[Shot97]

So, now that I have gotten my passions/reasons for being here out of the way, let's discuss in shorter terms for the great many people who wish to make judgments on my content without actually watching it, the whole PAL/NTSC issue...

With the Amiga, for a good change, Europeans actually got respected with games. It did not really happen with any other system not designed in Europe. You guys almost always got a hand me down from America/Japan and it would often times run slower and look wrong. It's true for a great many of machines, most of which default into NTSC mode because they don't care how Europeans saw it, not enough games were made to justify defaulting to PAL mode for most emulators. With the Amiga, and also the C64, people cared.

That's a good thing. There were people in Europe back in the day who knew they were getting screwed with games all over and they had shops they could go to in order to make switches to make their machines go into NTSC mode so they could see these games how they were meant to be seen.

My problem is there is an utterly dismissal of American content to the point where people simply do not believe this machine sold anything in America and even the C64 they want to think is this European marvel despite selling millions in America. Yeah, the same problem exists for the C64, all NTSC games (A whole hell of a lot of them) are being shown incorrectly.

Please stop quoting correctly and incorrectly. This is not spoken from my viewpoint, as an opinion. A game made in America on a C64 or Amiga was only ever intended to be seen in NTSC mode. In fact I doubt there was ever a minor consideration for the European market for most of the games. I read an interview with I believe Sierra saying how important the Amiga was to them, that they were selling more Amiga copies than DOS copies for this particular game. I also saw an interview with Sierra that said as early as 1988 that they were considering not selling anything in Europe. Why? Piracy. It was so bad they felt it was not worth releasing their stuff there... Well... If the Amiga is important to Sierra yet they don't wish to sell anything in Europe, simple logic means American Amiga users were the important ones to them.

Piracy was huge in Europe. I utterly understand this and make no judgments on those of you who stole games. I do wish you would all acknowledge games were stolen though... Then factor the importance of a huge chunk of Europe stealing games VS however size the American's were mostly buying those games because that market could afford them... Not only games... But software... Pro Write, Excellence, Deluxe Paint, Video Toaster, Deluxe Music... Hundreds and hundreds of software costing $100-$1,0000 were designed and sold in America. Even if it was not the biggest market, America was most certainly WAAAY more important than most people online give it credit for, without a doubt.

So we didn't have any demos... It was not our thing. We did however create a great deal of very intricate simulations/strategy/RPGs/and Adventure games. Some were American though and through, like The Fairy Tale Adventure, landmark game not talked about enough... Like Defender of the Crown and all Cinemware games. Like Might and Magic II, the best of all versions of that game. Like completely redone for the Amiga Bard's Tale games. Like Might and Magic III, coming out in 1993, made by New World themselves. Like Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2 made by Lucas Arts themselves for the Amiga. I hope just those brief little titles and the magnitude of them will make it clear these are not throw away titles.

Besides those original Amiga games ports made from other machines by the very own company... Are there other reasons for playing in NTSC mode when maybe the game had not been designed in America? Yes. Ports. All day everyday. All Gold Box games were ported to the Amiga, some of the best sellers of all time for computers... The ports were handled by a European country, by the artwork assets were 100% NTSC. Civilization, a Microprose game... Made in America for DOS, given to Microprose UK for the Amiga version, all artwork 100% based off the DOS version... Those games should be played in NTSC mode. Wing Commander, quite a story with how that game came to be on the Amiga... Pretty much just one man in the UK did it, all artwork was based on the NTSC version, and it plays like a dog in PAL mode... It's meant to be seen in NTSC because the original artists saw it that way.

If you take the time to watch my videos I do go into the "circle argument" in both videos. I show how Deluxe Paint, an American creation from Electronic Arts, never had a perfect circle in NTSC mode. Guys, programmers... They're not artists, they're closer to mathematicians. Dan Silva was thinking a perfect circle based on 320x200, he forgot to look at the damn thing. So, even a 100% Amiga original game will have circles shown wrong in NTSC mode but right in PAL mode. Circles do not mean anything. I go into greater detail in the second video where I show a real VHS 4:3 tape made back in the day showing off Deluxe Paint III, which ONLY had an NTSC mode. There was no PAL mode. So actually, the reason so many European games were made with those black bars is because they were running Deluxe Paint, there was no support for PAL mode. Anyway, I show off this how to tape where the circles are quite obviously not quite right. Everything else was though.

I show a comparison with Test Drive II in PAL and NTSC modes, running super playable in NTSC mode and showing the Ferrari F40 in perfect dimensions... except the wheels... Because circles didn't show up right in NTSC mode in Deluxe Paint. I really wish this circle thing would stop being discussed because there's so much more to art than a circle. Yes, you want to discuss TV shows, look at the circles... Amiga games? Please find something else to judge what mode it should be in with. When the very best artist can not hand draw a perfect circle, maybe circles don't mean everything when it comes to art?

There are NTSC games out there. A great many of them. How many of you are interested in them? I'm not quite sure. A great game like Lost Dutchman Mine gets almost no credit these days, it was reviews pretty harshly by European magazines, yet I think it's a brilliant American game. But I know there's others you do like... You guys love Monkey Island, also... That's American guys... For the most part new reviews I see on YouTube are of budget platforming games... I'm not into them... Maybe you guys eat them up and hate our stuff... Okay, but please understand the two markets were very different... and let me just say for anyone that thinks I'm a bastard, I watch FAR more videos than I make. I started making videos so I could say this stuff and have people connect a face with it. So I wouldn't be looked at as some bastard troll... I presented myself for all to see, I showed my face and body... How many of you have done that? How many of you believe that strongly in your opinions that you're willing to get up in front an entire world and say something that at first sounds like conspiracy theories... I come up here and claim all American Amiga games are shown wrong... Not some... Not most... ALL.

That will not win me many friends. To tell everyone who has put time/love/effort into their own writings and videos that what they have shown is wrong... Like... No... I don't feel very popular... I do, however, feel I'm the only one that was willing to stand up and get shot at. That eventualy, a few more people will come my way... If an LGR did those two videos, things would change.

I went right to Moby.... I went right to the Hall of Light... Rather than bitch that everyone is showing them wrong... I emailed them both corrected screenshots... Hall of Light did not care enough to even return my email... I've got things like the American disk cover for World Circuit (F1GP in Europe) which they do not have. And they don't want to talk to me... Yeah, they care about history... Moby did reply... And defended all of their screenshots. I had screenshots from the actual Amiga everyone. I used a program from my real Amiga to take these screenshots. No emulator can match that quality. It does things like get the pallet 100% correct, which allowed me to say SimCity 1MB RAM version uses 64 color EHB mode. If I search for that topic I will come to this very forum with people denying that... Despite the fact that is also says it right in the manual...Which I guess nobody has because they may not have bought it.

I'm not a troll in the comments of a YouTube video or forum bitching at everyone... I'm a real person putting myself out there... and I'm not just bitching, I"m trying to get things done. I gave my screenshots to HOL and Moby, you have no idea how crushing it was to take that time and be ignored and turned down. I gave them the short version, I gave them the long version, there are still far too many people out there who give NTSC games zero credit. I make video game reviews, I try my best to show them the original way intended unless there's a good reason not to.

For example, I did a review of World Circuit which is Formula One Grand Prix in Europe. America mattered enough to Microprose that they changed the name... A different title screen, 200 page manual where every page has the title on it... Floppy Disk covers... Anyway Geoff Crammond designed that game mostly by himself and it's European in 320x200, meant to be seen in widescreen.... But it plays like a dog on an Amiga 500 and it's 100% playable in NTSC mode... So I played in NTSC mode... But I also showed a comparison and told everyone what they are seeing is not how Geoff would have wanted you to see it. I also noted that "World Circuit" which was always said in quotes, was ONLY seen in NTSC mode... Because in the rest of the world it was called F1GP. So the only proper way to show "World Circuit" is in NTSC mode despite being designed in Europe. I gave those reasons why I did it, and I also showed it the right way.

I'm trying... I research these games far more heavily than Wikipedia... Look... If nostalgia means that much to you... If you love those squished heads, go for it... I just would like it to be on all of your minds... Maybe one day you'll try it out... Maybe try every game period in both modes just to see which one you like more... Because I do believe anyone playing these NTSC games correctly in NTSC mode will never go back to PAL mode once they see it themselves.

I'm not here today to give all my facts, look, you might think those videos are boring, but if you watch it through I give my evidence... Thanks again to anyone who read any of this, thank you for considering what artists like Jim meant you to see. I love Defender of the Crown... That scene with the woman... That's art... Through and through. That's the Amiga's Mono Lisa as it were, I just wish I was not the only one who cared enough to show it right. And please, understand what my definitions of right and wrong are. I get far too many negative comments about how a European might look at the same stuff I do and think he's "right" or how he remembered is "correct"... The designer, American or European, or Japanese even, a lot of those arcade ports regardless of country of origin should be in NTSC mode because Japan is an NTSC country. The designers of these games designed them on their computer... Maybe they should about the other countries, maybe not, but the "correct" way to show those games is how the designer wanted you to see them. The original designer.

That's me. I've said my peace. Thank you all for reading. I truly hope I don't read as much like an asshole as I sound... I feel like I have to speak up in my videos. I'm much calmer in my early videos and I feel you can't hear me. Side effect, I sound pissed when I raise my voice. If you like reading and you don't hate me too much, I write very intricate reviews of all the Amiga games I cover on my YouTube channel. I don't post them to whore them out, I believe them to be different things and people would get something different from both. Right now I only post those to one very small forum called Amiga Love. It's a different perspective, it's American, I was there back in the day, I have insights you don't seem to see too much... I "could" be here and post things... If I'm wanted... If not, just say so, you won't ever hear from me again.