Great loading screen/Shite game

[ComSoft6128]

Unfortunately I can't think of a specific game at the moment but I distinctly remember a sense of disappointment with a few games back in the eighties when seeing a great loading screen for the first time and then actually getting a look at the game itself.


Can anyone jog my memory with a few examples?

[Shaun M. Neary]

Super Wonder Boy In Monsterland comes to mind. Was a massive fan of it in the arcade and played it to death until I finished it on the CPC

But dear lord, it's a horrible game. Slow, sluggish speccy port with a buggy tape loader that would often crash as it loads the second level. Disk version was fine.
Interesting fact: The Speccy version had a bug at the end of the game where the dragon couldn't be beaten. They (recently enough) fixed it by... wait for it... examing the CPC code!

But yeah... lovely loading screen... awful conversion.

Out Run probably falls into this category too. I was so excited waiting for the tape loading screen to finish. Look at those colours! Game loads... music plays.. .YESSS!
Press space and the screen shrinks by half the size and dear lord, what a disappointment.

[MaV]

Airwolf II - after that loading screen you'd expect an equally graphical experience in the game, instead it's a typical Speccy port.

[Brundij]

Ghosts 'n Goblins from Elite, Renegade 3, Basun.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Ghosts 'n Goblins from Elite, Renegade 3, Basun.

Harsh! That was not a bad conversion for it's time. It had it's obvious flaws (only 3 levels and no weapons) but it was by no means a shite game. AA gave it 86% and a Rave.


The other two I won't disagree with you on though! 

[Prodatron]

Yes, I still love the CPC version of Ghost'n'Goblins (it was my first commercial game). E.g. I like it more than then C64 version.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Yes, I still love the CPC version of Ghost'n'Goblins (it was my first commercial game). E.g. I like it more than then C64 version.

I've a fondness for both. The C64 version was a lot more arcade accurate, but the Whittaker theme on the CPC version swings it for me.

[Brundij]

I've a fondness for both. The C64 version was a lot more arcade accurate, but the Whittaker theme on the CPC version swings it for me.

It was a big dissapointment for me.  But yeah the music was cool.

[mahlemiut]

Airwolf II - after that loading screen you'd expect an equally graphical experience in the game, instead it's a typical Speccy port.

Still a far better game than the first Airwolf. 

[MaV]

Still a far better game than the first Airwolf. 

Uff, poking at old wounds! I really wanted to like that game, and it took a long time that I could finally admit to myself that this is a big turd.

[eto]

R-Type
Gauntlet 3
Out Run

[Brundij]

R-Type
Gauntlet 3
Out Run

See, I enjoyed R -Type. For being a rushed spectrum pot it's fine.

[eto]

a sense of disappointment

I was referring to the part "a sense of disappointment" of the original message - yes, the game is not bad and I also enjoyed it, BUT it still was a huge disappointment compared to the expectations I had when I saw the loading screen.

[Nich]

Unfortunately I can't think of a specific game at the moment but I distinctly remember a sense of disappointment with a few games back in the eighties when seeing a great loading screen for the first time and then actually getting a look at the game itself.

Can anyone jog my memory with a few examples?

Well, this prompted me to spend a good while browsing my collection of Amstrad CPC title screens. Here's my pretty extensive (but certainly not exhaustive) list (all the links will take you to the corresponding entry on CPC-POWER):

• Altered Beast
• Back to the Future Part II
• Batty
• Bubble Bobble
• Chain Reaction
• Cisco Heat
• Cobra (Ocean)
• Defcom
• Double Dragon (Spanish version)
• Energy Warrior
• Footballer of the Year 2
• Garfield: Winter's Tail
• Helter Skelter
• Heroes of the Lance
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Kobyashi Naru
• Leviathan
• Rally Cross Challenge
• SDI
• Trans-Atlantic Balloon Challenge
• Transmuter
• Turbo-Girl
• Wild Streets

[MaV]

For being a rushed spectrum pot it's fine.

I see what you did there! Yes, actually smoking pot while playing the original R-Type might have enhanced the experience. For one, you'd have seen more colours.

[ComSoft6128]

Well, this prompted me to spend a good while browsing my collection of Amstrad CPC title screens. Here's my pretty extensive (but certainly not exhaustive) list (all the links will take you to the corresponding entry on CPC-POWER):

   
• Altered Beast
• Back to the Future Part II
• Batty
• Bubble Bobble
• Chain Reaction
• Cisco Heat
• Cobra (Ocean)
• Defcom
• Double Dragon (Spanish version)
• Energy Warrior
• Footballer of the Year 2
• Garfield: Winter's Tail
• Helter Skelter
• Heroes of the Lance
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Kobyashi Naru
• Leviathan
• Rally Cross Challenge
• SDI
• Trans-Atlantic Balloon Challenge
• Transmuter
• Turbo-Girl
• Wild Streets

Far more than I expected!
Thanks for the links @Nich I've been checking them out - some cracking screens there!
Quite a few of which ended up in demos or slideshows.

[Shaun M. Neary]

I've a few more to add to this too.

Fire and Forget
Tom and Jerry 2
Slap Fight
Hollywood Or Bust
Offshore Warrior
Crystal Kingdom Dizzy (surprised this didn't get brought up yet as it's the dictionary definition of this topic!)
International Karate.

I can probably come up with more to be honest...