Rediscovering CPC - saying hi

[Sleazy]

Hi guys, just a quick post to introduce myself into this great looking community.


The CPC464 was my first computer back in 1986 and I loved it, man I spent untold hours on Harrier Attack, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Chase HQ, Gryzor, Robocop, Batman ah the list goes on. I sold it in 1990 to upgrade to an Amiga 500 but always held a soft spot ever since.


I've been collecting retro consoles/computers for a good few years now but always seemed to miss out on a 464. Last month I got talking to someone who was very close to completing a Master System full set and wouldnt you know it I had 4 of the titles she needed so she offered to trade me her 464.


So I'm back! just the tape loading sounds and clicks managed to put a smile on my face. At the moment I just have the green screen but i'm gonna buy one of those adaptors off eBay and hook it up to a nice Commodore monitor I have.


I've rebought a few games and spent last night playing Robocop and Rainbow Islands. After a while I tried running the audio through an external amp and what a difference! Its a shame people just stick with the internal speaker because the CPC is capable of so much more.


Couple of thinsg I've noticed that I didnt remember - the scrolling on the CPC seems poor in comparison to the ZX or C64, also it doesnt run a lot of games full screen?


Anyway, hello everyone, looking forward to taking part in this forum. Which game to play next???

[seanb]

Welcome.

I would recommend outrun

[chinnyhill10]

Welcome.

I would recommend outrun

Why? It's terrible!

[Joseman]

Welcome.

I would recommend outrun

Weird recommendation  , I kinda like Outrun but really isn't a good game on CPC, there is hundreds of better games on cpc

Target Renegade, dragon ninja, chase hq, batman the movie...

[AMSDOS]

Couple of thinsg I've noticed that I didnt remember - the scrolling on the CPC seems poor in comparison to the ZX or C64, also it doesnt run a lot of games full screen?

There's many different tricks to scrolling on a CPC, ranging from the Firmware, using OUT commands, LDI, or simply fooling someone into thinking that's scrolling when it's not even scrolling    At least if you have a look at FutureOS and play around with the starscrl program I created, that's what you'll find.


Otherwise C64 has Hardware Sprites which you don't get on an ordinary CPC, until you move up to a Plus.

[Joseman]

the scrolling on the CPC seems poor in comparison to the ZX or C64, also it doesnt run a lot of games full screen?

This is because of the "full screen" on cpc is big that on the ZX, hence a lot of games copy the spectrum resolution and it seems that they don't are in "full screen" but really is the same that on Speccy

I think that is not fair compare ZX with the CPC, the ZX is so simple, the graphics and the colours soooo simple, the manage of the screen is simple, I really think that the spectrum even doesn't compete on the same league that the CPC, the spectrum is more a toy the CPC is a serious computer. Come on the colour clash is a joke, I even don't get how a computer with this type of problem managed to be so popular.

[arnoldemu]

Welcome!

Couple of thinsg I've noticed that I didnt remember - the scrolling on the CPC seems poor in comparison to the ZX or C64, also it doesnt run a lot of games full screen?

There are a variety of reasons.

Some games store graphics in a sub-optimal format (sometimes for memory reasons) and perform runtime conversion to cpc's format, this means they draw slower and the frame rate suffer.

Some games are simulating a Spectrum's hardware and performing a runtime conversion to cpc's including simulating colour clash.

Some games are limited on ram, so the programmer had less scope to use more optimal methods for scrolling.

A lot of programmers chose to not use the cpc's hardware scrolling, perhaps because they found it hard to work with or perhaps because it's granularity of scrolling is not as smooth as they would like (there are ways to improve it but some of these involve timing or tricks the programmer may not have been familiar with at the time).

The CPC version was often created in a very short time so the programmer had less time to utilitise the cpc's hardware or make a better job of it.

Sometimes the games are not full screen because they are converted from the spectrum with some change in graphics or recolouring for the appropiate cpc mode. In this case if you chose to make the screen bigger you may have to redesign the levels and this takes time. Other times it's down to not having much ram. CPC's sprites can take more than Spectrum's sprites so you have less free ram remaining. The screen display certainly takes more space - 6K on Spectrum vs 12K (reduced) to 16K (normal), especially if you consider double buffering.

There are many reasons.

Some of these can be understood by comparing the qualities of each system:

Speccy Port - CPCWiki

Comparing C64 to CPC - CPCWiki

Anyway, hello everyone, looking forward to taking part in this forum. Which game to play next???

Old or new?

[TFM]

Hi and welcome here. Enjoy the forum and the Wiki! 

[CraigsBar]

Anyway, hello everyone, looking forward to taking part in this forum. Which game to play next???

That's easy..... R-Type, followed by R-Type. I mean of course


First R-Type - The original poor, slow and ugbly Speccy port


Then R-Type 128k - The full colour, full screen smooth scrolling masterpiece that we all know and love (and knocks socks of all other home conversions - not just the 8bits either) and even has a wimp setting for people who are useless at shootemups, like me.


Craig

[seanb]

Why? It's terrible!

I know  That's why

[Singaja]

You should also check out what 6128 has to offer :-)

[Carnivius]

Welcome and yay 464! 

[Gryzor]

Welcome mate Thanks for sharing with us!

It must be said, of course we all loved our CPCs, but what difference when we upgraded to a ST or an Amiga, eh? (well, there were those poor devils that went on to the PC, god help them). It was an amazing feeling...

Then again it was an amazing feeling when I upgraded from my 464 to my 6128 - two or more games on a single disk, loading in seconds? WHOOOOA!

[TFM]

Couple of thinsg I've noticed that I didnt remember - the scrolling on the CPC seems poor in comparison to the ZX or C64, also it doesnt run a lot of games full screen?

No... scrolling is easy...

















Welcome here! 

[Sleazy]

that R-type remake is absolutely amazing. It even has the odd thing the Amiga missed.

[CraigsBar]

that R-type remake is absolutely amazing. It even has the odd thing the Amiga missed.

it is amazing, especially with the wuss settings that make it possible for even me to get off the first level! Shooters were never my thing, but I live that one, and relentless.

[CPC_Fan]

Hello and welcome to the forum Sleazy.