The Oh No its a port thread!!!

[Grimmsqueaker]

So with being relatively new to the Amstrad I have been surprised by a few of the games being Spectrum ports, thankfully without the color clash.

In quite a lot of cases the Amstrad versions of the games have been right up there with the C64 versions but with better defined graphics and far superior bright color palette. It has been a bit disapointing at times where flick screen scrolling was used, the 464 is more than capable of scrolling so why is it they decided to do the flick screen approach. At least the flick screen doesn't ruin the games that have it thankfully.

The thing is though the Spectrum ports when the machine is capable of so much more, lazy developers, tight deadlines have now gave us stuff that has just been churned out.

I was looking at Myth for example, the C64 version is one of System 3's best games alongside the Last Ninja Trilogy. They ported the Spectrum version over to the Amstrad (They did this with all their games except Dominator & Flimbo), the thing is though the Spectrum version is a very different game to the C64 version. So essentially we have 2 virtually different games, now the Spectrum game is very good in its own right and plays really well, same can be said for the Amstrad version / port. Can you imagine how epic it would have been if they did do it as a port but also added better multicolor to the sprites and backgrounds, you would have had 2 of the greatest 8 bit games with the same title on C64 & Amstrad.

Same can be said for Bionic Commando, 2 versions on C64, horrendous American version but the Euro version is absolutely superb with great music and graphics. What did they do though, can't be bothered just port the Spectrum version to the Amstrad.

Can you imagine what Thalamus could have done with the Amstrad machines, they done so many cartoon style games it would have fit in on the Amstrad 100% with its awesome color palette.

So there are the 2 biggies for me presently (Don't get me started on Last Ninja 2 Remix & Tusker - System 3 AGAIN, theres a pattern emerging here! )

So whats everyone elses take on the ports

[arnoldemu]

Are you prepared for what you have done?


I don't like the spectrum ports.

But I need to make it clearer.

The worst are those that emulate the colour clash.
Next worse have the coloured blocks like spectrum but no clash.
Next worse is where sprites and background are one colour.

Porting code from spectrum is not all bad if it is the game logic.
The small l we sized screen is acceptable too.

But the best are where they make good use of mode 1 by exploiting the sprites and background or where they make it mode 0.

I have been writing a document about amstrad scrolling. It is quite technical but it's meant to explain how to do scrolling correctly. I do plan to cover software scrolling too eventually.

[dcdrac]

I would love to see an Amstrad CPC specific version of Myth

[Axelay]

Spectrum ports make me think of the 23-24-25 demo, for some reason. 

I was looking at Myth for example, the C64 version is one of System 3's best games alongside the Last Ninja Trilogy. They ported the Spectrum version over to the Amstrad (They did this with all their games except Dominator & Flimbo)

I'd be pretty surprised if Dominator was not an example of a spectrum port with the graphics redone in mode 0, as the game appears to have the same screen & sprite dimensions.  The loading screen logo being low res but still monochrome also has the feeling of a quick port about it.

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

I really liked Myth, despite the fact the graphics didn't make the most of the CPC's abilities.  It must be remembered that 1bpp graphics don't take up as much memory, and the game had some good animation and extensive detailed backgrounds.


But most games didn't have that as an excuse, and just looked crap. Having different coloured sprites was a bonus on many spectrum ports, some even emulated the attribute system :-(

[Grimmsqueaker]

The thing I like about Myth on Amstrad even though its a port is that there is no color clash and it is different to the C64 version, its an example of a good port with great playability.

I fired up Last Ninja 2 Remix yesterday (LN2 on C64 is one of my all time favorites ever), looks good at the start with the exact same intro minus the music as the C64 version, then you get into the game and no color at all, nice looking high res graphics but no color just ruins it

I also fired up Salamander, Nemesis is a great shooter on the Amstrad, plays well, nice and colorful and what do we get with Salamander, yet another port and it looks terrible.

[Carnivius]

I was gutted with Myth when I bought it.  It played ok but I just felt the graphics made it look like a cheap budget game.   I think it was around that time that I was getting really sick and tired of Spectrum ports.  I tend to prefer Mode 0 for the colours (and I like the extra chunkiness) but Mode 1 can look great on CPC when used properly.  I just wasn't impressed by the game at all and ended up trading it with a friend a few weeks later I seem to recall.

[MacDeath]

The thing I like about Myth on Amstrad even though its a port is that there is no color clash and it is different to the C64 version, its an example of a good port with great playability.

The speccy engine is actually design so there are almost no colour clashes...

=solid walls or platforms : can't pass over.
=foreground elements : can't pass over as well.

it is some sort of smooth character based engine.

Sadly where speccy manages more colours, CPC donesn't and still have some sort of 1bpp graphics per attributes, and small speccy sized screen...

but yeah, it does play well... easier when there are not proper masks nor scrollings to handle.
Also a good point : for once they didn't tried too hard to force useless rasters in order to claim more colours on screen.


Still a shamefull version, saved only because the speccy version is good, to begin with.



shamefull yet enjoyable, not a full price release to me, may be fun if featured on a compilation or pirated.


Anyway, even apatched CPCversion from the speccyport, in mode1 could be greatly imrpouved just by having better palette choice and real 2bpp graphics.

there is a level for exemple which uses bright yellow and pastel yellow... completely wasting contrast.

To get it into CPC
= 2bpp graphics would just require going 128K version if it is not already using those.
=find the classic "speccy video emulation" routine and turn it into proper native 2bpp routine. I mean, jeez, they surely straightly emulate attributes (should check) while they convert 1bpp into 2bpp on video ram bank.
=re-address graphics as they would use twice more RAM to store.

Voilà, then it's just a matter of re-touching graphics like we often do... to have proper mode1 CGA like feeling.

a bit like this :


not even sure the game wouldn't be indeed faster as it wouldn't waste CPU on turning 1bpp into 2bpp + emulation of attributes...

[Gryzor]

Just stating the obvious here naturally, but...

Speccy Port - CPCWiki

[MacDeath]

[Grimmsqueaker]

I actually read that excellent article on the wiki a few days ago. There are so many games that are as good if not better than the C64 on the Amstrad and then firing up Bionic Commando and seeing it as a poor port just had to start this thread!!

I don't mind so much with the budget titles from Mastertronic / Codemasters etc as the games were only £2 back in the day but when you were getting the big name type releases for them to just port everything over automatically you can see the Amstrad got the bad and of the stick so to speak when the machione is capable of so much more.

At the moment the Amstrad for me is like a new adventure and taking me back to the 80's. Everyone had C64 or Spectrum, even when the 128k Spectrum machines came out a lot of the games were still poorer than the C64 version. Granted some titles like Outrun and also Chase HQ play a lot better on Spectrum, even look better but in most cases they didn't stand up.

If more work was put into the Amstrad it probably would have had much better success, it is a good alround machine, great for kids for the games, excellent for businesses and the normal home user.

[dcdrac]

I actually read that excellent article on the wiki a few days ago. There are so many games that are as good if not better than the C64 on the Amstrad and then firing up Bionic Commando and seeing it as a poor port just had to start this thread!!

I don't mind so much with the budget titles from Mastertronic / Codemasters etc as the games were only £2 back in the day but when you were getting the big name type releases for them to just port everything over automatically you can see the Amstrad got the bad and of the stick so to speak when the machione is capable of so much more.

At the moment the Amstrad for me is like a new adventure and taking me back to the 80's. Everyone had C64 or Spectrum, even when the 128k Spectrum machines came out a lot of the games were still poorer than the C64 version. Granted some titles like Outrun and also Chase HQ play a lot better on Spectrum, even look better but in most cases they didn't stand up.

If more work was put into the Amstrad it probably would have had much better success, it is a good alround machine, great for kids for the games, excellent for businesses and the normal home user.

I think the CPC gets a lot of hatred misdirected toward it, that is really directed at Alan Sugar, fact is he wanted in on the Computer boom and his company produced a good well rounded machine, still think they missed a trick with the Plus range, should have made them 16 Bit with a CPC emulator built in and sell kits to allow 3 inch drives to work as second drives.