Worst Ever Amstrad CPC Games

[MacDeath]

As I told, the problem with Elite on CPC : speccy ported quite straightly...

So yep...
Speccy code done for a 7K VRAM machine running on a 16VRAM machine.
Ok more colours (playfield actually coloured) but twice more weight for every thing (HUD, "VRAM"...) classic issue.

can't be as smooth as it should.

But the game was good anyway whatever the format, just take the bast you have under hands.

[ervin]

The BBC is very similar to the CPC and the memory overhead for Elite's screen is about the same per pixel i think.

C64 Elite runs in a bitmapped screen mode, so 8,000 bytes of screen RAM in use - it's also just the Beeb code ported and not using the extra RAM for double buffering, the flickering is there on both but more obvious with the slower refresh speed.

Ah, consider me educated!
Thanks for the info.

[khisanth]

Elite was great on the CPC, i mean it played the same surely? slight differences in speed and smoothness aside, what was so drastically different and bad???!

Starion was COOL, got it from The Home Computer Club as one of the cheap opening offer titles.

[Executioner]

The BBC's 6502 is more than twice as fast as the C64. The Z80 in the CPC is probably a little bit quicker at most things than the 6510 in the C64, but it has to deal with more screen memory, no hardware sprites or scrolling and complicated IO for the PSG/keyboard. The BBC has similar screen memory and setup to the CPC, but the 6502 is quite a bit faster when clocked at 2MHz. Having said all that, I played both versions of Elite, and the CPC version seemed great except for the odd frame rate drop when there were quite a few things on the screen.

[TFM]

Look at Starglider, Z80 at it's best. And don't forget that the Z80 knows a lot of commands wich is not known by the 65xx. So even a 2 MHz 65xx is imho inferior to a Z80 at 4 MHz. I'm solely judging (this time) by the finished product (Starglider, Driller for example...).

[Executioner]

So even a 2 MHz 65xx is imho inferior to a Z80 at 4 MHz. I'm solely judging (this time) by the finished product (Starglider, Driller for example...).

Maybe so, but I haven't seen Starglider or Driller on the BBC B.

[TFM]

Maybe so, but I haven't seen Starglider or Driller on the BBC B.

Me either, but my guess is that it is twice as quick as on the c64. Or maybe I'm wrong?

[SyX]

It's not a vector game, but alwaysthough that it would not have been bad for the CPC have a few BBC ports

[tastefulmrship]

It's not a vector game, but alwaysthough that it would not have been bad for the CPC have a few BBC ports

I always loved the Graftgold games on C64... but the CPC version of URIDIUM wasn't half as good and mono-colour didn't help! (I really liked JDR's version of Steve Turner's SID, though)

If someone did a proper conversion of URIDIUM, MORPHEUS and PARADROID, I'd be a happy man and could finally die peacefully!

[khisanth]

but before they do that, can they improve Wizball please?!!  Starting off by having the awesome C64 music, the paralax scrolling and the same game logic!

[SyX]

I always loved the Graftgold games on C64... but the CPC version of URIDIUM wasn't half as good and mono-colour didn't help! (I really liked JDR's version of Steve Turner's SID, though)

That BBC version in the video looks how a decent CPC version would must have been 

If someone did a proper conversion of URIDIUM, MORPHEUS and PARADROID, I'd be a happy man and could finally die peacefully!

Ja ja ja, i think the same, it looks that we both will can rest in peace the same day xDDD

[tastefulmrship]

Starting off by having the awesome C64 music

I always hated the fact that Martin Galway never programmed on the CPC! Some of his music is far better than Rob Hubbard's tunes!

I'd love to convert those Wizball tunes to CPC with my very limited talent, but I would prefer it if a better musician did it instead, ie anyone else! I did get the highscore music started, but Mr Galway uses a lot of SID techniques that are simply beyond my capability to emulate and it just sounded awful on WinAPE A17! Maybe I'll give it another quick go this weekend!

That BBC version in the video looks how a decent CPC version would must have been 

The colours/sprites could be easily converted to CPC and with the new scroll technology being done (R3, is it?) at the moment, we could see a decent BBC-B conversion of URIDIUM. Looking at the different versions, it shocks me how washed-out the C64 palette really is... and now I loved it back in the day!

[TFM]

Oh guys, with 12 I learnt the hard way, that if you want to have something, you damn have to get it by yourself.

So if you want to have a superior CPC conversion, you damn have to code it by yourself. And don't cry for it. You are over 18 now, and babysitting is over 
See is positive, you'll learn a whole lot 

[khisanth]

and people like me have to go and learn the code before we can even start 

[TFM]

and people like me have to go and learn the code before we can even start 

Well, learn what you like to learn. Or just do what you can. If you can go GFX, Sounds, or write a good plot of a Game, just do it    And get some partners to do the rest of it 

[Xyphoe]

Really? I thought the Amstrad version of Uridium was really good ... in this rare case I don't mind the 4 colour graphics, the C64 version looked really garish at times and it's more detailed than the BBC version.

[TFM]

Really? I thought the Amstrad version of Uridium was really good ... in this rare case I don't mind the 4 colour graphics, the C64 version looked really garish at times and it's more detailed than the BBC version.

Well, the CPC version is good, but it could have been done way better (like it is often the case...). I like it's Mode 1 though.

[MaV]

But concerning Elite, it was another case of quite straight portage I guess.
The 256x192 display is a clear sign of this.

While it may be a port as so many other games, a 256x192 screen helps with calculations of 3D vector graphics on an 8-bitter. 320 pixels would slow it down.

Take Starglider's screen. The vector graphics are limited to a 256x128 pixels, which is no surprise given that it does perspective 3D with hidden line removal, and the game still needs to be responsive to keyboard input and do some in-game calculations (map, enemy behaviour, etc.).

Sometimes a reduction in screen size really does make sense.

[Macc]

Beach Head, great game but the Amstrad version was the worst ive played

[ralferoo]

Amsoft (Rol-Caves, Sultan's Maze)
The Wild Bunch
- Nothing controversial there, really!

Well, it depends. I guess I had quite a few CPC games that you'd consider better than these, but certainly I do remember spending a lot of time playing these 3. Certainly, graphically these were nothing to write home about, but I reckon I played each of them for as long as Chuckie Egg 2 or Jet Set Willy, both of which I completed, so in my book that makes them reasonably good games.

[Puresox]

Super Space invaders !
I do not know how such a basic game can be messed up? So slow , First things first should be the game play. Then Graphics should be the best that can be implemented without stopping the game from being playable surely.


Wizball !
Just doesn't work with the flick screen style on the Amstrad, Find it virtually unplayable.

[Puresox]

720' a crap port from Spectrum which doesn't even have changing levels in some events, which the spectrum had

[cpc4eva]

720' a crap port from Spectrum which doesn't even have changing levels in some events, which the spectrum had

that sure was crap....... and just about anything from U.S. (MOULD) GOLD was absolutely shite on cpc

[Puresox]

Agree'd ^^ That one really got my goat at the time,couldn't understand why they would not transfer the minimum from the speccy. Robbery

[cpc4eva]

could go on 4eva about how pathetic U.S. MOULD were to cpc ..............

anyways Costa Capers was one of the worst games i can remember playing