CD32 & 4th Gen Chipset?

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by DamienD

...there are definitely some very cool games on the FM-TOWNS computer & Marty console. Especially all the LucasFilm / LucasArt games

I used to be an avid collector, see here for my list: Anyone here owns a Fujitsu FM Towns Marty?

I have a working Marty 2 and a CarMarty (yea..) but I have no cables for the CarMarty so I have no idea if it works.. (uses that damn custom video out cable that is impossible to find)
Dont have a lot of games but Afterburner port is one I played fairly recently, and it doesnt suck- certainly beats the Amiga version by a mile ;-)

[DamienD]

...as are most of the arcade conversions; very, very true to the originals

I'm sure I've said this to you before, look through my list and I'm happy to upload somewhere for you to grab / enjoy. It's no problem whatsoever

[MigaTech]

When the Platstation came out and I saw Resident Evil on it, I remember thinking for the first time, I was concerned for Amiga!!

As the Playstation dominated and the video games were just getting better and better, I realised that Amiga had no real chance of competing against such an epic machine.

That didn't stop me from believing that Amiga would never disappear completely and even though PC's were also becoming more powerful, I could never be without an Amiga.

Nowadays computers are not like the machines of the past, never again would there be a legend machine. It's all about realism, money and power today. Back when Amiga dominated, it was all about how less was always more with a computer a decade ahead of its time. There was nothing quite like it. Yet the machines of today all seem the same, somehow. Nothing truly unique about them.

The FM-Towns machine seemed like the only one at that time heading in the right direction. Such a shame they never commercialised that console on a larger scale. I agree with most on their views to what could of been if Commodore wasn't plagued with lies, cheats and subterfuge!

The CD32 was a remarkable machine that could of been so much better if only! I still don't understand why they chose that colour, they produced it in? It just never seemed right to me somehow. Black and silver would of been much better, or even a crystal clear like XBOX. Maybe it was the only plastic Commodore could afford? Don't misunderstand me, it was OK but it could of been better. The appearance is just as important as the ability, right?

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by MigaTech

When the Platstation came out and I saw Resident Evil on it, I remember thinking for the first time, I was concerned for Amiga!!

As the Playstation dominated and the video games were just getting better and better, I realised that Amiga had no real chance of competing against such an epic machine.

That didn't stop me from believing that Amiga would never disappear completely and even though PC's were also becoming more powerful, I could never be without an Amiga.

Nowadays computers are not like the machines of the past, never again would there be a legend machine. It's all about realism, money and power today. Back when Amiga dominated, it was all about how less was always more with a computer a decade ahead of its time. There was nothing quite like it. Yet the machines of today all seem the same, somehow. Nothing truly unique about them.

The FM-Towns machine seemed like the only one at that time heading in the right direction. Such a shame they never commercialised that console on a larger scale. I agree with most on their views to what could of been if Commodore wasn't plagued with lies, cheats and subterfuge!

The CD32 was a remarkable machine that could of been so much better if only! I still don't understand why they chose that colour, they produced it in? It just never seemed right to me somehow. Black and silver would of been much better, or even a crystal clear like XBOX. Maybe it was the only plastic Commodore could afford? Don't misunderstand me, it was OK but it could of been better. The appearance is just as important as the ability, right?

By the time of Resident Evil in 1996 everyone bar the disillusioned knew the Amiga was dead commercially.

Computers and consoles are different markets, a cheap good specced Amiga could have survived even alongside the PS1, heck if a £1500 PC can, a £400 Saturn specced Amiga could have.

The FM Towns wasn’t heading in any direction tbf, it was Japan only aimed at a niche market, even worse than the Pippen which was at least sold in the west as well.

As much as I love the CD32, in no way was it remarkable though, in 93 it was great to have enhanced AGA games with intros, cd audio and no disk swapping which was all good stuff at the time as an upgrade from the A500.

As for colour, no one was making transparent shells probably because it seemed naff to see inside machines at the time, a lot of people still don’t like it, the grey was ok, Sega was black, Nintendo light grey so I suppose they went in the middle like 3DO and Jaguar.

[nzlpoa]

naff ? I would of thought being transparent would of been pretty "cool" by today standards, but i guess back then, no one really cared if they could see the inside...

I guess cost would have had someting to do with it ?

I mean, (a. it always comes back down to money anyway and (b Commodore was in trouble..

You wouldn't exactly get in debit, and make it worse would you..

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by nzlpoa

naff ? I would of thought being transparent would of been pretty "cool" by today standards, but i guess back then, no one really cared if they could see the inside...

I guess cost would have had someting to do with it ?

I mean, (a. it always comes back down to money anyway and (b Commodore was in trouble..

You wouldn't exactly get in debit, and make it worse would you..

Yeah seeing inside hardware wasn’t the in thing in the 90s.

Exactly, even if the engineers designed it cost reduced to come under £200 the big wigs pushed it to £300 last minute as they had no choice by this point, a £200 model wouldn’t have saved a Commodore anyway, 1992 was the year that killed them in reality.

[MigaTech]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

Yeah seeing inside hardware wasn’t the in thing in the 90s.

Shame they didn't do this as it would of been another example of Amiga being way ahead of its time.

Originally Posted by Amigajay

1992 was the year that killed them in reality.

Yes I guess I agree with you on this one, even with the fact they launched the almighty A1200 it was all too much too late. They should never of bothered with the A500 Plus nor the A600. they should of replaced the A500 with the A1200 and with all the funding they had for the A600, should of gone into making the CD32 with 030, triple A and fast ram.

Sony launched the PS in 96 which means they must of been working on that system when Commodore were screwing around with the A600 back in the early 90's. The tech was there unfortunately, common sense wasn't !

Lets face it Commodore was that shady that they even liquidated MOS who was their main Micro chip supplier, something about large orders MOS came through, Commodore didn't pay. How screwed up is that !!

[illy5603]

The Playstation was released in December of 1994 actually. I bought one the week they were available in the states.

[MigaTech]

Originally Posted by illy5603

The Playstation was released in December of 1994 actually. I bought one the week they were available in the states.

S*** I didn't know that ! <Akira would be impressed !

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by illy5603

The Playstation was released in December of 1994 actually. I bought one the week they were available in the states.

In Japan yes, NA and Europe got it Sep 1995.

It was really the first example of a manufacturer selling gaming hardware at loss, everything else was around the £400 mark at that i.e 3D0 and Saturn.

Btw the PSX had a really quick turnaround time, don’t forget they were in bed with Nintendo up until when Nintendo screwed them at E3 1993 by pulling out of the snes cd deal, so imagine June 1993-Nov 1994 to get a next gen console developed and released is jaw dropping, no money held back as Sony had billions.

[illy5603]

Yeah, it's all coming back to me, I believe I got mine in late 1995 not 1994. Certainly 1995 if they had not been released here yet. Either way, and I think we all agree, once you played the PS1 there was really no going back to Amiga for me as far as gaming goes. Well, except for Pinball Dreams / Fantasies / Illusions which I still play to this day.

[OmegaMax]

Agreed,once playing 3d games like the games on playstation there was no going back to amiga.

[Amigajay]

I still went back to Amiga games, sure Playstation took over my gaming life for 2-3 years, but i was still using my CD32 for my 2d gaming needs, im no 3d graphic whore!

[OmegaMax]

It's not just the 3d graphics but also the games were much more sophisticated compared to what cd32 was offering.I also owned a cd32 and liked a few games for it but all honesty it was more a me too with snes,genesis and nowhere near the saturn,playstation.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by OmegaMax

It's not just the 3d graphics but also the games were much more sophisticated compared to what cd32 was offering.I also owned a cd32 and liked a few games for it but all honesty it was more a me too with snes,genesis and nowhere near the saturn,playstation.

Well, Commodore did'n really plan far ahead, did they, all the CD32 marketing was targeting the Mega CD so yea, it was the best 32-bit "16-bit" console ;-) It wasn't any more next gen than the Philips CD-i that pre-dated it.
I remember borrowing a PSX from my sisters BF at the time and I played WipeOut for week ;-) Nice music, smooth 3d, generally nice feel to it.. So yea, going back to the Amiga was not easy, but at least I had a fast 1200 and not a CD32 (which I hated passionately at the time).

[ruinashiro]

the games were more sophisticated on the psx but there's a space for simple games that the cd32 filled for me.

plus to me the psx/sat 3d was generally ugly as crap (and i am vindicated!).

i am probably alone but getting a reasonably priced neo-geo is what stopped me from playing many amiga games after that. and i still play more 2d (or 2.5d) than 3d games.

[OmegaMax]

I had a neo geo also and really enjoyed magician lord,world heroes 2,top player golf and others but playing pirates gold(first time I even heard of the game) on cd32 kinda left me wanting more indepth games than arcade games.

[MigaTech]

Just wanted your views on this CD32 Best Video Games list, it's a fairly old posted list but still warrants your opinions. I know probably some of you have already seen it but all the same, list your top 10 CD32 games in this thread anyways!

Cannot believe they put Super Stardust @ number 9 !! What's that all about?

How many of you agree with the number 1 slot?

http://voxelarcade.com/opinion/list-...32-games-ever/

[duga]

No A300/A600 (A500 Plus sold until release of A1200).
A1200 sold with 1 MB chip + 1 MB fast (upgradable to 2 MB chip).
CD32 sold with 1 MB chip + 1 MB fast.

Wouldn't have saved C=, but A1200/CD32 would've been twice as fast on release.

[MigaTech]

Originally Posted by duga

No A300/A600 (A500 Plus sold until release of A1200).
A1200 sold with 1 MB chip + 1 MB fast (upgradable to 2 MB chip).
CD32 sold with 1 MB chip + 1 MB fast.

Wouldn't have saved C=, but A1200/CD32 would've been twice as fast on release.

A1200 would of suffered immensely with only 1MB CR. 2MB was only just about enough and not being able to go any further was a mistake.

The A4000 was going to be the first Amiga in history to break to 2MB CR limit. It was to have an option of 8MB CR but in the end, only the jumper existed, not the option. < If it did, programmers would of loved Commodore!