Spectrum Computing

Let's discuss

Which games you would mention as worst arcade conversions on Spectrum?

Let me start:

Final Fight - very slow and unplayable, unable to deal with huge sprites reasonably:


Eswat - slow, no music, bad gameplay, ugly autoconverted backgrounds


Mario Bros - plays very badly, unresponsive, difficult. Fortunately we have Pietro Bros now


Jail Break - better than the above ones, but the gameplay is much less fun than arcade:


Any more?

Kung Fu Master and Pitfighter as be down there

Side Arms, any platform.

It's such a rich and deep pool of 'talent'. Well I will give the developers props for trying and failing gloriously in many cases because they attempted something cooler heads and perhaps more experienced people would have just said no too. I like to think that is the reason behind most of the stinkers you see.

But there was a minority where it was nothing but a rushed cash grab. I think you can tell when people honestly try to make a game good.

I think that is what I miss about modern games is developers tent to play things so safe. Unless you are looking at (well what used to be steam greenlight )

US Gold's "Breakthru" conversion was absolutely dismal - borderline unplayable, lengthy pauses for no apparent reason, joystick options which flat-out don't work. And you could complete the entire game without dying by just holding jump down because your car would bounce over absolutely anything without any adverse effects - rocks, bullets, water, etc. This one isn't just bad, I'd go as far as to say it's not even finished.

Another vote for Kung Fu Master.

Donkey Kong (Ocean) is another poor conversion of a great arcade game..

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:56 pm Donkey Kong (Ocean) is another poor conversion of a great arcade game..

Is it? In my head Ocean's DK was a really good conversion: about as good as one could've hoped on a Speccy. Am I going nuts? I'm gonna have to fire up ZXDS and check... brb.

5MinuteRetro wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:26 pm

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:56 pm Donkey Kong (Ocean) is another poor conversion of a great arcade game..

Is it? In my head Ocean's DK was a really good conversion: about as good as one could've hoped on a Speccy. Am I going nuts? I'm gonna have to fire up ZXDS and check... brb.

So... I've just played it through, using save states for speed, and I'll stick with what I said: I think Ocean's DK is a a good conversion. Admittedly the first level is way too hard, because there are too many barrels and the ladder-climbing is too slow (and the walking sound is out of synch with... Mario's gait) but the game as a whole holds up really rather well, IMHO.

Donkey Kong (Ocean) is another poor conversion of a great arcade game..

I would agree.Maybe not very bad but below expectations.

It is bad when it comes to graphics. 8x8 pixel girl is laughable, Kong doesn't look like Kong and hero sprite is inverted.



See a mockup how it should look like:

I'm with Ralf. A game made in 1986-87 by Ocean should have been better. It's about the year and about the company. That's why I said 'poor'. They should have put more effort in the production.

But not a bad game, anyway.

I think that mockup goes too far - the ladders should be simpler and there shouldn't be a skyline or a blue background. Also, Jumpman is a little too small compared to the barrels and Pauline.
Kong is awesome though!

There is another conversion of Donkey Kong on its way to be released and it looks really good and colourful...

Great news, Ivan!

Do you have any more info, maybe some link, screenshots, Youtube video?

I didn't think Kung Fu Master was that bad, in fact I quite enjoyed it. Then again I don't think I played the arcade version.

Didn't think much of Zaxxon.

Ralf wrote: ↑Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:43 am Great news, Ivan!

Do you have any more info, maybe some link, screenshots, Youtube video?

Its still a secret

Ivanzx wrote: ↑Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:19 am There is another conversion of Donkey Kong on its way to be released and it looks really good and colourful...

Now, this I am excited about.

Morkin wrote: ↑Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:47 am Didn't think much of Zaxxon.

Yeah, the original arcade is not great, IMHO, but the Spectrum version is dissapointing.

I never cared much about Zaxxon, both on arcade and on Spectrum.

But Kung-Fu Master was really a disappointment. It's sluggish, unresponsive and totally unplayable which is the big contrast with the original.

Another conversion that I don't like is Ghosts'n'Goblins. This game has actually high score from the voters on WOS, I checked it and it's 8.39. I completely don't understand it so I'll try to write more.

The loading screen is just ugly. 8 years old kid would do better:


The game has very simplistic graphics, it a very limited number of badly drawn tiles and tiny sprites:


It has only 3 levels of original 6 or so, with missing enemies and simplified backgrounds.

It lacks any music.

And it's too hard. Maybe on first level it's yet acceptable but try the second level with these little flying devils

Yes, it's smooth with great framerate and scrolling but that's all. A bad conversion for me unfortunately.

I once wrote a feature for the GamesArk.it web portal about the worst and the best of Spectrum coin-op conversions.

Although it is written in Italian, the percentage markings at the end of each entry should be pretty self-explanatory

Alessandro wrote: ↑Sun Mar 04, 2018 1:27 pm I once wrote a feature for the GamesArk.it web portal about the worst and the best of Spectrum coin-op conversions.

Although it is written in Italian, the percentage markings at the end of each entry should be pretty self-explanatory

Track and Field... great arcade game. As good as Hypersports.

If only it had been coded in the same way as Hypersports, we would have got a Spectrum classic.

And as for Ghosts 'n' Goblins, I think it's similar to Commando, graphics are sacrified for a good gameplay, even when it's too hard. A good conversion, IMHO.

You guys have missed the biggest disappointment.

Double Dragon. Woefully poor. Maybe I'm the only one saying it because Double Dragon is my all-time favourite arcade game, and the incarnation on the ZX Spectrum is dismal (although not as bad as the Atari 2600 or Sega Master System versions).



Pac Land is immensely shocking. We know through the not-too-shabby conversion of Wonderboy that you can take these cutesy horizontal scrollers to the Speccy, but the programmers went with the easy-to-develop-but-hell-to-play route of making it flip screen. Meaning that you sometimes get to the end of a screen and find you can't move unless you jump over the fire hydrant that's immediately at the start of the next screen. It's digital blasphemy, avoid like the plague.

Ralf wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:58 pm Mario Bros - plays very badly, unresponsive, difficult. Fortunately we have Pietro Bros now

Absolutely disagree. I had Mario Bros as one of the many free games in Dixons's Spectrum +2 bundle. I think it was that or Donkey Kong which was the first game I ever loaded. The weird skiddy movement was annoying but I've subsequently played it on MAME (never saw it in a real arcade) and it feels very faithful.

Sure, it's not the highly prolific Super Mario Bros, which Ocean's Gary Bracey always wanted (and had to concede that Nintendo would not let such a highly valued title outside of its hardware), but the ZX Spectrum Mario Bros is a nice fun game that mirrors the 1983 original.

Oh, and then there was this...


Driving like a brick does in a bath of superglue.

Was Flak an arcade conversion? If so it was atrocious. I had it on US Gold's Arcade Hall of Fame compilation which included the almost-as-bad Blue Max.

For me though, due to the expectation level, it has to be Kung-Fu Master. Just watched a YT vid and it's even worse than I remembered.

All three by US Gold - says a lot.

Outrun is average in my opinion.

Yes, it is slow but the graphics are good and detailed. Compare other 8 bit versions.