[DanyPPC]

Flink CD32 version suffers from slowdowns, but it's a great game anyway.

[Seiya]

Theme Park Megadrive and SNES have music in background and when persons enter in various coaster start their specific music.
Megadrive has better interface because have specific option for general path.

CD32 version is the best because have bigger and more detailed graphics, better interface that is more easy to build the park, more drop down menu option to play also in sandbox version. It lack music in background but it has better melodies for various coaster and better sound effects. And of course full motion video intro that is the same of Mega Drive version (on CD32 is animated, on Mega Drive is a slide show)

[Gilbert]

Originally Posted by alexh

The misadventures of Flink MegaCD Vs CD32.

The MegaCD wins I'm afraid. The CD audio is the same, SFX on the Amiga is slightly better. But the Megadrive visuals are just better. Extra layers of foreground parallax not present in the Amiga version. A top menu bar with real transparency unlike the CD32 fake one (not sure why they did this? Performance?) Don't get me wrong the CD32 version is still a great game from the same team that brought you Lionheart just less polish on the AMIGA version.

Good info.

I think the reason is - it's easier to make a game on the Megadrive - you just use sprites for all the characters. On the Amiga you have to mix sprites and blitter objects and you only have one background layer supported in hardware. Maybe if they had more development time they could have matched the Mega CD. But why spend more time on it when you know you won't sell any more if you do?

[Nishicorn]

I don't have a Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, but after playing Desert Strike on an emulator, then playing Desert Strike on my real Super Famicom, then playing Desert Strike on my real Amiga 1200, it's just as clear now as it was back in the nineties;

The Amiga version of Desert Strike is ABSOLUTELY an enormous amount better than the other versions.

It has 'real' shadows, in that they're transparent. Massive, epic-looking explosions, much better and very impactful sounds, a more fine-tuned and 'realistic-feeling' and better control and gameplay, and better intro and music (the amazing intro song is a classic, and even the game over song is inspiring).

There's nothing that's better in any other version, except maybe 'speed'. The helicopter moves a bit slower on the Amiga version, but this actually makes the gameplay better, and there seems to be more 'movement inertia', meaning, multiple different speeds depending on how fast you're going.

Amiga version feels more 'solid', whereas the Sega Genesis-version feels more 'toylike' or 'cartoonish' (on all possible levels, from visuals to gameplay).

Sega offers a more 'flat' experience, Amiga has more 'depth' to it, for the lack of better description.

Super Famicom-version sits nicely in the middle - it has transparent shadows, and nice samples, but doesn't quite reach the Amiga version's undisputable glory.

So, the versions are ranked like this:

1.) The Amiga version
2.) The Super Famicom-version
3.) The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive-version
4.) The DOS-version

And whatever other versions might exist, is probably not relevant to this list.

[Gilbert]

Originally Posted by Nishicorn

1.) The Amiga version
2.) The Super Famicom-version
3.) The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive-version
4.) The DOS-version
.

Great job doing the testing there. Would be good to hear what you think about other mulitformat games.

I'd like to see someone compare Gods. I've watched all the videos and I think the Amiga version looks like the best version overall. The SNES one looks too fast to be playable and the Megadrive version, although much smoother than the Amiga seems to suffers from less colours (or less colour choices)

[Retro-Nerd]

Sure, Amiga Gods is the best version. Best atmosphere, best SFX/title track. The ingame console music is just awful. Yes, MD/SNES version seems a bit smoother (looks like 25-30 fps for PAL/NTSC) but not significant enough. And the SNES colors are just silly.

[BippyM]

AMiga Gods could have been so much better at the same time.

[Retro-Nerd]

Well, Bitmap brothers ST to Amiga style at that time.

[BippyM]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

Well, Bitmap brothers ST to Amiga style at that time.

Yep, which is why they don't deserve the "legend" status they have but alas that is for another topic