Best arcade conversions

[RWAC]

I like the Master System version of Rastan bit it is a bit samey after awhile.

As for the Speccy, some of my favourites are Rainbow Islands, Midnight Resistance and Silkworm.

[Ralf]

Rastan would be better without the horrible backdrops

I don't consider Rastan a good game. It has too simplified graphics compared to the original. All the backgrounds are
lost and you have just this dithered sky all the time. It also misses pictures between levels ( well, that probably would be
asking for too much) and other things. And playability is so-so.

It's not bad, it's average. The other games mentioned are generally very good however.

[presh]

Rastan would be better without the horrible backdrops.
I can't play for more than 5 minutes without it straining my eyes.

The parallax effect through the windows is still pretty cool though. I really enjoyed Rastan as a kid but TBH I found it a bit boring last time I played it.

Following a lockdown-induced foray into the world of Z80 programming, I'm blown away by Rastan's full-colour scrolling AND parallax backdrop, given the speed it runs... technically, it's incredibly impressive to me. I'd love to know what trickery was used to achieve this, but that probably requires a new thread in the Programming forum!

But yes, very difficult to see what's going on... that was my biggest bugbear with this game in the past. Some chunky outlines on the sprite masks may have helped.

[Vampyre]

Speccy Bombjack is arguably better than the arcade original, as is Commando (arcade version is just too difficult). Amazingly Chase HQ was a better conversion than on any other home computer at the time (ST and Amiga included).

But my all-time favourite has to be Hypersports. What a conversion that was. The C64 version was a bit special too.

[Morkin]

...I think I'm probably one of very few people that actually quite liked Double Dragon on the Speccy.

[Edit: And Kung Fu Master - the original one]

[AndyC]

Not the only one. Me and my sister played Double Dragon all the time and loved it. I've never really understood why it's rated so poorly, the graphics are a bit iffy in places and the multiloading was a pain, but overall I thought it was good fun.

[akeley]

Just played Horace & The Robots, what a trip! Also it's REALLY nearly perfect to the original. 1:1 I'd say if not for the Evil Otto appearing bit faster.

[p13z]

Yeah. I liked DD and Kung Fu Master on the Speccy, too. DD was fun as a 2UP game. Wouldn't dare post it here though

[Ralf]

AS for Double Dragon the first part is bad on Spectrum but with each other part it's getting better. Double Dragon 3 is really okay.

[toot_toot]

It’s understandable that Ikari Warriors gets a lot of love, it’s a brilliant game that managed to take an unique arcade controller (shooting direction knob controller) and made it work on the Speccy. Although I also remember it being delayed by quite a bit and by the time it was released, it was a couple years late and the reviews seemed to think it was quite dated by then. Even this one in Sinclair User gave it 7/10, said it was dated and nobody would remember it as their favourite arcade game!

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 3&page=105

I still think it’s a great game now, but it’s interesting how the sequel - Victory Road - is almost totally forgotten. It’s even written by the same guys as the original, despite it being published by Imagine, which is a rarity in the Spectrum world with most sequels being written by a completely different team. I also believe it’s quite a rare game and fetched a decent price now. It does suffer from the setting now being in space (?!?!?) but if you like Ikari Warriors then you’ll really like Victory Road.

https://youtu.be/kIUwpmfBOB4

[Ste Woz Ere]

Some good memories in here. Chase HQ sticks out in particular, initially I thought it was inferior to Amiga/ST due to the lack of colours (I was a kid, what can I say) but over time I grew to love it because the gameplay was spot on. (it actually felt better in some ways)

No-one seems to have mentioned Rampage yet. While some features didn't quite translate properly (such as Lizzie's spelling and the buses/trains being near-impossible to hit), it was still a classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wDVWMSy398

Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Thank you very much! I remember a fighting game with characters called Sword, Club etc. but could not remember it's name. (one of the few I couldn't name from back in the day)