Spectrum Computing

Star Trek on the Gameboy

Probotector is still a brilliant GameBoy game. I'm not much of a fan of the Contra stuff, but this one works really well.

My favorites on the C64: Fort Apocalypse, Tapper, The Last Ninja, Flimbo's Quest, Turrican, International Karate, Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Track And Field, Wizball, World Games, Curse Of The Azure Bonds, Maniac Mansion, Zak McKraken And The Alien Mindbenders and Apollo 18.

I did not experience gaming on any other 8-bit platforms to be honest, save for trying Renegade on the CPC 464 once. The scene here was dominated from about late 1985 on by the C64, followed by the Spectrum. Other platforms were extremely rare in comparison.

Thank you for all the comments. The specific question was about 8 bit computers

Funny how topics wonder! It's all good.

If strictly speaking about home-micros and no consoles, then Samurai Warrior – The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo is my favourite Commodore 64 game. Not an exclusive, but a vastly different experience when compared to the Spectrum version.

The combat in the original c64 version is explosive, dynamic and pretty advanced for its time with a combo system that requires skill to master. Conveniently this version has a training stage to practice your movement and timing. The enemy AI is very believable and always keeps you on your toes. There is also a useful combat move and a very rudimentary leveling system that are missing in the Spectrum version.

There are even more events along the way on the c64. Meeting Nobilities with their Bodyguards, Monks that recites Koans and Tokages lizards that you can befriend just like in the comics, adding to the immersion. There's also an exclusive boss, a mountain Troll, that you may meet on your path and a final boss fight, versus two Monks, that are absent in the Spectrum game.

It features fast, colourful, near-fullscreen graphics and a great soundtrack (with simultaneous sound effects). It's rock hard, but doable with practice and it even has a proper ending to boot.

In comparison, the Spectrum port moves at a snail's pace in a small window, the combat is way too basic and the enemies are way too easy, they just jump around and can be avoided without much effort. There is not much difference between the only two enemies available there either (and the Ninjas are also way over-represented). It uses exactly the same level background layout three times in the game and almost all stages look pretty samey anyway.

Now, the Spectrum version is not a bad game, but it lacks so much of what made the original so wonderful. One thing I really liked about the Spectrum game though, is the random Ninjas in disguise, on the c64 they are all predetermined.

PeterJ wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 6:31 pm Thank you for all the comments. The specific question was about 8 bit computers

Funny how topics wonder! It's all good.

Oh what now you expect us to read your questions before answering them ?

Feud on the Amstrad.

I really love the game on the Speccy, and I know how to complete it every time. It's pretty much the same on the MSX and Atari 8-bits, albeit slower (much much slower on Atari, like you're walking through puddles of superglue).

The Amstrad CPC is like a fresh Feud challenge for me, because the map defies all other versions. It's like the Spectrum one got put through a blender - it's all set out differently. I've yet to beat it.

https://youtu.be/Zkg029Z_z64?t=451

Do Dos games count?
I played through the first 3 Ultima games recently.

I'm more of a console gamer normally, except for the Amiga and Spectrum.

I still enjoy Starship Command on the BBC Micro

https://youtu.be/WRBrWZlofhg

And while you're at it, try out Hellforce and Microbe if you like frantic shoot-em-ups

Exile - BBC Micro. (1988) I mean, it's great. Mysterious, huge, colourful, pretty, overwhelming. I don't know what I'm doing, but it's still great. It feels like the game Lunar Jetman could have been. Without an investment of time with the keys you'll just be drifting around aimlessly, but even that is fun it itself. Go and have a go now, I can wait.

Alter Ego - C64. (1986) An oddity this one. A series of multiple choice questions, framed as a personality quiz. It's funny, thought provoking, and possibly quite sad. I can't decide if it wants to be taken seriously, or it's gloriously taking the P?s? out of self-help/personality tests. Nonetheless I do enjoy it. Spend 15 mins with it, see if you like it.

I love the sound on the C64 version of Beach Head.

uglifruit wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 12:17 am Exile - BBC Micro. (1988) I mean, it's great. Mysterious, huge, colourful, pretty, overwhelming. I don't know what I'm doing, but it's still great. It feels like the game Lunar Jetman could have been. Without an investment of time with the keys you'll just be drifting around aimlessly, but even that is fun it itself. Go and have a go now, I can wait.

Looks good [mention]uglifruit[/mention]. Will give it a play on an emulator tonight. I've always struggled looking at BBC games. To me it always looks like the screen is distorted. I'm assuming it's something to do with the screen resolution?

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=709

[mention]Ersh[/mention] Agree on what you wrote about Samurai Warrior; on the Spectrum the game was decent, but on the C64 it was definitely deeper and more atmospheric.

akeley wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 5:47 pmBut some definitely are. For example Ninja on Atari is just on another level entirely from the ZX version. It's really worth trying, has amazing music and gameplay.

I used to play that a lot on the Amiga (Ninja Mission), it's great on that too.

It's great being able to enjoy all these games on different platforms via emulators (avoiding spending exorbitant prices in eBay), but this recent post via [mention]Juan F. Ramirez[/mention] did make me laugh as I was playing Spectrum games on my Ryzen 7 with 64GB RAM and 1TB Samsung Pro Evo SSD.

https://twitter.com/iHarbonaut/status/1 ... 6136237057

Killa Gorilla, Transistors Revenge and Daredevil Dennis on the BBC Micro are ones I remember from my youth when my half brother used to visit with his Beeb in the mid-late 80's. Still fire them up in the browser sometimes.

As much as I love the game on the good ol' Speccy (and it was criminally underrated at the time of release IMO), the C64 version of Impossible Mission is an 8-bit masterpiece. Everything about it oozes quality. Sound, graphics, animation, playability. All 10/10.

uglifruit wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 12:17 am (Snip)

Alter Ego - C64. (1986) An oddity this one. A series of multiple choice questions, framed as a personality quiz. It's funny, thought provoking, and possibly quite sad. I can't decide if it wants to be taken seriously, or it's gloriously taking the P?s? out of self-help/personality tests. Nonetheless I do enjoy it. Spend 15 mins with it, see if you like it.

Yes! Alter Ego is a phenomenal piece of 8 bit software. There is still something very moving about taking a character from being a new
born baby all the way through to dying at the end an old person. As best I recall, there is nothing like this anywhere else,
other than the Apple version of course, written by Peter J Favaro (PhD) - it is a fantastic experience. I remember it blowing
the minds of the ZZAP!64 reviewers, who gave it a gold medal, and it was deserved.

http://www.zzap64.co.uk/zzap13/alter_ego.html

Not a tour de force of programming, simple text menus etc., but it is like the psychological text version of The Sentinel -
nothing else ever been like it, not even sure if
you call it a game, but it draws you in rather like life. Might be fun if someone did a Next conversion of it - I for one would pay for it
Pity the author never did anything else that I am aware of. Hopefully they retired on the money they made from it, but I
doubt that some how.

Definitely worth trying if you have never played it before, fire up a C64 emulator and give it a go. You can save your game too
on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alter_Ego ... ideo_game)

MtM wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:11 pmMight be fun if someone did a Next conversion of it

This is the first time I see someone on this forum, or in any Spectrum-related website I know of, hoping for a conversion for the Next of a game that does not exist for the historical Spectrum(s), yet it would be perfectly feasible for it, as this Alter Ego seems to be.

A sign of the times, maybe?

Alessandro wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 5:15 pm

MtM wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:11 pmMight be fun if someone did a Next conversion of it

This is the first time I see someone on this forum, or in any Spectrum-related website I know of, hoping for a conversion for the Next of a game that does not exist for the historical Spectrum(s), yet it would be perfectly feasible for it, as this Alter Ego seems to be.

A sign of the times, maybe?

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that aspect really Alessandro, it was a bit of a throw away remark, but based on the Next's
larger memory - Alter Ego was disk only on the C64, so it would make sense for a Next version, but in truth I think
it could be converted to the the 128k Spectrum too with compression involved. It would not work as a multiload
from tape really, unless maybe you broke the game in half, each a separate load.

I think too that what motivated it was the need for good software on the Next, and Alter Ego is just that, and as
I say, it was not a lot of technical wizardry hitting the C64 h/w directly, just menus and icons and text - it doesn't even
have any sound at all in it, which may seem crackers for a C64 game, but it really doesn't need it. This is the kind of
game you play whilst listening to the soundtrack of your life. Doesn't really feel
like a game, but its power to engross is as strong as anything I have ever played. If you have never played it it really is
worth trying. I write this in the belief that whilst we are all clearly Spectrum fans here, a lot of us love other old machines
and games too, and it would be remiss to think that there are some brilliant games on the C64 that could live on in
the Spectrum as well, so in a way all fans of old machines uphold this notion with the support they show for their chosen
hardware and software.