Zx Speccy Vs. C64!

[WhiteFalcon]

OK, I am glad there has been finally made some justice to the Atari 800 (XE, yes, hwrd ),which deserves it.

Rik: Yes! I have never been into racing games of any kind with only a few exception and Kik-start was one of them. Its a great game that needs hours of practice to let you fully enjoy it Even better when playing in two players.
Hard hat mack - yes, only b/w graphics but a nice yet hard game
Jungle Hunt - you say it and I agree!

When it comes to tough games, I would like to mention Maxwell Manor, which is a hell of a game, putting you literally in limbo in almost every game screen.
Ah there were so many great games, its impossible to name them all...

dgnadt: emulation is really not perfect yet though the GP32 Atari 800 emulator is a thing to have. Unfortunatelly some games get too slow to be played at some point, e.g. Conan.

If you are after the best Atari music, be sure to try games with music by Adam Gilmore (alias Gizmo), David Whittaker and Rob Hobbard.

One of my favorite games on the Atari was already mentioned Draconus. There has been no remake of that game for any >8bit system. Its one of my long term plans to make a remake for the GP32...

 

[dgnadt]

Some games with better graphics on the Atari 800 as apposed to the C64 would be:

Frogger - Just ugly on C64
Encounter - Much better on Atari 800
Defender - Again great on Atari 800
Donkey Kong - Well this might be a toss up...
Mari Brothers - Later cartridge version for the XE.
Super Pacman - Close but A800 is closer to the Arcade
Zaxxon - Again later version. C64 color pallett makes it UGLY.
Electroglide - Totally superior on Atari 800
Alternate Reality - Much more colorful on Atari 800

Here is a list of some of the games for the Atari 800 I play on my GP32 on a regular basis:

Donkey Kong Jr.
Crumbles Crisis
Bruce Lee
Berzerk - Loved the robot voice back in the day
Blue Max
Cosmic Tunnels
Drelbs
Drol
Eidolon
Final Legacy
Flak
Fort Apocalypse
Jr. Pacman
Master of the Lamps
Millepede
Oriley's Mine
Montezumas Revenge
Preppie
Protector 1 & 2
Rainbow Walker
Stealth
Zone Ranger
Zybex

Again, if you are a Congo Bongo fan (I was a huge one) then you have to get the C64 version (later version by Ocean I believe) because it's just awesome. The Atari 800 version sucked big time.

White Falcon - I totally agree with you that the Atari 800 emulator on the GP32 is a MUST HAVE! It's just unfortunate that there are a few of my old favorites (and some new ones) that will not run correctly on it.

 

[dgnadt]

[/quote]
I can remember seeing this huge (and I do mean huge half a screen tall and a third of a screen wide) green metallic robot walking towards you with it's arms and legs changing shade in the light. As it walked along a simple colour cycling road this strange metallic melody played. Bloody amazing stuff for 1983. There are a few demo screenshots here unfortunately i can't find the robot.
[/quote]

I have a copy of that robot demo if you are interested. I remeber seeing it for the first time as well and had the same reaction.

 

[Prophet]

Robot Demo for Atari 800



Let it keep running, there's also a flying spaceship demo after a few minutes of the robot. They cycle. Works great on the GP32 Atari 800 emu.

It's a good example of stuff the C64 and Speccy etc. cannot do.

 

[johncross85]

All that said, the Speccy was still the best because it was the only system that had a magazine with the slogan "Your Sinclair - It's crap but in a funky skillo sort of way".

​

Did you see the special edition of Your Sinclair with one of the last issues of Retro Gamer mag ? Thought it was brilliant and really captured the whole look and feel of the original.

​

Damn! No I didnt! I did, however, recently find this:

Your Sinclair Rock n Roll Years Website

Loads of old backissues etc. Nostalgiatastic!

J(ohn)

 

[Rik]

Haha, I think us Atari people have hijacked this thread somewhat.

I had 800XL and 800XE. Actually when I moved into this house I found an XE in the garage. *o* Unfortunately it only had a couple of cartridges, so my dreams of reliving all those cool games were left somewhat unrealised until I got an emulator.

Some other cool games-

Pharaoh's curse - can't believe I left it out of my first list. Fun screen by screen platform type game, kind of maze-y too. Very non linear. This game's brings back so many memories.

Snokie - Everyone loves a cute penguin. Side scrolling platform type game, running from boulders and jumping over pot holes etc to get to mama penguin.

Jet Boot Jack - Fun game.

Archon - Chess kind of game but with real time battles when you attack a peice.

Spellbound - Kinda platformy RPG. Way too hard (and a little tedious with the menu system), but very interesting game. Savestates prolly useful in this game.

Burgers! - Well crap game (hey it's as old as I am) but I love the music.

 

[Vanamonde]

I remember seeing ghostbusters side by side...now that was funny! :lol:

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I remember Greg Fishback (head of Activision at the time and I've probably spelt his second name wrong) making a joke in a Crash interiew:

Q. How do you get Stereo sound out of a Spectrum?

A. Hold one to each ear.

 

[Vanamonde]

From what I gather, 128k games generally incorporated music/improved sound where 48k versions did not. Also, some games *only* work with 128k, like Strider and R-Type (I think) for example.

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Well until the 128K Spectrum come along, there was no soundchip in UK Spectrums just the beeper. You could add sound hardware but very few games supported it.

One of the rare examples is `Invasion of the Body Snatchers' by Crystal (later Design Design), a Defender clone that supported the Fuller Box audio addon.

Also some games did support the Currah Microspeech addon, so some games have robot like speech (Lunar Jetman springs to mind).

 

[WhiteFalcon]

Rik: Nice to see another Atari 800 epicure here Snookie is cute, yes, that mislead me when I saw it for the first time, as the game is pretty difficult. Archon was great when played with a friend, the computer is rather difficult to beat. In my opinion, Spellbound is more like an adventure game, moving around in a castle, collecting objects and using them. Never got much into this one anyway.
But now another pearl jumps into my mind. Whitel the gfx looks as though it was drawn by a kid, its very playable and original. I am talking about Journey to the Planets.

 

[dgnadt]

Rik: Nice to see another Atari 800 epicure here Snookie is cute, yes, that mislead me when I saw it for the first time, as the game is pretty difficult. Archon was great when played with a friend, the computer is rather difficult to beat. In my opinion, Spellbound is more like an adventure game, moving around in a castle, collecting objects and using them. Never got much into this one anyway.
But now another pearl jumps into my mind. Whitel the gfx looks as though it was drawn by a kid, its very playable and original. I am talking about Journey to the Planets.

​

Journey to the Planets....Now that is a memory. I had completely forgotten about this game. Graphics were pretty crappy but it was cool to explore all the weird planets. I never did finish this game. I'll have to put this one on my GP32. I've got the complete Holms collection on CD so it should be on there, can't wait to run home from work and give it a try on the old GP32.

 

[WhizzBang]

I'm a big Spectrum fan but the GP32 has opened up the world of the C64 to me. I still generally prefer Spectrum versions of games but the C64 versions of Commando and Football Manager are particularly good.

I think that when C64 games are good, they really wipe the floor with the Spectrum, but often the Spectrum games are just more playable. The most startling example of this (and has already been mentioned) is Bomb Jack which is a terrific game on the Spectrum but near unplayable on the C64.

 

[thingley]

I was never rich enough to own a c64 myself but there were a LOT of talented coders in the UK who had grown up with the speccy as it was the cheaper machine over here. So while the speccy was more limited we were really spoiled with the quality of games and conversions for it.

I still remember playing the speccy verision of R-type for the first time - okay it's no match for the PC engine but it is a great conversion. (I think its better than the C64 version anyway!)

 

[LeeT]

The problem with C64 Bomb Jack is the Graphics - Way too big! I agree the Speccy version is a lot better. Who can remember that crap BJ clone called 'Bombo' (C64) - That really was dreadful!

A few Speccy games were completely different from the C64 versions - Action Biker is one example. I preferred the C64 version as it was an excellent game, whilst the Speccy one was very disappointing and mundane.

 

[WhizzBang]

Action Biker is indeed a feeble Spectrum game. The C64 version is worth trying then?

 

[frolik]

One of my favorite games on the Atari was already mentioned Draconus. There has been no remake of that game for any >8bit system. Its one of my long term plans to make a remake for the GP32...

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Not true, I played this a lot on my old C64 and it's practically identical to the Atari version - never got too far in it though, got any tips?

Haha, I think us Atari people have hijacked this thread somewhat.

​

No worries it's interesting hearing all this Atari info too

I'm a big Spectrum fan but the GP32 has opened up the world of the C64 to me. I still generally prefer Spectrum versions of games but the C64 versions of Commando and Football Manager are particularly good.

​

Interesting, I prefer the speccy version of commando, but the C64 one isn't awful or anything

I still remember playing the speccy verision of R-type for the first time - okay it's no match for the PC engine but it is a great conversion. (I think its better than the C64 version anyway!)

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There's a story behind R-Type on the C64 and basically it was a very rushed job (made in 6.5 weeks) done by the same team that coded the incredible Katakis/Denaris to get them out of a legal mess for ripping off the R-Type concept!!

The thing about this C64 / A800 / ZX debate is that when you see Turrican on the C64 which pushes the hardware to it's limits with massive baddies amazing smooth multidirectional scrolling and so much crammed into the 64k - I've never seen anything on the other 8 bit machines that come close to it....

That's why the C64 is my all time favourite

 

[WhizzBang]

I'm a big Spectrum fan but the GP32 has opened up the world of the C64 to me. I still generally prefer Spectrum versions of games but the C64 versions of Commando and Football Manager are particularly good.

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Interesting, I prefer the speccy version of commando, but the C64 one isn't awful or anything

Yes, I love the Spectrum version too but I can complete it now. The C64 version looks and sounds a little bit better and is tougher - I can only get to the third level on it at the mo. I think this is a case where the Spectrum version is a fine conversion and the C64 is just as good but is a little bit more of a challenge.

In some ways, I think it is fairer to compare the Spectrum to mono Gameboy games. On the small screen, some Spectrum games look and play better than Gameboy games. However there are some Gameboy games that are brilliant and could have been done well on the Spectrum if anyone had thought of the ideas.

My flat mate recently bought a Spectrum off eBay and we converted loads of TZX images to CD and played them and it was great fun. One odd thing was when I played The Sacred Armour Of Antiriad for the first time on a Spectrum (a game my flat mate loves). It really is like a prototype of Metroid! In it you get hold of some armour and power it up and gradually become more powerful. It lacks the sheer addictiveness of Metroid but is clearly in the same vain but years before it.

 

[LeeT]

Action Biker is indeed a feeble Spectrum game. The C64 version is worth trying then?

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Oh yes - In fact the Atari version is also like the C64 one. The player has to ride around the map and find various parts for the bike. Theres an excellent Rob Hubbard tune, the Graphics are very colourful and its an addictive little game. It originally got around 80% in ZZAP!

Oh and while you are at it, get hold of 'Willow Pattern Adventure' by Firebird - Another well presented game that will keep you playing for hours!

 

[BaDToaD]

Rainbow Walker

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OMG Rainbow Walker!!! I'd forgotten that game. I played that to death it was so cool. The speed you had to move on later levels was amazing. I have got to go downl... er convert that right now!


Edit: Wow that is so cool. I'm off to play some more. You have to get this game people it is brilliant.

 

[psj3809]

Good analogy Whizzbang what you said about the Speccy and the GB mono. I still play many GB mono games on the GP32. The Nemesis games and R-Type are brilliant despite a lack of colour

I always preferred Rambo on the C64 which was excellent (Speccy version was ok) but Commando on the C64 ? No no no, Speccy much better. On the GP32 i normally play Commando on the Atari ST as that games excellent.

Still not sold on the Atari 800 for games though. Seems like theres a handful of alright games but when some of the 'best' games for the Atari are ones like Archon and Burgers i'm pretty sure the best games are on the C64 or Speccy and not the Atari.

Still worth having a look at though

As other people have pointed out the Speccy didnt have great sound (The 128k versions were very good) but yet again as i said before to me the best thing is playability.

Green Beret, Bombjack, Commando, Knight Lore and many others were so playable on the Speccy

 

[Antiriad]

My flat mate recently bought a Spectrum off eBay and we converted loads of TZX images to CD and played them and it was great fun. One odd thing was when I played The Sacred Armour Of Antiriad for the first time on a Spectrum (a game my flat mate loves). It really is like a prototype of Metroid! In it you get hold of some armour and power it up and gradually become more powerful. It lacks the sheer addictiveness of Metroid but is clearly in the same vain but years before it.

Indeed - when I played Metroid for the first time recently I noticed there were certainly some similarities. I too share a passion for the game like your flatmate :lol:

Take it youve got one of those cassette tape shaped line in adaptors then btw? Got one myself, keep meaning to convert some TZX's back to WAVs and CDs myself ever since I saw a guy at the Classic Gaming Expo this year demonstrating it working on a +2. Or have you simply connected a CD player to the line in socket on a pre Amstrad Spectrum?

And credit to the Atari800 guys out there for saying that it was more than just the Zx Spectrum and Commodore 64 available back then (as fans of each platform would have you believe) - pity Amstrad CPC owners arent as vocal!